Solar Plexus: Accessing Our Inner Power

It’s time to explore our own inner power and there’s no better place to look than the solar plexus chakra.

*To get an overview on the seven chakras, you can visit my earlier post here: Chakra Crash Course

The Solar Plexus

This chakra is located right in the stomach area below the sternum.  This is the home of our self identity, the ego, and energetic vitality. The solar plexus governs liver, pancreas, digestive system, spleen, and gallbladder.  

FAST FACTS:

• Color: Yellow
• Essential Oils: Lemon, grapefruit, and other citrus scents
• Music Note: E
• Element: Fire

Lessons from the Solar Plexus

The solar plexus is in the chakra of the Self, our: esteem, worth, identity, and instinct. Individuals who have a healthy solar plexus walk the planet with the ability to generate personal power and confidence from within. This is an inner reservoir of strength and vitality, propelling will and intentions into actionable reality.

The solar plexus is where the ego resides. Often there can be a misconstrued beliefs about the ego.  Some might think that the ego is harmful and needs to be destroyed. I myself have found, corroborated by a few respected mentors, that the ego has a purpose to serve.

Think about it, our ego essentially differentiates our energy from the energy of others.  

When we discern what is our energy, our body, or our thoughts we’re at the same time taking responsibility for our health, our energy, thoughts, actions, and outcomes. In many ways the ego helps us to take ownership over our lives.  

Imagine a great garden without ownership:
Who would make sure the seeds were put in the ground in this area?  
Who would do the weeding on the south quadrant?

The ego helps us to establish what part of the great garden is ours to plant, care for, and reap harvest.  A healthy ego is much the same: we accept the areas of life where we can use our personal power to create change.

If our ego is underdeveloped, we’re often in other people’s gardens, pulling up weeds, while our own garden is malnourished and unattended.

If we’re too much in our ego, then we’re harvesting fruit from gardens that are not ours and that we did not help to plant or maintain.

Patterns of Imbalance

The solar plexus governs our digestion, our ability to receive and process vital nutrition.  This chakra also governs mental thought. Scientific studies have found that young people in school perform better when they have access to healthy, nutritious lunches. Proper nutrition impacts our ability to absorb nutrition and new information. When we are not nurturing ourselves, we are not learning or growing. The stomach and the brain are connected.

The following can be indicators of a solar plexus imbalance:

• Low vitality / sluggish
• Pessimism / moodiness / depression
• Digestive issues and food sensitivities
• Liver issues
• Excessive worry and nervousness
• Mental confusion / “clouded thinking”

As we have explored in other chakras, patterns of imbalance happens on a continuum. Sometimes this center is under energized, and at other times we are in excess of energy, holding onto and stagnating the center.

As an a facilitator, here are some of the emotional imbalances commonly seen in the solar plexus.

If we have an over-exercised solar plexus you may notice the following in yourself or others:

• Unhealthy competition
• Deep entrenchment in right or wrong, black or white, all-or-nothing thinking
• Close-mindedness, singular thinking
• Perfectionism, inflexibility
• Judgement and criticism
• Exaggerated sense of self-esteem; excessive focus on self
• Using power to control others
• Shape-shifting, wearing social masks

When we do not have enough energy in this center, you might notice in yourself or others:

• Lack of personal responsibility, low willpower
• Victimhood / self victimization
• Damsel in distress energy
• Low energy, feeling incapable or weak
• Low self-esteem
• Indecision / compulsive distraction
• Lack of energetic boundaries
• Loss of personal identity

Healing the Solar Plexus

In an emotional healing session, we are clearing old belief systems and games (patterns of control) that no longer serve us. This clears out emotional blockages in our chakra system, including in the solar plexus.

When healing this chakra with my clients we are often visiting teenage years when our identities are being formed and expressed in the world.  The decisions we make about ourselves at this time play out in our 20’s, 30’s, 50’s and beyond. If we decided at a young age that we are not good enough, we repeat this cycle of belief in our actions and the circumstances we create in our lives.

In addition to emotional healing session work, there are a few practices I often recommend to help boost the solar plexus, and consequently our personal power and vitality:

Nurturing the Body

Nurturing our bodies creates clarity of mind and is a practice in self-love. Consistent, small changes can create dramatic results. Begin to pay attention to how you feel with what you eat and drink.  
Do you feel heavy and lethargic after eating a certain food?  
Or flighty and chaotic?
What does your body need more of?

I have found Ayurvedic medicine to be an enlightening place to learn about a holistic approach to eating well.  Deepak Chopra’s “Perfect Health,” is a great place to start. An even simpler method is to bring awareness to diet and self-nurturing.  Asking the question: “What best serves my body and spirit today?” and making eating choices from this perspective can create tremendous healing.

Nurturing the Mind

Another way to nurture ourselves is to bring awareness to how we feed our minds. We are absorbing millions of bits of information every second of every day. Often we do this unconsciously. We spend time on social media, watching the news, or absorbed in the same conversations with the same people.

When we feel stagnation, frustration, and uninspired, I typically recommend my clients take a look at the information they’re taking in. Simply be aware.
How do you feel streaming social media sites or watching the news?
What’s the last book you read? Was it inspirational or in a new area of study?
Who do you spend your time with? Big-thinkers or complainers?

I challenge my clients to nurture their minds as well as their bodies. Surround yourself with big-thinking people, read books that inspire growth, and put your attention on the good and growing in the world. After all, when we feel good we do good.

The solar plexus teaches us that the way to experience light, vitality, and strength in the world around us is through the nourishment of our own bodies, minds, and spirit. Our only responsibility is to live in the full power and expression of our own inner light.

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Resources:

Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide, Revised and Updated Edition

By M.D. Deepak Chopra

A great intro to nutrition through Ayurveda:

Root Chakra: Healing with the Earth

Are you ready to take a deeper dive into your chakras?

Great.

Let’s start at the beginning: the root chakra.

*To get an overview on the seven chakras, you can visit my earlier post here: Chakra Crash Course

The Root Chakra

The root chakra is located at the base of the spine. I consider this the “seat” of the chakra system. The color of the chakra is red, and governs the base organs and body systems, including the skin, spine and bone structure, feet, lower back, and blood.

As you might have learned in my Chakra Crash Course, every chakra connects with a scent, stone, music note, and color. I’ll give a quick overview on each, but the majority of information I’ll be focusing on will be in relationship to the emotional / belief system / archetypal aspects of each chakra.

FAST FACTS:

• Color: Red
• Essential Oils: Cinnamon, vetiver and grounding scents such as cedarwood and sandalwood
• Music Note: C
• Element: Earth

Lessons from the Root Chakra

Our root chakra helps us to feel fully rooted here on Earth, tribally supported, fully accepting of our human experience. Individuals with a strong, root-base chakra, have a sense of home wherever they go. They recognize that home lives within each human being, no matter geographic location.  A healthy, well-balanced root chakra also means we have the capacity to feel safety and security, supported and supportive of others, while fully accepting of our physical bodies.

What I find most interesting about this chakra is that most spiritualist types have a very robust root energy center, not only does it help to balance the higher, spiritual chakras, it also helps to “ground” their spirituality into their daily, human experiences. I think we all know spiritualist types that “say one thing, do another,” - this is often an indicator of a root chakra out-of-balance.

Patterns of Imbalance

Where we have injuries can often be a very good indicator of a root chakra needing attention:

• Feet or ankle injuries
• Spinal / lower back injuries
• Issues with the skin or blood
• Anxiety
• Flightiness / accidents

Patterns of imbalance happen on a continuum, sometimes we are simply not taking in enough “fuel” or energy to the center, and other times, we are blocking the flow of energy.  If we use the pool analogy from Chakra Crash Course, imagine seven pools of water.  At the base (the first pool) is our root chakra energy center.  If the pool is lacking in water, we may not be pulling in enough energy to support the chakra. Other times, we the pool is full of water, but not circulating energy. This can mean we are holding tightly to old belief systems in this chakra, unwilling to let go, or grow. Both are patterns of imbalance.

In practice, root-base chakra issues carry emotional and archetypal patterns.  Here are a few common ones I find when working to heal the root chakra:

If we have plenty of energy in our chakra, but little movement, you might notice in yourself or others:

• Feeling “stuck,” unable to move forward
• Extreme discomfort and resistance to change
• Heaviness: both in feeling and in physicality
• Overly demanding, authoritarian, or controlling, “my way or the highway”
• Fight-or-flight / reactive-attachment - trauma patterning
• Orphaned adult archetype: extreme need to “go it alone”
• Extreme tribalism - cult-like commitments to religious institutions, jobs, or people

When we do not have enough energy in this center, you might notice in yourself or others:

• Lack of follow-through
• Accident-proned, due to “spacing out” or physical detachment
• Anxiety over safety and security (finances, home, partner)
• Judgement over body
• Spiritually-inclined, without the ability to manifest or match guidance to actions (lack of integrity)
• Inability to nurture or care for oneself (emotionally and/ or physically)

Addictions, anxiety, obsessive-compulsions, and suicidal thoughts can all be connected to the root chakra.

Healing the Root Chakra

When working with the root chakra in session, we are clearing old belief systems and patterns of control to help move out energetic blockages in this area. Through emotional healing, we are shedding light on aspects of our consciousness (systems of thought) we have about ourselves and others. Through awareness, we are able to energetically release that which no longer serves us.

I have found that in nearly all sessions I am touching on the root chakra, even if we are primarily focused on issues in another chakra. The root chakra carries the majority of our generational patterning, so it is often where we focus when healing cycles of trauma and abuse passed down in families.  It’s also a wonderful place to “anchor” our energy. In this way we are able to translate our spiritual insights into actionable guidance in our daily lives.

As most of my clients know, I might recommend exercises following a session, to help continue the process of balancing chakras.  While emotional healing works all on its own, I have found that when we combine active practice with inner work, we make changes easier and with less effort.  Here is an exercise from my toolbox, that can help balance the root chakra:

Boosting the Root Chakra

For those that need to energize this chakra -

Have you ever looked at a tree?  Find the tallest, biggest, most robust tree around you.  If you’re not near a tree - imagine one. Now contemplate how high into the sky the tree reaches. It’s awesome, isn’t it?  

Consider how a tree can stand so tall.  Its root system, right?

Imagine how deep and how wide the root system of this tree is.

That’s the power of your root chakra.  The greater our capacity to anchor ourselves, the higher we can reach to the heavens (Father Sky, God, Source, spiritual insight).

Find a quiet place at home, or even better, go outside. Close your eyes and take a deep, cleansing breath. Picture roots coming out of the base of the spine, anchoring down, down, down into the Earth.

On the exhalation, release any negativity, fear, anxiety or confusion.  Feel burden slip from your shoulders and move down the roots, into the Earth.

Let. It. Go.

On the inhalation, take up Mother Earth’s loving compassion, up through the root system and into the base of the spine. Feel a sense of complete acceptance, unity, and compassion.  Up. Up. Up through the spine until the sensation fills your body.

Relax.

Continue breathing, visualizing, and feeling until you arrive at a sense of inner knowing belonging, unity, support, growth, gratitude.

I have found this practice to work well for those who experience a lot of anxiety and stress. Use this as long or as quickly as you need until you capture the emotion. I have also found it to work well particularly before bed, for those that repeatedly cycle thoughts at night.

*This exercise can still work for those carrying stagnation (lack of movement) in this chakra. If this is the case, I suggest focusing on releasing fear through the root system, and pulling up support and acceptance. Remember, a deep root structure allows a tree to go through change. It bends with the wind. Looses its leaves in the winter and regrows them in the spring. We can be anchored and open to change. In fact, they support one-another.

Chakra Crash Course

If you have ever had an emotional healing session with me, chances are you have heard me mention the chakra system. I might have suggested grounding your root chakra or perhaps speaking your truth aloud to open the throat chakra.  

When mentioning the chakras, my clients tend to have two types of reactions on the other side of the phone:

“My throat chakra?  Yeah! I have been carrying a lot of anger while battling this sore throat for weeks! It felt so much better following our session.”

The second most common reaction is:

“Huh?”

I appreciate both.  Some of my favorite clients are the few who end a session with, “Emma, I don’t know how this energy stuff works, but it’s working!” 

As much as I love being the magician pulling rabbits out of a hat, to the amusement of a varied few, the truth is that moving energy is just as real and tactile as the phone you’re holding or the chair you’re sitting in. And the best way I have found to understand how to move or heal our energy is by understanding the chakra system.  So whether you are well-versed or completely in the dark, I would like to open the discussion of the chakra system with a crash course that anyone can understand and benefit from.

So let’s get started.  First:

This is not new

Let me begin by saying that this is not new information. A good portion of this has been most-eloquently presented by the fine works of authors and healers, such as: Barbara Brennan, Caroline Myss, Rosalyn Bruyere, Ambika Wauters, Cyndi Dale (to name a few of my favorites) and many more, all of whom are the benefactors of a much more ancient wisdom.  What is new, is my interpretation of the chakra system through the lens of emotional healing, based on the patterns I see in my own work as an emotional healing practitioner.

Self understanding is a path to healing

Second, let’s jump to the most important question we can ask: Why should I care?  You’re straight-to-the-point.  I like that.

Well, most simply, I look at the chakra system as a bridge between the mind, body and the spirit.  

Ancient wisdom did not separate out the mind, body and spirit individually within health. Healing was approached by looking at the interplay between each to paint a greater picture of the whole. So, take for instance a physical ailment such as anxiety.  Looking at it from the lens of the whole, we might ask:

What thought systems, if any, might be contributing to anxiety?
What spiritual lessons, if any, might be contributing to anxiety?
What is the interplay between the mind, the body and the spirit? Is anxiety a physical symptom of being out-of-alignment in one or all of these areas?

The value of understanding the chakra system is we can begin to look at health and healing through the perspective of a greater whole; the way in which our bodies are designed.  This gives us access to more information and greater resources for health and happiness.

So what are chakras, then?

So glad you asked. Chakras are typically characterized as “wheels of light,” or energetic, cone-shaped vortices that run up the spine, from the tailbone to the top of your head. Healers, empaths and spiritualists have “discovered” a great many of the chakras, some even resting above and below our physical bodies.  To keep it simple and relevant, I’ll be touching on the 7 most-commonly identified chakras along the spine.

I consider these chakras a bridge between the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of the Self, because each one corresponds with it’s own body parts and organs, thoughts and belief systems, emotions and even spiritual beliefs. Each chakra carries an aspect of our consciousness. Often, in an emotional healing session, it becomes striking which chakra is out of balance, the words, symbols, colors and belief systems often corresponds hand-in-hand with the common qualities of a given chakra.

Imagine 7 round pools of water with small streams leading into and between each pool. The flow of energy in each pool affects the others. Is the 5th pool stagnating - holding onto the water and stopping the flow up to the 6th and 7th chakras? Is the 4th pool leaking water too quickly, running straight through without enough to sustain it?  

What we want to create is a consistent flow of energy, with each pool of water taking in and releasing energy with ease.

Chakras and Emotional Healing

From the Emotional Healing perspective, I look at chakras as being either balanced (which means we are in-alignment mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually) or out-of-balance. If we are out of out-of-balance in a chakra it can mean one of two things:

• We are exerting too much energy in a chakra center. 
• Or we do not have enough energy in a chakra center.

Emotional healing is an adaptogen, which means, it brings both extremes back into the center, or back to equilibrium.  

As an example, let’s explore the 3rd, solar plexus chakra that’s out of balance. Our solar plexus is what I consider the “power center” of each individual.  It’s where we hold our self-esteem, and ego/ identity.  Here are common imbalances in both directions for the solar plexus:

• If we are not exerting enough energy in this chakra center, we give our personal power away: we may suffer low self-esteem, indecision, and the belief that we cannot create change in our lives.
• If we are out of balance in the other direction, then we are exerting too much energy in this chakra. We may be too heavily into our ego, exacting or enforcing our will upon others, without consent or regard.

A balanced solar plexus is a healthy sense of personal power, self-esteem, and vitality. This person knows he or she has the capacity to create positive change in his or her life.

The practice of emotional healing brings chakras that need healing back into balance, subconsciously, and also quite beautifully.

What’s next:

As chakra work is both integral to my practice, and also one of my favorite topics, I’ll be continuing to post on this subject. By following along, you’ll learn more about each of the chakras and how you can heal the body, mind and spirit through gathering information from each chakra and learning how to boost or release energy from each of these energetic centers.

Until then,  
Be well.