Coming Home to the Root: Muladhara Chakra and the Practice I Keep Returning To
- Prema Posner
- May 20
- 3 min read
Part Four in a Series on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Dear friend,
Something tender has been sitting on my heart this week, and I felt called to share it with you.
My wedding is a few weeks away. My days are flooded with to-do lists, and I have felt my practice slipping quietly to the side. Last week I got sick, and I could barely do anything. I lay in bed and did Yoga Nidra, which definitely helped. But I also felt, in my body, what happens when I drift from my daily Sadhana: Life gets harder. The mind gets louder. The ground beneath me feels less steady.
And so I find myself returning, as I always do, to the first Chakra.
Muladhara: The Root That Holds Us
Muladhara means root support. In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Svatmarama tells us this is where Shakti sleeps, coiled at the base of the spine, waiting for us to come home and call her by name. This is the earth element. The foundation. The place we touch when we need to remember we are held.
I have needed to remember this my whole life.
To love deeply is its own kind of price, and I have paid it many times. I have wanted that love reflected so badly. Life has not always given me that gift in the way I imagined it would. Heartbreak has been one of my great teachers.
Uncertainty has been another. And what I learned, slowly and tenderly, was that the ground I was searching for outside of me had been waiting inside me all along.
This is what the root chakra teaches. Not that life will stop shaking us. But that we can become rooted enough to bend without breaking.
Why I Keep Returning to My Sadhana
A huge part of yoga, perhaps the largest part, is the witnessing of one's own mind. The constant criticism we all carry. The voice that whispers we are not doing enough, not being enough. When I sit in meditation, when I move in asana, when I breathe in pranayama, I am not performing yoga. I am witnessing the inner critic and choosing not to obey her.
Without this witnessing, she runs the show. I have lived too many years in that way to go back.
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika calls this kind of devotion Tapas: the fire of discipline.
Not a harsh, punishing fire, but a steady, warm flame that keeps us close to ourselves. Tapas is what I am leaning on right now. Five minutes of meditation in the middle of a chaotic day. A few rounds of nadi shodhana before sleep. A pause. A breath. A return.
If you have ever wondered whether your practice matters, please hear me. It matters. I can feel the difference in my own life this very week.
Come Back to the Mat With Me
I will say the truest thing I know. I cannot walk this path alone, and neither can you. We do better in community than away from it.
If you have practiced with me before and felt a quiet thread between us, please come back. If you have been away from your mat for a while, return. The practice is patient. So am I. We need each other.
It is one of the great honors of my life to teach you. My live Zoom classes begin tomorrow morning again with Living in Love Morning Meditation at 8:30 am and Gentle Hatha at 9:30 am. Come home to your heart with me!
With love,
Prema
Thank you for opening your heart, Prema. Your willingness to share your vulnerability is a testament to the love and commitment you bring to every session . . . showing up fully, with strength, tenderness, and presence. You’ve taught me that difficult emotions are not to be avoided or outrun. Through daily meditation, I’ve learned to sit with discomfort until it softens, to find safety and belonging within my own body, and to move through the world with greater equanimity. For that and so much more, I thank you and hold you so deeply and lovingly in my heart.
I’m glad you are immersing yourself in daily practice. May you stay present. May you keep your heart and eyes open…