Healing the Physical BodyCOLOR: Violet or White
MANTRA SOUND: OM
We have arrived at the top of the seven chakras, the Sahaswara chakra, our source of enlightenment and spiritual connection. This chakra is also referred to as the thousand-petal lotus. In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, the lotus flower is a powerful symbol. It grows through adversity in murky waters and blooms where there is no clarity. The beauty of the lotus emerges out of the darkness. And so it is for you: It has taken you a long time to get here. Your road toward enlightenment has had some bumps and setbacks. Yet here you are, a shining example for the world to see.
The seventh chakra is located at the crown of the head and includes the cerebral cortex, the central nervous system, and the pituitary gland.
Artists have depicted the crown chakra as a halo in paintings and drawings of saints and great spiritual masters. A Sahaswara person always has a white light glowing around his or her being.
Here a permanent channel is open to divine knowledge and wisdom. The state of seventh chakra awareness exists beyond space, time, and causality. When you attain this state, you merge with oneness. You completely transcend duality. The mind is unaffected by fluctuations and separateness. The seventh chakra person possesses siddhi powers, which include clairvoyance, levitation, and psychokinesis.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali give us a road map to opening the Sahaswara chakra through the fifth limb of yoga known as pratyahara, or withdrawal of the senses. Through this practice of drawing your senses inward by closing your eyes, observing silence, and minimizing sensory experiences, you access your inner world. Repeated journeys to your inner world create a pathway to enlightenment.
The colors we attribute to the crown chakra are violet and white. No earth elements represent the seventh chakra, as it’s a chakra of physical plane transcendence. The mantra, or bija (seed) sound, we vocalize for the seventh chakra is OM.
Diseases and disorders of the seventh chakra include depression, alienation, confusion, boredom, apathy, spiritual skepticism, and inability to learn or comprehend. An out-of-balance crown chakra can also lead to being overly intellectual or feeling spiritually elite or superior.
People who reach seventh chakra energy have achieved what is known in Sanskrit as guru darshana. They see and channel messages from the Divine and are able to transmit those messages to others and become dispellers of darkness. They bring enlightenment to others through their wisdom and healing. The energy they receive is pure and unadulterated.
Gurus, or spiritual teachers, who have attained guru darshana have little ego. They have overcome the confines of their egos, so seekers in their presence experience only peace, love, and compassion. The persona we typically extend outward to others with our own ego dissolves in the presence of guru darshana. Therefore seekers can experience spontaneous healing, liberation from past karma, and release when they are with gurus.
The person living in the energy of Sahaswara receives a clear channel of divine knowledge. People living at lower levels of consciousness seek answers from others. They look for other people’s opinions and, in some cases, other people’s approval. Confusion arises as they keep asking and getting conflicting advice. In the end, they don’t know whom to trust or whom to follow. Has this ever happened to you?
You spend a lifetime seeking outside yourself for the answers when the entire time the answers were always inside you. They aren’t lurking around your intellect or your ego but rather are in your heart and soul. It’s that inner knowing that tells you the right answers.
Naysayers will try to dissuade you. People will tell you you’re crazy. But while your choices and answers might be unconventional and sometimes wacky, you will know what is right for you. With confidence you will be able to say to others, “I don’t know how I know. I just know.”
Our Societal Relationship with the Seventh Chakra
We live in a society of nonbelievers. I understand the boldness in that statement, but it’s true. We are a society that wants desperately to believe. Look at all the fantasy movies being produced. Is it any wonder that the Harry Potter series is still one of the bestselling book series today? As a society we want to believe in magic, superpowers, and transcendence. Yet we don’t.
If I were to tell you that I have levitated, would you believe me? Well, since you are reading a book on the chakras, you might believe me. However, if I were to tell your brother, sister, mom, dad, or best friend, would they believe me? Probably not. Yet I have. But I don’t share that with just anyone, because they either may not take me seriously or they may have me locked up. It is my experience that when you suspend your disbelief long enough to understand that levitation, instant manifestation, or talking to angels is possible, a world of possibilities opens up to you.
I practice and use not only Ayurvedic medicine but also homeopathic medicine. My eldest child, who truly is one of my greatest teachers in patience, said to me with conviction the other day, “You know, homeopathy isn’t real. It’s just a placebo effect.” My eyes opened wide at this statement. “Oh, really,” I answered. This same child was healed of many ailments as he grew up on homeopathic medicine. “So,” I continued, “you mean to tell me that when homeopathy is used on babies, small children, and animals, it has a placebo effect? They can have no psychophysical response to homeopathy because they’re unaware.”
My darling child is a single representation of society as a whole. We have abandoned intuition and knowledge of the earth’s gifts in pursuit of hard-core scientific fact. If it’s not proven, we don’t believe it. Yet there is so little we know scientifically. In this great big universe, we’ve barely scratched the surface.
So what are you to do with seventh chakra awareness as you live in society? The answer: just be who you are. Once you reach seventh chakra consciousness, you feel no need to prove or defend who you are. Your knowingness transcends any desire to convince or persuade others. Your light is enough to heal others and bring them to you. As for those who aren’t ready? You have loving compassion, an understanding for where they are on their journey, and a simple knowingness that the world is perfect as it is.
Living Life in the Sahaswara Chakra
Few people live in the seventh state of consciousness on a daily basis, because doing so requires transcending the ego. The people who have succeeded at this include Jesus, Saint Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela. I also include Amma, the modern-day saint whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting three times and whom I wrote about in the chapter on the Anahata chakra.
My experience with Amma was one that reflects being in the presence of a person who is living in the highest state of consciousness. Two years ago I was waiting to get my hug from Amma. In order to get a hug from her, you must go early in the day and get a number. You then wait your turn to line up. When it’s time, you enter a line where you sit in a row of chairs and move up in the chair line until you are next to her. I was about 150 feet from the stage where she was sitting, and I felt an energy I had never before experienced. There was minimal noise in the room, just a low-grade hum of people talking. Spiritual music was playing in the background from a CD, so I knew the vibrations weren’t from the music. At that distance from her, my chair was vibrating. It felt as if I were entering a different energy field. To be honest, it was the strangest sensation I have ever felt. From that point forward, as I approached the stage, I stayed in this vibrational frequency, which only got stronger.
Another time I got a hug from Amma, I had a strong but different experience. I didn’t feel the vibrations, but as I approached the stage and waited for my hug with just a couple of people ahead of me, I began to spontaneously cry. It wasn’t a normal cry but sobs. Moments before, I had felt nothing in particular. I wasn’t sad, happy, or stressed. My thoughts weren’t on anything in particular. I just started crying. A good friend, who had spent time in Amma’s ashram in India, explained that when you are in the presence of a being who is living at seventh chakra consciousness, your energy is cleared just by being near them. Crying was a release, a letting go of negative energy, and some healing occurred.
The power of healing is another ability shared by those living in seventh chakra consciousness. All who live in the energy of Sahaswara have the power to heal. Light emanates from their bodies, and often people are healed just by coming into their presence. Many stories in the Christian scriptures depict Jesus healing the sick, but one story in particular tells of a woman who has a bleeding disorder. She intuitively knows that if she can just touch the cloak of Jesus, she will be healed. And sure enough, when she does, she is indeed healed.
Recognizing Seventh Chakra Imbalances
Imbalances in the seventh chakra can lead to strong limitations. Remember that each chakra has its positive and negative aspects, and the highest chakra is no different. Although you are an unlimited being, you are bound in this life by your physical body and the human experience. And in each stage of spiritual growth, there can be setbacks.
One setback of seventh chakra growth is spiritual elitism. Perhaps you are familiar with the stories in Christian scriptures in which the rabbis and religious elite challenge Jesus on his knowledge of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish doctrine. They try everything they can to stump him. That is a display of spiritual elitism, when people accumulate so much knowledge on spirituality or religion that they deem themselves superior to everyone else. In fact, people who possess this false sense of superiority often act as a replacement for God. Unfortunately, this seems to happen a lot in religious organizations.
In reality, spiritual awareness and connection are much less about knowledge than actual experience. When you experience God, no one can take that away from you. Your knowingness and reality are real. You can be illiterate and still have a seventh chakra awakening.
Please don’t take these words as an opportunity to bash religion. I have nothing against organized religion. On the contrary, religion provides a path to higher states of consciousness and spiritual connection. It becomes dangerous only when it claims to take the place of God.
Accepting Seventh Chakra Gifts
Gifts of the seventh chakra are many, and most of us spend our entire lives trying to attain them. Imagine living your life in total peace and bliss. In this space, you are free from worry, anxiety, and sadness. You go through life in total acceptance of the present moment without concern for the future. You live in constant gratitude, awe, and wonder. You are a vessel of unconditional love.
Spiritual literature gives us a road map to acquiring these gifts. In the Christian scriptures, for example, the book of Matthew, chapters 5 through 7, and the book of John, chapters 14 through 16, tell of all these spiritual gifts and how to attain them. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita can also lead you to a place of peace and surrender. The Tao Te Ching of Taoism and the sacred texts of Buddhism are among others that pave the way toward enlightenment. All these texts give us a step-by-step formula to freely attain seventh chakra gifts. Oh, how foolish we are, those of us who don’t take these gifts to heart.
Consider worry, for example. How much time do you waste worrying each day? You worry perhaps about things you can’t control such as the weather, the state of the world, or the way people around you are acting. Then you probably spend time worrying about things you can control but for which you can’t control the outcome. For example, I know people who worry constantly about losing their job. You can control getting to work on time, doing extraordinary work, and being a good team player. But you can’t control the potential outcome of your company needing to downsize. When things are not going according to your expectations, you worry. When things are going well, you worry that they might turn bad. All in all, worry steals you from your life and your bliss.
Yet all the spiritual masters and all the spiritual literature tell you not to worry. Jesus himself spent three years in his ministry, and we only have a limited amount of direct teaching in his words, through the Christian Gospels. So you know that if Jesus taught something and said it more than once, it must be pretty important. In the book of Matthew, chapter 6, Jesus spends no less than ten verses talking about how we shouldn’t worry. In verse 25 he says, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life,” and he concludes with verse 34: “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Other spiritual masters speak about living in the present moment. Yoga and meditation teach us present-moment awareness. Worry is living in the past or in the future but not in the present. Worry is a thief who comes to steal your joy and peace. Just as you would never welcome a robber into your home to take your things, why welcome worry into your mind?
By the time you have awakened to the seventh chakra, your understanding of oneness with universal consciousness doesn’t even allow you to entertain emotions such as worry. For if you are one with the universe, there is no lack and therefore no worry. But I hope my example has provided you with a vision of where you are today in comparison to where you would like to be. And whenever you need a reminder, spiritual literature is there to point the way to the peace of the seventh chakra.
I am one with the Divine.
Besides the practice of meditation, which we discussed in relation to the sixth chakra, getting into the seventh chakra zone is best achieved through the practices of silence, reading spiritual and inspirational literature, and spending time in nature. Sometimes we spontaneously connect with the Divine in moments when we don’t expect it, but most of the time it happens because we make a conscious effort to create an environment in which connection can happen. That is why people often feel connected to the Divine when they go to a church or synagogue but then feel disconnected for the rest of the week. As you have seen, the road to spirituality requires effort.
What you move toward expands, and what you move away from diminishes. For example, if your focus is on your work, often your home life suffers. When your focus is on your relationships, your work may suffer. The same goes for your spiritual life: when you place your focus there, your connection to the Divine will grow, while other, less-important areas will fade into the background.
The other day I was in the car with my twenty-two-year-old, who after fifteen minutes or so turned on the radio and said, “I hate it that you drive around in silence. What’s wrong with you? It’s very disturbing.” I hadn’t even noticed. I love silence. I’ve been practicing silence in everything I do for years. On most occasions I keep the radio and TV off. While I love music, I rarely listen to it now. I just love silence. I love listening to the noises in the environment: the birds, the crickets, and even the cars passing by. Silence is a profound gift, and I believe it’s God’s one and only true voice. When you reach the seventh chakra level of consciousness, you’re no longer afraid of your mind and your thoughts. I have noticed that fear of silence is fear of one’s own mind. Your mind is your friend, not your enemy. The more you believe that, the more you can sit in silence and not only be comfortable in it but even crave more of it.
Spend time reading spiritual literature, whether it’s poetry or scripture. Immerse yourself in nature whenever you can to enjoy everything that connects you to the heartbeat of the universe.
YOGA ASANAS AND PRANAYAMA EXERCISES TO HEAL THE SEVENTH CHAKRA
Try these breathing techniques and poses to help open and align the Sahaswara chakra.
To view a video demo of these exercises, go to
www.youtube.com/c/MichelleFondinAuthor.
Click on the Playlists tab, and select
Chakra Healing Asanas & Pranayamas.
Scroll down the list until you find the one you’re looking for.
Skull Shining Breath — Kapalabhati: Kapalabhati is done by inhaling passively and exhaling forcefully, both through the nose. Exhaling in this way contracts the lower abdominal muscles, so you may feel as if you have done a lot of sit-ups after doing this breathing technique.
Sit with your spine tall, and close your eyes. Inhale deeply through your nose, and then exhale completely. Inhale passively through the nose, then exhale forcefully. Continue with this pattern for about one minute. When you finish, take a deep breath in, and then exhale completely.
Wide-Angle Standing Forward Fold — Prasarita Padottanasana: For this pose, stand on a yoga mat and have a couple of yoga blocks or a chair in front of you. Stand with your feet one leg length’s distance apart with your toes pointing forward. Lift your torso tall and bend forward from your hips, bringing your hands to the floor. If you have a difficult time bringing your head close to the floor, bring your feet a little wider apart. Bend your elbows and bring the crown of your head toward the floor. To assist you, you can either place your head on top of the yoga blocks or on the chair seat. Stay in the forward fold for at least five breaths. To come up, bend at your knees and gently roll up to standing.
Fish Pose — Matsyasana: Lying on your mat, bend both knees with your feet flat on the floor. Lift your hips, bring your arms underneath your buttocks with your palms pressing into the floor, and lower your hips back down to the mat so you’re sitting on your hands. Straighten your legs on the floor, and bring your feet together so your big toes touch. Press down on your elbows and forearms, and lift your chest and head. Tilt your head back, and place the crown of your head on the floor. Hold for five breaths. To get out of the pose, press down on your elbows and lift your head off the floor. Bring your head gently down into alignment with your spine, and release your arms. As a counterpose, lie in savasana, or relaxation pose, for about five even, slow breaths before moving on to the next pose.
Headstand — Salamba Sirsasana: This pose is for advanced yoga students only. If you’re new to doing headstands, it’s best to use a wall as a support. Bring your mat to the wall. Begin the pose on your hands and knees about five inches away from the wall. Come down to your elbows, and fold your hands in front of you. Your folded hands and elbows will form a triangle. Make sure your elbows are directly underneath your shoulders. Lock your shoulders and shoulder blades back toward your spine to have a strong support. Open the palms of your folded hands and bring your thumbs straight up. You’re forming a cup for your head. Place the top of your head on the floor, with the back of your head in your cupped hands. Lift your pelvis in the air so you’re standing on your tiptoes, as in the dolphin pose. Your body will look like an upside-down letter V. Walk your feet toward your elbows. When you feel ready, lift your legs straight up and toward the wall. You might want to do one leg at a time. You can rest your legs on the wall and then readjust your posture to maintain the pose. Stay for up to three minutes. As you hold your headstand, the crown of your head will barely touch the floor. To come down, gently lower one leg at a time. Go into child’s pose (balasana) as a counterpose: lower your hips to the floor, and then extend your torso forward and rest it between your thighs, with your forehead on the floor.
Healing the Emotional and Energetic Body
By the time you arrive at the seventh chakra, you have worked through blockages in your emotional body and have brought awareness to your shadows. Through your practice of meditation, you will experience increasingly frequent peak states and moments of bliss.
Chances are, you have had moments in your life when everything seemed perfect. In these moments you were on top of the world. Life flowed, and you knew that nothing could go wrong. You may have been taking care of your baby, making love, or working on a passion project. Maybe you were just walking in nature or observing a sunset, and time stood still while you experienced wonder and awe.
Peak states are when you transcend space and time. At first, these moments seem to come out of nowhere. They’re amazingly perfect, and you don’t want them to end. But when you try to grasp them or make them occur again, they don’t come when you want. For example, you go hiking and have a marvelous feeling of connectedness, and then you tell a friend about it, urging her to join you the next time. Yet the next time isn’t quite as magical, and you’re disappointed because you really wanted her to experience the same feeling you had. That is generally how peak states work. They happen when you merge into oneness through surrender, but you can’t necessarily replicate them. The more you practice meditation and accept the seventh chakra’s spiritual gifts, however, the more readily you will experience peak states.
I describe bliss as an extended peak state. In peak states, you experience bliss. But because of the turmoil of the mind, as soon as you realize you’re in bliss your mind comes in and gives you reasons why you shouldn’t be, and the peak state ends. That pesky mind of yours (and mine) can be a big buzzkill.
Bliss is not happiness. Happiness is a transitory state that is based on external factors such as people, places, or things. Bliss comes from a place that is internal. It comes when you repeatedly turn inward through meditation, and over time you will find that you can remain there for extended periods. Once you attain bliss, it can’t be taken away from you. Your bliss comes from oneness with God and divine unconditional love.
Yogastah, kuru karmani.
Established in being, perform action.
— BHAGAVAD GITA 2:48
Most people search their whole lives for a solid spiritual connection but never attain it. Remember the song lyric “Looking for love in all the wrong places”? Many look for enlightenment in all the wrong places, such as in material items, experiences, and other people. They are constantly searching the world outside themselves for the answers, when the answers they seek are inside.
When you finally come to an understanding that your spiritual connection is here — that it never left you and that you can experience it now — you may crave it all the time. It can be all too easy to want to stay in bliss and joy. So you want to do yoga five days a week, spend hours daily in meditation, and attend as many spiritual gatherings as you can for fear that this connection might leave you. As a former yoga studio owner, I have seen yoga students search for bliss in the same way they might search for a buzz from alcohol. They need it and feel that they “gotta have it.”
True peace comes from a seventh chakra awakening that you don’t need to chase something that is ever present. Your peace, joy, and bliss are there when you wake up, eat breakfast, do the dishes, dress your kids, go grocery shopping, drive, and do thousands of other things as you go about your day.
In the Hindu spiritual text the Bhagavad Gita, which means the “Song of the Lord,” Arjuna, a warrior, has a conversation with his charioteer, Krishna, who is God incarnate. Arjuna is worried about many things and does not want to perform his duty out of fear. Krishna helps Arjuna see that as long as he is connected to God, he can let go and perform action. It comes from the realization that he, Arjuna, is not in charge of what happens; God is.
When you’re aware that you are tethered to God, your actions, whatever the outcome, are divinely guided. But you have to let go of fear and plunge into your daily activities.
B. K. S. Iyengar, one of the greatest yogis of our modern age, was a householder. He had a wife and kids. He explains that staying true to your duties as a husband, provider, and father is enlightenment. As an enlightened being, you’re no good to the world if you stay hidden in a cave or an enclosed room, living alone and meditating all day. Part of living an enlightened life is going out there, established in being — meaning connected to God and your higher self — and actually living.
The great sages and saints of all time, from whom we have learned, did this. For example, Jesus of Nazareth spent three years of his life, leading up to his death, facing all kinds of adversity. He didn’t say, “I’m just going to stay over here and pray to my Father and meditate. Apostles, you guys go out and preach for me.” He went out there and healed the sick, talked about God to people who thought he was not only crazy but also an imposter, and inspired thousands with his words, all while people were plotting to kill him. Talk about taking action!
Another aspect of living life established in being is authenticity — in other words, being yourself. You are not Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa, nor could you be them if you tried. Even in enlightenment, you are still you. You have your personality, your unique gifts and talents, and your flaws. Many seekers try to be just like the spiritual masters they love. But, of course, when they try to be someone else, they invariably fall short. They’re left wearing a mask, and they become unauthentic.
Since I’m a yoga and meditation teacher, I meet all types of people. Some people in New Age circles try to be perfect spiritual beings. They speak their own language, always talking about the chakras and saying words in Sanskrit. That’s well and good, but there can be a disingenuous air to it all. I’ve seen the same thing in Christian circles too. Just because you understand spiritual truths doesn’t mean you must act a certain way and use a different vocabulary. In fact, when you really understand spiritual truths, you become even more down-to-earth. You’re even more in touch with what it means to be human. You can relate better to humanness. When you perform action, you’re a conduit for God’s work.
Miracles occur at the seventh chakra level of consciousness, as you have an inner knowing that you are a cocreator with God. When you are established in being, you seek to do God’s will in all things. Therefore your desires become God’s desires. As such, you become a powerful manifestor. You then experience spontaneous fulfillment of desire. Whatever you place your attention on becomes real in material form. Your life becomes magical each and every day. The struggles you experience aren’t struggles at all; they’re only God’s way of redirecting you into the path God has chosen for you. You see beauty in all and through all. Opportunities await you at every step. Your daily mantra shifts from “What’s in it for me?” to “How can I help? How can I serve? How can I do your will, God?” Your needs are automatically taken care of as you fully live your life’s purpose. Bliss is your permanent state.
Sit or lie comfortably and close your eyes. Take in a full belly breath, and exhale completely. Repeat the full breath seven times to feel the energy of each chakra rising upward toward the seventh. Now place your awareness on the top of your head, the crown chakra. Imagine a beautiful violet thousand-petal lotus flower sitting there and bringing you its wisdom. Next, imagine a flood of white light pouring down upon you from the heavens, coming in through the crown of your head and then infiltrating your whole body. See this white light filling every one of your cells. The boundaries in your body dissolve as the light fills every gap and space in your physical body. The light is so bright and intense that you feel it radiating from the inside out. Even with your eyes still closed you can feel and see light radiating from your fingers and toes, from your arms and legs, and then from the rest of your body. Feel this fast vibration of light pulsating through you. You may even feel your body rocking, and that is okay. Go with it as you feel this powerful force of light.
Now bring to your attention any ascended masters who resonate with you. Ascended masters are those divine beings who walked the earth and became great spiritual teachers. You can call to Jesus, Moses, Mother Mary, the Prophet Muhammad, Paramahansa Yogananda, Mother Teresa, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, or any other ascended master who inspires you. Call to the great spiritual leaders and ask them to guide you in the highest light and love of God. Ask that they show you the way to the highest vibrational frequency of seventh chakra awareness. Listen to any messages they might have for you now. You will hear these messages as a sudden thought, intuition, or hunch. Sit in the peaceful presence of these divine masters. When you are finished, thank them for their peace and guidance.
Feel the essence of being merged with the One. You are boundless. You are whole. You are one with the Divine. You are infinite perfection and infinite intelligence. You know now that all thoughts of separateness are an illusion. When you come out of this meditation, you will continue to remember. You will continue to feel connected. You will remain established in being.
Rest in this state of perfection for as long as you choose. When it is time to return to activity, conclude your meditation by chanting OM seven times.
ENERGY-BODY HEALING WITH GEMS AND COLORS
The colors of the Sahaswara chakra are violet and white. Wearing these colors and surrounding yourself with them will help remind you of seventh chakra energy.
Two gemstones for the seventh chakra are amethyst and diamond.
Seventh Chakra Mindfulness Ideas to Ponder
1. I fully and openly accept all the spiritual gifts offered to me today.
2. I totally immerse myself in present-moment awareness.
3. I hold in my mind the great spiritual masters who continue to influence my life, and I ask them to stay with me throughout my day.
4. I am one with the Divine. I remain in the state of infinite perfection.
