Are you constantly feeling insecure and overwhelmed? Are you having trouble saying ‘no’ and setting clear boundaries with people? Are you lacking self-esteem? Do you seek approval from others? Or, on the other hand, you may be overly arrogant and domineering. You may be a manipulator, using people to your own advantage, breaking their trust and their hearts.
All these things signify an imbalanced solar plexus chakra. So, healing the solar plexus chakra is essential for a person to overcome their feelings of inadequacy and their toxic ways of dealing with other people in order to finally restore the balance in their life and find their purpose.
What Is A Chakra?
The word ‘chakra’ means ‘wheel’ in Sanskrit, and it points out to the spinning energy wheels that are located along a person’s spine. Buddhists and Hindus have a belief that a chakra is a place where the physical and the spiritual collide. Moreover, every chakra moves at a different speed which determines its color and frequency.
The chakras are also connected to our emotional and physical well-being. So, when our chakras are in balance, we feel at peace. We are healthy and there is a sense of calamity and serenity in our life. On the other hand, when some of our chakras are blocked, then we feel physically and emotionally ill, anxious, and distressed. Therefore, it is vital for us to connect with ourselves and our chakras, to heal, in order to maintain the balance and harmony that we all want in life.
What Is the Third Chakra?
The Solar Plexus chakra, or Manipura, is the third chakra. In Sanskrit, it is translated as a “lustrous gem.”
Where Is the Solar Plexus Chakra? (Solar Plexus Chakra Location)
The solar plexus chakra is located in the abdomen area, just above the belly button and up to the breastbone.
What Is the Solar Plexus Chakra?
The solar plexus chakra, or the Manipura, is the third chakra. In Sanskrit, the name means “lustrous gem” and it is connected to the self-esteem of a person, the personal power, the power of transformation, and the warrior energy that is within every one of us. This chakra also governs the identity and the ego of a person, as well as their independence, freedom of choice, and authenticity.
The solar plexus chakra is a chakra that governs our purpose in life. It affects our self-confidence and motivation to go into the world and accomplish things for ourselves. Moreover, the solar plexus chakra is also associated with our digestive system and its organs which in turn have an effect on both our gut feeling and our stored emotions in the brain. This chakra is masculine in energy and is yellow in color (and/or gold). Its shape is a downward-pointing triangle within a ten-petaled flower. Its element is fire (as well as the sun). The solar plexus chakra’s mantra is “I can” and that’s the reason why this chakra is one of manifestation.
When the solar plexus chakra is blocked or out of balance, then the person might experience some problems with digestion from heartburn, stomach pain, nausea, ulcers, a loss of appetite, or acid reflux to more serious conditions such as diabetes, eating disorders, or hypoglycemia. On the emotional side, when the solar plexus chakra is blocked, the person is irresponsible, controlling, immature, has a victim mentality, and has an inferiority complex. They can also feel insecure and helpless and can’t gain control over their life.
When, on the other hand, the solar plexus chakra is balanced, the person radiates with confidence and positive energy without being arrogant. They have a sense of purpose in life and their following their goals. They are calm and balanced with their thoughts and emotions.
Opening The Solar Plexus Chakra
If your solar plexus chakra is closed, then you need to heal it and open it if you want to regain your personal power. Luckily, there are easy ways to open your solar plexus chakra and get control over your life.
One way to open your Manipura, or solar plexus chakra, is by aromatherapy. To open this chakra, burn fiery incense and essential oils such as ginger, sandalwood, musk, saffron, and cinnamon.
Another way is by repeating positive affirmations about your personal power. Repeat positive affirmations aloud, in your head, or by writing them down in order to get rid of your negative thinking and replace your toxic thoughts with positive ones. For example, repeat these affirmations:
- I am motivated to follow my path and achieve my goals.
- I am capable and ambitious.
- A feel calm, powerful, and confident.
- I can take on any challenge that gets on my way.
- I forgive myself my mistakes and I learn from them.
- I have only control over my actions and reactions.
- I am courageous to make positive changes in my life.
- I am powerful.
Yoga is also a powerful tool for balancing the solar plexus chakra. By practicing yoga, the person gets into a calm state, and by focusing on their breathing, they release the stress and the tension in their solar plexus chakra. They start healing themselves mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Best yoga poses for healing the solar plexus are: the warrior poses that help build confidence and strength, the boat pose balances digestion, strengthens the abdominal muscles, and develops a feeling of personal empowerment. And finally, the sun salutations warm up the body and connect the person with the sun’s fiery energy.
Remove any blockages from the past. Start healing from your past traumas because they are stored in your body and thus continue affecting your whole life in a negative way. Work on removing your toxic patterns and behaviors. People who have experienced bullying, had strict parents, or suffered physical or mental abuse have difficulty balancing the third chakra, the solar plexus chakra. That’s why getting help from a professional, getting therapy, love, and support from loved ones can help the person start their healing process and thus restore the balance in their life by healing their solar plexus chakra.
Finally, when someone struggles with the solar plexus chakra, maybe the best way to help themselves is by making small choices and changes that make them feel happy and authentic, such as buying a new piece of clothing, new perfume, changing their hairstyle… anything that will make them feel like they are in their power.
Best Crystals For Balancing And Healing The Solar Plexus Chakra
Using crystals for healing and balancing the solar plexus chakra will help you regain your sense of responsibility and purpose in life. It will bring back the lost balance of your life. Because this chakra is connected to the color ‘yellow’, this color is essential when it comes to choosing crystals for this chakra.
The color yellow is connected to the Sun and its power. Yellow Tourmaline is a rare kind of tourmaline because of its color yellow, but this crystal can help you clean your body from all the negative energy that is accumulated inside you and that is blocking your solar plexus chakra. Citrine is another yellow quartz that heals this chakra and restores its balance. Other crystals for healing the third chakra include Yellow Jasper, Yellow Quartz, and Tiger’s Eye.
By balancing the solar plexus chakra we can restore our energy and we can empower ourselves to live our life with confidence, purpose, motivation, and ambition. We can become free of control and entirely focused on our goals, on our life, and making it better. We can be our most authentic selves and choosing a life full of blessings for ourselves.
How Healing The Solar Plexus Chakra Leads To Self-Acceptance, Confidence, And Power
Chakras are points in our body that are very concentrated with energy. And just as every organ in our body has a physiological role, every chakra has a spiritual one. When a chakra is unhealed, it can bring about pain and suffering to the person. That’s why it is so important for us to have our chakras balanced and in good health.
And even though the chakras are not physically there in our bodies but are only energetic points, they can also be hurt and dysfunctional. When the energy of a chakra gets chaotic and out of balance, the chakra gets wounded. This oftentimes occurs because of the person experiencing a traumatic event connected with that particular chakra. And other times, the hurt occurs from a long period of imbalance (excess of deficiency of the energy) of the chakra. However, regardless of the cause of the wound, that incident really affects our mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual state.
Every chakra has a purpose and it brings blessings to our life. However, chakras have also a shadow side. When you have a wounded chakra, you live in its shadow. So, the healing process involves first recognizing the wound of the chakra so that we can move past it and concentrate on bringing back its power. As the saying goes, hurt people hurt others, and healed people heal others. Therefore, when you heal yourself you can also help other people around you.
When it comes to the solar plexus chakra, their shadow side is shame. We experience this emotion in our teenage years, when we want to express who we are and we explore the world thus building our identity. So, we tend to do the things that get us validation from other people and we suppress the ones that show our weaknesses and imperfections. All this leads to a dual identity – one that makes us feel good and confident, and one that makes us feel ashamed and insecure. And having this fragmented identity is what makes us feel incomplete further in life.
And the more people around us validate our perfectionism, the more we are vulnerable to criticism and the more we judge ourselves. So, we feel ashamed to make a mistake and fail. Shame is an emotion that keeps us stuck. It keeps us small. It is a toxic protective mechanism that never protects us. On the contrary, it hurts us. It tells us we are not good enough, we are not worthy. Shame reminds us constantly that our desires are impossible to reach because we are not capable and deserving of them.
There are also physical signs that your solar plexus chakra is wounded and you live in its shadow side such as holding yourself to impossibly high standards and having zero tolerance for failure. This means that you are guided by shame and it obstructs you from realizing your true potential and unleashing your power to make your dreams come true.
When you heal your wounded solar plexus chakra, then all your limitations vanish and you finally understand that your flaws and imperfections, together with your vulnerable side, are the things that make you special and attract people and opportunities towards you. Those things are what make you unique and worthy.
The solar plexus chakra gives us the incredible gift of self-acceptance. Therefore, to heal this chakra, we need to remove ourselves from thoughts of judgment and blame and start thinking more positively about ourselves. We must remind ourselves that we are worthy and deserving of everything good that comes in our way. We must accept ourselves, as well as others, with all the flaws and vulnerabilities.
And the more you accept yourself as you are, the more worthy you become and the more blessings life will throw at you. Because, if you don’t believe you are worthy and deserving of good things, then you cannot create and get anything that you want in life. Therefore, self-acceptance is essential when it comes to your growth and success. To receive love you must feel worthy of receiving love. To be successful you must believe you deserve success. To have a loving partner you must feel worthy of it.
Therefore, in order for you to feel worthy, you must heal your solar plexus chakra.
Here are 3 steps that can help you:
1. Be aware.
Create a list with all the things you need to ‘fix’ about yourself. List everything that you think you need to change and all the things you need to improve in your life. Then make a notes about why you judge yourself for them and why do you believe they make you unlovable.
2. Change your mindset and discover your gifts.
Read the things you wrote again and then think about how they shaped you into the person you are today. Think about all the ways they have served you.
3. Confront your critic.
Identify one thing or skill you have not pursued just because you think you are not capable and worthy of it. Then, become aware of the things you say to yourself and your thoughts of not being enough and do the thing anyway. Do it in spite of your fear of failing. Let yourself fail so that you can be free of having to live your life perfectly.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
