All original photos taken by J-Nasty and her mama Donya Maria

Mother Nature's immovable essence of loving remedies employs us with endless tools to make peace with world's man-made troubles. It is no wonder ancient medicine emphasize humans, being made of fire, earth, air, and water. These elements are also our healing mechanisms. We are designed to match our existence with guidance outside ourselves. When we draw these elements inward and vice versa, it redirects divine energy to flow ceaselessly from our DNA through our fingertips.

Spending the first winter month in the Philippines fought off my traceable seasonal depression. Saluting to the island sun became my new altar of flames that activated my Manipura, sanskrit for Solar Plexus. The Solar Plexus refers to our third chakra, located below our navel. It supplies energy to ignite our core meaning of faith and strengthens our personal power. It also navigates our assertiveness and controls macrocosmic consciousness to guide our transformative magic through ascensions, as we face constant searches for our connection with the awareness behind the universe.

That awareness is us, our spirit can take any shape, just like nature's intelligence. We are responsible for our light, as much as the vitamins produced by the sun, air, and plants. Sometimes we may not need to go anywhere special to find it, it only needs to wake up. Transcendental levels of awareness are available everywhere and there is no breaks in continuity, therefore we must always move with the fluctuating vibrations that we must also channel. Insufficient exposure to sunlight weakens our pineal gland, and our intuition. Although we can’t always soak up the sun, we must radiate with confidence, so that same force can travel through you to gain mystic contact with one of earth’s sources, again and again.

A balanced third chakra keeps us feeling bold and daring; it boosts our self-esteem as well as our sense of calm. By maintaining our stance as a visionary leader, we gain respect for our peers and self with an open solar plexus. Any sort of physical exertion --- running/walking, focusing on abs, dancing and/or singing, or simply standing barefoot brining energy from the ground up your feet and legs assists with bringing that energy in to rotate in your abdomen. Add depth to your inhales and exhales and notice a ball of fire growing and glowing larger and larger. Our Manipura reacts to stress, hence tight knots if you press below the sternum. If you feel discomfort, there is some stress or blockage. My interaction with the sun overseas has built a gathering point for vital energy to share full knowledge and to help others achieve mastery of the body’s subtle energy that harmonizes with the physical plane. To heal or extinguish any stress, try to remove yourself from the source of stress or try this routine of meditation…

Inspired by the supreme director of light, the Sun, empowered with these words, a mantra to give thanks and mirror its brightness. Feel free to chant to yourself or out loud and maybe layer in this yoga sequence:

sky full of endless promise, collapsing with truth,
both dead and alive
ghosts of memories in the clouds
they are just passing by
life isn't frightening after all
turning into an immense evening of night
child of your own withdrawals
wake up to the sunlight
wake up to your own light

(inhale) embrace your glow

(exhale) cherish the unknown

(inhale) cherish your glow

(exhale) embrace the unknown

(inhale; rise MOUNTAIN POSE) sky full of endless promise, collapsing with truth,

(exhale; baby back bend CACTUS YOUR ARMS) both dead and alive

(inhale; MOUNTAIN POSE) ghosts of memories in the clouds

(exhale; root down front big toe, sweep L/R leg back, reach arms back, palms face down, DAKASANA AIRPLANE POSE) they are just passing by

(inhale; arms swim forward, power through standing leg thigh, push sole of back leg pull crown forward, WARRIOR 3) life isn't frightening after all

(exhale; circle open to WARRIOR 2 ) turning into an immense evening of night

(breath; stabilize your foundation in WARRIOR 2) child of your own withdrawals

(inhale; send front arm arch it up and back, REVERSE PEACEFUL WARRIOR) wake up to the sunlight

Returning to my homeland, I’ve learned that we need nature to free up our own nature. Stripped by its shallow tide and complementary whistles and blows of the wind, Philippines and its lonely sustainable islands has infinite stars. They sparkle in the warm sand, a dense layer of lightness and its irregular patterns of forgiveness. Thanks to my ancestory, I believe so much that our auric field can send messages of how bright of a being you can be. To expand oneself is to expand with the world, expand with nature. We must blend our inner and outer nature together. The un-flickering flame in our belly is not only equivalent to the suns molten heat, imagine the flame as sharp gold teeth (heat is also required to digest). The body returns home to nature when it feels free. So we must honor our energy and chakras, the lost legends, protectors of earth, whose mission is to exercise restraint; against temptation, devastating illnesses, and automated systems that mark you by deletion to drain you. The many that walk with the supernatural though, own their higher power, have jurisdiction that spans both heaven and earth. Their psychic abilities are buried in their body, which is a meeting point between the physical and spiritual realm.

I am beyond blessed to have rebuilt an indomitable Manipura, a tight solar plexus from the Philippines rising sun and evening thunderstorms, where lightening bolts also built smoking columns to hold up the heavens. When the sun is unavailable to you, another way to play with fire and charge up electricity in your core is to either position your candles or smoke/spark your bowl/blunt in a specific direction:

Fire facing East- sacrifices to Gods
Fire facing South- spirits of the dead
Fire face North- removes sins
or cooking fire face- West
A circle of fire -where you can conduct rituals as the focal point

*Add Topaz: brings golden radiance/realignment of energy, crystal of love and fortune, aids metabolism, especially liver, gall bladder, and digestive processes.

*Yellow tourmaline: has the ability to balance two sides of our brain and our male/female energies. When using it with the solar plexus chakra, instead of placing it on the chakra, use the crystal to draw out or cut away blockages. This enables proper activation of Manipura, to benefit issues such as stress, intolerance, deep sadness, hopelessness, grief and conditions of disease.

*Wear white to affirm you’ve overcome all fears and ego

~ the light within me, awknowledges and bows to the light within you ~ J-NASTY