The third chakra or power center in our upper belly shows up in several ways.

In the first style, it operates in a mode of forced protection. We seek to control, to influence others, to compete or dominate, to get what I want, to be the fittest, and so forth. We grasp at what we want and resist and suppress what we don’t want.

In the second style, we fall into a more passive protection. We feel powerless, submissive, and have difficulty making choices. We seek others to help us but they are often the first type who victimize us instead. This type resists and suppresses more.

Both styles drive suffering rather than protection. Resistance to our experience amplifies what we don’t want. And it creates unresolved experiences that burden our system. Yet because we know nothing else, we resist away.

There is another style unfamiliar to many people. This is a mode of openness. Openness requires inner balance and integrity, with sufficient trust and vulnerability.

Counter-intuitively, if we’re open, we become transparent energetically and any attempt to control or attack us on that level just dissipates.

More significantly, when we step out of defense, it allows us to tune into the flows of nature and gain access to universal power. This is far greater than throwing our personal weight around. The power of the universe fills our sails. No force required.

But this requires healing. Opening ourselves up when we’re still feeling defensive just creates another conflict. We need to wind down our points of reactivity so we can open without jumping into defense.

Are you willing to be truly seen, to be honest, to be humble?

The third chakra is also the ground of clairsentience, also known as gut feelings. This becomes available when this arena opens. Unlike the more subtle intuition, the gut is attuned to our personal life.

The vulnerability of surrender can be especially challenging for men. We’re taught to be “strong” and not show weakness. “Real men don’t cry.” And yet that strength is just physical. That power depends on others being weaker rather than true inner strength.

Most of us have energetic connections to subtle protectionist structures. We’re wired into that mode of being. It ties us to the wheel of karma also, unable to escape the flow of unresolved experiences back into our life. Yet when we defend against these experiences, they cycle back again.

To be vulnerable in the face of others pain, we want to be grounded in unchanging being. Then we have the rock within. As the Bhagavad Gita (2:23) puts it, “Weapons cannot cleave him, nor fire burn him; water cannot wet him, nor wind dry him away.”

Vulnerability is where true strength lies.

Davidya