Is Love All We Really Need? Or…

This Valentine’s week, my small groups are diving into the belly—the sacral chakra, or what I lovingly call the Waterpark. Why focus on the belly for Valentine’s Day and not the heart you might ask?

If we look at the body's energy centers, we begin at the root chakra, our foundation—our connection to the earth, family, community, and ancestry.

But as we move upward into the sacral chakra belly, we step beyond community and into relationship—intimacy, desire and connection. This is the space where we navigate our needs and wants in relationship with others.

And this is where things get tricky—especially for the singing voice. Asking for what we need—whether in love or in life—is one of the greatest struggles we can face. Yet, the relationship between the belly and the throat must be strong if we are to express ourselves freely, without guilt.

But here’s the paradox: the very act of expressing our needs is, in itself, a great need. The voice is not just about sound—it is about self-claiming. To speak, to ask and to be heard is a fundamental part of our wholeness. When this connection between the belly and the throat is weak, we suppress our truth, diminish our desires, and silence ourselves out of fear or unworthiness.

When we strengthen this connection, we step into our rightful space—not just to sing, but to declare our place in the world. To need is human. To express those needs is liberation, and when we sing it out loud, well even better!

Every chakra carries a shadow, and the sacral chakra’s shadow is guilt—the feeling that stops us in our tracks. The belief that we are somehow guilty and not worthy of asking for what we need. But this Valentine’s, I invite you to ask. Ask for what you need. Ask for what you want. Begin by feeling this need in your belly. Start by taking a few breaths into the belly and really focusing on the words, ‘what do I need right now?’

When we honour our needs, we create the foundation for a truly open heart. Because if the heart is open without the belly’s grounding, we slip into pleasing others at our own expense. And that, in time, leads to resentment, frustration, and a deeper shutdown of the body’s energy and especially this sacral centre.

So let this Valentine’s Day be about more than love, because sometimes love is not all we need, what we need is self-worth, balance, and the courage to ask, which feels like love doesn’t it? Your voice matters. Your needs matter. Let them be heard and then feel the love within your heart open!