Sahasrara

Sahasrara (chakra #7) #

Sahasrara is the point of connection between the universal Self and our personal Self. The founder of Sahaja Yoga Meditation claimed that she, “opened the sahasrara.” Hence, one would expect some technique for meditating on the sahasrara. Here is a mash-up of two such techniques from Sahaja Yoga.1

Details #

Although the primary location of the sahasrara is above the head, one discovery from Sahaja Yoga is that the chakras are associated with regions on the hands (see figure). This is fortunate since it quickly becomes tiring to keep the right hand lifted above the head. Switch back and forth between the saharsara areas on the head and left hand whenever you feel fatigued.

How you attend to these maneuvers is of critical importance. Feel into the fingertips of your right hand and the current sahasrara area. Moreover, try to feel into the gap between these two parts of your body.

You know how sometimes a song gets stuck in your head–an earworm–playing over and over? The amount of mental discipline needed to break free of a looping song is exactly the level of concentration you need for this technique. It’s not a straining focus, but rather a gentle yet deliberate attention that can interrupt the automatic replay in your mind.

You might create this situation on purpose!

Think of one of your favorite melodies–something simple and familiar. Let it play in your mind. Really let it loop until you can feel that familiar mental stickiness. (Or attend a Santo Daime ceremony 🎶.) Now we’ll use this earworm as a tool. This is your chance to practice that perfect level of concentration–just enough to shift your mind away from the melody and fully attend to your focus target.

Hands

To prevent your attention from wandering and neural adaptation,2 randomly vary

  • rotational velocity (slow, medium, and fast)
  • radius of the circular motion
  • distance between your right hand and the sahasrara area (1-6 cm)

If you are tracking accurately, how you feel should match the motion of your right hand.

Timing #

Use to conclude a meditation session. Don’t combine with other techniques.

Patanjali section 3 verse 33 #

मूर्धज्योतिषि सिद्धदर्शनम्

Focusing with perfect discipline on the light in the crown of the head, one acquires the perspective of the perfected ones.

Notes #


  1. To commemorate Shri Mataji’s contribution, I use her variation on the Namaskar Mudra 🙏🏼. The fingers are divided into three groups: The thumb is alone, then three fingers together, and then the pinky is alone. The idea is that learning and emotion should be kept apart while confidence, diplomacy, and forgiveness work well together.
    Namaskar Namaskar ↩︎

  2. See Neural adaptation ↩︎