SDEpisode18 - Crown Chakra - Inner wisdom & consciousness W/guided meditation

In this episode, we journey into the Crown Chakra our connection to higher consciousness, inner wisdom, and something greater than ourselves. Located at the top of the head, the crown chakra invites us to explore spirituality, trust, purpose, and the deep understanding that we are all connected.

We’ll dive into what it means when this energy center feels balanced, blocked, or overactive, how it influences our thoughts and emotions, and ways to gently nurture alignment through mindfulness, meditation, and self-awareness. Together, we’ll explore surrender, intuition, divine connection, and the beauty of simply being.

Whether you’re feeling disconnected, seeking clarity, or craving a deeper sense of peace, this episode offers insight, reflection, and practices to help you reconnect with your highest self.

Take a deep breath, get grounded, and join us as we open to possibility, presence, and the wisdom that already lives within.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back, fellow yogis, to the Soul Deep Yoga and Healing Podcast. I'm your host, Kimmy, and next to me I have my wonderful, beautiful co-host, Brittany. Woo woo! We have had such a great week, and we're excited to be back and talk to you guys about it. And the theme of our episode today, we're talking about the final, the seventh chakra, the crown chakra, also known as sahas rah in Sanskrit. Say that three times fast.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Shall I give it a go? Yeah, try it. Say it again. Sahasra. Sahasraha.

unknown 0:45

Pretty close. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

That was good. But anywho. Um yeah, let's talk about our week before we we dive into our topic today. What have you been up to this week? Um work.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Always. Always work. Teaching classes. Let's see. We've got we've had baseball, we've had practices, therapy, appointments. Um we had book club on Thursday night. Oh, book club was so fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

That was fun. Yeah. Um, so this last month we finished up the book of Ember and Ashes, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Or Ember in the Ashes. Yeah. Yes. And so that was fun. We played, so we did like a quick discussion. Which was we did snacks. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

The charcuterie reward.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Cute. I know. And then we try to do like a craft, not all the time. Like a craft or a game. Like a game, and so I was in charge of the game, so I did the game, and that was fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Um, yeah, your game was actually awesome, Brittany. So we played this game. It was like I named it. I named it the morality line. The morality line. And so she took like different scenarios from the book that we read, and like we'd like stand in a line and be like, okay, so like this character in this certain situation had to choose, like, yes, save a sister or save the good of all, you know, type thing or whatever. And we had to like vote on like what was morality. It was morally correct. Yes. It was kind of like a debate. It was pretty fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

I like it. It was way fun because, like, to watch people divide, and then like all of a sudden you guys are talking about it, and then you just like discussing, and then some people would move over and be like, Oh yeah, facts, like, good point, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

And yes, it was good. So that game was very fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Thank you, Britt. And then usually at the end, we just assign other jobs, which we pull for that. I pulled the drink for next month. What did you pull again? Treats, treats, yeah. And for the next book, we that was a good game too. The book game for choosing. So we what it was it called? Um Hannah did a blind date with a book. Blind date with a book. That was fun. And it was my book that got chosen.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

It was, yeah, good job on that.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

We're gonna read The Authenticity Project.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yes, I look forward. I have to pace myself. I decided on not reading it right away because last month I read my book like immediately. Yes. And then I was done in like four days, and then I was like and then the rest of the book. I read like six more books, and so I had to like have a refresher before the book club. I was like, wait, what did we read? So I'm gonna wait to read mine till the end of the month and something fresh my mind.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Um, no, I am actually really glad that we did that. It's free, it's just like this free little book club, and it's fun, and yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

There's I got so many good book recommendations from it. So I yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Yep, everybody set up Fable accounts so we could stay connected. And I've seen that um Carly's already reading the book. Uh look at her. Yeah, so you'll have to go check it out. And um if any of you guys decide to pick up on it and want to read it along with us, like go for it. Yeah, go for it. Yeah, follow along with it because it's it's been actually really fun, like for connection purposes. Like, yeah, I've had like Thursday was so fun. I had been looking forward to like we ended first book club meeting, I was ready for the second one, and now even though it's just ready for this ago, I want I'm ready because it's just fun, and like the discussion, like it just took me by surprise.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

It was like the discussion that we had about the book, and it was I don't know, it was just it was fun, it was cool to see everyone like in a different perspective too, because it's like we're normally when people come in, they're we're talking about yoga and stuff, you know. But like this was just like, okay, well, what do you like to read, you know?

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Yeah, and so it was more personalized, and it was something for myself that was not even though we were here at the studio, like I don't I think we made one joke about yoga, and it was because I was like, I don't want to, like, that's what I always do.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Like, I was probably being obnoxious. Oh, yeah, because I was like, Are we doing like self-help books? And she's like, No, this is my escape world. We're not doing that. Cool, and then we also did we did our outdoor sound bath, we did our free sound bath this Saturday. Um, we have some wonderful people in our lives, Leia and Amber, and uh they have some property that they let us use for the sound bath, and it's beautiful up there. It's perfect, yeah. Right up the the canyon, and it's there's no cell service up there, which I love. Um, there's no cell service, it's got a creek running through it. We had a fire going, so we did an hour of just grounding breath work sound bath, and then we did we ended the night with a little burning ritual, which I love those. And my magic moment for the week is actually um during that sound bath, we had some little visitors. Oh yes, it was so cool. Brittany was doing the ocean drum, and I was doing one of the bigger bowls.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Dude, you were looking down too at your bowls, and I was trying like discreetly to get your attention.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I know, and like I could feel your eyes on me, so I looked up and you were like looking out in the distance, and I look over, and there was there's three deer that were coming over and they were looking around.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

They were very interested in the city. They were so curious.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Oh, yeah, they heard the noise and they were like getting closer, taking a couple steps, looking around, being like, what are they doing? And it was yeah, it was so cool. I love when we have like animal visitors during a sound bath. I do too. I think it's it's very cool.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

So I feel like snow white. Yes. Like not even joking. Well, because like where like where the location is, even when we do summer solstice and fall equinox outside, the locations that we have, like you wouldn't believe that they would be impressed in Idaho. Yeah, like they're just very like I don't know. And so I just felt like snow white yesterday. Yeah. With the deer.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Well, that space is just cool. I mean, you can tell Amber and Leah put so much love into that place. Like, that's a it's just a healing place anyway. So uh it was so cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

The natural sounds around us, it was between the fire crackling.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

We would get a fire good crackles in there, and then the wind would come and move our wind chimes without just even having to do it. It was so fun. It was great, it was it was absolutely beautiful, and we had a great turnout. It was, I mean, we we did our free sound bath for mental health awareness month, and I mean we had like 20 people there last night. So it was awesome. That was great.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Um, okay, yeah, so I have a magic moment, and my magic moment is the new inventory we're receiving. Oh yeah, the crystals, and even like the restock on like our Selenite sticks. I don't know. Listen, I love inventory.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

I do. Honestly, like I agree with you. It's one of my favorite parts about owning a business with you, is like when we like get in products and like when we order things and like even like just designing the studio with you, it's been so fun. Like, whenever we get packages, it feels like it's my birthday or like it's Christmas. Yeah, yeah. So uh come visit us rodeo weekend, Preston Rodeo days is a very big day for Preston, and we'll we'll have our booth right out front on Main Street outside of the yoga studio, and we're gonna have some cool things. So yeah, so far we've got some we ordered some geodes to give it a try. Yep, we've got some geodes.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

We got Farmer John cracking some open for curiosity because like these geodes, oh my gosh, blew my mind away. Like some of them you can just like see. You can see right through them. Yeah, which are you can just see the crystals. Oh I cannot wait.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

We got some celestiite eggs that are beautiful. They're like this beautiful just they're blue. They're the blue celestiate. Ooh, yeah. Oh man, it's in some peach. It has felt like Christmas this week.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

I got five new um types of like um crystals coming in. They're like the ones the polished stones. The polished, the tumbled polished. There we go. Yep. Um, yeah. And that's been the whole thing. Like, I love inventory, but like, it's stressful at the same time, like communicating with the people through the internet and making sure that the product is right. Yes. Um, yeah, I it's been a journey. Yeah, reveal weekend is gonna be fun. We've got we've got so much new things coming because last year, like our little crystals that we did have were so popular that we just didn't even realize.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

We just had the crystals that were just already in here, and we're like, let's just bring them out front and see, you know. But yeah, we sold so many that we needed we're gonna prep. Yeah, we've been prepping.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah, we got the mushrooms, like your little mushrooms that you really like. Cause like that was the only thing that we sold last year. Oh, yeah. We're eating those up. Yeah. The kids love them. They were they were perfect for kids, like, because like their parents, you know, like, okay, well, you only have five dollars, and they would come and find beautiful rocks from our stand. Oh, do you think that's like all the kids actually that we had to help? Like, I actually I'm just like thinking about that right now. I was like, we actually had a ton of kids come up. Oh, yeah, like the Selenite sword.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Oh yeah, the sword that was so cool. I love that thing. Yeah, yeah, so and like I vibe with that because like I've always always loved rocks ever since I was a kid, and so I'm like, yeah, keep loving them, you know, like, yeah, here's some cool rocks, you know. Keep it going. Um, I got a shout-out.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

All right, what's your shout out? To all the mothers because it is Mother's Day.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there. I hope you guys know that your work does not go unnoticed. Um, I'm not a mom. Brittany's a mom. Um, and as someone who doesn't have any kids, I will just like to say that I see all the effort and the work and like the constant care and attention that goes into it. So if you're a mom out there, know that you're you're doing good. If you feel overwhelmed, you're probably you're not alone alone. You're not alone, but you're doing great work. So and keep it up. Yeah. Shout out to all the moms.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

You are great, wonderful, and powerful. Yes. Ray of Sunshines. Um, do you do you want an FMK or do you want to go through Love Hates First? Let's do an FMK. What's your F Mary Kill for me? Okay, it's book edition. Oh, okay. Okay. But I would say genres. So we've got fantasy, okay, dark romance, female rage.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Why'd you do those three? That's hard. Oh, which one am I gonna?

SPEAKER_02 12:23

That is kind of a hard one.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Well, I have to marry fantasy. I never thought I'd be that type of person. I love fantasy books. So I'm gonna marry fantasy. I'm probably gonna F dark fantasy and kill female rage. Wait, what? You said kill female rage? Yeah. I know. Why'd you do this to me? I don't know. It's hard. But yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Okay, okay. So you're marrying fantasy. Yeah. You're F in dark romance. Yeah. And you're gonna kill female rage. Yeah. What are you gonna do? That like broke my heart to do.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Actually, yeah. I'm really shocked by that and answering any of them. They're yeah, it's hard. But I can see why. To be honest. You almost have me persuaded that way.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

What's your answer?

SPEAKER_02 13:18

I'm actually going to Mary Dark Romance. Okay. F Female Rage. Okay. And kill fantasy. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Alright.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

But I still love fantasy. That was still a really hard decision.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

That is a hard one.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

You took my three favorite like Dark Romance, Female Rage, Fantasy. Right?

SPEAKER_00 13:52

You know, just they all kind of go hand in hand sometimes. So they'll overlap. It's fine. Do you have a love? I sure do, actually. My love of the week. Um, I we did our free yoga sculpt class on Wednesday, and I had 11 people. That's awesome. Which was the biggest sculpt class that we've hosted so far. So that was great. Yeah, that does also have some new people in that have never been to the studio before. Okay, so that's great.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

Yeah, I'm glad that we decided to keep going through with that. Um two so like for those of you who don't know, like we offer two free classes a month and we keep it with the yoga sculpt class.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Well, we wanted to get numbers up for the for the sculpt class because we've it's been consistent, but it's only like a a handful of people, and so yeah, been trying to build it up and it's been working.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Yeah, it's working, but it's also like good for our community. It gives people opportunities, yeah, especially like to try it out, yeah, to try it out, see what we're about. But not only that, but it's like with everything that's going on in the world right now, like the increasing of prices, like is really hard for this community right now because like it's hard for everybody, so like our minimum wage here is $7.25 still, and base pay is ten dollars an hour at any customer service job around here. So, like, it's hard to you know, and so like I just think it's a just a good opportunity for our community to bring movement into their life, making it affordable, yeah, but bringing and just bringing them into a space of belonging, yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

So keep your eye out, come join us for one of our pre-classes.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Or in the valley or visiting the town.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Yeah, we'd love to see you.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Yes. Do you have any loves? Yeah, actually, I I have a couple of them. So my love is is um, so we've been trying to like figure out shirts, hoodies, crew necks, and the website that we get all this stuff off of, I have to communicate with the with the people. But listen, these conversations are the best. Like, so they're I mean, obviously we're ordering from China, like whatever. And um, so in order for me, like the communication between the vendors that I choose is phenomenal. Um, they constantly are asking me questions, making sure that my order is right, but like I was talking to one of them and she was so funny, she was like, Okay, it was like three in the morning, and I was type and I was messaging Drake, messaging her from my phone, and she was like, Honey, why are you awake at 2:30 in the morning? And I was like, um, you know, I'm just an early riser, like and I was like, didn't even, yeah, so here I am.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

That's they're like checking in on you.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

They're like, they're like, it's five o'clock my time, but like, why are you okay, Eddie? But like, no, they do a great job. Um when they start gathering product, they'll send me pictures of the product in their hand. So you like you like they're just in constant communication and make sure that that product is good, and so you know, anyways, I just love the the like there's friendly people everywhere. Yes, it was just a perfect, like, and even when we ordered our first round of like the sample pieces, that guy was so funny. He was like so nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

I yeah, I love when people in customer service can make it fun because it's like sometimes you know, because it can be so bad, you know. And it's like let's make the process fun. So yeah, they've been great to work with. It's been it's been fun.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Yeah, okay, and then I have another love. My other love is I absolutely love our flowers out in front of the studio.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

I'm so glad you said that.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Those big, huge, beautiful pots. Um, when we planted them, those flowers were not as big as they are now, and that was only like a week difference. And they are beautiful right now, they're thriving. Oh, they look so good. Yes, like Hemsley Garden. Thank you. Nailed it. Thank you. Like, oh my gosh. And it just looks so good in front of the studio. Like the colors that we went with. Um, in one of the pots, I put in some solar lights, and they're like little mushrooms, they're glass mushroom pieces. They're so cute. Um, that's one of Kimmy's favorite things is mushrooms. So I always try to do little things. Little mushroom games and things.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Uh yeah, it's so cute. The pots look so good. We did some hanging baskets in the back too, and those are gonna be thriving. Yes, I think we're gonna do some more. We need a little bit more love in the back.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Our back's a little it's not bad.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

It's not bad.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

It needs something, some color back there. That's all it needs. It needs some more life. Yeah, some more life back there. Because it's just the parking lot, you know. Yeah, that's just cement and brick. We need some life back there. Uh yeah, that's a good love. I love them too. They look very good. So if you're around town, you're driving by Main Street, take a peek.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Alright, so pull of the days. So I went ahead and did a poll, and I pulled simplicity. Alright, so the words associated with simplicity here, reading out of the Jenny Blonde, the comfy cozy witch oracle deck. Um, so these words associated with simplicity are boundary and be. The mantra, I find meaning and joy and the simple magics of life. And I've been finding that all week.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

It's been a good week. And right in alignment with the crown chakra today. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Okay, the message. When it comes to a spiritual practice and even our lives in general, oftentimes we try to learn and do too much too soon. This need to go, go, go inevitably leads to exhaustion and burnout, not allowing us any time to grow our magical practice at all. The Simplicity card is here to remind you to enjoy this simple magic in your life. And it urges you to reflect on where it's necessary to put up boundaries to keep people and your own need to go and do from sucking the life out of you. Setting these boundaries and simplifying your practice won't happen overnight. So take the time to pinpoint what exactly is draining you and what simply what simple magic brings you joy? Is it listening to the birds, reflecting at your altar, spending time quietly, tending to your herbs? It's important to understand we are human beings, not human doings. So maybe it's time to just be. The prompt is where in my life do I need to set boundaries? What will setting those boundaries do for my spiritual and mundane lives? How can I embrace more simplicity in my practice and just be?

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Wow. I love that. Well, we're gonna practice that here in a minute. Great simplicity. I feel like that is a good word to go in alignment with the crown chakra, actually. Absolutely. Because it's that practicing of the stillness of just being, right? What a good segue. Yes, love it. Alright, let's go ahead and talk about our crown chakra. Um, the crown chakra is located up at the top of your head, right where you would place a crown. Um, the symbol for this chakra is a thousand petaled lotus resembling white light that is so pure that it illuminates all of the other chakras and helps us reach our inner wisdom, our higher self, and the universal consciousness. So we've talked about. The Sanskrit word for crown chakra, which is sahasrara, it translates to awakening the divine nature of the soul. And this awakening that we talk about is often referred to as like enlightenment or bliss, pure joy. Um, and this is something that is usually more gradual. It's not like a one day you wake up and you're enlightened, or you took one yoga class and you're there now. You know, this is a very gradual process. So, someone who is balanced in the crown chakra, they will experience enlightenment. They'll feel bliss, pure joy, they'll feel peaceful, they will be connected with purpose. They'll often be open-minded, spiritually connected while still fully present. If you are deficient in this chakra, you're going to feel disconnected from your purpose. You might feel cynical, you have feelings of feeling lost, emotionally numb. You might be constantly stuck in survival mode and have high stress levels. On the opposite side of that, if you're excessive in this chakra, you're going to feel overly focused on spirituality. Um, maybe like you're like way too into it to where you're like not grounded at all. Like you're not on this earth. You know what I mean? There's there's some people out there that you can probably think about right now that are overly active in their in their crown chakra. Um, people with an overactive crown chakra will also feel spaciness. Um, they'll feel detached from their reality and from their body. Um, they'll typically be emotionally detached or distant, and they're usually constantly seeking external signs for answers and for validation. So all of that validation, the they're like, you know, fishing for compliments kind of thing. But like that, and also like being like, okay, universe. Yeah. Give me time, you know. Show me right now. Show me, and it's just like if I see the letter A, that means you know, you know, yeah. Those are kind of dumb examples, but you know. No, those are great, actually. Um, but yeah, they just might feel they just might be a little bit out there. So of course we want to be, we want to be balanced in this chakra. We want to be peaceful, we want to be connected to our purpose, we want to be open-minded, but we still want to be fully present with where we're at. We don't want to be too much into the spiritual side. We still need to have that groundedness to it, right? Okay, so let's talk about some characteristics with this chakra. The color associated is purple, typically. Um, it's also known to be associated with the color white or just like clear. So, like in reference to crystals, um, when you're looking at crystals, if you see like a purple or a clear one, it's typically going to be associated with your crown chakra. Um, and same thing with all the other chakras. We've associated a color to each of them when regards to looking at crystals. If you're interested in crystals, that's kind of a guide that you can use to know what that crystal is going to do for you.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

We actually have a crystal store down the road just over the border that actually sets her crystal shop up. In that order. In that order with these, with the the chakras. With the chakras. And there are some crystals that are for maybe all three chakras from you know, like the throat up or the heart up or whatever, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Um, but yeah, also, so just bringing more purple into your life, noticing the purple in your life, that'll bring balance to this chakra. Um, the element with the crown chakra is going to be consciousness, like aka your thoughts. So, and like being aware of those thoughts, pure consciousness. This is an interesting one. This is a really hard one to practice, um, which is why it's the final and last one, because like we've been building up to this, right? Like with the root chakra, we got our grounded, we got our stability, the sacred, we're now fluid, we're able to move through it. The solar plexus, we now have the strength to maneuver it. The heart, the openness to receive, the throat, the truth of it all, the third eye, the intuition, and finally we're ready to be there, right? So, all of this work that we've been putting up to it is to reach this crown chakra to bring that enlightenment in. Um, the principle with this chakra is going to be truth, consciousness, bliss, stillness, presence, awareness, and understanding. So the purpose of this chakra is to bring awareness and to have that connected, that unity with the divine. And when we say the divine, that can be interpreted however you want to interpret it. Um, we have universal life force energy flowing through us. In yoga, we call this our pranayama, our breath. So you can relate it to like the universal energy that's within all of us, all beings everywhere. Um, some people also relate this to God or to science, whatever they believe in. So you can relate this to whatever feels good for you. Um, but all in all, it's that energy that connects all of us to each other because we're all built of that same innate energy, regardless of what you believe that energy is. All right. So um we do have some physical practices um that we can do. So within our yoga practice um to activate the crown chakra, we're gonna practice stillness. Um, we're also going to practice any inversion, so any point where the head is below the heart. So bringing that blood, that energy up towards the head is going to bring energy into that chakra. Um the main practice with this chakra, though, is meditation, meditation, meditation, which is often why this is the hardest chakra to comprehend because people really struggle with meditation and with sitting in stillness. It's often really uncomfortable. So practice makes perfect. And um, when I say meditation, don't let that scare you. It doesn't have to be this full thing, but it the practice of meditation is just bringing that awareness back. It's like your mind can wander and that's great. Bring it back. It's it's the practice of catching yourself and bringing it back to the present moment. All right. Um, we have some affirmations for the crown chakra. Usually associated, it's like I am connected. What are you connected to? Um, I'm connected to all, I'm connected to the universe. Um, you could also do I am pure, beautiful, and radiant. I am love, I am light, I am connected to all that is I am peace. So just bringing in those enlightenment characteristics. Um we have some essential oils that you can use to bring balance to this chakra, and that's going to be frankincense, cedar wood, and sandalwood. Our frequency, um, which you can listen to these on Spotify, you can use them on YouTube. They have like sleeping playlists of frequencies, which is my personal favorite. Highly recommend that you do. Um, but our frequency is 963 hertz, which is believed to be the frequency of connection with higher consciousness. We don't have a seed sound with this one because the well, technically we do. The seed sound is silence, it's actually the absence of noise instead. So um we'll be practicing some silence here at the end with our meditation. Um, the identity associated with this chakra is self-knowledge, and then the demon is attachment. So we're we're practicing the art of letting go with this chakra. Um I want to talk about the typical, like, so we've talked about all of our chakras now at this point, but in traditional yoga they have um kundalini, which is often described as the life force energy that lives at the base of a spine. And this is typically representative of a serpent that's coiled around the base of your spine. So um, this kundalini, the coiled snake, symbolizes the energy that is resting dormant within us. And as we help awaken up our chakras, that serpent rises upward towards the chakras until it reaches the crown, which is where we reach enlightenment. Um, so as this energy rises, people usually experience deeper self-awareness, they heal old emotional wounds, um, they feel like they have a higher or heightened intuition and they'll have a connection and a stronger sense of purpose. Um, and when we talk about enlightenment, it's like I said, it's not usually just like we wake up one day or we did a one breath work session and we're enlightened now. It's a very gradual process. Um, that takes a really long time. And I and And it's daily, it's a daily practice. Yes, it is a daily practice, and it's yeah, it's something that you can even reach, but it's not something that you're necessarily staying in all the time. Like I've had moments where I feel like I've definitely reached enlightenment, and it's like I can tell you right now I'm not there today.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

And now that you mentioned that same, because like it's yeah, yeah, it ebbs and flows, and throughout life there will be experiences that throw us off center. But if we can come back to these practices, then we can we can hopefully stay in that state of consciousness, that state of bliss, the universal connectedness a little bit more just because we're bringing more awareness to it. Um okay, moving on to what balancing the crown chakra looks like outside of our yoga practice and outside of this in general. So, one way that you can bring in this crown chakra energy is letting go, letting go of control. Um, the crown chakra invites in that surrender aspect. So, not necessarily giving up, but loosening the need to control every outcome. And that's really hard. That was actually one of the things that we did that I wrote on my own card today, which we'll talk about in a minute. Um, but like the need to like hold on to everything. I'm like, yeah, that's something that I can I can practice and like I don't have to control every outcome, I can just let it be, right? The the card that we pulled, the letting it be. Um, so trust in your own timing. Um, know that you don't have to be perfect, no one's expecting you to be perfect, and you don't have to control the outcome. So just practicing the art of letting go. Okay, so another way that we're able to bring in the crown chakra to our everyday life is just through finding meaning in the ordinary moments. So as you go throughout your day, be mindful. Um, take time to be awed, you know. Like, remember when you were a kid and you used to like find joy in like the little things, you'd see something new and you'd be so intrigued. You'd be like, how does that work? No, you ever like remember when you're a kid and you'd look up at a plane and think how amazing it is that planes can even fly? Like, just find the awe in in your day. Um bring mindfulness if you're ever feeling like you're disconnected, you're stuck in your thoughts, bring awareness to your feet. Like, I love the quote: be where your feet are. Like, if you can bring awareness to your feet, you can be in the present moment. So be where your feet are. Um, another way that you can practice this is by rewriting your old beliefs. And I have a quote from the chakra yoga book by Anita Judith that I'd like to read about this because she has a metaphor that words it very nice, and I like the way that she says it. So she says, just as the internet is a vast field of virtual information accessed by our attention through our personal computers, life is a vast field of consciousness from which we download a tiny portion through our own awareness. And just like the browsers on our computers, what we download depends on where our consciousness is directed. However, our beliefs, like any operating system, need to be upgraded every so often. We need to let go of outdated beliefs that were formed in childhood when we had very little understanding. We need to examine our beliefs and let go of those that limit us or negate us, such as believing that we are flawed or unlovable, or that life is hard, unfair, or dangerous. What requires a greater order of consciousness is to fully examine our beliefs, actively deconstruct old beliefs, and consciously create new ones. The process of constructing new beliefs or upgrading our operating system begins with disengaging from our old ways of thinking. So, in computer terms, we delete one program before installing a new one. This requires allowing the mind to empty out now and then, defragmenting the hard drive of consciousness, and coming to a more coherent state of awareness. And for this, we go to the practice of meditation, which is the whole practice of the crown chakra. So meditation, meditation, meditation. It's the stillness of the mind. And this is so much easier said than done. Um, if you've ever practiced meditation, I mean, guided meditations are different. I mean, we've done guided meditations with you before. The guided meditation that we're doing today is a little bit different. It's not a visual meditation, it's more of an awareness meditation. And so coming back to rewriting our old beliefs, are there old things that you're holding on to that you could rewire? Like maybe you did grow up thinking that like you had to put in effort in order to be loved, but it's like maybe you're just worthy of love without having to give a part of yourself out. How about that? You know, like let's let's think about what we were taught was normal and okay. And is that still applicable? Is it still okay today? Are there things that we can we can rewire into our brain so that we can be more loving and accepting? Okay, I think with that we'll go ahead and move into our note card activity, and Brittany is going to lead us through it.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Alright, so grabbing a note card, a journal, a piece of paper, doesn't matter here. So the first thing that you're gonna write down, um, this is gonna be your prompt. You're gonna write this down. A belief I am ready to release is, and then I want you to fill in that blank. And if it's if it's taking you a moment to think of something, maybe ask yourself a couple of questions here. The first question being, what belief about myself have I outgrown? What thought keeps me limited or disconnected? Maybe those thoughts or beliefs are I am not enough. I have to control everything, I'm behind in life, I'm too much, I can't trust myself. And take all the time you need here to write this down. You can even pause. And once you've asked yourself those questions, you're gonna move down onto your paper and you're gonna ask, you're gonna fill in the blank of this prompt. A new belief I choose to practice is and go ahead and fill in that blank. And to give yourself a little bit more inspiration, ask yourself, what would love say instead? What belief would support my growth and peace? Is it telling yourself you're worthy exactly as you are? Maybe you're writing down, I trust the timing of my life, I am supported, I am allowed to grow and change. Peace exists within me. There's really no right or wrong here. Again, taking all the time you need.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

Alright, we're gonna go ahead and get started into our meditation for our crown chakra. Um, for the meditation, I recommend that you sit upright because we're not trying to fall asleep. We're trying to become aware, um, but still settle into that stillness. So find a comfortable seat, however, that looks like for you. Go ahead and relax your shoulders, close your eyes, take a deep breath in.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

Slow exhale out. Again, inhale, and exhale.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Continue with your breath. Settling into your body with each inhale and exhale. Let your body become more still with each breath settling into place. When your mind begins to quiet, listen to the emptiness. Direct your attention more to the spaces between your thoughts rather than the thoughts themselves. Allow the thoughts to become like a distant mumble as you move further and further away from them. Simply observe without comment as the emptiness grows larger and the thoughts begin to wane. From the inside with your eyes still closed, feel the weight of your body, the presence of your body taking up space. What is it that is now aware of your body? Shift your attention to that awareness and draw it back from the body and up to the crown. Perhaps you're restless, hungry, sad, or impatient. Just allow your awareness to keenly observe the sensations that produce those feelings. And bring your attention to your awareness rather than the sensations. Who is it that is feeling these things? Bring your attention to that awareness. Next, become aware of any part of you that is worried about doing things correctly. Be amuse at yourself, relax your effort and smile. Connect with the awareness inside and let go of all effort. Now bring your attention to your breath and imagine each breath as a loving entity that is filling you as you inhale and cleansing you as you exhale like a loving caress. Who is it that is watching the breath? With what are you able to sense the breath? Withdraw your awareness from the breath, knowing it will continue, and draw your attention back up to the crown. Notice any inner dialogue that is going on, the subtle murmur of commentary in your head that we call thinking. Detach yourself from that commentary as if it were a conversation in another language. Become aware of the person that is hearing the Thoughts. Next, imagine that you can see your subtle body as light. All the noddies are sparkling with light, and with each of the chakras shining like jewels in their rainbow colors. See the beauty of the breath and the energy within you. Who is it that is seeing this beauty? Who's looking? With what faculty are you able to imagine and see? Bring your awareness now to the part of you that is aware and feel your awareness becoming aware of itself and becoming aware of the part that is aware of that and aware of that. Notice how this inquiry is infinite. Imagine that you are this awareness. Calmly holding your consciousness in this awareness. And allow the space of that awareness to get emptier and emptier. Imagining that you are piercing the space between the stars and moving out beyond the galaxy, even out beyond the universe itself. See the whole universe as a pulsating state of awareness that is ever present, eternal, and intelligent. Bask here in the miracle of cosmic consciousness. Imagine a direct flow of love and grace from that universal awareness to your individual self. Allow that flow to be like a cloak of love wrapped around, holding you in perfect stillness and understanding. And when you are filled up, I want you to bring your palms together at Heart Center. Say thank you to the universe for this divine love and grace. And when you're ready, you can slowly open your eyes, come back into your present space. Practicing stillness here, our final sound. Be kind today to yourself and to others around you. Thank you, Naneste.