The third chakra is the solar plexus chakra, or the Manipura chakra. Manipura means the "jewel of the city" in sanskrit. It is located right where you think it would be, at your solar plexus, or for those of us with fewer muscles, in the core of your belly. The third chakra is your sense of empowerment. It is from here that your sense of who you are and who you present to the world comes from. It's element is fire. The challenge with this is finding the right amount of fire, too much and you burn those around you and run the chance of burning out, and too little and no one can see your light.
Finding balance in this chakra is a challenging thing to do, I think especially for women. We constantly compare ourselves to others. We either put ourselves down and feel we are not enough, or look down upon others and judge them. We are meant to connect with others, and that is the only way we truly thrive as our best selves, and yet it is so hard with our egos to not compare or envy, and to not make judgements on others. When this chakra is out of balance we can constantly seek others opinions to make ourselves feel better. It is only with others' praise that we feel like we are enough, so we constantly seek approval. I wrote about that here awhile ago without even realizing it. The other extreme is that we don't take others' feedback and think everything is fine. Can you think of someone in your life who is like that? I know that I have had a few managers in my life who fit that bill.
I think we can all think of a time in our lives when at least momentarily we do not feel our inner fire burning strongly. We are unsure of ourselves, we think that we don't know what we are doing, we feel like a fraud. We feel vulnerable. Think of a time you had to public speak, had to have a hard conversation, started something new. Where did you feel it? Butterflies in your stomach? Nauseous? Deep in your stomach your solar plexus chakra was in overtime sending your a message! When this chakra is operating the way it is supposed to, you feel connected to others, empathetic and understand, confident, and potent. You feel full of possibility and ready to take on the world. Nothing feels impossible. You feel supported, and are able to give support.
Physical asana can help balance and open your chakras and for your third chakra any pose that twists your core is beneficial. If you are feeling like you want more you can try poses that are core strengthening such as navasana (boat) pose, or abdominal work like sit ups (hooray!). Twists can be done seated, in lunges, on your back or in other poses like chair pose.
You can also use chanting or mantra to help awaken this chakra. Ram is the deity that rules this chakra and the ram mantra is very simple: rama rama rama. Otherwise you can use affirmations such as : I am enough. I am ready to serve my purpose.
Because the truth is, you are already enough. You are just the way you are meant to be. The rest is just noise. You are the person that the universe needs you to be. Believe it, live it.
留言