Shame blocks the power center within our energetic bodies that allows for self belief and confidence. When this energy center is stopped or slowed, our feelings of empowerment are dulled and quieted. We stop flowing in the moment and question our ability to be ourselves. It is important to remember, we are never given a situation that we are not ready to handle; this doesn’t happen. Every time we find ourselves in a circumstance; it is because we are uniquely suited to be there. When we doubt our ability to be realized within that situation, we lose our capacity to extract the wisdom and enlightenment that sits as our gift within that moment.
Many factors go into the concept of Shame. As children, we first feel shame when we let people we love down; when we don’t meet their expectations of us. Shame accompanies us into our teen years where we learn to make many mistakes and missteps as we are guided towards who we are. The process of self discovery doesn’t stop after adolescence, but so formative are those “struggling” years where we suffer embarrassment that they provide the groundwork for how we grow.
Our outside influences are another factor when we are discussing shame. Sometimes overbearing, over controlling, dominate influences in our lives can lay the groundwork for perpetual feelings of shame and ingratitude towards ourself. We suffer so silently, knowing in our own hearts, that we are simply not good enough, that we cannot do things well enough- so why even try? This self defeating form of shame blocks us from even making any steps forward; trapping us in an unending cycle of negative behaviors which inevitably turn into pain and anger.
Being careful to remember that shame is impermanent is the first step to healing this power center within your body. When we are able to observe the shame, without feeding it energy, it becomes just another fleeting concept; we don’t own it- we simply release it. When shame is brought into the light of the present, it gets guided into its proper place and is rebalanced within the solar plexus chakra.
The Solar Plexus chakra is the energy center that governs our personal power. Mindfulness and living within the present moment energize this chakra, cleaning and clearing it. Within breathe lies the seed of life; awareness of our breath frees us from the hold shame may have on our self esteem and confidence. When we realize that within the breath is all the happiness, joy and freedom we desire; and we can revisit this breath every moment we choose to be aware, we remember that we are exactly where we should be, doing exactly what the moment requires us to do… this is what balances shame.
Practice the art of mindfulness and when you feel shame slowing your energy down, causing you to doubt yourself, lean into your process and into your breath. Incline towards peace and unconditional love and allow the feeling to pass and release.