Accessing Your Solar Plexus Chakra For Personal Power And Setting Boundaries

This talk will show you how to access your third chakra, the solar plexus (known as the Manipura Chakra) to build personal power, inner strength and setting boundaries. I will also briefly cover imbalances in the heart chakra (Anahata Chakra) which paired with low Manipura strength can cause "overly emotional" characteristics. The first part will cover my solutions viewed through an energetic perspective while the second part will cover pragmatic solutions you can use when interacting with others.

Transcript

Today I'll be talking about how to develop your personal power. And this includes concepts such as setting healthy boundaries for yourself, Asking for what you want, And also developing an inner strength. So if you gravitate towards my channel, It's probably because you resonate with concepts such as meditation, Spirituality, Loving kindness, And these are all great qualities to have. But the problem I see in the spiritual community is that we are oftentimes overactive in our heart chakra, Related to love and kindness, But we are lacking in our Manipura chakra, The solar plexus chakra, Related to personal will and strength. And if we think of the stereotype of the spiritual new age guy, We think of someone who is overly emotional, Gets upset at very trivial things, And is able to be controlled by other people, And essentially doesn't have a backbone. And today I'll be offering some advice both on an energetic level, On a chakra level, And also some practical concrete advice from my background in sales, On how to develop this quality of personal strength and power. So if we look at the chakra system, Our Anaha chakra, Located in our heart center, Is related to things related to joy, Kindness, And extended love to yourself and others. So if you are already overactive in this chakra, You need to do a bit less of this. So if you are practicing loving kindness meditation, For example, You want to cut back on that slightly, You don't need to get rid of it completely. And this relates to other practices such as Bhakti, Or devotion, Or service as well. And instead you want to focus more on a concentration or focused-based practice. So this can include Zen meditation, For example, Or Vipassana meditation, Something where you are just focused on the process of coming to your breath, Or bring your attention inwards. And the heart chakra is associated with the color green. So one thing you can do is either wear green colors, Or have something green in your food such as broccoli or spinach. Also spending time in nature where there are trees outside can help balance out an overactive heart chakra. And if you are looking at it from a Sanskrit perspective, One of the somethings that the ancient yogis used to do is chant vowels to basically alleviate any overactive chakras. So for the Anha chakra, The word you would say or the vowel you would say is A. So you can either say that out loud during your yoga poses, Or you would say it internally. So if you were holding, Let's just say, A cobra pose, You would say A either to yourself in your mind or vocalize it. And this is shown to balance out the chakras. And now if you are looking at the solar plexus chakra, The Manipura chakra related to strength and power, The vowel associated to that is Ram. So that's R-A-M. And you would basically chant that either to yourself or again vocalizing it. And some of the yoga poses you can take to develop the solar plexus chakra would be Bodh pose, Navasana, And the warrior poses, Vidarbhaasana. So you can either do warrior one, Warrior two, Warrior three. And what can help is to add those chants while you're in those poses to feel strength and stability. Another thing you can also do is take up martial arts of any kind. So back in the day in the 12th century, There was one of the first teachers of Zen Buddhism was a person named Dogen. And he actually prescribed martial arts to his students, His monks. And this was influenced by the samurai culture. So they would take up the monks who take up archery, Swordsmanship, And also Shaolin Kung Fu as well. And actually the strength and discipline that they developed through these practices actually helped them in their meditation practice, But also helped them personally outside the practice because they developed this ferocity and strength that translated not only in their personal practice, But just how in their psyche and how they dealt with the world as well. So you can take up any kind of martial arts as a karate or Taekwondo or wrestling. It's totally up to you, But this can definitely help you build that strength. And another thing is that the solar plexig chakra is also related or corresponds to the digestive system. So the more you can strengthen your digestive fire, The better you can build up this energy system. So you can do that by having warm beverages. Anything that's warmer or hot. So hot tea, For example. Or you can eat spicier foods, And this will help build that fire. Another thing you can do as well is to explore different pranayama or breathing exercises, Yogic breathing exercises. And of course, Do it with the certified and licensed yoga teacher just so you know what you're doing. And the two practices you can take are the Bhastrika breathing exercise or Kapalabhati exercise. And this is the breath of fire. So these two yogic breathing exercises can help build this chakra. So now on to some practical concrete advice that you can use. So oftentimes when we are in situations that we don't particularly like, And in this example I'm going to give an example of someone who is interrupting you in a meeting. So initially whenever you are in this situation where you feel discomfort, The first thing you'll feel is this pulling or tugging sensation. So your body is basically saying, Hey, This is not right. So everyone has this inner voice, Totally natural. But oftentimes if we are a bit more passive, We just let it slide. So we let this discomfort build in us and we don't do anything. This is actually really bad because this develops passive aggressive behaviors because it's not expressed. But also this drains you of your energy because you are holding back from saying something. So an example of passive language would be if someone interrupted you, First off you probably wouldn't even talk to them directly. You would probably say out in a room, You'd say, Oh, If people were allowed to say what they wanted to say, I think this place would be so much better. So notice how this language is very passive. It's not communicating what you want to have happen. On the opposite spectrum, If someone is overactive in the solar plexus chakra, So they would be very aggressive in their language. So they would say, Hey, Don't interrupt me. So the key here is to use assertive language. This is something I learned in sales. So assertive language is you are taking your needs in consideration and then also the other person's needs in consideration and you are meeting in the middle. So the moment this feeling of discomfort arises, The first thing you want to do is act. So it does take some time, But you need to execute every time you feel this sensation. And the language you could use would be, Hey, I noticed. That's a very assertive phrase, Is I noticed. So you can say, Hey, I notice you keep interrupting me. What can we do to fix this? So notice you're not aggressive, So you're not blaming them for this or accusing them of anything, But you're just stating, Hey, I just noticed the fact that I'm being interrupted. And then offering a solution. So what can we do to fix this solution? So notice it's not passive or it's not very aggressive either. So you're communicating your desires. So you're communicating your desires in a healthy manner. And if you're new to this type of behavior, This discomfort and dealing with it, It can be very difficult, Right? Because we're not used to speaking up and oftentimes the way to overcome it is just to do it by action. And the first couple of times it's going to be hard because you're not used to speaking up and this can be challenging. But one thing to keep in mind here is that you want to treat the other person not as a victim, But a fully functional human being. So what you're going to say isn't going to destroy them or just ruin their life forever. Rather, You're just communicating and this can actually present them for an opportunity of growth. So let's just say this person who kept interrupting you all the time continued to do what they did to not just you, But everyone. They would be stuck in their own ways and by bringing this topic up, You are essentially providing them a chance for them to grow. So you want to rephrase that in your mind. So every time you speak up, This can be an opportunity for you to instill growth in the other person because the other person isn't a victim. And I found that this way of thinking radically changed my mind and aspects of things. And I hope this topic helps. And if you have any ideas for any future content, Feel free to let me know. Hope this helps. Thank you.

Reviews

MAGNIFICENT… saving, sharing, coming back for more later. This was perfect for me.. thank you!!

This was on point. Thank you !!

Really helpful tips for practice and for life... i certainly identify with having an overflowing heart chakra and the need to stoke the solar plexus fire! Thank you 🙏

Very interesting and helpful talk. Thanks for sharing! 🙏