Name: Solar Plexus
Sanskrit: Manipura
Element: Fire
Energy type: Mental
Sound: The mantra is RAM, musical note MI or E
Symbolic animal: Aries
Metal: Gold
Colour: Yellow. Complementary colours: golden
Endocrine gland: Endorcinol pancreas (Langerhans isoloe)
Phrases and keywords: "I want". Self-esteem. Logic. Productive work. Individuality. Relationship with one's fellow men, with society and with the social dimension. Personal power management; the joy of life. The connection between the instinctive plane and the emotional plane. Transformation of food into energy. Muscle performance (in association with the first vortex). Chakra of ego, will and discipline; it is to be dealt with both in the case of a weak person in relation with others and in the case of a person who is too rigid, too strong-willed. It is called the "abdominal brain", as it controls instinct and will. It is connected to the seventh chakra.
Linked physical organs: Stomach and digestive system. Liver, gallbladder, spleen-pancreas. Muscular system. Back. The immune system, autonomic nervous system. The chakra also controls the body's thermoregulation.
Physical correlations: Digestive disorders of all kinds, such as heartburn, bad breath, stomach ulcer. Hepatic and biliary dysfunctions. Disorders of the spleen and pancreas. Muscle problems (also consider the first chakra). Disorders of the immune system.
Psycho-emotional correlation: Psychosomatic diseases such as anxiety, nervousness, depression, various addictions. Eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia). Difficulty in relating with the physical body (also keep in mind the root vortex). The chakra also concerns feelings such as selfishness, anger, resentment, intolerance, greed (both of material goods and of spiritual goods, of evolution). Feeling of a punch in the stomach (somatization of the solar plexus). The desire for power.
Body positioning: Anterior chakra: just below the breastbone, at the pit of the stomach, where the dimple is felt. Back Chakra: central area of the back, in the point corresponding to the solar plexus.
Front aspect: It is connected with the desire to impose one's will directly on the world. It concerns the affirmation of personality, as a result of which we experience a feeling of satisfaction. Through the correct functioning of this chakra we are able to reach the things that interest us, we can carry out the appropriate actions to satisfy our intentions and we feel safe and satisfied with the place we occupy in the world, developing the sense of belonging to the universe. The front aspect of the chakra enlightens us on how we manage to manage personal power and on relationships with others: the clockwise motion indicates a positive attitude regarding the help that can be obtained from other people, who are seen not as obstacles (one of the conditions, this, indicates instead from the counterclockwise motion) but as supports to reach one's goals and to emerge in life. If the vortex is harmonious, the individual acts transparently in his quest for success. The harmony of the anterior aspect means that food is transformed into energy (for this reason the minor chakras of the stomach, liver and spleen-pancreas are also important), thoughts become actions and work produces satisfaction and economic gain.
Posterior aspect: Due to the fact that it is placed on the backside of the body, this chakra has shades of yin type: it will therefore be possible to connect it to those characteristics of greater sensitivity necessary to achieve success in the world and to affirm one's will. This vortex resonates with the possibilities of self-realization that involve the use of intellectual faculties of a reflective type, more methodical and slow than the impulsive qualities of the anterior vortex. While the anterior aspect concerns the direct affirmation of personal will and initiative, the posterior aspect controls the opinions we form about the means and strategies for achieving success. Through the posterior aspect of the third chakra, we can correct negative judgments, falsehoods, and erroneous assumptions, to make the personal drive for success bring benefits rather than difficulties.
Crystals: Fire agate, mookaite, moonstone, smoky quartz, hyaline quartz, hyaline quartz with black tourmaline, rutilated quartz, black tourmaline, green tourmaline, gold tiger's eye, citrine, yellow calcite, yellow jasper
Essential Oils: Bergamot, cloves, lemon, red mandarin, peppermint, rosemary, ginger
Bach flowers: Aspen, Centaury, Cerato, Chestnut Bud, Gorse, Holly, Larch, Mustard, Oak, Star of Bethlehem, Vervain, Walnut, Water violet
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Prerequisites to fully understand this post: Knowing what chakras are, please read the blog The 7 chakras first if you are new to the argument.
Manipura, or Solar Plexus chakra, it's the third chakra relative to the body in the energetic system. It is located in the pit of your stomach above your navel and right where your diaphragm resides. It is associated with fire, the sun and the color yellow.
The solar plexus governs the stomach, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, the large intestine, much of the muscular system, adrenal glands, pancreas, diaphragm and most of the skin. Obviously illness involving any aspect of the body that's governed by the solar plexus, point to the fact that the solar plexus chakra is currently out of alignment.
The solar plexus chakra is the center of personal power as well as personal identity. Because of this, it is directly related to personal willpower, ego/personality, personal freedom, confidence, pro-activity, responsibility, reliability, self-esteem, authenticity, personal honor and integrity, ethics, confirmation, sense of personal control and personal choice. This chakra convert inertia into movement and obviously, as it's associated with all this things, it's also associated with the opposites, like anxiety, low self-esteem, jealousy, controlling behaviors, competition, lack of confidence, insecurity, feeling trapped and not free, lack of Integrity, no sense of self, inauthenticity and inertia.
What causes this chakra to go out of alignment?
The answer is relationships! This is often felt, within the content of relationship, as a pit in the stomach feeling. In most of our relationships we don't feel seen, we don't feel heard, we don't feel felt, we don't feel understood. Our personal identity is not really considered or even acknowledge by other people in our reality. This relationships negatively impact your self-esteem, this are relationships in which we are controlled and make us lose the sense of freedom and being.
Anytime you are in inauthentic and you have a weak sense of self, this chakra will go out of alignment, if we do not act with honor and personal integrity it will cause the solar plexus to go out of alignment. These types of relationships, especially if they occur in our childhood years, therefore form the foundation of our relationships not only with other people but also with ourselves, they set up a pattern where we betray ourselves, we have a negative relationship with our self, we have no concept of the self and we do not exercise personal choice. There are voice out there that narcissist should have a really strong solar plexus chakra, this couldn't be farther from the truth. Below narcissism, same as codependency, which is the dominant style of relationships on the planet today, what you have is a deep seeded sense of self that is shame. So it couldn't be the farther, any farther, from feeling good about oneself or feeling free or feeling of fill in the blank, all of these things, the positive aspects that are associated with the solar plexus are completely absent in the narcissists. So I don't want you to start thinking that if you have such a strong ego you have a really abundant solar plexus chakra.
How to re-open/re-align your root chakra
You live your life by the tenant of authenticity, the more authentic you are the more in alignment your solar plexus chakra is going to be. What does it mean to be completely honest with yourself about who you are, what you want and all that good stuff, and then make your personal life choices according to that truth.
Live in congruence with a personal sense of integrity. If two principles communicated by you and your own conscience are not living in the state of wholeness in and of yourself. For example if your conscience tells you that honesty is right for you and you lied, you are demonstrating a lack of integrity, two part of you split in that moment and you will feel bad as a result of it. Basically if you are out of line with your integrity your internal guidance system is taking you right and you are going left.
Know that you have the power to choose. The solar plexus all about the personal power to choose, obviously most of us has grown up in an environment where we feel we don't have the power to choose, coming back to the awareness of the exercising of this power isn't so much essential. The solar plexus is so much about personal choice and the empowerment involved in choosing and deciding for yourself. Now because the natural state of a being in general is a state of health, that means the natural state of being is an open chakra, the best way to go about creating any improvement in any of the chakra is just to figure out what energy, thought, actions or words are opposing the natural energies associated with that chakra and focusing on directly creating healing with that. So if personal empowerment is an issue what thoughts, words, or actions are getting in the way of you feeling personal empowerment or if it's a sense of self-worth? What thoughts, words, actions or experiences need to be resolve there? Find a way to resolve them.
Commit to the path of mastering relationships, which is essentially mastering of life itself because life is nothing but relationships. You have to master relationships, that's going to be your lifelong commitment. Anytime you're in a relationship that strips off your sense of self, anytime you're in a relationship where you are in a power struggle, anytime you are in a relationship where you abandon your authenticity, your solar plexus chakra will be completely screwed. If you're in a relationship where you don't feel seen, heard, felt or understood, you will perceive the other person to be a threat to your sense of self, including yourself concept of personal choice. What we ultimately must learn to implement is the idea that in relationships there is nothing in this universe that is not a part of our self, therefor by taking it as part of yourself you cannot harm nothing or not acknowledge that thing, or not see it, feel it and understand it, without also doing that to yourself. So it becomes part of your best interest to meet the other person's best interest and this is the foundation of trust in a relationship, it's what will create positive relationships in your future. If we saw this as the definition of a healthy relationship, we can clearly see anytime we are the other person in the relationship that were acting different to this. Don't sweep your relationship issues under the rug, that is and absolute disaster, it is the recipe for all your chakras, not just your solar plexus, to go completely out of alignment. What you need to do is to create, resolve and move all of your relationships towards in the direction of the definition I just given you for a healthy relationship. And if you can't, despite all efforts, consider separating from the person, if not permanently temporarily. So literally anything you do to improve the quality of your relationships will improve the way your solar plexus and all of the other chakras in your system are operating.
Many of the dimensions that belong to this universe don't adhere to the same laws that your physical time and space reality operate according to, specifically there is no time and space! This means to think something is the cause of that thing to happen or to be instantly, it's a think "open" and it opens kind of thing. In the physical dimension there is a time and space buffer between thought and thing, the chakra system influences the physical but is a multi-dimensional aspect of you, which is why they are invisible to most people, this means if you think of your solar plexus chakra to open, visualize that is opening it opens! The visualization that I see working the best is when you put your hands over this chakra and you imagine it almost like a vortex of brilliant and yellow light. I want you to imagine it opening, even spinning clockwise, to about a foot wide, sense this chakra pulling in energy from the world with each inhale and emitting your personal power and personal energy to the world with each exhale.
The solar plexus chakra is quite interesting because the majority of chakras in your energy system are primarily influenced by the color that is associated with them. Now the Solar plexus chakra is not actually the same. Yellow is the color that is associated with the solar plexus chakra and even though yellow does cause the solar plexus to open in some people, let's say that your personal truth is that you don't like the color yellow, in this case it will in fact close this chakra. So I want you to think about colors and colors therapy relative to this chakra differently than you usually do. Anytime you were authentic about what color you loved and feel ultimately drawn to that color will open your solar plexus chakra. That means surround yourself in the colors that you are completely authentically in love with, wear this colors, eat this colors, just make sure that whatever color you're choosing is chosen from your freewill and your personal choice according to your authentic preferences.
Stimulate it with sounds. This is relatively easy to do, there are crystal singing bowls that are specifically designed for the solar plexus chakra, there are binaural bits and harmonics available online specifically dedicated to the solar plexus chakra. You can also stick with thousands of years worth of toning traditions, to do this sit in meditation and stimulate your solar plexus chakra by chanting "RAM". Again, if you use this sounds or any sounds, I want you to play around with the tonality so that you can feel the most vibration that you can in the area of the solar plexus in your body specifically.
Use herbs and essential oils to cause your solar plexus chakra to come into alignment through the law of entrapment, same as with sounds. For the solar plexus use the following: Ginger, Dandelion, Saffron, Turmeric, Cinnamon, Chamomile, Bergamot, Lemon Balm, Lemongrass, Fennel, Marshmallow root, Lemon, Milk Thistle and Calendula
Eat food that simulate the solar plexus chakra. What does the most for your solar plexus: Bananas, Pairs, Pumpkin, Yellow Peppers, Squash, Sunflower seeds, Lentils, Curries, Corn, Pineapple, Lemons, Brown rice, Spelt, Cardamon, Sauerkraut, Oats and Ginger.
Bring certain crystals/mineral spirits into your home. There is one stone that actually reign supreme, it's Citrine, it affects your solar plexus chakra unlike any other stone. Other stones are: Honeycomb Calcite, Sunstone, Amber, Golden Apatite, Yellow Tourmaline, Yellow Topaz, Carnelian, Tiger's eye, Yellow Jasper, Hematite and Spirit Quartz (crystals in the picture below in the same order as listed).
Move your body! So incredibly important to bring your solar plexus chakra into alignment! This chakra is so much about movement that it doesn't really matter what kind of movement you do or what kind of exercise you do, as long as it doesn't line up with your personal inauthentic preferences. The tradition of yoga has many poses that are designed to assist the opening of your solar plexus chakra so feel free to attend a yoga class and tell them that specifically you want some of this moves, ask for them here in the comments or search theme online.
Another awesome thing for your solar plexus chakra is abdominal massage. Just i suggest highly if you know that you personally are struggling with the solar plexus chakra.
Deliberately think thoughts, say words and take actions as long as they're authentic, not a lie like many affirmations are or attempt to be in denial about the truth of your personal frequency. But any step you can take in the direction of feeling a sense of your self-esteem or a sense of personal empowerment is going to help your solar plexus chakra come in to alignment as long as it's an honest thought, for example, many of us can't say I have the most amazing body possible but some of us can say I really like my hair. That would actually do more for your solar plexus chakra than any kind of affirmation that you were trying to convince yourself you should use to better self-esteem. Exercise your freewill by making choices that reflect your true self especially choices regarding what relationships to nourish and keep close to you
Get out there and take some risks. I'm not saying to take risks that are stupid to take or that will line you up with serious amount of trouble but I'm saying that most of us like to live their lives too much by their comfort zone and the reality is that our solar plexus chakra loves full movement, as long as it is in alignment with our own personal truth. So here is how to know the difference, there is a big difference between somebody who wants to do something scary and someone who doesn't want to do something and it's scaring. if you're taking action from I don't want to do it and the scary, you are not going to line up a good result and it's not going to do good for the solar plexus. However if it's "I really want to do this and it's terrifying" taking that action and taking those risks in life is going to assist your solar plexus chakra. Bottom line you need to take those risks to feel a personal sense of empowerment and a personal choice.
Get out in the sun! The solar plexus chakra is so affected by sunlight, it governs the skin and so exposing your skin to sunlight is one of the best things you can do to bring this chakra into alignment. I'm not saying go outside and cook yourself, I'm saying just exposure to sunlight.
By intentionally doing things which will stimulate your solar plexus chakra to come into alignment and open, you will be setting yourself up to live the life you intended to live, what you are choosing to live, you will be developing a healthy ego. When you feel you are radiating your authentic personal truth out into the world what happen is relationships will come to you that are in perfect harmony with that authentic self, and this means your relationship will be based on who you really are, this means that you will be living the life you really want, the life that you consciously choose.
Love and Light
Namaste
Stefano