Naked & Afraid - A Yoga Girl's Reasons

Shannon did an interview for a special Naked and Afraid Bares All episode for The Discovery Channel (airing Sunday April 27 at 10:00PM) about her Naked and Afraid experience.  They filmed it in the Open Way Yoga studio in front of the Muladhara (Root) Chakra that Jamie and I painted on the wall.  We're hoping that the images of her in front of the chakra wall will make the episode.  (There are 11 other people being interviewed, so there is no guarantee. )

It's a fun synchronicity that the interview was filmed in front of Muladhara because this energetic root is linked to our instincts and is the center of our most basic survival needs...  I'll let Shannon tell you a little more.     Brian.       

Healing the Root with Naked and Afraid

People have asked me again and again what would drive me to leave my comfortable life to spend over three weeks in a full survival situation with a stranger in Belize, naked... possibly afraid. The standard answer I give is that I have a lot experience with survival skills but I’ve never had a real-life opportunity to use them.  This challenge was the perfect opportunity to test my skills.  But this is only the surface reason.

The deeper reason is less tangible, but just as real and even more meaningful to me.  I wasn’t fully conscious of it until a couple of days before I left for Belize.  I was sitting down for an espresso and a good-bye pep talk with my friend Dana, who also happens to be a minister.  I asked Dana, “Why am I doing this?”  With no hesitation, he replied, “That’s easy.  You’re going to heal your root chakra.”

Oh... Yeah.

The root chakra, also called muladhara chakra, is part of the subtle energy body and is located at the base of the spine.  Within the yogic chakra system, the root chakra is associated with basic survival issues, things like physical security, money, food and instinct.  The root chakra is the foundational chakra and it’s stability impacts the entire energy body.

I’ve always had root chakra issues.  As a child I was fearful and insecure, and as an adult I experienced a lot of fear around security issues.  When I had kids in my early 30’s this weakness became more apparent.  Physically, I felt as if birth had blown out my pelvic floor and with it any trace of stability.  I knew it.  I didn’t know how to heal, but I put it out there that I wanted to heal.  

A couple years ago I had a major relationship end.  In retrospect, I know that the structure of that relationship was the ultimate manifestation of these life-long root issues.  The break-up began my healing process, which has continued.  

Dana was right.  The opportunity to participate in Naked and Afraid was another step in healing my root chakra.  Having a fully articulated reason was the final thing I needed in order to trek into the jungle barefoot and naked, without reservation, without fear, without wavering.  

I went.  It was as if the universe had provided me with this ultimate template for establishing root chakra stability.  I ended up with an incredible partner who was more motivated by my needs than his own.  The first real words he said to me were, “No matter what, I’ve got your back.”  With Cass, I got to experience mutual support around primal human needs; it was a brilliant and illuminating experience. Working together, we successfully completed the challenge.

I had other root experiences that were less tangible.  I can’t write all the details, some of them are too personal and some of them defy words, but I can tell you that something changed for me in Belize.  There were times in the jungle when I could physically feel what I can only describe in words that aren’t quite right... it felt as if the fabric of the universe was knitting together around me, keeping me in place.  Even now I can feel that reality in my entire being.  There is a universal support holding me in place; it is a  limitless, gentle, infinite, supportive energy.  My awareness of my connection to this energy is an ultimate rooted foundation.  

I look forward to witnessing and experiencing the long term manifestations of this healing.  But even if everything stays the same on the surface, I get to experience the bliss of this new found stability and that is worth 100 times the struggle and challenge I faced during my 21 days in the jungle of Belize.