You can’t feel light and happy, free and easy, capable and confident without a balanced solar plexus chakra.
Responsible for how we act, how we behave and how we’re seen by others, the solar plexus chakra is both the seat of the ego and the soul, where our human and spirit combine to create this thing we call SELF.
When you understand the power of the solar plexus, you understand how to connect with a true sense of who you are in order to take action that’s in integrity with your authentic self.
What does the solar plexus chakra do?
The solar plexus chakra, also known as the Manipura chakra, is home to your life force energy and personal power.
Located in the upper abdomen, beneath the notch of your rib cage, this third energy center in your body is responsible for your agency, your volition, and your firepower.
It’s where you feel motivation and willpower, or the lack thereof, and it informs your ability to move, act, be courageous, and manifest dreams into reality.
In your physical body, the solar plexus area is connected to the energy of your stomach and digestive system, intestines, liver, spleen, gall bladder, pancreas, upper abdomen, upper spine, and muscular system.
When it’s out of balance, physical symptoms such as pain, sensations, and disease can occur in these areas of the body.
The solar plexus is our physical expression of energy, where our emotions move from our inner world to the outer world.
When we’re full of joy, laughter, and jubilance, it bursts out from our solar plexus area. When we’re full of depression, anger, frustration, or unease, we also release those feelings out into the world from this energy center.
The solar plexus chakra is where we shine our inner light from. It’s also where we may dim our light and diminish ourselves, squashing our self-esteem and sense of self-worth.
A balanced solar plexus chakra is a balance between ego and soul, a balance between doing and being, and having a clear sense of acting in alignment with your higher purpose.
What does it mean if you have a solar plexus chakra blockage or imbalance?
You’ll know you have some blocks in your solar plexus chakra when you have blocks and resistance surrounding your actions in life.
This might look like a lack of motivation, optimism, or drive towards your goals in life. It can look like procrastination or a pattern of non-action towards the things that would most support you or bring you joy.
A blocked solar plexus chakra can feel like your inner light is dim or has gone out, leading to depression, anxiety, worry, and low self-esteem. These blocks can cause doubt, apathy, lethargy, a sense of stuckness, frustration, and rage.
On the other side of the pendulum, a too open solar plexus chakra is considered equally out of balance but will have a different set of symptoms.
Overactive solar plexus chakra energy shows up in your life as being domineering and controlling, overly aggressive or hostile, incredibly angry or physically enraged. This is the energy of the volcano erupting, the tea kettle boiling, a surge of life force energy so powerful you don’t want to be in its wake.
You may also experience an unbalanced solar plexus chakra through issues with your digestion, an upset stomach, leaky gut, queasiness, and conditions related to the liver, pancreas, or spleen. You may experience ulcers, stressed-out adrenal glands, mid-back pain, muscle cramps, and sprains. Nervous butterflies in your belly, anxiety in your gut, a sense of dread or unease in your stomach are all reactions to a solar plexus chakra imbalance of some sort.
This third chakra is also intimately connected to your sixth chakra, with your embedded subconscious beliefs playing a huge role in your ability to take action or make things happen in your life. So a blocked solar plexus chakra can often go hand in hand with a blocked third eye chakra.
How to open, balance, and heal the solar plexus chakra?
If you want to express your life force energy out into the world, you have to have an open, balanced, and flowing solar plexus chakra!
There are many different ways to help open, balance, and heal this Manipura chakra, our center of personal power.
A guided solar plexus meditation can help you connect to this space within your body to amplify and clear its energy.
You can use your third eye chakra powers of imagination to envision your solar plexus opening up more and more from within your body, like a sun shining out from your center.
Ask for any blocks, patterns, or stagnant energy within your solar plexus chakra to appear in your awareness like grey clouds or smoke, and imagine the light of your solar plexus burning right through them, dissolving them and releasing them for good.
Solar plexus crystals can be used to help open and balance this chakra as well. Look for gold and yellow colored crystals like golden calcite, yellow quartz, tiger’s eye, pyrite, and my personal favorite, citrine. These crystals all help amplify the natural energy of your solar plexus, boosting your optimism, confidence, courage, motivation, and ability to act on the visions of your mind and the stirrings of your heart.
You can also do some solar plexus balancing yoga poses to help get the energy flowing in that area. Chest openers like camel pose and backbends can help open the flow of energy in your upper abdomen. Alternating between cat and cow pose along with your inhales and exhales is another great way to activate and clear the solar plexus. Also, any abdominal or core exercises will help strengthen your energetic core and ability to stand in your own truth.
You can also eat foods that stimulate your solar plexus energy. Look for yellow fruits and vegetables that radiate sunshine, like lemons, bell peppers, corn, mango, sweet potatoes, bananas, pineapple, and squash. You can also look for animal foods like butter, ghee, eggs, and honey to stimulate the solar plexus’ grounded strength and momentum.
What are some signs of your solar plexus opening?
If you have a blocked solar plexus chakra and it begins to open up, you will feel the difference in how you’re able to take action and get things done.
When the solar plexus is open and balanced, with the energy flowing through, you will feel naturally confident and capable. You will be able to take action and move beyond the subconscious patterns and doubts that stand in the way.
An opening of the solar plexus feels like the mud that once kept you stuck is receding, the ice is melting, and your natural motivation and enthusiasm come to the surface to propel you forward towards your goals.
The things you’ve been wanting and wishing for start to appear in front of you or flow so much easier into your life. It feels like the obstacles are removed, or at the very least, much easier to navigate around with a positive perspective.
You can easily tap into a sense of ambition and drive, you are more steady and focused on what you want to achieve, and you will have a sense of determination in the actions you take.
An open solar plexus also opens you to the light of joy, laughter, and the jubilant giddy spirit that you have within. Often our sense of humor and happiness are first to leave when we feel worry, doubt or stress, but as soon as we can establish a balanced opening of the Manipura chakra, our inner spirit can’t help but shine through, bringing you positive energy and a sense of joy that percolates up from within.
What are some signs that someone else is draining your solar plexus chakra?
In reality, no one else can drain you of your energy, even though it feels exactly like that’s what’s happening! Your solar plexus chakra energy can only be drained if you allow it, even if that’s on a deeply subconscious level.
If your sense of self is based on how you make others feel or how others feel about you, you will always have an off-kilter and imbalanced solar plexus chakra that wavers around different people, moving from a too closed, protective state to an aggressively open state that breathes fire whenever you’re triggered.
So, the key to not allowing your solar plexus energy to be drained by anyone else is really to stay focused and conscious of your own energetic balance at any given moment and to check in with your solar plexus chakra when you’re feeling overwhelmed with fear, doubt, uncertainty or unworthiness.
Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths and envision your solar plexus chakra shining like a bright yellow light within the center of your body. Using that third eye vision, bring awareness to any attachments, cords, or stuck emotional energy here in your solar plexus.
Trust your imagination or what you feel here. Then ask for any energy that does not belong to you to be removed now.
Imagine your hands caressing your chakra, unplugging any cords or attachments to other people’s energy, smoothing out any dings or dents, restoring it to its original balance.
It can also be very helpful to do some shadow work for solar plexus healing, as we store so much of our bruised ego issues here.
Anywhere you feel doubt, fear, or an inability to act, you want to look deeper into the shadow energy that could be hiding in your solar plexus chakra, to express those repressed emotions in a healthy way.
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I hope this gives you a good introduction to the power your solar plexus contains! When you can bring it into balance, you can better tune into your authentic self and act with integrity and conviction, to help the world shine brighter!
External Resources
Everything You Need to Know About Solar Plexus Chakra Healing
Solar Plexus Chakra Stones: 11 Healing Crystals You Need
Your Third Chakra: Find Power & and Warrior Energy in Your Solar Plexus & Manipura Chakra