What is the Root Center About?
The Root Center is about pressure on the body, stress and adrenaline. It is about the drive inside us that carries a drive and an impact. It creates an internal pressure to move and take action. It is associated with the adrenal glands. The gates in the Root Center have an inherent tension in their themes. They also have an inherent connection with the outer world and with action.
Which Gates are in the Root Center?
When we look at the Root Center there are 9 gates.
Gate 58 is all about the joy of living and the pressure to improve things.
Gate 39 symbolizes provocation and the urge to stir emotions.
Gate 52, known as The Buddha, drives the need to focus energy, highlighting the value of mindfulness and concentration.
Gate 38 (The Fighter): This gate drives the pressure to struggle and find purpose in life. It’s about engaging in meaningful battles and standing up for what you believe in. It’s not about conflict for the sake of conflict, but rather a deep-seated need to fight for justice and truth.
Gate 54 (The Marrying Maiden): This gate is about ambition, transformation, and the drive to be materially successful. It’s about the journey from rags to riches, symbolizing progress and advancement through personal effort and possibly through beneficial alliances.
Gate 53 (Development): This gate propels the stress to start new things and begin. It’s the energy to initiate, the excitement of beginnings, and the thrill of embarking on a new journey or project.
Gate 60 (Acceptance): This gate drives the pressure to evolve and push beyond limitations. It’s about accepting the way things are as a starting point for innovation. It’s the energy that fuels progress and evolution.
Gate 19 (Approach): This gate drives the stress to be sensitive to basic needs. It symbolises the desire to approach others in a way that is sensitive to their needs and feelings. It’s about empathy, understanding, and the drive to meet basic human needs.
Gate 41 (Contraction): This gate drives the stress to try new experiences. It’s about dreaming, fantasizing, and the desire for new experiences. It’s the energy that fuels imagination, ambition, and the drive to turn dreams into reality.
Which Group does the Root Center belong to?
Belongs to the Pressure Center group
What is the source of the Root Center?
There is energy in the root center because it is also a motor and there is pressure on the body.
The Defined Root Center
If the root is defined, there is a consistent internal way of processing pressure and stress.
So if we’re looking at a healthy defined root, we’re seeing a function where there’s a natural and internal pressure to act, and there’s a natural internal drive.
There is a unique way or a particular way for that being to be able to handle stress.The Healthy State of Defined Root Center
So in some ways you could say someone with a root definition who’s in a healthy state is really designed to be able to handle stress, as long as it’s the right stress.
A healthy defined root will process the pressure they experience according to their design.
So again, the pressure centers are never the authority of any design. They’re never the focus of decision making.
So in a way the root is designed to be in service to or directed by whatever the strategy and authority are of that design.
If you’re a generator, for example, then your drive and the energy and pressure that you feel to take action is designed to be moved by the sacral response.
So the response is there to show us what to be driven about and which stresses are correct and healthy for us.
A healthy defined root does not put pressure on others or expect them to be able to handle the same kind of stresses that a healthy defined root can.
And this is where we can start to see a certain tendency with any definition where we can tend to take for granted what comes naturally to us.
And by that I mean we can tend to think that because or feel that because this is so natural to me to be able to handle stress, everybody should be able to handle stress.
If everybody just tried or if they weren’t lazy or resistant or avoidant, they would be able to handle stress the way that I do.
And that’s one of the ways that a defined center can have expectations of others that don’t really acknowledge the fact that not everybody has these same capacities in a consistent way.
So when a defined root is healthy, that person doesn’t expect others to be able to handle stress and pressure the same way that they do.The healthy State of the Open Root Center
If the root center is open and in a healthy state, it means that there isn’t a consistent internal way of handling stress.
There isn’t a consistent way of dealing with pressure, especially the pressure to move the pressure to act and the pressure to be driven in the world in the way you do things.It doesn’t mean that you don’t have drive, it just means that it’s not consistent and the source of it is not internal.
So if an open root center is healthy, it means being able to allow pressure to flow through, being able to feel the stress and the pressure around you without feeling that you have to act on it, that you have to do something about it.
A healthy open root isn’t hurried or pressured to make decisions.So that adrenaline and stress and that energetic drive that we pick up on from the people around us can make us feel like we need to start to become more driven or more hurried in what we’re doing. We can feel under pressure.
So in a healthy state, an open root can recognize, oh, I feel this pressure coming in, but I can still stay anchored in my definition, wherever that actually is in my chart.In my design, I can stay anchored in my own definition and I don’t have to thrust myself into action just because I feel pressure around me. Also in a healthy state, an open root can use the pressure energy that’s available as a source of energy when it’s correct. So you can learn to use that pressure, use that drive that may be around you at times to your advantage.
The Not Self State for a Defined Root Center
If the root center is being driven from a not self state or is not healthy, then those with a defined root may start to use their drive and their ability to handle stress indiscriminately.
So they’ll allow their capacity to be used for all different kinds of stressors and all different kinds of activities that are not actually healthy and satisfying.They can also become hard on others who cannot deal with stress in the same way that they do. So this is that taking our definition for granted thing that happens and they can put others under unnecessary stress. They can pressure others to join with them in the level of stress that they’re used to functioning from. And there’s also a way in an unhealthy state, you know, the root has a natural need to move energy.
There can be pressure that builds up in there and doesn’t get released in an appropriate way.
Often people with root definition do really well with a certain amount of physical activity, especially with certain gates. Having some physical outlets for that internal pressure that’s always there can be really healthy. So if there’s not a way to move energy, if there’s not a way to release what the pressure that gets built up in the body, that can take the root center into an unhealthy state.The not Self State of an Undefined Root Center
In the open root in an unhealthy state, this is where we see something that is very compelling in the world, where an open root that’s identifying with the pressure
around it will take in the pressure and stress of others will feel the adrenaline and take that into the body and start hurrying, start taking action, start moving.
Almost it’s allowing yourself to be driven by the energy around you.
And if that’s happening in an unhealthy way, it means you’re going to start hurrying to try to get through things, to try to complete things, to try to accomplish things, to try to get through things, to try to accomplish things,
to try to get more done.
And what’s really underlying that is this sense that if I can just do a little more, a little faster, I’ll be able to get rid of this pressure.
So it’s a way of hurrying endlessly and forever in order to try to get away from pressure, but that pressure never really goes away.
There’s a tendency in the unhealthy open root to take on the stress of others, to feel others stress as our own.
Instead of being able to look at somebody over there and say, oh, that person is really ambitious and really driven, they have a bunch of stuff they just have to move on.
Instead of being able to just see that and respect it or admire it even, the unhealthy open root can start to take that in and feel like it’s really ambitious.
We either need to compete with that or we need to match it or we start amplifying it and we start engaging in all kinds of activity, which isn’t actually healthy for our bodies.
So that’s a way of taking on the stress of others.
And through that, it’s very funny because in a way, the defined root has its own pace.
So you’ll often see people with a defined root who may be under a certain amount of stress and they have this internal pressure within them that drives them.
And yet it also can regulate their pace in a way where a person with a defined root has their own natural pace at which they would do things.
When you have an open root in an unhealthy state, it’s absorbing and amplifying the energy around it. It’s getting in motion and it becomes very hurried and very impatient with those who are doing things at their own pace.
So a funny scenario you might often see is if you imagine a family where you’ve got three members of the family with a defined root and one with an open root.
It’s often the one with the open root that’s trying to hurry everybody else up because they’re absorbing and amplifying the pressure and stress of three other root centers.
That’s a real amplification of energy that if we’re not able to just recognize it and let it be there or take ourselves out of the room, then the tendency is to allow our bodies and our systems to get adrenalized and hurried and to start to transfer that to others as well.
All of this can lead to a lot of physical health problems.
In both cases I would say the unhealthy, not self-state of the root can create adrenal problems and exhaustion issues, burnout issues.
It can really damage physical health when these habits are chronic.The Root Center Conditioning
Here we’re really looking at what is the open root center conditioning and how can we see it or how do we experience it in ourselves.
The core theme of the open root, not self-conditioning, is always in a hurry to be free.
This is where we can feel like because of the pressure that we’re taking in through that open root, we start trying to do more and do more faster.
But the difference is that when someone has a defined root and they’re driven, that drive is purposeful for them.
If they’re engaged with the right stressors and the right activities, it can be very fulfilling for them to accomplish what they accomplish.
The difference with an open root is you’ll often see that the pressure and adrenaline gets going and the person with an open root gets in a hurry to do a lot, but it’s not for the love and the joy of the activity or for the pleasure of the accomplishment.
The drive to keep going and doing more things and doing them faster is actually to try to get rid of the pressure.
So there’s this sense that if I can just do more and I can just do it faster, then I’ll finally get it all done and I’ll be free of the pressure.
And this is a trance that the open root takes us into because as many of us have probably seen, when that’s the driver, when the driver is to try to get free of pressure, what we feel is going to be able to do.
The pressure of pressure, what we find is that we never are able to achieve that. The pressure never goes away.
We live in a world full of stressors and with lots of energies putting us under pressure.
So no amount of activity and no increase of pace ever really gets us to that state where we feel like we can finally relax and be free of the stress.
So how do we deal with that? If we can recognize that when there’s pressure there, we can still listen to what is healthy for us in terms of the amount of rest we really need and the amount of activity that’s actually healthy for us.
So a very simple thing to notice is am I engaged in this activity because I’m trying to get free? Or am I engaged in this activity because it’s right for me to be doing this right now?
And that can be a simple way of noticing what’s driving you. Is it an open root, not self motivation?
Or is the drive really coming from an authentic place?
So some of the questions that can go along with this and this list of questions is really addressing the different flavors of the different gates that are within the root.
These are some of the ways that the not self conditioning may come out.
So some of the mental fixation and there’s always a kind of mental fixation or tone or flavor or voice that goes with the open center conditioning.
And these kind of questions might sound like an internal monologue that’s saying, what am I going to do to make my life better? How am I going to get better?
Where’s my purpose? What can I achieve? I have to achieve something in life. So I need to find something to do and to be accomplished in so that I can feel like I have a purpose.
I better hurry up and get this done. I need to keep hurrying. I need to get one more thing done. I’m exhausted, but I think I can do a couple more things before I finally let myself rest.
I have to start something new now.
How can I get past this limitation? There’s this limitation here and I feel like I have to push through it. If I just keep pushing, maybe I can get through this limitation.
What am I going to focus on? I need something to focus on. I don’t know what to apply my energy to. I need to find something.
So you can hear in all of these voices and all of these questions the way I’m delivering them. There’s a certain kind of kinetic energy to them.
You can feel the almost obsessive quality that’s in it. The obsession that’s in there is really trying to get rid of stress, trying to get rid of pressure.
But doing anything motivated by these obsessions and fixations doesn’t actually get rid of the pressure.
I need to be needed. Who needs me? Where can I go to be needed? And there’s a kind of hunger in there for recognition.
Where is my passion? One of my passion is about, I need to figure out what my passion in life is.
I feel like I need a new experience. I need to hurry up and initiate it. I need to make it happen. Something new needs to happen.
I want something new to happen. I feel this pressure that there ought to be something different going on and how can I get it started.
And there can also be this very pervasive sense of, I don’t want to waste time as if resting or taking care of our bodies is a waste of time.
So if I’m not achieving, accomplishing, driving, making things happen, then I must be wasting time. I have to keep going. I have to get this done.
I have to just get one more thing done.
So you can feel the kind of adrenaline that’s naturally part of this center. And pressure is a pervasive experience in life for all of us.
So to begin to look at how much is, if you have an open root, how much is the pressure here controlling you or directing your activity? And is there another place or a more authentic place that your activity and your engagement could arise from?
You’d probably find that the difference would be being able to feel a certain hum or satisfaction or sense of rightness about what you’re doing rather than feeling that the core driver of it is pressure.
If the root is completely open with no gates activated, there can be a way of not knowing how to relate to stress at all.
And almost like it’s a foreign thing, not really knowing how to process it, not knowing when to hurry or not.
So there’s a way that the pressure we take in and the stress that we feel can be used and aligned with our nature.
Part of what we can discover through experimenting with this is when and under what conditions does that happen.
And if you have a defined root, the key is really in being able to move the natural energy that’s within you and being able to discern which stressors and which activities and which drives are really fulfilling and worthy of the energy that you have.