Introduction to Manipura Chakra manipura = navel
(Iyengar calls this the Manipuraka Chakra)

This information has been collected from many books and Web sites, and from my own knowledge and experience from teaching Yoga for more than 35 years. It will help you to understand the meaning of Chakras and why it is important to know about them.

The Manas (mind) and Surya (the Sun) Chakras, are situated in the region between the navel and the heart. I am including them here as part of the Manipura, and mention the solar plexus here (although usually that is included in the Heart Chakra (4th). If we follow Iyengar's definition, there would be 9 Chakras. He says the adrenals may stand for these 2 Chakras. However, since this is not what you will find when you continue your research, I'm going to stick to the 7 Chakras for this series.

The Manipura—the 3rd (Navel) Chakra—is connected to everything to do with higher vitality. People with a strong 3rd Chakra have such characteristics as inner strength, a purpose in life, a career, and self-confidence as a result.

 

The navel and spleen (people differ on these placements), are also considered to belong to the lower fires. I place the navel with the 3rd Chakra, but the lower fires are still connected here. The Navel Chakra is known as the fire of material consciousness. It is here that we are connected to the material world at birth via the umbilical cord being ligatured or clamped and cut, so this makes sense.

This chakra is the last of the lower three, the initiation of Thephareth, the fire of body formation. As we leave this to enter the 4th Chakra, we bid farewell to the lower trinity here. This realm hovers around issues relating fear. There can be a lack of self-esteem, fear of rejection, defensiveness around even constructive criticism, and being secretive and indecisive. There is more to come in Part 3 (see below) about blockages and how to unblock this Chakra.

Pythagoras said, “The superior and inferior worlds are included within the area of supreme sphere,” so all the kingdoms of earthy nature are included within our physical bodies.

 

ANATOMICAL DESCRIPTION OF CHAKRA LOCATION

The lumbar and lumbar plexus is the area where this Chakra is. Words like behind the navel and umbilical are also used to describe the area. The lumbar pertains to the loins, the part of the back between the thorax and the pelvis. The origin is the 5 pairs of nerves that arise from the lumbar segments of spinal cord, each pair leaving the vertebral column below correspondingly numbered vertebrae. The lumbar plexus is the one formed by the ventral branches of the 2nd to 5th lumbar nerves in the psoas major muscle (the branches of the first lumbar nerve often are included). The ventral branches of these nerves participate in the formation of the lumbosacral plexus, and this is why many people include the 1st and 2nd Chakras as one when describing physical problems.

Some people call this the solar plexus Chakra, but I'm following Sri Yukteswar who places it is in the area of the lumbar plexus, which is where the navel is also found. However, the solar plexus is called the “belly brain” in ancient books. It is written that the solar plexus is like the counterpart of the brain, and that there is, literally, a gray mass of matter that looks like the brain in this area of the body (right beneath the diaphragm at the mid-line of the torso). I would say that because the solar plexus is considered the celiac plexus, it is all part of this Chakra, too. 

OTHER ANATOMICAL AREAS AFFECTED

Below the breast, breath, digestive system and organs, diaphragm muscle, duodenum, gall bladder, kidneys, lower back, metabolism, nervous system, respiratory system, skin, small intestine, sympathetic nervous system, stomach, spleen (in many books, the spleen is given as the exact location of this chakra, and I tend to believe this), liver, pancreas, solar plexus, and adrenals. Hepatic, pyloric, gastric, mesenteric.

PHYSICAL PROBLEMS OF THIS AREA

When the lumbar plexus and the entire area covered above is not working properly, the following physical symptoms can appear: gas pains, chronic tiredness, irritable bowel, constipation, diarrhea, hernias, sterility, bladder problems, menstrual problems, cramps, bed-wetting, knee pains, sciatica, low back pain, difficult or painful urination, numbness, poor circulation in legs, shin splints, swollen ankles, weak arches, leg cramps and cold feet. (Some of these are obviously the same as the sacral Chakra).