Solar Plexus Chakra: fire in the belly

Below is the fourth in the Chakra Sunday Series. Here are links to the previous three:

What are the Chakras?
First Chakra: Root Chakra
Second Chakra: Sacral Chakra

This week's spotlight is on the third or Solar Plexus Chakra -- our ego base. It is the seat of our personal power, and the place where we carry unresolved fear, anger and guilt. It is also where we feel love for ourselves.

Questions to ponder regarding today's chakra:

Do you like yourself?

Are you honest?

Are you critical of yourself and others?

Do you tend to place blame as a way of protecting yourself?

Are you afraid of responsibility? Or do you take on responsibilities for others?

The Solar Plexus Chakra is positioned just below the bottom of the cartilage of your breast bone -- about a fist-width above your belly button .

Here are some indications that you've got an imbalance in your Solar Plexus Chakra.

Emotional and mental:

Problems with trust

Being on either the giving or receiving end of fear and intimidation

Low self-esteem, self-confidence or self-respect

Sensitivity to criticism

Lack of personal integrity -- a disconnect between your values and your deeds. Breaking your personal code of honor.

Continual need for approval by someone who is not you.

Physical symptoms associated with imbalance:

Ulcers

Intestinal problems (large or small)

Pancreatitis or diabetes

Digestive issues (acute or chronic)

Anorexia or bulimia

Dysfunction of the liver, kidney, gall bladder or spleen

The Solar Plexus Chakra becomes active as you move from childhood to adulthood, as you become capable of standing on your own.

The color is yellow.
The element is fire. As in "fire in the belly."

The seed sound is "RUM" (This cracks me up -- what a great mantra for the belly. But the sound is actually pronounced more like "room." This is mentioned for those who are meditating daily this month for Mel's Happiness Challenge).
The verb is "I can."

The sense is sight.

The associated endocrine gland is the pancreas.

The Solar Plexus Chakra has to do with your personal power and love of self.

Christian Sacrament: Confirmation. Becoming responsible for the quality of person you are. Coming of age, making and honoring your own commitments.

Jewish Sefirot: Hod and Nezah. Hod is the energy of the majesty of G*d and Nezah symbolizes the endurance of G*d. Together they are the source of prophecy -- your "gut instinct."

Healing thought: Honor Oneself.

A wise man once told me that being grown up (which is the life transition of this chakra) means seeing the world as it is, not how you think it should be.

I notice a huge energy drain any time I focus on what is missing from my life rather than on what I have. By accepting what is, by loving myself and my life, by accepting responsibility for what I, in fact, have created at a deep, soul level, I then live in integrity.

The clearer I can be in my Solar Plexus Chakra -- meaning I continually dissolve energy blocks that result from fear and dishonesty -- the clearer and louder my inner knowing is. I can tune in to my built-in guidance system that clues me in to people, situations, and decisions.

The muddier I am and the less mindfully I react to people and situations around me, the more difficult it is to "feel" the guidance in my gut. I am then living in the grip of fear, and that makes everything icky. For when I live in fear, I feel powerless. I must then pause to call back my power from all the people and situations I've left it with.

In the past I have violated this guidance by staying in a relationship that I knew wasn't good for me, preferring to stay and be taken care of than to leave and face my fear of standing alone. I once stayed years too long in a toxic job that adversely affected my health.

With the relationship, I was finally pushed out by a major upheaval (which seemed awful at the time, but was actually an answer to my prayers).

And dealing with the job situation while I was learning about energy work, I was able to employ my personal power more and put into practice my favorite phrase: "leap and the net will appear." But it wasn't easy to take that leap. How would we possibly live on half our income, with a baby daughter and one more adoption ahead of us? Once I aligned my gut feeling and my actions, the Universe aligned to support my decision. I have combed over our finances in Quicken, and I can't tell you how it happened, but it did.

Dr. Caroline Myss talks about the true nature of our physical bodies. "From a spiritual perspective, any and all physical assets and limitations are illusory. Yet a person's acceptance of or resistance to them is critical to entering spiritual adulthood."

Then she reflects on the third chakra challenges of a person in a wheelchair (but the example can be made to any physically limiting condition, including infertility): "The fact that the physical world is an illusion does not mean that the wheelchair does not exist or that her physical problem is not real. Rather, it means that nothing in the physical world can contain or limit the power of the human spirit."

I have seen people in the blogosphere free their spirits, and I am in awe for their courage and grace. For example, a certain blogger (nameless unless I get her permission) has committed to living her life the way it is rather than the way she thinks it should be. She is unplugging from negative people and circumstances, invoking her own beautiful and majestic spirit, and is rebuilding her life with endurance (Nezah) and dignity (Hod). We get to watch as this act of integrity, joined with her writing creativity, propel her to becoming a strong and internally guided voice.

So, as I go forward in my day, my intentions are to honor myself and to listen to my inner knowing. To integrate my thoughts, words and deeds. To keep my personal power intact and to not give it away to anyone or anything outside me.

And maybe to have some RUM at the end of the day (virtual mojito, anyone?).

I invite you to do the same.

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This post researched, in part, from Anatomy of the Spirit, by Caroline Myss, PhD.

The paintings for this series were created by Lisa Brown-Olsen. Her work is featured at Green Mountain Yoga.

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A look back at the Signs: the dying woman and the seer on Drama 2B Mama.