In the last month or so life has taken me through some very rapid/painful but still pretty glorious changes. I stepped out on faith and quit my job and am now making a living as a full time painter. This shift along with many other internal ones has taken quite a toll on both my physical and spiritual body. For a little bit, I wasn’t really sure what to do or go about healing until a mutual of mine on twitter who practices and studies human sciences and herbalism made a thread on chakra imbalances and how to heal them.
Your Manipura or Solar Plexus chakra is located in your belly just above your navel. Manipura is Sanskrit for “lustrous gem of the city” this means your Solar Plexus is like the mitochondria of your spiritual body. The power house. When it’s blocked or off balance you will notice you feel unearned guilt, anxiety, lack of control or obsessive need to control, low energy despite your diet or sleep habits, you might even experience problems with digestion and your liver. My Manipura was so gunked up and imbalanced I developed a stomach ulcer! Yikes! So, how do we fix this? Some tips given to me via my Twitter mutual (shoujo_marina) were aerobic exercise and meditation, consuming the lemon, ginger, tumeric, lemon balm and cumin. So I decided to find some chakra meditations along with the herbal medicines I was already taking via teas and seasoning my foods.
I felt really connected to this one. https://youtu.be/Fa9HpV9XmIA
As soon as the Vedic mantra begins I feel my kundalini rise immediately. That’s a good sign!
So now I just want to share a little bit about what inexperience during this meditation and why it is crucial for black people to practice, in my opinion.
This meditation triggered painful memories the first time. For many this might feel like you’re doing it wrong or it might feel scary. But this is natural And a very good sign. That is the blockage being released. During this time I let the video keep playing but talked myself through the memory. Letting myself know that this blockage is here because I desire this thing, whatever it may be but I am afraid that I will ever receive it. These memories surfacing means your solar plexus is waking up! The mantra in this video is “om manipūraāh-bahja-nilayayai namaha” it is for the honor if Goddess Shakti as Lakini shakti and it means “Salutation to Goddess who is seated at the lotus of the Manipura Chakra”.
Talking yourself through the painful parts of meditation might be difficult at first and that’s okay! Take your time. Trust your spirit body to reveal what needs healing or releasing so that you can more easily live a balanced life and manifest from a balanced place, the things you truly need and desire. If your desires are impure, unhealthy, or unbalanced this meditation will reveal that as well.
I think this is super important for black humans because so much of the external world we know is stacked against us. Triggering those deep fears related to oppression, childhood trauma due to systemic oppression and the individual traumas we create for ourselves and each other as a result of the aformentioned and lack of understanding. We have to take control of our spirit bodies to heal our physical ones. This includes the mind. I believe that healing and understanding our relationship to our desires is a step towards liberation as a whole. Its also a step toward healing our community. There is so much hatred sometimes, man. And it’s really just because our relationship to our deepest desires (love, financial stability/freedom) have been so heinously distorted by fear because of white supremacy. Our relationships have become so robotic and contractual. We don’t know how to really connect anymore to ourselves or one another. We are always so hungry for control and ready for combat (symptoms of ptsd). But this meditation, a simple 16 minutes in the morning can helps us put our weapons down and believe we are worthy of what we want in this life. Which is truly just love and freedom. This means less violence from men who practice too. I really hope black men who follow me start doing this meditation and showing it to their friends. We cannot continue to hate on and oppress each other. It’s not sustainable. It’s not good. It’s not healthy. I don’t want to be battling my community forever, along with the rest of the world.
So please try it. And don’t hesitate to share your experience!
Also, you might be wondering how you know if you trust yourself or not. Or how to restore that trust. I’d say when it’s no longer difficult for you to believe what you say and keep your word with yourself. For example: for me a painful memory came up around my fear of intimacy. Instead of repressing I say “Oh, THAT’S why I am afraid. But this story or script is outdated. I am an adult now and I won’t allow anyone to harm me like when I was small.” and I pause and wait for any internal rebuttals. there weren’t any. So I smiled. Because this means I trust myself. When you believe what you say the first time you say it. That’s trust. Especially if it’s while you’re managing a trauma response. Don’t worry or beat yourself up if you aren’t there yet. Just continuing practicing this and any other healing activities you need to.
I know that we all come from different faiths. If you feel nervous about speaking this mantra, try visualization instead (this exercises your crown chakra too!). Envision a loop or cycle of light between your belly and hands. The colors Blue and yellow are associated with the Manipura chakra. So, picture on the right a blue light coming from your hands into your belly/Manipura chakra and on the left yellow light coming out and back into your hands. You may also try envisioning the lotus opening but it’s you who is inside. Calm and beautiful and balanced. Remember to breath from your belly, not your chest.
Happy healing and warm wishes to you always!
Peace and Love,
Casper C.L 🌷