There is no better time than the present to find or reconnect with your spiritual self! Some find peace in the words of others, but I have never been one to have a quote or passage that I turn to when times get rough. I find more tangibility in taking a yoga class or meditating to get in touch with my higher self. Whatever your path may be, or wherever you find peace of mind, let's move forward together. This is the last chakra in our journey, so stay tuned for the next newsletter where I'll include a quiz to see how your chakras balance out!
Chakra 7: Realization
The seventh chakra's purpose is pure awareness, understanding, and unity with the divine. The color is violet or white and the element is thought or consciousness. The chakra is connected to the crown of the head, cerebral cortex, and pituitary gland. The pituitary gland secretes hormones that regulate growth, reproduction, metabolism, skin pigmentation, and stimulate other glands. Issues in this chakra involve your spiritual connection, understanding, and intelligence.
Journal Questions:
Do you examine the contents of your own consciousness?
What are the primary dwelling places of your consciousness?
Do your thoughts center around how you feel, what you are doing, or on what you are going to say?
Does your mind focus on relationships, fantasizing or worrying about how a relationship is going?
Does your consciousness dwell on the future or the past and fail to be fully present?
Excessive Characteristics:
Dissociation from the body
Spiritual addiction
Confusion
Over-intellectualization
Living "in your head"
Disconnection from spirit
Excessive attachments
Deficient Characteristics:
Spiritual cynicism
A closed mind
Learning difficulties
Rigid belief system
Apathy
Balanced Characteristics:
Spiritual connection
Wisdom and mastery
Intelligence, presence
Open-mindedness, ability to question
Ability to assimilate and analyze information
Practices: Just like the sixth, the seventh chakra is in the head and is therefore accessed through meditation. Use the following exercises to connect with your higher self. There is no place for judgment, just a place of acceptance and understanding.
Watching the Breath:
Beginning meditators usually start by focusing on the breath. This brings you fully into the present moment, as the breath is always cycling. Allow your breath to be slow, full, and deliberate. If your mind wanders, simply let it return again to the breath. Practice until you find it easy to stay with the breath and you experience a calm clear state.
Following Your Thoughts:
If your mind gets busy when you meditate, then simply become the observer of your thoughts. Don't try to stop, control, or analyze them. Simply observe dispassionately the parade of thoughts as they go by, like watching a movie. Often when I practice this technique, important thoughts, ideas, or reminders surface from the unconscious that I find quite valuable. Sometimes I keep a pad beside me for just this purpose, write a word as a reminder, then return to my meditation. When my thoughts have been cleared, I am able to sink deeper into the meditation to a place of no thought.
Mantra Meditation:
Transendental Meditation (known popularly as TM) is a mantra-based meditation practice. This technique uses simple sound repeated internally for the duration of the meditation. TM has been well researched and has proven to have many beneficial results, ranging from brain wave synchrony to increased health, well-being, and productivity. If you want to focus on a particular chakra, you can find the seed sound associated with that center. Check out the blog posts from January 5th to March 16th to find the seed sound of the chakra you want to focus on balancing. Using the same mantra over a long period of time increases its effectiveness.
These techniques are for bringing you closer to the divine, but they are just techniques. They are not the experience itself. To open the seventh chakra is to truly tune into the divine source that lies behind everything and to become one with that source.