Someone once asked Deepak if it would be good to go teach meditation to children and adults in underdeveloped or war-torn countries, and he said no. What they need first is food, shelter, and a sense that the ground is not going to shift under them at any moment. Before they can consider higher needs like self-esteem, inner peace, or spiritual contemplation, they need their primary needs met.

How does this hierarchy of needs apply to us here in the west where many of us are privileged, with most of our basic needs taken care of?

Even though most of us have shelter and food, I am sure you have noticed that when you worry about making your mortgage payments or being able to afford the avocado at the grocery store, you are less open to exploring the bigger questions in life. Often our basic needs are met but emotionally we don’t feel safe in our home, in our relationships, at work, and that also will stop us from being able to expand our spiritual and healing work.

When you listen to the news too much or when you are in the presence of an emotionally explosive person, your body can't really relax and settle into meditation. Your body actually can get sick from worry or a sustained stressed response, whether the threat is real or perceived. Primary needs take over, your body's sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight or freeze) is engaged, and your attention goes up to your head. We go into the story of what is happening and into blame.

Going within is the ultimate way to truly feel safe in the world. If we can find a way to feel safe inside our body (and many of us are scared of our body and don't trust it) then we will experience the world outside as safe.

Safety in the body can be found all the way down at the base of our spine, to the first chakra. The element of the first chakra is earth. In nature, the element of earth is the most stable because it is the most supportive and grounding element, and it reminds us that we are never not connected to the energy of mother earth. Earth is a feminine element.

The base of the spine is where we can go to help us get through a situation that feels emotionally unsafe. It is where we can go also to process energy and emotions so that the next time a similar situation comes up, it will feel less intense and our reaction will be different.

When our attention is at the base of the spine, in the root chakra, and we breathe deeply into that space, we can ground and allow the intensity of the moment to pass through us, like it does with young children that are allowed to feel and express the full spectrum our their emotions. Our body is capable of this. It is what it is designed for.

This meditation will deepen your sense of safety within and allow you to experience in a tangible way the stable yet flexible mother energy of your root chakra. Enjoy!