Nourishing the 3rd / Solar Plexus Chakra
By Carol Grimes
Located above the navel in the area of the lower rib cage, or solar plexus, the 3rd chakra is the place of willpower, self-empowerment, and transformation. It governs our digestion and metabolism. The color of the 3rd chakra is bright yellow like the sun, and the element is fire. In Sanskrit, the solar plexus chakra is Manipura, meaning "lustrous gem."
When this chakra is awake and balanced, you will feel self-confident, self-motivated, and have a strong sense of purpose. You can achieve any goal you set out to accomplish. Your digestion will be strong and healthy. You will feel empowered from within, without the need for external validation.
Causes of 3rd chakra imbalance:
The most common causes of 3rd chakra imbalance are abuse and trauma. Abuse causes your power to be taken away from you, and it can be a very long journey to recover that power. Additionally, all human beings experience trauma in their lifetime, and as we now know, intergenerational trauma is real, so we are likely carrying a complex history of trauma in our bodies and in our bellies.
Other causes of imbalance include the fads of our time, history, and culture. For example, corsets were a female fashion trend that cut off circulation of the 3rd chakra and contributed to the disempowerment of women for generations. And we are currently inundated by messages that a flat belly is the ideal standard of beauty, which has led to a harmful and toxic culture of weight loss and workout.
Effects of 3rd chakra imbalance:
The most common effects of 3rd chakra imbalance are digestive disorders and disordered eating. Given how prevalent both are in our society, you could venture to say we live in a nation of 3rd chakra imbalance.
According to the chakra system, any kind of digestive complaint is a sign that your 3rd chakra needs some serious love and attention. Many, many people have experienced a difficult relationship with their body at some point in their lives, and behaved accordingly. Overeating and stress eating, as well as dieting and undereating — they both come from the same place and would be considered a 3rd chakra imbalance.
Power and control issues are another common sign that the 3rd chakra is out of alignment. This can manifest as trying to exert control over one’s own body, or trying to exert control over others. Those who are obsessed with power would be considered to have a severe 3rd chakra imbalance. Other effects include low self-confidence, need for external validation, anger, and difficulty making decisions.
Recommendations to balance the 3rd Chakra:
We recommend approaching the 3rd chakra with a mindset of kindness, nurturing, and nourishment to help awaken it or bring it back into balance. One of the best things about the Chakra system is that you can focus on balancing the physical aspects of the chakra, and in doing so you will also awaken and balance the emotional and energetic aspects of that particular energy center. Here are some ways to go about this:
Relax your belly - this is probably the most important thing you can do to help care for and nurture your 3rd chakra, and vastly improve your digestion. We carry a lot of tension and stress in this area of our bodies. Try closing your eyes and giving your belly a gentle massage. Then fully relax your belly into your hands and take 10 gentle breaths, relaxing the belly and all the internal organs more and more with each breath. Do this at least 3x a day.
Allow all bodily functions to function - the body has an inherent wisdom and ability to release energy when it needs to let go and heal. Trust it and allow it to help you. Burp when you need to burp, fart when you need to fart, the same goes for sneezing, coughing, and relieving yourself.
Nourish yourself - the 3rd chakra is the place where we take in nourishment. Approach eating and meal time as a time to nourish yourself and practice deep self-care. Imagine as you eat, the body is absorbing and utilizing all the nutrients that allow you to feel healthy, alive, and glow from within. And after you eat, relax your belly and imagine that you are letting things flow and letting things go, and that the digestive system is doing the work of easeful elimination. What other areas of your life nourish you? It’s important to nourish yourself as much as possible while looking to awaken or balance this chakra.
Vitamin D - allow yourself to also be nourished by the sunshine and fresh air, and drink them in through all the pores of your skin at least once a day, for 10 minutes or longer. Did you know that Vitamin D deficiency is one of the primary causes of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)? If your digestion struggles, make sure you are getting enough vitamin D from sunshine, and through your food or from supplements.
Practice yoga - strengthening, stretching, and massaging the belly during your yoga practice will help to awaken 3rd chakra energy and keep your digestion healthy. The seed syllable for the 3rd charka is “Ram” which you can chant repeatedly, focusing on the contraction and movement of the lower ribs. The pranayama or breathing technique is bhastrika or bellows breath, in which you expand the belly on your inhale and draw the belly button in towards the spine on the exhale. The asana poses most commonly used are forward folds to contract the belly, twists to wring out the belly, and backbends to stretch the belly.
The color yellow - since yellow is the color of the 3rd chakra, it’s recommended to paint walls yellow, wear yellow, or imagine you are being bathed in a bright, yellow light, like the sun in order to help awaken and bring balance to your 3rd chakra.
Stoke the “Agni” or digestive fire - Ayurveda (one of the world’s oldest holistic 3000+ year old, and considered yoga’s sister science) pays particular attention to the importance of digestive health and believes that strong and balanced Agni (digestive fire) can prevent and heal many diseases, and bring the 3rd chakra back into balance. Some of the Ayurvedic recommendations for this include:
Eat 3 meals a day at regular and consistent times and allow your digestion to rest in-between meals (Ayurveda believes in minimal snacking) + eat your biggest meal at lunch (Ayurveda believes your digestion is strongest in the middle of the day) and do not overeat or under-eat at mealtime (overeating causes the digestion to work too hard, and undereating doesn’t provide enough fuel for the digestive fire). If you are interested in learning more, Ayurveda offers many other practical and behavioral suggestions to optimize digestion.
Carol Grimes is Adosa’s founder and offers 10 practices for the 3rd chakra in the On-Demand Library