The Solar Plexus Chakra

Have you ever felt butterflies in your stomach? That’s the Solar Plexus chakra at work! Also known as the personal power chakra, the 3rd chakra’s energy develops in our late teens and takes us into early adulthood. It’s a great time for self-identification, managing contrast, and identifying where we belong among different social groups and settings – but do we know where our boundaries lie?

• Color: Yellow
• Location: Stomach; Upper Abdomen.
• Element: Fire
• Development Stage: 15-21 years old

Who am I, and Who do I want to be?

It’s no surprise that the Solar Plexus Chakra develops during a time that many people call “the best time of their lives”. Developing during 15 and 21 years of age, this is a time for fun, joyfulness, laughter… and a lot of drama.

We’re identifying who are friends are (or aren’t), what aspects of our family we enjoy (or reject), and the aspects of our society that we identify with (or abhor). It’s no surprise that conflict is a big theme during late adolescence and early adulthood. The contrasting energy that we gathered during the sacral chakra’s development stage comes back around to manifest itself in different scenarios. The difference is that this time, we’ve become aware that we have the power to fight back.

So, how well were you able to handle conflict then? Think about the people around you – How did they handle conflict?

A Matter of Choice

If you’ve ever been a teenager, you know how easy it was to make snap judgements, burn bridges, and make impulsive decisions during that time. While this behavior may be forgivable within the adolescent context, there’s a big problem with that: Impulsive decisions may have permanent effects, and the young person making the decisions lacks the maturity to wager the true weight of said effects.

It’s hard to blame a young person for making rash decisions. A lot of times, they’re simply working with what they have been served by their environment and their immediate connections. But they have to break through this journey somehow, don’t they?

This is where the power of personal choice comes into play. Every choice we make is meant to either break from a boundary, or to establish a new one. It’s important for us to have the freedom to reshape our boundaries because it allow us to experiment, feel excitement, and try on different identities to see which one makes us feel like our best selves.

Boundaries Bring Happiness

While this all sounds like fun, boundaries also exist because they are meant to help us stay safe. A healthy boundary is one that helps you define when it’s safe for you to enjoy yourself.

Now, if you think that breaking out of a boundary is hard, try establishing a healthy one for yourself! It takes experience and determination to define where, when, why, how, and with whom… But do you know your Why? The Solar Plexus Chakra presents a transformative journey to us, a path through which we are required to choose our goals and the boundaries that we have to set for ourselves in order to get there.

If your “Why” or your purpose isn’t clear, then your boundaries are meaningless. You leave the door wide open for absolutely everyone to have an opinion on your life, and that’s when you begin to give your power away and lose your joyfulness.

How to Heal the Solar Plexus Chakra

It’s no coincidence that the Solar Plexus Chakra is often related to food and dieting – What better metaphor for the energy that we choose to ingest or not, than a diet? We not only ingest energy through food, we also absorb it through our environment and the people around us. Yes, you are the people you hang out with. Yes, you are the places you frequent in. Yes, you are the job you chose. Is that OK with you?

What the Solar Plexus Chakra affects:

Confidence, control, strength, personal image, attitude, and responsibility. The Solar Plexus is the magnetic core of personality and ego, it brings powerful lessons of courage, self-esteem, self-respect, and establishing healthy boundaries. If you’re feeling stuck in any of these areas of your life, consider re-visiting the energy of your early adulthood and the choices that you made then. Is any of it resonating with what’s going on now?

Is my Solar Plexus Chakra unbalanced?

Issues regarding the stomach, pancreas, upper intestines, liver, middle spine, middle back, gallbladder, adrenals. People who identify as empaths usually have an unbalanced Solar Plexus chakra, as they haven’t yet learned how to establish boundaries without the use of anger. Overeating, low self-esteem, pessimism, and general sense of poor energy or physical weakness.

How do I balance my Solar Plexus Chakra?

Once again, a healthy diet is the key to everything! Some mystics recommend indulging in “yellow foods” such as squash, mango, pineapple, and lemon. While I don’t necessarily believe that the color yellow will balance your chakra, using yellow foods as a guide to make healthy choices can only be helpful for your diet and digestive system – which is after all, what this chakra is in charge of. Why not consider it as a playful starting point? This is after all, the chakra of fun and joyfulness!

As such, it’s important to underline that physical core exercise is very important for this chakra. Strength plays a key role in your self-esteem, and your ability to prove to yourself what you’re capable of liberates tons of stagnation. Once you’ve got this routine going, why not change your image a bit? Updating your appearance by changing your hair or your wardrobe is a great way to declare your identity to the external world. 

Fight back!