Breath & Energy · “Breath Is the Bridge”
Waking the Solar Plexus
Use slow, deliberate, muscle-driven deep breathing directed to the abdomen/solar plexus — paired with the inner command ‘Wake up!’ and the realization ‘I am the Sun of God’ — to release tension, raise vitality and radiate calm confidence.
Lie back, relax. Breathe slowly through the nose as deliberate muscle work — abdomen expanding outward, then contracting very slowly. Direct each breath down to the solar plexus, silently commanding “Wake up!” Rest in “I am the Sun of God.” Keep it soft and easeful.
What it is
Elizabeth Towne — New Thought publisher and editor of The Nautilus — taught in Just How to Wake the Solar Plexus (1907) that vitality, poise and power radiate from the solar plexus, “a great nerve center situated back of the stomach” which, when awakened, “steadily radiates energy just as the sun does.” Her method is deliberate deep breathing as muscle work, breath consciously directed downward to the abdomen, paired with the inner command “Wake up!” and the governing affirmation/realization “I am the Sun of God.” “The deep and regular breather cannot be sick or mentally weak,” she held.
The Method
Towne treats breathing as conscious muscling, not mere air-getting:
- Lie down and relax. Lie flat on the back, arms outspread and the whole body at ease.
- Breathe as muscle practice. “Correct breathing is correct muscling.” Concentrate will and attention on expanding the chest and abdominal muscles “straight outward,” noticing “how far, and evenly” they expand.
- Breathe through the nostrils, slowly and evenly. “Breathe always through the nostrils.” Inhale slowly, then “how very slowly, evenly and softly you can contract those muscles again” on the out-breath.
- Direct the breath downward to the solar plexus. Throw the breath downward into the abdomen, holding it briefly at the bottom before a gradual release — keeping ease, never pressing against the throat (“epiglottis”).
- Command it to wake. As you direct the breath down, mentally exclaim to the center: “Wake up! Wake up!” — addressing the solar plexus itself.
- Hold the realization. Rest in Towne’s governing affirmation, “I am the Sun of God” — the felt sense of an inner sun steadily radiating warmth, health and confidence outward.
- Keep it easeful. If you feel strained, your breath divisions were too long; shorten them. The whole practice is slow, soft and unforced. (Sourcing note: “Correct breathing is correct muscling,” “Breathe always through the nostrils,” the “Wake up! Wake up!” command, and “I am the Sun of God” are from Towne’s text; the numbered structure is attributed paraphrase.)
Source & Lineage
Elizabeth Towne (1865–1960) ran a major New Thought publishing house in Holyoke, Massachusetts and edited the influential magazine The Nautilus.
Just How to Wake the Solar Plexus (1907) is her best-known practical booklet. The “solar plexus as inner sun” motif was popular in turn-of-the-century New Thought; Towne’s contribution is the concrete breath-and-command drill.
Common refinements
Forcing the breath. Towne’s whole emphasis is slow, soft, even muscling; straining or over-long holds defeat it (and can cause dizziness).
- Chest-only breathing. The point is to expand the abdomen and direct breath downward; shallow upper-chest breathing misses the effect.
- Breathing through the mouth. She specifies nostrils throughout.
- Treating the affirmation as the whole thing. The breath is the vehicle; the “Wake up!” command and “Sun of God” realization ride on the directed breath, not instead of it.