Root Chakra or the Muladhar Chakra: This first Chakra is called Root or Muladhar because it supports the body. This chakra is located at the base of the spine. This energy centre tells us to accept our body, feel it, validate it and love it. This energy center is related with our “identity” “I am”. The first chakra is typically about survival. This chakra consists of masculine energy. It gives us security, vitality, stability, individuality and of course courage. This chakra is associated with our activity to eat. Protein is the food of this chakra. When we eat well-balanced food, our body grows strong and supports the other functions. When the first chakra is malfunctioning, it manifests into obesity.

Through this first chakra, we understand and heal our body. A well-functioning root (first) chakra opens us to our power and stability and allows us to grow. We are grounded, and this grounding brings us rest and solidity and stillness. The color associated with this chakra is RED.

Sacral Chakra or the Svadhisthana Chakra: Its element is water. This chakra is associated with our emotions of sexuality, desires, creation, and procreation. Socialization is also a function of the sacral chakra. The expression associated with this chakra is “I feel” The energy associated with this chakra is both emotional and sensual. The location of this chakra is in the area of the genitals and womb. The second chakra is one of feminine energies. Besides both sexuality and pleasure associated with this chakra, it centers the desire of nurturing, nourishment, warmth and touch.

The malfunctioning of this chakra leads to kidney and bladder disorders. Its color is ORANGE.

Solar Plexus or Manipura Chakra: The third chakra is the Manipura chakra, which means “lustrous gem.” It is located in the area of the navel near to the solar plexus. Its function is lending willpower. The expression associated with this chakra is “I do.” Its element is fire. 

It is connected to the pancreas of body. It affects are the pancreas, adrenals, digestive system and muscles. When it malfunctions, it results into problems related to the ulcers, diabetes, and hypoglycemia.

The solar plexus chakra gives us the sense of “belonging.” It grounds us firmly in life. Its color is YELLOW.

The Anahata or the Heart Chakra:  It is located near the heart. Its function is love. Its element is air. The inner layer of this chakra is compassion and love. The expression associated with this chakra is “I love.” The gland associated with the heart chakra is the thymus. It influences the body parts – the lungs, heart, arms and hands. When this chakra malfunctions it results into physical problems such as asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease and lung disease etc.

We love because of the energy of this fourth chakra. The heart chakra allows us of joyous acceptance in life. Its proper functioning gives us deep peace and allows us to be in harmony with our self. Its color is GREEN.

Visuddha or Throat Chakara: Visuddhameans “purification.” It is located at the area of the throat. Its function is related to communication and creativity. The glands related to this chakra are thyroid and parathyroid. The other body parts related to the fifth chakra are the neck, shoulders, arms and hands. The expression related to this chakra is “I speak”. The sense associated with it is hearing. When this chakra malfunctions, we encounter physical problems such as sore throat, stiff neck, colds, thyroid problems and hearing problems. Its color is BLUE.

Ajna or Third eye chakra: In sanskrit Ajana means to know. It also means “to perceive” or “to command.” It is located in the brain. The element associated with Ajna is light. Its function is seeing and intuition. The expression related with this chakra is “I see” The body parts affected by the sixth chakra are the pineal gland and the eyes. Malfunction of the sixth chakra can manifest in blindness, headaches, nightmares, eyestrain and blurred vision. This chakra is related to the mental state. One finds inner vision as part of this chakra, as well as actual seeing and outer vision. Therefore, mystical, magical and clairvoyant abilities are also associated with this sixth chakra. The color of sixth chakra is INDIGO.

The Crown or the Sahasrara chakra:  In Sanskrit Sahasrara means “thousand fold.” It is located just the central of the top of the head. The seventh chakra represents thought, and its materialization is information. Its function is to understand, and the psychological state that it creates is bliss. It is associated with the expression of “I understand” and its color is VIOLET.

The gland affected by this chakra is the pituitary. Other body parts affected by the seventh chakra include the cerebral cortex and the central nervous system. When this chakra malfunctions it can result in depression, isolation, confusion, boredom, apathy and the inability to learn or comprehend. The seventh chakra is associated with greater consciousness. After all life is not only about physical existence it is about our minds and soul as well. We are part of the collective consciousness. We are part of the Universe – the Infinite. The Third Eye Chakra and Crown chakra connects us to the immeasurable universal energy.

I connect the functions of seven chakras to Abraham Maslow’s Need Hierarchy. Maslow wanted to understand what stimulates desires in people. He believed that individuals possess a set of motivation systems distinct to rewards. Our diverse needs are connected to physiological, biological, and mind; therefore I have hypothetically connected them to the 7 chakras. Maslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve definite needs; some of them are very basic such as sleep, hunger, air, thirst, warmth and sex – Muladhar Chakra. Then comes the safety needs, wanting to be secured financially, socially – Sacral or Swadhisthan Chakra. After safety and security comes social affiliation need such as work group, family, affiliation, and relationships etc – Solar Plexus or Manipur chakra. The deep desire of man to love and to be loved which is also a part of Maslow’s social need centers in Heart or Anahat Chakra. Then comes self esteem which means achievement and mastery, independence etc which man achieves through communication – Throat or Visudha Chakra. Status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility comes out of intuitiveness – Third Eye or Ajana Chakra. And the last self actualization which means realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment and enlightenment in life; which I would call the zenith in life would relate to Crown or Shasrara Chakra.

When one need is fulfilled, the next need arises, when that is fulfilled the next; thus a person seeks to fulfill need after need which is unending. The needs chain goes on till man survives.

Maslow’s (1943, 1954) hierarchy of needs includes five motivational needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels. If the needs are not met with or if they are not satisfied they become stronger, for example if a person does not sleep for a night, he will become restless and agitated and will find ways to go off to sleep somewhere, or the longer a person goes without food the more hungry he will become.

Maslow said that one must satisfy lower level basic needs which are very basic for survival before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. In our bodies the lower chakras are associated with fundamental emotions and needs; hunger, thirst, sleep, procreation, security etc; for the energy here vibrates at a lower frequency and therefore they are intense in nature. The finer energies of the upper chakras correspond to our higher mental and spiritual aspirations and faculties. The throat is related to creativity, insight, synthesis; the third eye to knowingness, perception and intuition; the crown chakra to divinity, wisdom and spirit.

Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization.  Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower level needs. Our constant struggle of earning a decent living and meeting our needs in that regard (food, clothing and shelter) causes us to swing between levels of the hierarchy at lower levels.

Most significant point to note is that Maslow noted only one in a hundred (I say one in thousands) person become fully self-actualized. Isn’t that abysmal?

When we become reasonably affluent and reasonably successful in life, we tend to neglect most basic needs of ours. We become so busy that we neglect proper food, proper sleep, we get isolated from our friends, isolated from family members, and stress becomes our only companion. How much money is sufficient for us? Which car model, how big house, how much gold, what bank balance will make us happy? We have absolutely no answers. The greed for more drives us to become lonely in life; it leads us often discarding our health, our relationships, our zeal, our personal growth, and our desire to contribute beyond ourselves. It makes us so selfish and nothing seems to fulfill our desires. And, desires are very illusive in nature.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, there were two dominant theories in psychology. The first one was the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud;  in his view, human beings are almost entirely driven by primitive urges like sex and aggression. These ever-present impulses must be managed if we are to live together in civilized society. This leaves many people terribly diverged at an unconscious level. A miserable, unfulfilled existence is avoidable if urges are managed well. And, the second theory is called behaviorism by J. B. Watson and B. F. Skinner in which human beings are compared to oversized lab rats; because human are programmed or conditioned to behave the way they do by factors outside of their control. They have no mind, no will of their own. Their feelings are not real and therefore do not matter. People are simply programmable machines who can be manipulated into doing anything. Both theories psychoanalysis and behaviorism had dehumanized our understanding of ourselves and what it means to be human.

In the middle of the previous century, Abraham Maslow’s need pyramid manifesto was introduced which makes us look inwardly to reflect on whether our lower level needs really are being met sufficiently and it also aims to show some possible ways to increase our exponential abilities to grow and thrive on the higher levels we seek. The lower level needs are physiological needs, security needs and social needs and the higher level needs are esteem needs and self actualization needs. Maslow said that people are trapped in never-ending needs and desires; when one need is satisfied the other crops up which leads to a struggle of mankind chasing to satisfy his unmet needs.

Minimalism helps us live purpose-driven life.  What is minimalism? Minimalism is simply getting rid of the desire of excess in life and focusing on what is important so as to find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom. It helps us achieve something ‘higher’ in life.  It inspires us to quick fix our personal or professional success, spiritual enlightenment or any other high level goal. It teaches us to be grounded and self-disciplined in life. And, above all it makes us happy and positive people.

Well, minimalism doesn’t say that it is inherently wrong with owning material possessions. But, when we have too much, it consumes our energy getting more and more attached to maintaining it. We assign such a lot of importance to our materialistic assets. Minimalism simply allows us to detach from the excess. There are many successful minimalists who lead appreciably different lives. It helps us reclaim our time; it allows us to live in the moment; pursue our passion; discover our mission thus allowing us to experience real freedom. It allows us focus on our health and helps grow as individuals by contributing beyond ourselves. By incorporating minimalism into our lives, we can get rid of superfluous attachments which drain our energies.

There is no strict code or an arbitrary set of rules to become accustomed to the minimalistic lifestyle. Yet, it is not all that easy to take the first step to the detachment. But, the fact is that once you adopt it, the journey gets easier and easier. To begin with, you need to make fundamental changes in your mindset, actions, and habits. It helps us to travel the life’s journey lighter because of lesser baggage.  We need so little actually to survive. Minimalism creates more room for what is important. When we clear the clutter we lose that claustrophobic feeling and create the room to fill up our lives with meaning instead of redundant possessions. It allows us let go greed, debt, obsession and overtaxing. This in turn creates an opening to do the things we love, things that we never seem to have time for.

And, while practicing minimalism, we suddenly realize that all the stuff we are surrounded with is merely a distraction. Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy comfort. After the initial comfort is satisfied, that’s where our obsession with money should end. It’s hard not to get roped into the consumerism trap. We therefore need constant reminders that it’s a false sense of happiness. While we enjoy the materialism, we should also recognize that it’s not all that worth it. When we cling onto too many things we only create bewilderment and puzzles; therefore, the fewer things we have to worry about, the more peace we get. It’s as simple as that.

With minimalism you naturally de-cluttering our life; happiness naturally comes because you gravitate towards the things that matter most. You see clearly the false promises in all the clutter, it’s like a broken shield against life’s true essence. It also makes you more efficient and thus you will find more time to concentrate by having refocused your priorities. There is really a lot of joy by enjoying slowing down. When you look at monks, they have no fear because they don’t have anything to lose. That brings such a lot of relief and charm to their life. In whatever you wish to pursue you can excel, if you aren’t plagued with the fear of losing all your worldly possessions. Obviously you need to take the appropriate steps to put a roof over your head, but also know that you have little to fear except fear itself.

The entire minimalist lifestyle promotes individuality and self reliance. This will make you more confident in your pursuit of happiness. Minimalism reduces the amount of distractions to allow us to enjoy and focus on the main message of a piece of art.

Historically, Buddhist monks were allowed to own only 8 possessions; their robe which consisted of 3 pieces of fabric, a begging bowl, girdle, water-filter, a needle to repair their robe, and a razor to shave their head. They spent studying their scriptures and living by the path Buddha outlined, eventually endeavoring Nirvana.  Buddha taught that suffering is caused because of desires and cravings.  The Bible is also packed full of Minimalist ideals.  The Bible states very clearly that life is about following God, not amassing possessions.  Distractions are to be discarded and selflessness is praised.

Minimalism is slowly picking up steam. There are lots of youngsters adopting minimalistic lifestyles. I salute them all whole-heartedly for their guts. It’s not too late for us to re-prioritize our lives around those things which would really make us happy by discarding those things that we don’t really need. We’ve been trained subconsciously to amass wealth; the economy benefits when we can’t control our cravings, but if we decide, we can snap out of it. Enjoy minimalism!!

]]> https://drvidyahattangadi.com/eliminate-the-discontent-by-adopting-minimalism/feed/ 0 https://drvidyahattangadi.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs/ https://drvidyahattangadi.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs/#respond Mon, 01 Dec 2014 04:25:42 +0000 http://drvidyahattangadi.com/?p=1868 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist who is best known for creating ‘hierarchy of needs’. This is a psychological theory which relies on fulfillment of natural human needs in priority, which culminates in self-actualization (fulfillment of one’s talents and potentialities). Human needs are a never ending series; no sooner one need is fulfilled, the other need arises and this is how man is always busy in struggling to fulfill one need after the other. Maslow felt that people keep on fulfilling their never-ending needs from birth till death which are distinct from rewards and unconscious desires.  He illustrated the human needs in hierarchical order in five stages starting from physiological needs to self-actualization needs.

All of us are motivated from within by needs. All through our life, we struggle to fulfill our needs. For example, if you are hungry and thirsty, you will tend to try to take care of the thirst first.  After all, you can do without food for weeks, but you can only do without water for a couple of days!  Thirst is a “stronger” need than hunger. Similarly, if you have not slept for two days and you are hungry, again you will tend to first sleep when you will get chance, because sleep is “stronger” need than hunger. Each individual’s desires and wants vary as per his character. Maslow says that only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied, we reach the higher ranking needs of mastery, independence and realization of personal potential.

The deficiencies in fulfillment of needs motivate people to achieve their unmet needs. The longer the time is taken to attain, the needs become stronger.  For example, the longer a person goes without a rise in his salary, the more he gets aggravated and works harder to achieve his desire. Every person is capable and has the innate desire to move up the hierarchy of needs toward the level of self-actualization. But, the fact is that most of us have to struggle with many failures to meet our lower level needs. For example, completing graduation in desired stream, getting suitable job, coping up challenges in job, buying a house, disrupted progress in life due health, marriage, kids, their education, problem in matrimony, higher education etc etc – the list is big. The needs keep fluctuating between lower level and higher level irrationally. And, this disruption of needs keeps a person busy all through his life. Maslow noted that only one in a hundred people become fully self-actualized.

Maslow described the needs as per hierarchy as follows:

1. The physiological needs: These include the need of breathing, satisfying hunger, thirst, sleep, rest, and sex.

2. Safety needs: These include protection from bad elements in society, security, law and order, stability, strength and freedom from fear.

3. Social needs: These include friendship, family, friend’s circle, work group, community belonging etc, in short love and kindness.

4. Esteem needs: This category includes achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, and respect from others.

5. Self-Actualization needs: This is at the peak of need pyramid. This includes realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Maslow felt that there was a clear distinction between gaining love and gaining respect or esteem. He felt that people get respected for their exceptionality and mastery. As individuals, we naturally wish to excel or be exceptional, to be noticed for our unique talents and capabilities. Each one has some measure of self-esteem and confidence; at some point in time, we try to raise the bar of our performance, and once we achieve mastery we automatically gain the psychological freedom to be creative and grow further. The growth gives us wisdom and the wisdom makes us generous to others.

While the theory is generally portrayed as a fairly rigid hierarchy, Maslow noted that the order in which these needs are fulfilled need not always follow this standard of succession. For example, for some individuals, the need for self esteem is more important than the need for love. Age, race, cast, creed, gender, height, weight, money, status has got nothing to do with the order of achieving each need.

Abraham Maslow also stated that self-actualized people are those who are satisfied with themselves and doing all that they are capable of. Maslow believed self-actualization could be measured through the concept of peak performance or experiences. This occurs when a person experiences all fulfillments in life which gives sense of euphoria, joy and wonder. He also said these people are unusually creative, spontaneous and have an unusual sense of humor. In 1970 he published a list of people whom he felt were self-actualized people. The list included Einstein, Mother Teresa, M.K.Gandhi, Beethoven, Lincoln, and Eleanor Roosevelt and… Abraham Maslow himself.

Maslow felt, a person is always ‘becoming’ and never remains static. The fluctuations in life do not allow a person to remain stagnant. As each person is unique the motivation for self-actualization leads people in different directions. While for some people self-actualization can be achieved through creating works of art or literature, for others it comes through achieving great profit in business, for some it comes through sports, so on and forth. It is worth noting that self-actualization is a continual process of ‘becoming’ rather than a perfect state which we often see in movies ‘happy ever after.’ Success involves many ups and downs, it means going from failure to failure – yet not giving up.

The self-actualizers have few characteristics which allow them to stand out such as they are efficient, they accept other for what they are, they are humorous, they look at life objectively, and they are highly creative people. Such people are child like inquisitive, have great grasping power and great amount of concentration, they don’t dither from trying out new things, they listen to their heart, avoid pretense of any sort, and take responsibility for failures. Although different people achieve self-actualization in different ways (each one has his own unique way), they tend to share certain characteristics.  Maslow said that there are no perfect human beings. Remember, Maslow did not equate self-actualization with perfection. Self-actualization merely involves achieving ones potential.

The greater a person suffers in life, he becomes more realistic. When somebody is offered things on platter, he/she loses value of what has been received by him. I think life is a kind of party.  Lots of people come in your life – some you invite and some come on their own. Some leave early; some stay with you all life; some laugh with you, some laugh at you, and some show up for the heck of it. All, but in the end, each one of these teach you something. Each one changes your learning curve. Some create a mess and some help you to clear the mess. Those who help you clear the mess; most of the times aren’t responsible even little for the mess.  These people are your real friends in life.  In my opinion, you need at least one such friend to reach your self-actualization.