(If you missed the earlier articles in this series, have a look at the Chakra Series - Part One to catch up...)
The Crown Chakra:
Colour: White/Violet
Position: Top of the head
Associated Organs/Areas: Brain, Central nervous system
Endocrine Gland: Pineal
Related Emotions: Peace and Despair
Basic Need: Acceptance, Trust
Spiritual Aspect: Self-Conciousness
Colour: White/Violet
Position: Top of the head
Associated Organs/Areas: Brain, Central nervous system
Endocrine Gland: Pineal
Related Emotions: Peace and Despair
Basic Need: Acceptance, Trust
Spiritual Aspect: Self-Conciousness
The crown chakra is where we receive Universal energy, in the form of wisdom, intelligence and spiritual knowledge. When we are in balance, we move through life with clarity and peace, with a pure understanding of life, with acceptance. We feel in tune with 'why we are here' and our life path. When we accept this, we create harmony and right relation with all life, which then expands our own consciousness as well as creating greater harmony around us and in our world.
When there are blockages in this area, leading to a closed chakra, the Universal energy cannot come through as it normally would, through to the rest of the body. This begins to create blockages and imbalance through the entire body. (This is also the case with the base chakra when energy is trapped there and can't leave the body).
Also, when this centre is too open, too much energy comes in, and we become too influenced by the collective consciousness around us, losing our sense of self, who we are and why we are here. The extreme cases where this is happening are those of paranoia and mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. All mental illness is related to the crown chakra, including depression.
The crown and base chakras are linked, so when one becomes blocked or out of balance, so the other becomes unbalanced. When the crown chakra is blocked it can be very healing to take solace in nature, be outside and become grounded. Re-connecting like this will help to re-centre and pull the energy through to the base chakra where it can be grounded and released into the earth. By walking, exercising, gardening or doing any outdoor pursuits, it re-connects us to the earth and begins to rebalance the crown chakra. It brings clarity and perspective to situations and to life.
The crown chakra is associated with purity and spirituality, it gives us our moral guidance, ethics and values. I connects us to the Divine, our higher self, which is 'who we really are'. When we are in synch with our higher self, we connect easily with others, life and the world, we are happy and fulfilled in life because we understand ourselves and our life purpose, we have a better understanding of life in general and are accepting of it.
Some say that the crown chakra becomes fully functional in our 40's. It's interesting because that's often the time in life when we do feel more settled and have begun to understand life more fully. When we aren't able to accept life, ourselves or others, it blocks the Universal flow to us and we become cut off from life and our true higher selves. It causes mental pain and separation, and the restriction of energy through the crown chakra reduces the amount of energy to the rest of the body, causing low energy, exhaustion and confusion.
As mentioned earlier, when the base chakra is blocked, a build up of energy in the system occurs, causing imbalances in other ways, including over sensitivity to energy, light, sound and life. Often this has occurred through experiences such as abuse, deep shock/trauma or repeated criticism, judgement or blame. In these cases, the individual shuts off from the earth, believing it's not safe to be fully here and grounded in the body. The connection is lost. They become withdrawn and disconnected from life as a means of self-preservation. Unfortunately, this only causes further problems and further disconnection from life.
Through healing, we can re-balance ourselves. We all have a purpose in life and are all relevant important human beings. Clearing the fear-based beliefs about 'why we are here' and 'what's my purpose?' begin to show a re-connection with our Divine self, pure love, harmony and well-being. Clearing the past emotional baggage and fear helps us to re-connect with life from a love-based perspective, it helps us to understand life more fully and more clearly, from a more spiritual point of view. We begin to be able to see things from all perspectives, not just our own and are able to live life in a more mature, harmonious way, knowing that life is on our side.
Tips to balance the crown chakra:
Practice deep relaxation techniques to release mental stress and help reconnect with the body
Meditate to re-connect with clarity and clear depression, to see what emotions need to be expressed
Find an experienced therapist to help you
Be willing to see the beauty in life, look deeply into a flower!
Go outside!
Spend time with gentle exercise such as Tai Chi to ground yourself and balance energy
Find ways that suit your beliefs to begin spiritual practice such as prayer, meditation or creativity
I hope you have enjoyed these articles about the chakra system. I'll be back to writing different articles about all sorts of things healing and spiritual over the coming weeks...
