Yoga Poses for the Sacral Chakra – Clear Energy and Restore

There’s more to yoga than just stretching your muscles and attempting to contort into various unlikely positions for hours at a time.

One of the areas I’ve been researching is chakras (or energy points) that allow energy to flow through our bodies. While I still have a lot to learn about the other chakras, my deep dive into the energy of the sacral chakra has really captured my attention.

I still have much to learn in this area, but I’ll explain some basics. Then, I’ve compiled a list of yoga poses that you can use to open, balance, and heal your sacral chakra.

Keep reading because I’m really excited about the possibilities that paying attention to your chakra holds, and at the top of the list is releasing creativity by removing some of the blockages that have come into my life.

What is Your Sacral Chakra?

The word chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning wheel, and for yoga practitioners, it refers to the wheels of energy called Prana or vital life force throughout the body.

You have several chakras or energy points that channel energy through the physical body to the subtle body. Your subtle body (also called the Subtle Energy System) refers to the different energy layers that vibrate within and around your body.

The sacral chakra, represented by the color orange, is in the lower abdomen, just below the navel.

This energy point allows us to connect with others and facilitates our creativity. When in balance, you will feel energized, confident, and creative. If the sacral chakra becomes unbalanced through negative thought patterns or emotions, you are at risk of moodiness and depression, a lack of energy, and low self-esteem. This can also flow into physical manifestations such as lower back pain and urinary infections.

How Can Sacral Chakra Poses Improve Your Life?

When energy becomes blocked in the sacral chakra, this can lead to an imbalance that can manifest physically, emotionally, or mentally and will present with a range of symptoms. To re-balance the chakra and keep it spinning and free, we need to become more aware, and this is where yoga comes in.

Through yoga, we can learn to become aware of where we have imbalances and follow a sequence of poses to open, balance, heal, or spark creativity in our sacral chakra.

So, grab your yoga mat, and let’s get started!

Poses to Open Your Sacral Chakra

Opening your sacral (or second) chakra has two primary benefits. First, it will allow you to tap into your creativity, and second, it will pave the way to opening and working on your other chakras.

Three poses that will help are:

Sphynx Pose (Salamba Bhujangasana)

• Lie on your stomach and press your forearms and palms into the ground
• Lift your head and come into the sphynx pose
• Focus on keeping your tailbone back and down to protect your back
• Hold the pose for 5 to 10 breaths

Bridge Pose Yoga (Dwi Pada Pitham)

• Lie on your back with feet flat on the mat, hip-distance apart, and arms by your side.
• Inhale, lift your hips off the mat into a bridge
• Exhale, lower your hips slowly, vertebra by vertebra.
• Repeat five times

Supine Spinal Twist Pose (Jathara Parivrtti)

• Lying on your back, press your feet onto the floor
• Allow your knees to fall to the right side to create an abdominal twist
• Put both arms out on either side and look over your left shoulder
• Stay in the pose for 5 breaths, then move to the other side

Other Poses that will Help Open the Sacral Chakra:

• Pigeon Pose (Kapotasana)
• Reclining Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)
• Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)

Poses to Balance Your Sacral Chakra

If you can balance your sacral chakra, you’ll open yourself to new experiences and be able to approach life feeling confident, inspired, and full of energy and vitality.

Five poses that will help are:

Goddess Pose (Utkata Konasana)

• Stand with the feet 3 feet apart and bend your elbows at shoulder height, turning the palms to face each other
• Shift feet out to a 45-degree angle, and exhale into a squat with your knees over your toes
• Push your hips forward and knees back, drop the shoulders down and back and push your chest forwards
• Keep your arms active and look straight ahead
• Hold the pose for 5 breaths

Reverse Warrior Pose (Viparita Virabhadrasana)

• Moving from Warrior II, with your right foot forward and left foot back, bend your front knee over your ankle
• Inhale and move your right hand to the sky, keeping your front knee bent
• Lengthen through the sides of your torso as you inhale, and strengthen your legs as you exhale
• Turn your gaze to look at the fingertips of your right hand, and soften the shoulders
• Hold for 5 breaths and go back to Warrior II, then repeat on the other side

Wide-Legged Forward Bend C (Prasarita Padottanasana C)

• From Tadasana, step the feet apart and keep them parallel, interlace your fingers behind your back
• Draw your shoulder blades together and fold from your hips, bringing your hands overhead
• Keep your back straight and release your head towards the floor
• Hold the pose for 5 to 8 breaths

Other Poses that will Help Open the Sacral Chakra:

• Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana)
• Reclined Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)

Poses to Heal Your Sacral Chakra

Where you may feel isolated or disconnected, there is the temptation to look for quick fixes that will offer momentary happiness (but often make you feel worse), like shopping or binge eating. But we learn from yoga that happiness comes from inside and that there is no limit to

Here, we focus on moving our hips to create a more balanced flow. Three poses that can help are:

Squat Pose (Malasana)

• Squat down, moving your hips towards the earth and lifting your heart towards the sky
• Hold the pose for 5 to 8 breaths

Bound Angle Pose (Baddha Konasana)

• Sit with your feet together and knees open to the sides
• Press your heels together, open the balls of your feet, and extend your thighs horizontally left and right, moving your knees closer to the floor
• Lift and activate your core and pelvic floor muscles
• Hold for 5 breaths

Camel Pose (Ustrasana)

• Kneel with knees hip-width apart and thighs perpendicular to the floor
• Rest your hands on the back of your pelvis with the base of the palm on the top of the buttocks, fingers pointing down
• Lean back, keeping your head up, chin close to your sternum, and hands on the pelvis
• Reach down and place one hand on the same-side foot, then do the same on the other side
• Hold for 30 seconds (up to a minute)

Sacral Chakra Poses to Spark Creativity

If you’re feeling blocked, like new opportunities aren’t opening up, and you’re stuck in a dead-end job, struggling with a close relationship, or feeling isolated, it might mean that you need to take active steps toward building the life you want. That includes clearing unwanted or unnecessary debris so that you can make your dreams a reality or tap into clever, creative work, life, and relationship solutions.

Here are five poses to spark creativity and unblock your second chakra:

Hero Pose (Virasana)

• Begin by kneeling on the floor, with inner knees touching and thighs perpendicular to the floor
• Open feet to just wider than hip-width apart with the tops of your feet on the floor, big toes angled in
• Exhale lean forward slightly, and use your hands to push the skin of your calves towards our heels
• Sit between your feet, lay your hands on your thighs, palm down, and gaze down
• Hold for a minute

Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana)

• Start in downward-facing dog
• Exhale, step your right foot forward between your hands and lower your left knee to the floor, keep hips low and level
• Inhale, engage your core muscles and sweep the arms up alongside your ears
• Look straight ahead or continue into a gentle backbend and gaze at your thumbs
• Exhale, lower your hands, and step back into a downward-facing dog

Half Monkey God Pose (Ardha Hanumanasana)

• Kneel on the floor, knees and feet hip-distance apart with the tops of your feet flat against the floor
• Lengthen the right leg in front of you, heel on the ground, toes flexing up
• Lean slightly forward and press the fingertips into the earth, then straighten the right leg, sliding the heel forward
• Keep hips even and facing forward, then repeat on the other side

Warrior Pose II (Virabhadrasana II)

• Step your right foot to the top of the mat, with your left foot 3 or 4 feet behind, point toes straight forward, and keep your left foot close to parallel to the back of the mat
• Bend your right knee, stacking it over your right ankle and press equally into both feet
• Extend your arms out, parallel to the ground, palms facing down
• Keep your body upright, shoulders over your hips, and gaze ahead
• Hold for one minute

Other Creativity-Sparking Yoga Poses:

• Frog Pose (Mandukasana)
• Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana)
• Reclining Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)

My Thoughts?

Feeling connected to the world and myself are two of the most important benefits of yoga for me, so I’m definitely going to be incorporating more of these poses into my at-home practice.

I’m excited for the transformative process of the creativity-sparking poses that move beyond balancing the second chakra and into the free-flowing energy of excitement, change, and innovation.

I’m well aware that it will be a process, and there could easily be stresses or past issues that are blocking me, preventing me from connecting with what energizes me. And that’s without the challenge of a busy life that keeps me seated for long periods during the day and can add a physical block to the second chakra.

But I’m committed to the process of bringing unity (the meaning of yoga) to my mind, body, emotions, and spirit. And it’s this collection of yoga postures will allow that prana, or vital life force, to flow.