Sunday, February 21, 2016

The Crown Chakra


What began at the beginning of 2016 as a journey through the five elements has extended into completing the exploration of all seven of the energy centers known as Chakras, or wheels of spinning light. Rising from the base of the spine they extend up through the body to the crown of the head and, this final week, we have been exploring the highest of these seven chakras, the Sahasrara or crown chakra.

The crown chakra is represented by the color violet and connects to all expanding consciousness. When we are balanced in our Sahasrara chakra, Geof Jowett  from his book, "The Power of I Am" states that "we understand things from a wider context with creativity, compassion, and an expansive imagination. The more balanced and stable my crown is, the more open I am to divine energy and universal consciousness" (p. 161). To paraphrase, when we are connected here, we see things from the wide angle lens of our life, to how we are merging with all that is and to not sweat the small stuff. It puts things into the big picture perspective of why we are here and how we are all connected.

When we are experiencing life from this crown center, we are coming from our highest self...who we are fundamentally, as well as who we strive to be. This feeling is one of open spaciousness where we truly feel as though we have dissolved into the whole and that no separation exists between all beings. In working with the five elements, we begin to see how each element is affected by the other as we ascend up the chain. The earth element of the base chakra, dissolves into the water element of the sacral chakra. The water element is altered as it interacts with the fire element of the solar plexus. Fire is affected by the air element of the hearts fourth chakra. Air expands into the ethers of the throat energy and all elements. As Swami Saradananda writes in the book "Chakra Meditation", "This enables you to transcend worldly experience and to understand your connection with universal consciousness."

It is thought that when we are connected with universal consciousness we experience feelings of freedom (moksha) and bliss (ananda), but in order to connect more frequently, we need to do the work. "Doing the work" means to truly commit to getting to know and understand the geography of our own inner landscape. It means turning our awareness away from the outer world to our inner world. We withdraw our senses by stopping, closing our eyes and finding stillness (pratyahara). We begin to bring our focus into one thing such as the movement of our breath or a mantra (dharana). As we continue, we begin to find an inner state of peacefulness (dhyana) which leads us to moments of expanded bliss (samadhi).

Now most of us have only fleeting glimpses of what pure ecstatic bliss feels like, however the yogis believe that disciplined effort can take us into these states more and more frequently. As Sharon Salzberg said recently, "Holding onto thoughts is like holding a bird in our hands. When we realize we're doing it, we can release our grip and let go of the bird". The same is true for thoughts. What can keep us from reaching expanded states of consciousness is that we hold onto thoughts and perpetuate their energy by going into the past or future or making a story out of it. When we recognize that we're holding, we can open our hands and let go. And we might have to do this over and over, but when we do we experience the realness of the present moment and when we're in the present, it's easier to connect to the big picture.

Six of the chakras have bija (seed) mantras: Lam, Vam, Ram, Yam, Ham and Om but the seventh chakra is silent (there is no sound in space). Another way to connect to the seventh chakra is by wearing violet and repeating affirmations such as:

I connect with spirit.
I invite sacred transformation.
I embrace the unity of all beings.

When we raise the vibration of consciousness we begin to listen to the wisdom and truth of our individual soul as it connects to the whole cosmos. And as I did last week, I would like to finish my thought of the week, by sharing a quote from Geof's book:

Crown Chakra Prayer

Gracious and pure guru consciousness, may I realize my oneness with Source.

Help me to recognize the goodness and beauty in all of creation.

With gratitude, I identify and accept the limitless possibilities gifted to me.

My channels are open to receive the divine and eternal wisdom of the ages.

May I master my spiritual nature and achieve the awareness of higher self.

Allow me to accept and teach the wisdom of the miracles of love, faith, and charity.

Enable me to know the I AM presence and be the essence of Eternal Source.


Om shanti to that!

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