The Seventh Chakra
Finally, we arrive at our crown.
Sahasrara (sah-hahs-RAH-yah), the “thousand-petalled” lotus infinitely blooming, is centered on the top of the head, natch, and its elements are thought and consciousness. Its color is white and/or violet (I always see a gorgeous, pure white), its associated organs are the brain, central nervous system, and pineal gland (the “seat of the soul”), and its themes are universal consciousness, non-duality, awakening, understanding, presence, bliss, paradox, and transcendence of perceived limitations. Sahasrara develops throughout our lifetime, and its shadow side is attachment.
When our crown chakra is open, active, and balanced, we feel clear, aware, present, intuitive, intelligent, trusting, grounded, equanimous, empathetic, humanitarian, and aligned with the divine. An overactive crown can lead to spiritual addiction, intellectualizing, confusion, or detachment from the body and earthly concerns, and an underactive to cynicism, apathy, closed-mindedness, or materialism.
Practices to open and balance the crown chakra might include time spent observing or walking in nature, selfless acts of service, expressions of gratitude, chanting, detoxing, attending to lower chakra issues, and contemplative questions such as, “How can I best serve the whole?” and “Did I make time for God today?” Sahasrara’s resonant sound is silence.
Crown work usually feels like a two-fer to me, as I typically also see grounding and a root chakra connection, and a visualization you might employ to awaken the crown is to bring pure white light down from the cosmos in through your skull, down to your sacrum and coccyx and then circulate it back up, surrounding the spine and allowing the life force to flow through and activate each chakra in turn.
May we align fully with Spirit and the Great Unknown — and may all of our chakras function optimally and harmoniously.
“The oldest of techniques, tried and true for thousands of years, meditation is a balm to the soul. There is no activity better for gaining command of your attention, upgrading your beliefs, elevating your experience, and accessing the 7th chakra.”
—Anodea Judith
Finally, we arrive at our crown.
Sahasrara (sah-hahs-RAH-yah), the “thousand-petalled” lotus infinitely blooming, is centered on the top of the head, natch, and its elements are thought and consciousness. Its color is white and/or violet (I always see a gorgeous, pure white), its associated organs are the brain, central nervous system, and pineal gland (the “seat of the soul”), and its themes are universal consciousness, non-duality, awakening, understanding, presence, bliss, paradox, and transcendence of perceived limitations. Sahasrara develops throughout our lifetime, and its shadow side is attachment.
When our crown chakra is open, active, and balanced, we feel clear, aware, present, intuitive, intelligent, trusting, grounded, equanimous, empathetic, humanitarian, and aligned with the divine. An overactive crown can lead to spiritual addiction, intellectualizing, confusion, or detachment from the body and earthly concerns, and an underactive to cynicism, apathy, closed-mindedness, or materialism.
Practices to open and balance the crown chakra might include time spent observing or walking in nature, selfless acts of service, expressions of gratitude, chanting, detoxing, attending to lower chakra issues, and contemplative questions such as, “How can I best serve the whole?” and “Did I make time for God today?” Sahasrara’s resonant sound is silence.
Crown work usually feels like a two-fer to me, as I typically also see grounding and a root chakra connection, and a visualization you might employ to awaken the crown is to bring pure white light down from the cosmos in through your skull, down to your sacrum and coccyx and then circulate it back up, surrounding the spine and allowing the life force to flow through and activate each chakra in turn.
May we align fully with Spirit and the Great Unknown — and may all of our chakras function optimally and harmoniously.
“The oldest of techniques, tried and true for thousands of years, meditation is a balm to the soul. There is no activity better for gaining command of your attention, upgrading your beliefs, elevating your experience, and accessing the 7th chakra.”
—Anodea Judith