Manipura: The Navel or Solar Plexus Chakra

What is the Manipura chakra? Umesh Guruji calls it the navel chakra and teaches it through the cord that once joined us to our mother: for him the navel remains an energetic link to the universe, to the people we meet and to our own mind.

What is the navel or solar plexus chakra?

Manipura is the third of the seven chakras presented in the introduction to the chakras. Umesh Guruji relates it to fire energy, with ten petals and the seed sound RAM. Many English sources call it the solar plexus chakra; Umesh speaks of the navel. In the womb, he explains, a child takes everything through the navel: food, but also the mother's thoughts and emotions. Once the cord is cut at birth, the child connects with the universe.

Mind and stomach

Pointing to the Laughing Buddha and his big belly, Umesh says the mind is "the stomach, on the navel". For him, wrong thinking upsets the stomach, and a troubled stomach turns thoughts negative; Ayurveda, India's traditional medicine, knows this link. So food matters: "Which type of food you eat, this type of mind you make." His advice is to watch what you eat and choose fresh vegetarian food, what he calls "prana food", after prana, the life energy.

How we connect with others

Through the navel, Umesh teaches, we also connect with everyone we talk to or think about, and energy passes both ways. Good company and good thoughts are therefore our own responsibility: thinking of a higher energy, like the Buddha or Shiva, leaves us happier and stronger. For him positive thinking lets energy rise, which is why the spiritual path starts by cleaning the physical and mental body.