Using The Chakras for Personal Growth and Healing Series: Third Chakra

Inside each of our bodies lies a sun, a center of energy that powers up all the other chakras. That internal sun is the solar plexus, the manipura chakra, the third chakra, located at the naval.

It’s said that a strong body equals a strong mind, and nowhere is this more evident than in the solar plexus.

Increasing core strength physically inevitably leads to greater mental, emotional and spiritual strength.

The lessons of this chakra include setting boundaries, managing anger, and having the energy and will to manifest your desires in the material world. This is the third part in the Chakras for Personal Development and Healing Series.

By the way, are you enjoying this series? If you are, share it with a friend!

Let’s dive in.

 

The third chakra for healing.

In terms of emotions, the third chakra relates to anger. Anger rises up when we feel powerless, victimized, or feel like we have no control over our lives.

Anger comes up when we feel wronged, as often happens when we carry unprocessed emotional pain related to an unhealed wound.

Feeling and expressing this anger — through journaling, running, dance, punching pillows, or other physical activity — is an important part of healing, and an important part of the forgiveness process. (I dive into the forgiveness process in The Big Shift and my course about emotions.)

Anger is not a socially acceptable emotion, especially for women, so the tendency is to repress it or judge ourselves for feeling it.

This leads to unhealthy coping mechanisms and internalizing the anger, where it seeps into your body and results in lashing out at everything, or feeling generalized anger at the world.

Going into anger and understanding its message is the first step in reclaiming your power, connecting to the true source of power within, and transmuting that energy into passion and action.

 

Anger is also a call to establish boundaries.

A strong naval chakra protects an open heart. It’s like the warrior, masculine, sun energy that protects the more classically feminine yin, flowy, soft heart chakra energy.

Without strong boundaries, you love without regard for your own personal protection and become overly vulnerable. If your boundaries are too strong, however, this creates an energetic wall, blocking you from receiving any love.

If this resonates, you may need to examine your relationship with anger, ask yourself why you’re really angry, and work to create necessary boundaries so you can feel free to love again.

Related to forgiveness, feeling the anger and creating the boundaries your heart calls for is what will help you forgive. Your heart can’t heal if it knows that it could get hurt again.

We’re all in charge of protecting ourselves, parenting our eternal inner child, and creating that strong internal core so we can show up in the world as open, loving, and flexible.

 

The third chakra for personal development.

Firing up the naval chakra gives us the energy to pursue our dreams.

This chakra relates to your personal willpower, your discipline to complete the same tasks over and over again in pursuit of your dreams, knowing that each repetition condenses the energy a little bit more, closer to manifestation, as you work to bring your dreams into reality.

Too much fire leads to burnout, or a sense of bulldozing through life and not co-creating with the universe.

This bulldozing is often based on fear, fear of any openness being viewed as weak, or deeper, fear that you don’t deserve to receive what you desire, and so you strive to control and manipulate to get what you want, thinking that’s the only way you’ll get it.

The third chakra encourages us to be strong and stable with clear boundaries (which also gives us the time to achieve our goals and nurture our spirits).

However it’s located between the center for emotions and flexibility (the second chakra), and the heart.

Energetically, this reveals that a dose of fire is healthy, natural and needed, but we must be cautious to temper this flame.

One errant spark in a friendly campfire can ignite an entire forest. It’s important to remember that and contain your flame, using it as another tool and not THE tool to get what you want.

This whole journey through the chakras is about balancing the energies within so that you can begin to better attract your desires by showing up as the true you, in total balance and alignment.

The more you’re aligned with your true self, the more things flow to you and the less you have to reach out and grab them.

It takes work, yes, but the work comes from joy and a sense of connection to the universe. It’s work you love to do, work you can’t not do as opposed to work driven from fear, the desire to control, or manipulate outcomes.

On the other extreme, not enough fire leads to fatigue and an energetic wishy-washyness that leaves you too indecisive to create anything real or lasting.

Sometimes in the spiritual world, we’re taught that desire is wrong, that personal willpower is wrong, that we should submit ourselves entirely to the universe’s will.

Let’s not forget that true yoga, or union, is to join our will with the divine will. This means that one is not subservient to the other, but they are truly joining, converging, in the ultimate co-creation.

Of course the divine is ultimately in charge — the universe is its party after all, we’re just accepting the invitation — but we have so much power to create our lives in the reflection that we want to.

We all have certain lessons to learn, gifts to give, messages to share, but the way we do that is entirely up to us. Our only job is to show up and be our true selves. In this way, we cannot help but give our gifts to the world.

Your existence is a gift. When you’re connected to love, you are giving to the world the medicine it needs and the medicine you need to remember your wholeness.

 

To summarize, the lesson of the third chakra is this:

You must be firm in your desires, unapologetic about your deservingness to receive them (the first chakra), and flexible enough in the process to navigate the obstacles that will come your way (the second chakra).

Ignite your inner fire and let it burn, but don’t let it scorch others. May your soul be warmed by the heat of this fire, your will powered by love to uplift yourself and the world, and your life elevated to the heights that you imagine but can scarcely believe is your reality to behold.

It is. Everything you dream of is real. Your desires are destiny. You’re already there. The more true you are to you, the faster they’ll manifest into the material world.

 

To balance the third chakra:

Mind:

Consider your boundaries in life, where you need more of them, or possibly where you’re not letting in the things you desire from fear.

Body:

Focus on strengthening. Lift weights. Do core work. Ignite that inner fire and/or heal anger through cardio, dance, kickboxing — anything that makes you feel breathless and challenges your muscles!

Soul:

Build your confidence and a healthy sense of self! Know that true power comes from a connection to the divine, but balance that with kind self-talk and building yourself up, following your dreams, and focusing on creating your life in reflection of what you want, not what others ask of you.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s blog, and that it inspired you to love hard and live free. <3

All the love,

Suzanne

 

p.s. Did this article resonate with you? Share your thoughts in the comments below! Then, share with a friend looking to find more confidence and happiness! She’ll appreciate you for it 🙂

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