Too Busy People Pleasing? Open Your Solar Plexus Chakra

The solar plexus chakra is associated with our ego, self confidence and self esteem. If you find yourself constantly “people pleasing,” or needing the validation of others, you may need to open your solar plexus chakra. If this sounds like you, no need to worry! We provide a comprehensive guide below on how to unblock, balance, and open your solar plexus chakra completely naturally and quickly!

Here’s a comprehensive list of 10 ways how to open your solar plexus chakra:

1. Yoga Poses – Focus on Stomach
2. Affirmations
3. Chants – “RAM”
4. Mudras
5. Diet – Go Yellow!
6. Essential Oils – Get Energized
7. Healing Stones And Crystals
8. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
9. Make Your Own Decisions
10. Heal From Past Traumas

10 Ways To Open Your Solar Plexus Chakra Today

The solar plexus chakra is the third out of the main seven chakras, and located around the abdomen and just above the belly button. This chakra governs our will and sense of self, so to open it we can use techniques designed to create greater self empowerment.

We can open this chakra through specific yoga poses, mudras, affirmations, chants, and meditations. To further help chakra healing and opening, we can also pair these techniques with solar plexus chakra associated essential oils, diet, healing stones and crystals.

Additionally, we cannot truly have an open solar plexus chakra until we do the difficult work of losing the victim mentality by healing our past traumas. Similarly, to truly recognize our own personal power, we must step out of our comfort zone, speak up, and make our own decisions.

Yoga Poses – Focus on Stomach

Yoga is an ancient practice that is very helpful for opening all chakras though poses, breathing, and meditation. It is also excellent for general health and well being through strengthening and increasing the flexibility of the spine and body.

The benefits that yoga provides to the body can also help with the physical symptoms of a blocked solar plexus chakra. Located in the stomach area right above the navel, the most common physical symptoms of a blocked solar plexus chakra are related to digestion.

Yoga’s benefits to the digestion system are well documented and backed by neuroscience. As we wrote about in our post “The Real Science Behind Chakras,” yoga is an excellent technique for activating the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for rest and digestion.

You will notice many of the the poses below are related to the stomach and core area to help promote digestion. Similarly, they also represent physical, emotional, and spiritual strength.

Here are the poses that many experience yogis and yoga teachers recommend to open the solar plexus chakra:

1. Boat Pose – Navasana
2. Plank Pose – Phalakasana
3. Reverse Plank Pose – Purvottanasana
4. Bow Pose – Dhanurasana
5. Warrior III Pose – Virabhadrasana III
6. Classical Forward Bend – Paschimottanasana
7. Half Spinal Twist – Ardha Matsyendrasana 
8. Cobra Pose – Bhujangasana
9. Corpse Pose – Shavasana
10. Sun Salutations

Affirmations

How we speak to ourselves matters. Over time, our thoughts play a great role in shaping our emotions and our behavior, and it’s important we pay close attention to them.

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Therefore, guard accordingly…”

– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

According to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, psychologists estimated that an average person has 6,200 thoughts per day.

Many of these thoughts occur in our subconscious mind, which represents approx. 95% of all of our brain activity. Affirmations are a powerful tool to help reprogram our subconscious mind and eliminate negative thoughts associated with a blocked solar plexus chakra.

As mentioned, many of the negative thoughts and emotions associated with a blocked third chakra include feelings of helplessness, insecurity, and low self-esteem. (We wrote a separate article on how to increase self-esteem with practical yoga hacks here.)

It’s time to take your power back! Below are just a few examples of how to open the solar plexus chakra through affirmations, and the goal is to spark confidence, strength, and courage.

Speak these affirmations out loud as well as reading them in your head as many times as needed throughout the day.

Affirmations to help Open Solar Plexus Chakra

1. I am in control of my life
2. I am powerful and strong
3. No one can change the past
4. I make my own decisions
5. I will heal past traumas

Chants – “RAM”

Chanting is a form of meditation that is a phrase sung repetitively either aloud or in your head. Its purpose is to calm the body and mind as well as the nervous system.

Similar to yoga, chanting helps stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system associated with rest and digestion. Consequently, the practice of chanting can help open the solar plexus chakra and can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression while promoting relaxation. (And speaking of stress, anxiety and depression, here’s a scientific take on how yoga and meditation can change our brain waves and help us calm down from those maladies.)

Each chakra has a different associated chant, and for the solar plexus chakra, it is the sound “RAM.”

How to Chant “RAM” to Open Your Solar Plexus Chakra

1. While seated, place hands together slightly over navel with fingers straightened and fingertips touching. Concentrate on the navel the entire time as you chant “RAM,” and if you are uncomfortable or in a public space, you can chant in your head.
2. Cross thumbs and point all fingers away from the body.
3. Place extra time and emphasis enunciating the letters “R” and “A” and combine them to create the sound “RA.” This sound will be more pronounced and higher pitched than “M.”
4. Next chant the letter “M” and slowly taper off so you can hear and feel the vibration.
5. Repeat as necessary, and recommended chanting time is 20 minutes. For best results, you can adjust hand positions and combine with the rudra mudra shown below.

Here’s a great video below on this practice of chanting “RAM” to help open your solar plexus chakra.

Mudras

Mudras are hand gestures made with the fingers and hands that help facilitate and free the flow of energy throughout the body. Along with many of the other techniques in this guide, mudras are an excellent way to unblock and open all chakras.

Each chakra has one or more mudras associated with it, and the solar plexus chakra is associated most with the Rudra Mudra. Try to this mudra while also chanting the solar plexus “RAM” mantra that is explained above for maximum effect!

How to do the Rudra Mudra to open your solar plexus chakra

1. Sit a comfortable position that is quiet with no distractions. A simple cross-legged seated pose, such as The easy pose, or Sukhasana, is recommended for this mudra.
2. Connect the tip of your thumb and your index finger for both hands.
3. While holding the thumb and index fingertips together, add the tip of the ring finger in each hand so that the thumb, index, and ring fingers are all connecting.
4. Straighten the remaining two fingers of the middle finger and pinky finger for each hand.
5. Place both hands on your thighs with palms facing up while in the seated easy pose.
6. Keep spine straightened, and hold this mudra for 5-7 minutes while changing “RAM”

Diet – Go Yellow!

A diet rich in unprocessed, natural foods that are high in fiber, low in sugar, and full of whole fruits and vegetables will truly help unblock and open all chakras in addition to promoting general health and well-being.

However, in addition to minimizing processed food, sugars, and alcohol, we can also eat chakra specific foods.

Often, we can use food colors as a guide for dietary recommendations for each chakra.

The solar plexus chakra is associated with the color yellow, and we will focus on this color as a guide for food choices. Many of these foods have higher carbohydrates that you will need for energy as this chakra becomes aligned and balanced. Specifically for the solar plexus chakra, you will need more “activation” energy to really step out of your comfort zone and pursue and achieve your goals.

In addition, we also add foods that are soothing for the stomach to aid digestion issues commonly related to a blocked solar plexus chakra.

Here’s a list of the ten top foods to unblock the solar plexus chakra

1. Corn
2. Bananas
3. Yellow Peppers
4. Yellow Carrots
5. Lentils
6. Yellow Pears
7. Lemons
8. Yellow Squash
9. Brown Rice
10. Oats

Essential Oils – Get Energized

Essential oils are both a therapeutic and effective way to unblock chakras by calming the body and relaxing the senses. Each of seven chakras is associated with different essential oils that serve unique functions and heal the body, mind, and spirit.

For example, earthy essential oils such as cedarwood and frankincense can help ground the body and unblock the root chakra. (For more ways to unblock the root chakra, go here.) Similarly, aphrodisiac flower based essential oils such as ylang ylang and jasmine can help sexual dysfunction and help improve the low of creativity associated with a blocked sacral chakra. For other ways to open the sacral chakra and increase your creativity and playfulness, check this post.

A blocked solar plexus chakra often stems from lack of confidence and low self esteem. Consequently we fear leaving our comfort zone as well all the change itself that we need to grow.

The most highly regarded essentials oils for growth, change, and movement and to help unblock and open your solar plexus chakra are black pepper and peppermint for their energizing and stimulating properties. These two oils are at the top of experts list for these reasons as well as their calming effects on the stomach and digestive system.

Here’s the top ten essential oils to open your solar plexus chakra recommended by Aromatherapists

1. Black Pepper
2. Peppermint
3. Lemongrass
4. Cinnamon
5. Sandalwood
6. Juniper
7. Fennel
8. Ginger
9. Chamomile
10. Rosemary

Healing Stones And Crystals

For centuries, stones and crystals have been used throughout eastern yoga traditions to help unblock chakras. They work best when combined with other practices mentioned here such as yoga poses, affirmations, chanting, diet, mudras, and oils. These stones are believed to have healing properties that can store, transform and shift energy and each have a unique vibration.

(To learn more about crystal healing therapy, all that it can do for you, and how to practice it, read our ultimate guide.)

There are several stones to help open the solar plexus chakra that are listed below. However, similar to our diet recommendations, we suggest starting with yellow stones (and similar golden, brown, orange variations) since that is the color associated with the solar plexus chakra.

At the top of our list is Citrine and Yellow Jasper. Citrine is most often recommended by certified healing crystal practitioners since it is believed to embody the sun’s golden color and shimmering radiance. Similarly, Citrine embodies the energy, warmth, and glow that is representative of a balanced solar plexus chakra

Here’s the top ten healing crystals and stones to help unblock your solar plexus chakra

1. Citrine
2. Yellow Japser
3. Tiger’s Eye
4. Yellow Tourmaline
5. Yellow Quartz
6. Bronzite
7. Golden Mookaite
8. Yellow Calcite
9. Rutilated Quartz
10. Pyrite

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

Fear. F.E.A.R. Will you forget everything and run, or face everything and rise? It’s essential that you truly face your fears to open up your solar plexus chakra fully. Why? The solar plexus chakra is also known as your personal power center, and you cannot be empowered and grow in a state of fear.

Fear is going to be a player in your life, but you get to decide how much.

You can spend your whole life imagining ghosts, worrying about your pathway to the future, but all there will ever be is what’s happening here, and the decisions we make in this moment, which are based in either love or fear.

– Jim Carey

Growth, evolution, adaption, and change can all be very scary, but they are necessary in all of our lives from time to time.

What’s scarier that stepping out of your comfort zone?

Looking back, years later regretfully, and wondering……what if?

Make Your Own Decisions

 It is only when you take responsibility for your life that you discover how powerful you truly are.

– Allanah Hunt

Don’t let a wishbone grow where a backbone should be. As mentioned in the introduction, “people pleasing” is a common symptom of a blocked solar plexus chakra. A big part of this is not making our own decisions, and “going with the flow” of others who we may disagree with simply because it’s more comfortable or we are scared to speak up.

We cannot be empowered until we take full responsibility for all of our thoughts, words, and actions. If you want to open up your solar plexus chakra, you must make your own decisions and own them.

Heal From Past Traumas

You may have been victimized, but you are not a victim!

It does not take a professional psychologist or therapist to understand that you cannot create a viable future until you let go of the past.

Far too often, people will confuse negative events in their life with their identity.

An abusive or absent parent. A broken home. Abusive or traumatic personal relationships or marriages. Addictions. Physical or psychological ailments, disorders, or disorders.

After moving past denial, they tell their story. Again. And again.

While this may help tremendously in the beginning, and for some it may help them move past trauma. However, for others, their story becomes a “comfort blanket” and a permanent identify of the victim.

True healing isn’t just talking about a past traumatic event, it is about taking responsibility (not fault) for fully working through it. Discomfort here is inevitable.

In many cases, the most powerful cure is also the most painful: forgiveness.

In this case, forgiveness isn’t really about if the other person’s is deserving of it or not.

It’s for you, so you will become lighter and let go. This forgiveness helps you move on with your life and create a brighter future.

In summary, healing from past traumas helps to open your solar plexus chakra by helping you accept change, take full responsibility of your emotional well being, and let go of the negative energy trapped in the past.

Conclusion

When blocked, a solar plexus chakra can make us feel powerless, victimized, and not in control of our own lives. This can wreak havoc on our ego, identity, and self confidence and can cause us to “people please” or continuously seek validation from others.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Take your power back!

A balanced solar plexus chakra will help create a life of empowerment, confidence, joy, independence, and a strong sense of self.

Open your solar plexus chakra through our comprehensive guide of yoga poses, affirmations, chants, mudras, diet, essential oils, healing stones and crystals, stepping out of your comfort zone, making your own decisions, and healing from past traumas.

Follow these tips and combine as many of these techniques as you can for maximum effect. Soon, you will feel the solar energy of the solar plexus chakra flowing freely and you will feel radiant, warm, and energizing!

Sources

https://healthcareinamerica.us/essential-oils-to-balance-chakras-7a2bd1c07f78

https://www.yogaaccessories.com/which-foods-to-eat-per-chakra

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-20543/7-mudras-to-unlock-your-7-chakras.html

https://www.yogiapproved.com/yoga/solar-plexus-chakra-healing/

Shanti Arunkumar, Senior Contributor At L’Aquila Active

Learn more about Shanti by reading her bio below.

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