Understanding the Chakras: CROWN Chakra
We’ve reached the final post in my chakra series, with the crown chakra, or sahasrara. Located at the top of your head, this chakra connects you with your highest self. It is the bridge to universal consciousness and cosmic wisdom.
While the third eye chakra connects you to your intuition and spiritual awareness, the crown chakra goes a step further, representing your relationship with the divine.
It doesn’t matter whether you think of this energy as the universe, or God, or your highest self. Whatever you call it, an open, balanced crown chakra means you have a healthy spiritual life.
Directionally, the crown chakra is the counterpoint to your root chakra, which is found at the base of your spine.
These two chakras are strongly linked – you will struggle to balance your crown chakra if your root chakra is blocked. We need a stable foundation before we can connect to our higher spiritual awareness healthily.
As a reminder, the previous six chakras are:
The crown chakra is the seventh. Associated with the colors violet and white, its element is thought. When it is open and balanced, we are connected to the divine. We embrace the deeper meaning of life and see ourselves as one with the universe.
Where is the Crown Chakra?
The crown chakra is found at the top of our heads. It also represents the brain and nervous system.
Like the third eye chakra, the crown chakra is linked to the pineal gland, which controls our circadian rhythms. It is also related to the pituitary gland. The pituitary controls many of the other glands, making it vital to many of our body’s functions.
The Crown Chakra in Balance
When energy is flowing freely through your crown chakra, you have a healthy and vibrant spiritual life. You feel connected with the divine and see beyond the mundane to the deeper meaning of life.
You prioritize spiritual practices, such as meditation or prayer. You understand your place in the universe and know that everything is interconnected.
Accessing your inner wisdom is easy for you. You have a healthy sense of self-awareness. You are also open-minded and empathetic, seeing and accepting others for who they are without judgment. You value other life, recognizing plants and animals as part of the same web of spiritual energy.
You also let go of stress easily and are not preoccupied with material things. You know there is more to life than just the physical world.
Deficiencies in the Crown Chakra
If your crown chakra is blocked, your connection to your spiritual wisdom is lost. You might become overly cynical or sarcastic and will focus solely on the everyday world. You don’t believe in anything unless you experience it through your five physical senses.
You also feel cut off from your deeper purpose, which may manifest as depression or chronic fatigue. You might think that your higher power has abandoned you. This might translate as anger, frustration, or a lack of self-worth.
You will likely be very individualistic in your thinking. You might prioritize material achievements and possessions above everything else. And you might see other living things as lesser or not important.
Physically, blockages in the crown chakra might show up as headaches or migraines. You may also experience pain in your neck or jaw.
Excesses in the Crown Chakra
When energy flows too freely through your crown chakra, you become overly concerned with spiritual matters and may withdraw from the physical world.
You might become frustrated by the mundane practicalities of life, preferring to spend your time in meditation. You may also find it difficult to relate to other people.
An overactive crown chakra can be linked with sensitivity to light and sounds. You may struggle to be fully present in the moment.
What Triggers Blockages in the Crown Chakra?
Like all chakras, the crown chakra often becomes blocked during periods of stress, illness, or emotional upheaval. If you feel that your physical needs aren’t being met and your root chakra is blocked, this can also affect the crown chakra.
Experiencing periods of fear or distrust also have an impact on the crown chakra and can cause blockages.
How Can You Bring Your Crown Chakra Back into Balance?
Nourishing your spiritual well-being is just as important as feeding your physical health. Many of the practices that help to unblock the crown chakra are designed to give you space from everyday life, so you can keep your focus on connecting with the divine.
This chakra is associated with thought and silence. Carving out time in your day to sit quietly and focus on your spiritual life helps to heal the crown chakra and bring it back into balance.
1. Yoga Poses: Inversions
Release stagnant energy in the crown chakra through yoga poses that focus on the head. Inversions are good options to get the energy moving again.
If you are advanced in your practice, you might try headstands (sirsasana). There are modified versions of the full pose you can use as you work towards it. Or you can try rabbit pose (sasangasana) for a more beginner-friendly inversion.
Corpse pose (shavasana) is also wonderful for unblocking the crown chakra because it focuses on stillness and reflection.
2. Meditation
Spending time in meditation helps you to focus your attention on your connection to a higher power. You might visualize the energy as a bright white or violet light flowing in through the crown of your head.
You could use crystals as part of your meditation practice too. Clear quartz, moonstone, amethyst, and selenite are all used to heal the crown chakra.
And you might also chant the seed syllable associated with the crown chakra as you meditate, which is ‘ahh’.
3. Tapping
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), also known as tapping, is when you tap repeatedly on points on your body to release stagnant energy. It can be combined with spoken affirmations.
For the crown chakra, tap the top of your head. You could recite the crown chakra’s mantra, which is ‘I understand’. Or you could choose an affirmation that resonates with your goals for your spiritual life, such as ‘I am connected to the divine’.
4. Aromatherapy
If you are struggling with a blocked crown chakra, essential oils that can help to activate it include sandalwood, frankincense, and palo santo.
On the other hand, you might be trying to soothe your crown chakra instead. In which case, lavender, rose, and jasmine are all options.
5. Prayer
Prayer is simply a conversation with the divine. What that looks like will depend on your belief system and what feels natural to you. But making time to speak to your higher power through prayer helps you to build your spiritual consciousness and open your crown chakra.
This is the end of my series on understanding the chakras. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. Being aware of how our chakras relate to different emotions and areas of our body can help us to notice blockages and address them. That brings our energy systems into balance, making space for healing and personal growth.
If you’d like to dive deeper into the chakras, I have a free chakra guidebook available with prompts, worksheets, and suggestions. You can claim your copy via my homepage.
For those who would like more guidance and support, I run 1:1 and group sessions both in-person and online. There’s more information on how we can work together here.