Sahasrara - the Crown Chakra

Violet or white is the colour usually related to this chakra. The pituitary gland relates to this chakra (according to some) along with the cerebral cortex of the brain and the central nervous system. It relates to thought, information, understanding, bliss, consciousness, transcendence and meditation.

It represents the ruling principal in life, the place where the underlying order and meaning of all things is ultimately perceived. It is the true essence of being, as the awareness that dwells within. It is the wisdom of the body, the intellect, the belief systems and awareness of the divine.

The gift of this chakra is experiencing unity and the selfless realization that everything is connected at a fundamental level. It is the way of transcending the ego. There is no intellectual knowing at the level of seventh chakra, but there is serenity, joy, and deep peace about life. It embraces an attitude for gratitude about your life.

Thought brings new dimensions, unfettered by the limitations of space and time. Yogic practice advises withdrawal of the senses in order to achieve the mental stillness necessary to perceive this ultimate state. Tantric philosophy, however regards the senses as a gateway to awakening consciousness. Chakra theory tells us that it is both a stimulation of intelligence to give us information and a withdrawal to the interior where information is sifted into ultimate knowledge, according to Anodea Judith.

The function of Sahasrara is knowing. It relates to what we experience as the mind. The mind assimilates experience into meaning and constructs our belief systems by watching the play of thoughts. These thoughts are the master program from which we construct our reality. This place within is the seat of consciousness and the origin of the manifesting current.

All acts of creation begin with conception. This begins in the mind as an idea and travels down through the chakras into manifestation. The natural and man-made world is the expression of consciousness.

Higher consciousness is the awareness of a higher or deeper order. Sahasrara has the greatest versatility and can encompass the greatest scope of any of the chakras, hence its state of liberation. Some say that Sahasrara is the seat of the soul, an eternal and dimensionless witness that stays with us throughout lifetimes. It can only be experienced.

The consciousness of the mind can be split into two camps, depending on where the attention goes. One type descends, becoming concrete information which is used to manifest whilst the other expands and travels outwards toward more abstract planes. The prior requires that awareness be focused on the finite and particular; the latter an opening awareness beyond cognition.

As we progress along our life paths, we gather more information. Enlightenment is a progressive understanding of ever greater wholeness. Each new piece of the puzzle brings greater understanding.

Our belief systems are comprised of various pieces of meaning which we have derived from experience. The relationship between meaning and belief can be incredibly strong. So much so, that when presented with somebody else's belief system, we may not even consider their truth because it differs so greatly from our own.

One can counter this by practising meditation. Meditation allows for self-reflection. It is a clearing out process of the mind by asking ourselves what best serves our purposes, what that purpose is and what no longer serves that. It is like making space for new energy, space and experiences.

Studies have shown that certain qualities of the mind exist independently of the brain. This implies that there is an information field that exists outside the body - which can be tapped into. Perhaps our higher selves can see these information fields and we gravitate towards those who share similar ideals.

The crown chakra is the meeting point between mortal and divine, finite and infinite, temporary and eternal. This is where we expand beyond our personal self. It is the point where divine consciousness (or our higher selves) enters the body, bringing energy to the rest of the chakras and the body.

It is the ascending current that brings energy travelling up from the root chakra to the crown chakra. The descending current, which carries energy from the crown down to the root, brings us limitation and manifestation.

Liberation from maya (illusion) comes with transcendence. Letting go of the ego and our attachments brings emptiness. This is the ascending current. The descending current of consciousness brings immanence (divine presence in which the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world). It is awareness of the divine within, whereas transcendence is awareness of the divine without.

Meditation is both a means and an end. Through balancing our bodies, breath, thoughts and bringing them all into resonance, we align our chakras and are able to perceive the unifying essence of all creation. During meditation, awareness increases rather than decreases. Because the body is so relaxed and calm, the mind is freed from the body's restrictions and can explore further.

True meditation is a state of mind, not an effort. It comes with practise and can reap joy. The object of meditation is focusing the mind on single-pointedness concentration. There are many different types of meditation. Each of us are different, so try out a few and decide what works best for you.

When we realize that everything is interconnected and that we are part of the larger scheme of life, we begin to live with gratitude, faith and trust, rather than filled with fear and anxiety. We are guided by the higher power and we feel divinity from within and from without. The challenge of this chakra is to liberate the spirit - open to the divine - and at the same time stay firmly rooted deep in the ground.

Here, it is possible to obtain a state of non-duality where we realize we are one with the cosmos and everything in the cosmos is one with us. The cosmos has emptied its energy into us, as we have emptied our energy into it. Everything is now an eternal beacon of providence. Like Alan Watts said, “God emptied to the limit is man, and man emptied to the limit is God.”

This chakra, more than any other, is about complete surrender and dissolution; a letting go of the hold the physical world has on us.

While meditating with your hands over your solar plexus, let the little fingers point up and away from you, touching at their tips, while braiding the rest of the fingers with the left thumb underneath the right. Open the third eye, and focus upon the thousand-petaled crown splintering off into the cosmos. Feel the powerful kundalini energy (primal energy) pooling up from your roots, passing through the sacred waters of the sacral, basking in the fire of the solar plexus, breathing in the vital breath of the heart, absorbing the ethereal voice of the throat, pouring through the dissolution of the Third Eye, and spilling up and out like a mighty fountainhead into the greater cosmos. Imagine kundalini circulating through your body, from Crown to Root and back again, over and over. Further imagine the universe as a giant mirror, while heeding the wisdom of Khalil Gibran, “Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are the eternity and you are the mirror.”

The bija mantra for Sahasrara is also “Om”, or you can merely hum “ng”.

Affirmations that you may want to practice include:

I am part of the Divine. I honour the Divine within me. I seek to understand and to learn from my life experiences. I seek experiences that nourish my spirit. I listen to the wisdom of universe. I trust my intuition. I am open to letting go of my attachments. I live in the present moment. I am grateful for all the goodness in my life. I love and accept myself. I am connected with the wisdom of the universe. I am open to divine wisdom.

Stephanie Snyder’s yoga tune up practice can be found here:

Picture sourced from: http://www.chakra-anatomy.com/crown-chakra.html; Supported headstand, lotus pose and tree pose are my own pictures.

Other sources: Wheels of Life – Anodea Judith; Energy Medicine – Donna Eden; http://www.chakra-anatomy.com/crown-chakra.html; http://fractalenlightenment.com/18423/spirituality/kundalini-rising-part-7-the-crown-chakra; http://www.tantra-kundalini.com/sahasrara.htm;