The Crown Chakra
The Seventh Chakra, or Crown Chakra, is located at the top of our head. It completes the seven main chakra energy points along the body. It is our right to know and to learn. It is where our connection to spirituality takes place, and our ability to understand people and life in general. It connects us to our higher consciousness and the most effective way to strengthen the seventh chakra is through meditation. The seventh chakra is all about realizing our true nature. What blocks us from experiencing our true nature is attachment. Attachment to people, material items, beliefs, habits, rewards, money, and the list goes on. Attachment finds us focused more on the outer self rather than focusing on turning inward.
There is a mystery that takes place with the seventh chakra. Something that often cannot be explained. People that need hard facts and to fully understand and believe that there may be a higher power or higher consciousness, may have a hard time tapping into or opening up the seventh chakra. It is the attachment to the facts that keep them from experiencing anything that can’t be explained. The seventh chakra asks us to be open to new ideas, to new ways, and to new experiences.
I have found that meditation helps me begin to let go of my attachments, tap into my inner self, and to hear the answers to the questions that only we can ever really answer for ourselves. The questions of self-healing, what decisions to make, whether we should keep seeing someone or break up, and what we should eat for breakfast. Ultimately, only we can make and trust the decisions in our life whether people around us agree or understand them. Sometimes our decisions really don’t make sense to other people but they make sense to us. We have to trust the inner guidance we receive.
Meditation can be done in a number of ways. I most often hear that people can’t shut off their brains enough to meditate. I often can’t shut my brain off either, but it’s not about shutting the brain off. It’s about finding a new focus for the brain.
The first experience I had with meditation that really helped me understand that I don’t have to shut my brain off was in college at a church group gathering. It was a nun who was teaching us to find a happy place that we could relate to. To focus and find a time in life where we found peace. I immediately found myself on a little riverbank at a state park where my dad taught us to swim in a river growing up. I saw myself sitting in a lawn chair watching the river. As the nun continued to guide us through different prompts I found myself always coming back to this place in my mind when I needed to find some peace.
As I sat in my happy meditation place I allowed any thoughts that I had come into my mind and then I would see those thoughts transform into logs, leaves, and twigs floating down the river. I would acknowledge each ‘thought’ and then gently let it continue flowing down the river. In these moments I could see where I would be holding on to specific thoughts for a little longer than I’d like. I felt space being created in my mind. I felt calmer and more connected to my inner essence. And through this process of meditation I quickly found myself hearing answers to questions, resolutions to conflicts, and finding peace in the midst of stressful times.
Meditation can take so many forms. It can be starting out for 3 minutes a day just focusing on your breath. It can be through physically moving your body in a way where you zone out and feel at peace and have had moments of clarity. It can be when you are in the zone baking, dancing, breathing, or focused on an object in front of you. Maybe you enjoy guided meditation classes where you get to follow along and see where the journey in your higher consciousness wants to reveal to you.
If you haven’t meditated before and find yourself often confused, indecisive, depressed, stressed out, or looking to connect to something higher than yourself, then start with a few minutes a day of meditation. Find a way that connects to you. If you need some ideas or help to figure out what works for you, you know I’ve got your back.
I’d love to hear about any experiences you have.
Namaste,
Laura