Safety and the Root Chakra

Yesterday went for care free, happy go lucky, to yukky and scared within a few moments.  I left to teach yoga in the morning and I came home to find that my neighbours apartment had been broken into.  I froze on the spot and just stared at the broken glass right beside the lock.  I didn't know if someone is still inside so it was scary! 

After reporting it, I waited around for the police to arrive and several neighbours appeared as broken glass was being swept up, wondering what happened.  It's crazy how much this happens, so yes my bubble of love was burst.  Being from up north we barely lock the door, a habit I have brought with me to London and one that got a "slap in the face perspective change', thanks to this incident.

I found that every little noise made me jumpy yesterday.  I knock on the door from my neighbour wearing a big black jacket made me wonder if I should have a weapon.  WHAT?  I'm thinking how did I go from happy go lucky this morning to paranoid and on edge!

Enter YOGA!  You guessed it right if that is what you were thinking.  Yoga has answers to so many of life's questions.  The answer for why this happened, wait for it..... LILA!  Just because, no reason, no karmic debt from a past life, just because!  Lila is the Sanskrit word for divine play and it's place in the Tantric teachings, that is not just a world of causality but one of lila as well and in this world bad things happen for no other reason than just cuz.

When we don't feel safe, several things can happen.  On a physical level, it's hard to breathe, breath gets more shallow and rapid, adrenal glands blast the body with adrenaline to deal with the stress of the situation, difficult to relax and settle, aversion to eating or some people go directly to food for comfort, insomnia to name a few.  According to Dr. Anodea Judith, these types of events can "trigger our first chakra into working overtime."  She also mentions that when we are threatened what ever has been pre-programmed into the first chakra will take over and mind gets taken over by the needs of the body to survive.

As the initial threat disperses and I go back to my more normal state, my heartbeat speeds up when I walk past the door.  Even that will shift with time and with proof that I'm not in danger.  It is important to have a place that you call home, where you feel safe, protected from weather and intruders.  Home is where the heart as!  For me OM is where my heart is, which means that no matter where I find myself, I'm a breath away from coming back to my true nature, which is unaffected by the external complications of the world.