Want to connect to your core quickly? Try this third-chakra meditation
We all have those days where we feel pulled in a thousand directions—that’s life in the modern world, after all. But it can sometimes shift you off center and drain you of your own essential power. If this is the case, take a moment to meditate—and connect to the sense of ease that pervades the moment when all other distractions fall away.
One way to do that is to bring your attention to your solar plexus, or third chakra. In yoga tradition, this is the seat of will and power to do (or not do) in the world. It is where your personal strength lives, figuratively speaking. This chakra is represented by the color yellow and associated with the element fire, and by intentionally focusing your mind there, you can “fire up” your life. Here’s how:
* Sit in a comfortable position on the floor or in a chair so that the spine can be straight, the crown of the head reaching toward the ceiling, the arms relaxed with the hands on the knees or folded in the lap.
* Close your eyes, and observe the breath without changing it. Allow a natural rhythm of inhalation and exhalation to arise.
* Begin to imagine that you’re collecting your breath in a golden sphere at the solar plexus. Allow each breath to cycle into and around this sphere.
* As you breathe in, visualize the golden sphere growing brighter, like a glowing fire. As you breathe out, quietly say the mantra ram (sounds like “rum”), the seed sound associated with the third chakra. You can say the mantra aloud for several repetitions, then say it silently and internally for several repetitions.
*Repeat this sequence for 10 to 20 breaths, or longer if you feel like it. When you’re ready to rejoin life’s hectic pace, notice that you are able to come back to it feeling energized and centered.
Use this simple third-chakra meditation once a day, or 20 times a day—it’s available whenever you need to reconnect with your core strength in the moment.
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Written by Hillari Dowdle
This article was first published in the print edition of Yoga Journal Singapore, which is now Yogahood Online .
