Balancing The Solar Plexus: Hormones, Digestion, And Confidence

Ever wonder why your energy surges after lunch then crashes hard by mid-afternoon? We connect the dots between the solar plexus chakra and the biology of the pancreas and kidneys to show how confidence, digestion, and steady focus all flow from a balanced inner fire. You’ll hear a clear explanation of insulin and glucagon, what beta cells actually do, and how stress, poor sleep, and constant multitasking push you toward insulin resistance and mood swings—plus the everyday habits that pull you back to center.

We dive into the kidneys’ overlooked role in energy through mineral balance and vitamin D activation, reframing “vitamin” D as a hormone that shapes mood, immune function, and insulin sensitivity. From there, we lay out practical steps you can use today: three mindful breaths before meals to switch on digestion, balanced plates that pair complex carbs with protein and healthy fats, mineral-rich hydration, and magnesium to calm the nervous system. We also explore safe, effective sunlight routines and when to talk to your clinician about testing and supplementation for vitamin D3 and K2.

Interested in learning more about hormones and your chakras?  Download my eBook Chakras and Hormones:

Chakras and Hormones eBook

To integrate body and energy, we guide a simple visualization that brightens the upper abdomen with golden warmth and an affirmation—“I am radiant, confident, and in balance”—while core work, gentle twists, and even laughter stoke digestive fire and improve breath. By the end, you’ll recognize the signs of imbalance, know how to protect precious beta cells, and have a toolkit to stabilize blood sugar, lift mood, and reclaim personal power. If this spoke to you, grab the free Chakras and Hormones guide in the show notes, share the episode with someone who needs a boost, and subscribe for updates on our next deep dive.

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Chapters

• 1:45 Welcome And Resource Preview
• 2:27 Focus On The Solar Plexus
• 4:00 What The Solar Plexus Governs
• 5:06 Pancreas Biology And Blood Sugar
• 7:46 Stress, Sleep, And The Energy Roller Coaster
• 8:55 Kidneys, Minerals, And Vitamin D
• 11:38 Signs Of Imbalance You Might Notice
• 13:06 Practical Nutrition And Hydration Steps
• 14:59 Sunlight, Vitamin D, And Caution
• 16:39 Guided Visualization And Affirmations

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:53

Welcome to the Art of Healing Podcast. I'm Dr. Charlize, and thank you so much for joining me today for this episode. If you are here live, thank you so much. And if you are listening to the podcast, I appreciate you for dropping in and having a listen to this episode. For the next few weeks, we're going to be meeting a little bit more often because I want to make you aware of a very important resource that I have, the chakras and hormones. It's a downloadable that takes you through the link between your hormones and your chakras, powerful connection, as well as a preview of something that's coming the early part of next year. Really exciting. Today we're diving into the solar plexus chakra, the energy center of personal power, metabolism, and digestive fire. If you've felt low in motivation, sugar crashes, or digestive imbalances, this is an episode that's going to help you reconnect to your inner flame. So as we get into this, feel free as you are listening to taking a deep breath in and take that breath out, feeling into your belly, and as you take in a big breath, you might want to explore inhaling into the belly, having it fill up with air, and then exhaling from the belly. So when you breathe and you take these belly breaths, what you're doing is you are lighting your own body's energy, your own body's inner fire. In the previous episodes, we had a bit of time exploring the root chakra and its importance in adrenal health, your physical health, how it can play a role in thinking too much and neglecting to bring our attention into our body. Let's get into some understanding of the solar plexus chakra. The solar plexus or manipura is translated into lustrous gem from Sanskrit, radiates from the area between the ribs and the navel. It governs your digestion, your metabolism, and your self-esteem. Physically, it aligns to the pancreas and its influences of the liver, the stomach, and the small intestines. Energetically, it transforms the food and experiences that you take in into fuel and purpose. When it's balanced, when the solar plexus chakra is balanced, you feel confident, decisive, and energized. When it's not so balanced, what you might feel is powerlessness, bloated, tired, drawn to quick energy like sugar or caffeine. The pancreas is the guardian of blood sugar and digestive harmony. Let's look at this center through the lens of biology. Your pancreas plays two key roles. The first is digestive function, which is also called the exocrine function. This is the release of enzymes to break down proteins, fats, and carbohydrates so your body can absorb nutrients. The second is the hormonal function or the endocrine function. This is the production of insulin and glucagon. These are hormones that keep your blood sugar in balance. Insulin is made in the beta cells. This is what tells your body to store glucose after meals. The beta cells are a small collection of cells within your pancreas. These are interesting cells. You are born with a certain amount of beta cells. They are extremely intelligent and very important. And unfortunately, you get only one set to live your whole life. So because of exposure to toxins or overworking from producing too much insulin your entire life, the beta cells are prone to failure. And when they fail, this is when we see the early signs of diabetes. Glucagon is made by alpha cells, and it does just the opposite. It raises blood sugar between meals so that you can maintain steady energy. When stress, poor sleep, or ungrounded energy keep the solar plexus out of balance, the pancreas struggles to keep up. You might experience highs and lows in your blood sugar, what I call the energy roller coaster. Energetically, that's the same as a flickering fire. Too hot and then suddenly it's out. Learning to balance that flame keeps your digestion and your hormones and your mood stable. The kidneys and vitamin D supporting your inner light. Now let's bring in another vital pair of organs, which are the kidneys. Although they sit in the lower body as far as energetically, their energetic current interacts closely with the solar plexus and the root chakra, supporting resilience and vitality. From a physiologic view, the kidneys filter toxins and regulate minerals such as sodium and potassium, which influence your energy and your blood pressure. The kidneys also activate vitamin D into its hormonal form, calcitriol, a key player in calcium balance, immune health, and insulin sensitivity. Yes, the vitamin vitamin D is actually a hormone, not just a nutrient. This is a conversation I frequently have with my patients that it's called vitamin D. There's historical reasons why it's called vitamin D, but functionally, it's really a hormone. When sunlight hits your skin, your liver begins the process, but it's your kidneys that perform the transformation of vitamin D. So when we talk about inner light, the kidneys are literally turning sunlight into a hormone that supports the metabolism and the mood. If you've been indoors too much, you're under constant stress, kidney energy weakens, reducing vitamin D activation, and the solar plexus fire begins to dim and your flame dim. Overworking, skipping meals, or constant multitasking pull our energy away from the solar plexus. When this happens, your cortisol begins to go up. Your insulin that you've produced from those precious beta cells that you only get one set of, so they need all the protection you have, your insulin becomes less effective. This causes glucose to build up in your blood. In a functional medicine view, we call this insulin resistance. In energy medicine, we call this power imbalance. Either way, your body is asking you to slow down and refuel with presence. So what are the symptoms that you might be noticing right now? Afternoon energy crashes. Suddenly, your drop, you have a drop in your vitality, you have a drop in your focus, bloating or sluggish digestion, mood swings related to hunger. Emotionally, what you might feel are self-doubt or a lack of motivation. All of these are your body asking you to tend to your own inner fire. Here's how to restore balance physically and energetically. One, eat mindfully. Take deep breaths, three deep breaths before meals. Gratitude turns into digestion. So just simply sitting down to the meal, three deep breaths, and you might even have a practice where you pray before your meals or say an invocation before your meals. It's a good idea to help you slow down to prepare your body for digestion. Balancing your meals. So you want to make sure to pair complex carbohydrates with protein and healthy fats to keep your blood sugar even. Number three, support the pancreas and kidneys by staying well hydrated. Choose mineral-rich waters, choose mineral-rich foods such as leafy greens, sea salt's a good addition. And if you've gotten a little tired of plain water, you can add some lemon to it that helps with hydration. Consuming foods that are high in magnesium. This helps calm your nervous system, supports insulin function, supports muscle function, and even improves your digestive health as far as elimination. Getting your vitamin D. Spend a few minutes in the morning sun or even get your levels checked with your doctor or your practitioner. If need be, you may need to be supplementing with vitamin D3, possibly adding K2. It is possible to take too much vitamin D. So if you're wondering about vitamin D, if you need support or if it needs to be checked, you do want to be working with your doctor or your functional medicine practitioner, because vitamin D toxicity, getting too much, actually is just as bad as not getting enough, if not worse. Energetic practices can include visualizing a golden light swirling in your upper abdomen. And with each inhale, the light brightens, and each time you exhale, that warmth spreads through your body. And we can even practice that together right now. If you're in a place where you can seat yourself comfortably, if you want to have your eyes open or close, and as you inhale, envision a golden bright inner sun, your upper belly. And as you exhale, it's a warmth, a loving warmth that starts to spread from the belly to the rest of your body. And the affirmation, I am radiant, confident, and in balance can be playing through your head. Inhale into that bright golden inner sunshine, gets brighter. And as you exhale, that warmth gently spreads throughout your body. You are radiant, confident, and in balance. Additional things you can do if you are seated in your office chair at work, gentle seated twist, where you twist that upper belly. That's a good way to ring out and get that energy moving. Working on the core, so cord strengthening. I use a program at home called PVOV, which is my favorite way to get my core going. And I notice after doing a PVOV workout, my meditations are more effective because my core is stronger and I'm breathing better. And the best way is laughing. Laughter makes you move those belly muscles. It lights your inner fire. When you laugh, you get blood flow moving there and even improves your digestion. So having a good laugh. Now, why don't we pause for a moment and spend a little time with our own inner fires? So if you are listening to this in a time when you can take a little break or maybe download and come back and listen later, simple practice while you're seated or even standing, place both of your hands on your upper abdomen or one hand on your abdomen, the one on your heart. Inhale into your upper belly and imagine your inner fire coming to life. And sense if you are holding tension or anything blocks your fire. And you can exhale and sense if you are giving away your power. In this practice, you don't have to have an answer, just asking the questions enough. So inhale into your inner fire. Do you feel tension or blocks? Hopefully you don't, but even if you do, that's okay. Just observe. And exhale. Where am I giving away my power? When the solar plexus, pancreas, and kidneys are in harmony, you experience steady energy, emotional balance, and deep confidence. You digest not just your food, but life itself. So if this episode lit something inside you, I invite you to download my free guide, Chakras and Hormones. You will find it in your show notes to get a copy of this valuable resource. It maps each chakra to its corresponding endocrine or hormone glands, including the pancreas and adrenal glands, and offers simple steps to help you tap into your body's rhythm. So in your show notes, I will put that link to download the guide. I'll also put a copy of these slides if you'd like to follow along as you're listening. So thank you so much for joining me for today's episode. As always, it is so great to connect. If you're listening to the recording, it would be nice if you know someone who's dealing with problems with their inner fire or diabetes or diabetes and stress or you're worried about them, to share this episode with them. This episode is a nice way to open up the conversation about self-care, self-esteem. It's just a nice way to start to enter into those things. So share this episode with them. I would be happy to meet them in this space. So we will be connecting in a few days as we explore this chakra and hormone connection even deeper. So check your show notes. If you'd like to be notified when each episode comes out, I send out an email. Once each episode is live, each episode comes with a blog post where you can read if you would prefer to read it. And you also have access to the transcript of each episode if you're if you prefer to read and digest your information that way. So plenty of resources to help you explore this topic even more. I highly recommend signing up for my newsletter where you will get a prompt and email every time an episode goes live. And more importantly, you get an email when we are connecting live and you can join on and listen to the episode as it's going as we're taping it. And you can even ask questions if you like. We will meet back up next week. So nice to interact with you or meet back up in a few days. And I will see you soon. Thank you so much.