Your Manipura chakra is located a few inches above your navel, and represents who you are…

It is the centre of personal power, confidence and identity. The third chakra, also called as the Solar Plexus chakra, is represented by a yellow lotus with ten petals and governs the element of fire. This fire in our belly is also our intuitive guide, letting us know what is good and right for us.

A healthy and balanced Manipura chakra gives us confidence in the things we do in life, and we feel capable and motivated. We have an inner drive, we trust life and do not feel the need to control everything to the last detail. We feel we are capable to make the right decisions in life, to set our plans into action and to follow them all the way to the finish line.

When the Manipura chakra is imbalanced

If there is a need to control people and events in our lives, the third chakra may be overactive. An overactive Manipura chakra makes us very critical towards others and towards ourselves, and we have little trust that things will be done correctly unless we do them ourselves. When we don’t trust the life or people around us, we can easily become isolated.

The third chakra can be deficient if you feel very passive in life, as if letting life just pass by without doing anything about it. A weak Manipura chakra can mean that you find it hard to bring tasks to a finish or you let others take too much control over your life. A weakened Manipura chakra makes us too dependent on external approval instead of relying on our own personal power for love and acceptance.

How to balance the Manipura chakra

Make sure you are treating yourself nicely. Observe your self-talk, and make it positive. Don’t demand too much from yourself, and be kind. Every time you talk down on yourself, you are making the third chakra more imbalanced.

Since the element of Manipura chakra is fire, you can find healing power in being close to a fireplace, campfire or even being in the sun. You can also meditate with the light of a candle. If you find yourself to be in difficulty, you can also turn to your inner fire for answers and intuitive guidance. What does your gut tell you?

Yoga offers a great way to keep the chakras in balance. For the Manipura chakra you can turn to poses that are generating heat into the abdominal area. Try to also keep your inner, digestive fire healthy by drinking enough water and not overeating.

The color yellow can be used to brighten up your inner fire and balancing the third chakra. You can light up yellow candles, get yellow flowers or imagine a big yellow light around your navel. The sound of the Manipura chakra is RAM, which you can integrate into your meditation or into your yoga practice by saying it out loud or in your thoughts. 

The Manipura chakra teaches us our own power, to trust life and to go forth with faith in ourselves. We are free to choose how we deal with life, and with a strong third chakra we will bring out the inner light and the best in our personalities.