This week's focus is the head/brain/thought. "The 7th Chakra, Sahasrara/Crown (Thought) is the energy center at the top of the head associated with the element of thought, connection to spirit, universal consciousness, enlightenment, wisdom, unity and self-knowledge.... Some themes related to the sahasrara chakra that you may want to integrate into your intention (are) vastness; limitlessness; unity; seeing yourself in all beings to cultivate compassion; accepting your place and your part in the universe; awakening of consciousness; and opening to spiritual realizations."( from: https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/crown-chakra-tune-practice#gid=ci0207569a301b2620&pid=stephanie-snyder-sukhasana-steph-synder-crown .) Today's technology has the amazing and yet crippling ability to shrink our universe. On the one hand, communication and sharing of information worldwide has never been easier nor faster. Social media helps us to stay connected with those far away, and even with people we have never met in person. However, sometimes the vastness of having that access can feel isolating, especially if we reach out and do not get a response back, or find ourselves comparing our 'insides' to everyone else's 'outsides.' Sometimes our technological devices can leave us feeling detached and distant. Sahasrara asks us to reach beyond the immediate and tangible connections, and find a deeper, more spiritual connection to all beings, and with ourselves. This week we are practicing poses to get "out of our heads" and into realigning with ourselves, each other, and with our Spiritual Healer by focusing on lengthening our bodies upward, and by practicing a variety of inversions which will bring the energy to the crowns of our heads. Meditation and prayer can also be added to this practice as it helps us to quieten the mind and listen openly.
**Note: My personal belief about discussing individual spiritual beliefs in front of class lies in the works of Kahlil Gibran, from "The Prophet:"
On Teaching Kahlil Gibran
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.
Comments