Manipura

Manipura means 'city of jewels' — a generous name for the space just above the navel where, in the yogic map, a person's fire is kept.

This is the chakra the tradition associates with will, confidence and follow-through: the capacity to decide, to say no, to finish what was started. Its colour is yellow; its element, unsurprisingly, fire.

Teachers describe an underpowered Manipura as the flat feeling of being carried along by other people's plans. The traditional counsel is small acts of agency, done daily — one honest sentence, one task completed before noon, one boundary kept politely but kept.

The stones of the solar plexus glow accordingly. Tiger eye, with its banded golden sheen, is the classic choice. Citrine and pyrite carry the same warm register; yellow jasper grounds it.

Spice belongs to this chakra in the scent tradition: ginger, cinnamon, clove — warmth that wakes rather than soothes.

Gathered below: the catalogue's Manipura shelf — golden stones, spiced scents, and objects for days that need a little more spine.