7. The Crown Chakra

We’ve finally made it to the last of the 7 Chakras, the Crown Chakra. We have worked our way up from the base Root Chakra, to the Sacral, Solar, Heart, Throat, and Third Eye. So today, we conclude the introduction to the Chakras series by discussing the Crown Chakra.

Also known by it’s Sanskrit name “Sahasrara”, this chakra is located at the crown of the head. I like to envision a string that, when pulled, makes me stand up straight and where that string sit on the head is where my crown is. This Chakra is associated to the colors violet and white, and works with crystals that are purple, violet, or clear, or white. The sacred sound for this chakra is the classic “Om” and the musical note that it aligns to is “B”. Here at the Crown Chakra, is where we become connected on a spiritual level to the energies around us, the divine beings, the powers of the universe, or simply, a sense of your higher self. Whether you call it enlightenment, reflection, or deeper knowing, here at the Crown is where we comprehend that the powers and energies surrounding us are all interconnected.

When your Crown Chakra is aligned and healed, you feel a deep sense of understanding with the world, inner peace, joy, and closeness to your deity or your religious views…if you have any. If you do not have a specific religion, then you may feel pleasantly close to yourself in the sense that you understand where your head is at, what your place is in this world, and how you may go about your days with the knowledge you’ve gained through life experiences.

Signs that your Crown Chakra needs to be cleansed would be if lost faith, or not knowing where to turn to look for the divine. You may also feel like humanity is a mess, or your contributions aren’t helping to make this world any better. You may feel absorbed by materialism, or you may feel claustrophobic because of social norms and constructs in this world. You may lack a feeling of deeper meaning. You may also feel clumsy or awkward physically, or socially.

To cleanse your Crown chakra many violet and clear/white crystals are useful. The three I will explain to you today are Moonstone, Selenite, and Apophyllite.

Moonstone helps you become more receptive to divine guidance or callings and aids to form inspiration out of your experiences. It is also supposed to help you love yourself, accept flaws and drive towards the future with internal trust.

Selenite is a very high vibration crystal. I’m still trying to understand what that means exactly, but what I’ve gather so far is that high energy stones could knock other chakras out of balance, so it’s safe to also have a grounding crystal (like smokey quartz) in hand while you are working with high vibration crystals. Selenite brings you closer to spiritual energies and makes you more receptive to guidance and communication. It is said to expand the Crown chakra while eliminating any psychic roadblocks that may be present in the mind, emotions, or Sacred Space. You can find Selenite Wands and Scepters which aid to magnify and direct the high intensity vibrations from this crystal.

And finally, Apophyllite–like both the crystals mentioned above–helps open the crown chakra to receive higher guidance, but also helps you evolve into higher states of being. This crystal is great if you are having issues with ego-based desires.

So there you have it folks! Some basics and some details on each of the standard Chakras! I hope you were able to take something away from these readings whether it was simply that chakras exist, how they work, what order they go in, or possibly (but I hope not!)… the fact that you couldn’t possibly believe in such a thing. Whatever you took away, I know I enjoyed sharing. Thanks for listening.

6. The Third Eye Chakra

The Third Eye Chakra–also known as the Brow Chakra–is located in between the eyes just above the brow. With it’s Sanskrit name “Ajna” which means “beyond wisdom”, this chakra focuses on expanding intuition, imagination and spirituality. The Third Eye Chakra is associated with the color indigo, the musical note A, the element of light, and the Sacred sound “Aum”.

The pituitary and pineal glands located in the brain and just behind the forehead, between the eyes are linked to this chakra. The pituitary gland is considered the master gland because it sends messages to the rest of our glands and organs throughout the body. The pituitary also sends messages to the brain telling it to turn thoughts into actions. However that is when the pineal gland comes inhibiting the pituitary gland and communicating to the brain to wait a moment. Instead, the brain to told to ponder those thoughts before performing them. The pineal gland is what makes us truly human–it is the essence of consciousness which allows us to adventure into deep thought. The Third Eye harnesses this feature of the pineal gland and allows us to expand that consciousness.

When the Third Eye chakra is cleansed, one has an open and clear state of mind, external awareness, and reliable gut feelings. When cleared, the 3rd Eye chakra aids in developing the imagination, expanding consciousness, and heightening spiritual awareness. You can trust your senses when this chakra is clear which results in decreased levels of stress and worry.

If you feel that your thoughts are foggy, if you’re forgetful, or like your gut feelings are not helping dissociate fantasy from reality, then your Third Eye chakra may be out of balance.

To clear the Third Eye chakra one can use any of the following crystals (and of course can use many others, for the list is practically endless): Sodalite, Amethyst, and Azurite.

Sodalite encompasses all the healing powers that are needed for the third eye Chakra. It works to enhance cognitive ability, rational thought, truth and intuition, as well as clairvoyance.

Amethyst is a more spiritual stone which opens channels for higher consciousness and clairvoyance. This stone brings peace and happiness to the mind and is also said to bring lucid dreams, and protect one against physical or psychic harm.

Azurite, like sodalite, works to open up the mind for cognitive and intuitive thought. Meditating with sodalite in one palm and azurite in another will help you clear your mind and answer what it is you want from a specific aspect of your life. What do you want in your relationships or in a relationship to come. What do you want in the workplace, what do you want in your free time, etc. Azurite also helps open the mind to think outside the box, and keeps one detail-oriented.

Please return on Thursday to read about the final Standard Chakra: The Crown Chakra.

5. The Throat Chakra

Also known as “Vishuddha”, the 5th Chakra, or throat Chakra is located at the throat and is the first of the three spiritual chakras. Associated with the color blue, the physical sense hearing, the musical note G, and the sacred sound “Ham”, this Chakra–when in balance–allows one to communicate and express themselves in the most effective ways.

The Throat chakra has a powerful connection to the Sacral Chakra. The Sacral is the center of creativity and personal power, and the Throat is used to effectively speak our creative ideas to make them real. It is when we speak our creative ideas to others that we can create plans to make them a reality.

However, the Throat chakra is not all about speaking, it is also about listening. One may not know when or how to respond to someone unless they are truly listening to the conversation at hand. What’s more, we must listen for the subtle forms of communication like tone of voice, eye-contact, and body-language, in order to fully understand what others are expressing to us. It is when we are really listening that we know how to interpret messages and send our own in response.

When the Throat Chakra is in balance and cleared, physically one wouldn’t feel any pain in the throat, jaw, mouth or neck. Mentally, one should feel able to speak truthfully at all times and feel able to express themselves and their ideas.
On the other hand, if the Throat Chakra is out of balance or needs to be cleansed, one may find themselves consistently telling lies, or having trouble communicating feelings or ideas. In addition, they may be unable to spit the words out of their mouth, are struggling with addiction, feel a lack of creativity, or a lack of faith in themselves and/or others.

Like the Heart chakra, when the Throat chakra is healed we can release heavy burdens, grudges, or habits that have long been stored-away. This can be difficult because we don’t want to face the dark, troubling parts of our mind since it is often a painful reminder of past experiences. Remembering troubled times hurts, and can feel like a huge obstacle. But, in the end, being able to embrace our troubles in order to release them forever can feel like a huge weight off the shoulders. Once we clean out the bad and ugly, we leave room for so much good and so much beautiful. Clearing the Throat chakra can be difficult but with a little bit of help from our crystals, we can clear our wheel of energy and express ourselves freely.

The three crystals I will discuss with you today, which of course are not the only crystals that can be used to clear the throat chakra include: Blue Lace Agate, Aquamarine, and Celestite. All these crystals are blue which is matches the Throat Chakra’s color, however, it is not the case that only blue crystals can clear this chakra.  There are many of other colors which work on this chakra for cleansing and healing.

Blue Lace Agate is a very peaceful stone which heals sore shoulders, back, and throat. It also creates space to improve self-expression and personal truth. Additionally, it helps men accept their natural sensitive feelings even when the world is telling them not to.

Aquamarine aligns to all chakras but does well to clear the Throat and open the 3rd Eye (which we will cover tomorrow). It is beneficial for healing sore throats, swollen glands, and jaw or teeth pain. It is a blue crystal which aligns to this Chakra’s color, and aids in understanding underlying emotional states of oneself or others, as well as helps interpret personal feelings. Aquamarine filters all the information absorbed during the day and helps maintain a clear perception of reality.

Celestite (also a blue crystal) strengthens ones ability to resolve conflicts, and have peaceful conversations. Celestite enhances clarity of mind while tapping into the spiritual side of things. This crystal opens up the metaphysical abilities of the body and gives greater openness of mind for negotiations and new experiences, whether they are physical, mental, divine…or otherwise.
And with that I shall leave you. Tomorrow we shall explore the wonders of the Third Eye Chakra.

4. The Heart Chakra

The Heart Chakra is in the center of the 7 Chakras and maintains the balance between the upper three and lower three. Also known as “Anahata”, this chakra is aligned to the color green, the musical note F, the planet Venus, the element Air, and the Sacred sound “Yam”. The Heart Chakra is located right on the heart and is attuned to the Cardiac Plexus.

I find it interesting that all our lives we already know about the Heart Chakra since many believe the heart is the location of love in the human body. Especially during the holidays, we “open our hearts” to give gifts to family, friends, and the less fortunate. So you really already know about the Heart Chakra. This chakra is associated with love and giving/receiving.

The chakra before the Heart, the Solar Chakra, focused on personal creativity. The Solar Chakra is thought of as the Chakra of power where creativity and compassion are born and nourished. And now with the Heart Chakra with it’s element is air–like a breeze picking up a seedling– works to disperse creativity and positive self-esteem throughout your life.

Your heart chakra may be out of balance if you cannot trust yourself or others, if you feel unloved or unworthy of love. If you are getting caught up in your feelings, or what others may think of you, it’s a sign that your heart chakra may need some attention. Additionally, jealousy and resistance to change arise when the heart chakra is out of balance. Physical signs that the heart chakra needs healing include wheezing, breathing trouble, ulcers, and chest infections.

Crystals used to heal the Heart Chakra include but are not limited to: Green Aventurine, Rose Quartz, and Rhodonite. Many green and pink stones will align with the Heart Chakra.

Green Aventurine helps your heart let go of old ways and habits allowing for growth and change. Aventurine is also ideal for fending social disputes and instead opens the heart to other’s perspectives and friendly communication. Placed on the heart chakra, Green Aventurine will align the heart to these ideas, or this stone can be worn or kept on the person to invite these things into your life.

Rose Quartz, like all quartz crystals, is an ideal purifier and will clear out any negativity, jealousy and anger from the heart and replace it with love and compassion.

Rhodonite helps open the heart to be more giving and respectful to mankind. This crystal will also defeat anxiety and bring grounding love into your life.

An Introduction to the Chakras

Today I performed a breathing meditation and listened to “Chakra Suite: Music for Meditation, Healing and Inner Peace” by Steven Halpern. Halpern creates each track on his album with focus on a particular Chakra. This prompted me to ask, “What exactly are all the chakras, and how do they work?”I decided to find out.

So, what is a Chakra?
A Chakra (Shaw-cruh) is a spiritual point in the human body where energy continually flows. There are seven standard Chakras that flow through the human body. The literal word Chakra is Sanskrit for “circle” or “wheel”. A Chakra should be visualized as a point of energy flowing constantly in a small circular pattern around an origin. This energy is often referred to as Prana, Mana, or the vital life force. Chopra Center author Michelle Fondin explains that Chakras are where Matter and Consciousness meet, and most lay on the spine where crucial nerve centers are located. According to Google–I know, not super reliable, but I thought it was interesting–the use of the word Chakra was adopted by western civilization in the 1950’s, skyrocketed up to the 2000’s, fell for a few years, but is again on the rise.

Each chakra has a specific location and represents certain things. The Root Chakra, for example, is located at the tailbone. It represents being grounded as an individual, and effects our sense of security and survival. Each chakra has a different purpose and depending on how one feels with certain aspects of life, a chakra may warrant some healing.

It is thought that you can heal chakras through meditation, crystal healing, or other healing exercises to help get rid of inhibitions, improve physical or mental well-being and create a clear, steady equilibrium within your emotional, mental, and physical states.

So there you have it! Now you have a general understanding of what a chakra is, and why they are commonly referenced in meditation practices. Check back tomorrow to go deeper into the first of seven standard Chakras.

 

You may be asking yourself, “if there are seven standard chakras does that mean there are non-standard chakras?” YES. …. More to come 🙂

5 minutes of Meditation: A Lifetime of Mindfulness

My work is pretty awesome. Our CEO, along with other leaders of the organization, understand that employee satisfaction drives success within a business. They have worked together with scientists and wellness coaches to create a phone app specifically for our employee base to set personal health and wellness goals. The purpose of this app is to improve happiness in employees’ daily lives and workplace. I decided to give it a shot.

This app provides multiple wellness tracks to choose from and there was one based on meditation, so I thought it was perfect!

After using this app for a week I’ve completed more than 7 guided meditations, ranging from 5 to 10 minutes each, which have helped improve my mindfulness.
Below are my thoughts from the meditations for today.

1. The first meditation was called Counting The Breath. I have been doing a few simple breathing meditations on my own, but this meditation helped me catch my mind wandering. The meditation told me to focus on my breath by thinking, “IN” when breathing in, and then to assign a number to each exhale. I was to do this until I reached the number 10 and then begin again at 1. When I caught myself becoming distracted, I was told to be proud for catching myself and to simply start again at 1. During this meditation I began to force my breathing into a predictable rhythm, but the voice on the recording told me to let my breath do it’s own thing, and just, breathe. So I did.

2. The second meditation was about being kind to yourself. When I started to meditate a few weeks ago, I was constantly harsh on myself for being so distracted all the time. Sometimes still, I catch myself falling out of focus more than I would like and it’s frustrating. My internal voice speaks sharply, saying I need to stop f***ing falling out of focus and just meditate, goddammit! But really, I need to be kind. Kindness get’s you so much further in life.
I mean after all, it’s not like if I meditate “wrong” anything bad will happen. Plus, it’s supposed to take time to become a great meditator, therefore patience is warranted.
The great thing about this specific meditation is, there’s something to take away and reflect upon throughout my days to come-How does my internal voice sound when I’m at home versus at work? Am I hard on myself when I make mistakes at work and is that effecting my ability to be productive? Do I deserve the sharp words? Probably not. I’m going to be more mindful of my internal voice at work. If I adjust that voice to be softer and kinder, I bet I will become more productive and optimistic.

3. This final meditation for the day was about balance. Meditation is about finding a balance between relaxing and focusing energy. Like tuning a guitar by ear, it takes time to understand how to “listen” to your body and mind. How to not be above the pitch or below the pitch but to sail right on top of the perfect note. To ride that balance between focused energy, and relaxation. This meditation taught me how to physically notice when I am off-balance.
I had been avoiding sitting cross-legged because it was hurting my back. It didn’t make sense because sitting cross-legged never hurt my back unless I was meditating. This should have been a red flag right away, but what was happening was I was working too hard and straining my back more than straightening it. Once I realized I was exerting too much energy into my posture, I relaxed more, found a comfortable seated position and still sat up straight.
Other times, I have almost fallen asleep while meditating, which means that I wasn’t focusing enough energy into my meditation. From now on, When this happens I need to take a few deep breaths to draw my attention back to my breath, feel a change of pace, and perhaps open my eyes to become more awake. I need to allow a bit more energy to flow through me.

I will more mindful of my mind wandering, my internal voice, and finding that right balance between focus and relaxation while meditating.

Day 1: An Eye-Opener

Giving credit where credit is due: In my last post on creating a sacred space, I referenced a book by Madonna Gauding called “The Mediation Bible”. As I am starting out I will be working through some of the meditations in her book. The book is a nice pocket size and has a great introductory section for before you begin, as well as easy to follow sections on different types of meditations. If you find that you enjoy the meditations I work through, I highly recommend that you pick up this book as a comprehensive and welcoming place to start.

For my first meditation, I chose a breathing meditation where you count your breaths on the exhale up to 10 and then start over. You do this for 10 minutes. The following explains my thoughts throughout the exercise:

• I want to try and sit the fancy way-cross-legged with my feet on top of my knees. Oh… Ow ow ow!  Foot cramp!! Don’t move it…nope that doesn’t help, stretch it out. Ah… better. Nice start Evelyn.
• Okay I’m just going to sit normal cross-legged. Starts stopwatch.
• 1, 2, 3,… I can’t wait to write this blog…SHH! 4, 5, 6, I’m gonna write in the blog that I couldn’t stop thinking about writing the blog… STOP IT! That’s meta and cool but STOP! SHH. 7, 8, 9, 10.  …repeat…
• 10, 11, 12, oh no! I’m not supposed to be counting past 10, I’m supposed to start at 1 again. Come on, focus. (This happened about 5 times)

For about a minute or so I did fall into a nice rhythm and was completely focused on my breathing. I counted my exhales successfully from 1 to 10 four or five times without going past 10 or thinking about the blog, or my fancy new crystals, or how my back was hurting from sitting straight for so long. I noticed that my vision changed when I inhaled versus exhaled. Things got darker and lighter and darker and lighter, and then my focus broke because I began to think:

• Oh no, am I not getting enough oxygen to my brain? Am I getting too much? I don’t want to hyperventilate right now. Shh, your getting anxious, don’t worry so much. Just breathe normally, close your eyes instead.

Eventually I did get through the meditation. I only adjusted my posture one time because I wanted to stretch my back, and I only scratched one itch. 🙂

As my first meditation, it turned out to be what I was expecting: Gained 1 minute of meditation, and 9 minutes of trying to bring myself back to focus. I realize now how fast our brains move. It isn’t until I try to clear my mind that I realize how much is going on in there.

I can’t wait to try again tomorrow 🙂

 

Featured image from: USA Today