This is the seventh, and final article I’m writing as part of my series on the chakras.

In this article, I’m going to talk about how you can tell if your crown chakra is out of balance and I offer some resources, suggestions and lifestyle changes for fixing any imbalances.

First of All, What’s the Relevance of Chakras in our Daily Lives?

Is it just some high-level, esoteric concept that has no relevance to the person on the street?

Actually, for those of who seek to improve our lives and grow as people and as spiritual beings, it’s a very useful framework for bringing balance and tracking our spiritual evolution. By reading the chakras, we can gain more insight into our strengths and challenges in life, and seen through this spiritual framework, we can also take steps to remedy imbalances and become happier and healthier…

All About the Crown Chakra

This chakra is the centre of our spiritual connection – our relationship with our Higher selves and with the divine intelligence. This chakra is also about our soul’s plan; what we chose for ourselves before we even came to earth, and to what extent we allow that spiritual plan to integrate within our lives and guide our path here.

Earlier in this series, we looked at the lower chakras, such as the root chakra, the sacral chakra, and the solar plexus chakra. These lower chakras are about needing, wanting, having, and doing. The lower chakras are integrated with the ego and the fear-based human mind – they keep us safe and happy in the physical.

By contrast, the crown chakra encourages us to see the wider view of life and our place in it, which goes beyond our human concerns for survival. Through our connection to our Higher self through the crown chakra, we may receive information about our reasons for incarnating – including our life lessons, our soul gifts and the contributions we are here to make, and the unconscious patterns and fears that we are here to transcend.

To the lower chakras, the worst thing that could happen is death. To the crown chakra, the worst thing that could happen is that we do not fully embrace our gifts, or follow our highest path and purpose, and we live in fear.

When the Crown Chakra Is In Balance…

When this chakra is in balance, we feel connected to our Higher selves. We are aware that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. We recognise that the divine intelligence has some control over our lives, and the hand we are dealt at birth. We are able to surrender to circumstances which are out of our control, while simultaneously making the best of them.

We recognise that what happens to us in life is not meant as a punishment or random coincidence, but a way for the soul to grow and evolve. We have the courage to make choices that align with the spirit, even when those choices might seem inconvenient, unconventional, or ill-advised, from the outside looking in.

We understand that death is not the end.

When the Crown Chakra is Out of Balance…

When this chakra is out of balance, it can manifest as:

• Feeling abandoned by God

• A belief in an angry, punishing God

• Spiritual escapism

• Fatalism; believing that God should do for us; waiting for a permission slip from the universe before we do anything; relying too much on signs and omens

• Inability to surrender to circumstances outside of our control; fighting the intractable forces of fate rather than working with them

• Despair and hopelessness

• Believing that God favours you because of your religion; feeling entitled to special treatment from God

Reasons for Crown Chakra Imbalances and Blockages

A Spiritual Awakening

The crown chakra often opens for the first time when we go through a tragedy or a ‘dark night of the soul’ and it can open up too much.

Events such as these remind us that our time here is limited, and that we do not have as much control as we would like to have. This realization encourages us to begin a relationship with a higher level of our own consciousness, and/or a higher being outside of ourselves (depending on beliefs):  the divine intelligence behind all things.

Spiritual awakenings can also occur during near death experiences and midlife crises, when people might reconsider their lives and find that there is not enough meaning in their relationships, or in the activities in which they invest most of their time.

Following a spiritual awakening, the crown chakra may be too large, and this may feel overwhelming. Over time, following this type of awakening, we tend to integrate our new-found sense of spirituality into our lives in a way that is more comfortable and manageable.

Limited Beliefs Disseminated by Religious Authorities

Certain religions teach concepts which create problems for the crown chakra. For example, some espouse the idea that God is angry or punishing, and that we will go to hell if we don’t strictly adhere to God’s rules. Such teachings bring the energy of fear into the crown chakra, and can negatively affect our relationship with the divine.

Being overtly or devoutly religious does not necessarily translate to a healthy and balanced crown chakra. Sometimes people are going through the motions, rather than nurturing a genuine relationship with the divine.

Being Abused or Persecuted For One’s Spiritual Beliefs/Feeling Abandoned by God

Past life experiences involving religious persecution can often affect the crown chakra in subsequent incarnations. For example, souls who have gone through the Holocaust may present with crown chakra issues such as lack of faith, anxiety, or feeling abandoned by God.

Spiritual Entitlement

When we go through difficult experiences in life, we either turn it to our advantage (i.e. make lemonade out of the lemons that come our way), or we become angry, bitter and sorry for ourselves. We may become obsessed with our misfortunes, and feel jealous when others have it easier than we do. This kind of pattern usually presents at the crown chakra.

Below are some suggestions to bolster the crown chakra, if you are out of balance in this area:

• Surrender a situation to God/the Divine, and trust that good will come of it

• Make peace with religious experiences and religious people who have impacted you negatively. Go into therapy or do healing around such experiences

• Practise gratitude and thank Mother Earth for your food

• Meditate regularly

• Go on a retreat

• Talk to whichever Divine Intelligence you believe in (you could call this ‘God’/’Goddess’/’The Love that Rules the Universe’). I like Anne Lamott’s book on prayer: Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

A Note on the Myth of ‘Total Balance’

In this series on chakras, I have provided many suggestions for fixing chakra imbalances and it is certainly true that we can balance ourselves energetically by making lifestyle changes, doing clearing exercises, and healing ourselves.

However, the balance in our chakras can also depend on our life lessons and past lives. For example, a person can spend their entire lifetime learning to open their heart. Because of that person’s life contract (i.e. the soul’s plan for the lifetime), it may be challenging to open up and balance the heart chakra. Another example could be a person who is learning confidence or courage. Until this lesson is learned to a certain degree, the solar plexus may be weak. Through learning those lessons in life, the solar plexus increases in strength.

The Chakras and Life Lessons

Some life lessons clearly correlate to one particular chakra, and others may affect more than one chakra. Here is a list of the life lessons and how they might affect the development of the chakras during a lifetime.

• Root chakra – protection, safety/security, loyalty
• Sacral chakra – pleasure, joy, satisfaction, beauty
• Solar plexus chakra – empowerment/power, moderation, self-determination, balance
• Heart chakra – self-worth, kindness, self-love, tolerance, generosity/giving, charity, forgiveness, love, unconditionality, receiving, strength, partnership, healing
• High heart chakra – enthusiasm, passion, bliss
• Throat chakra – authenticity, sincerity, confidence
• Third-eye chakra – inner authority, courage, learning, discernment, truth, wisdom, flexibility
• Crown chakra – surrender, gratitude, courage, learning, faith, spirituality, bliss, peace, healing

(If you are interested in learning more about the life lessons, and how you can find out your own, you may be interested either in an Akashic Record Reading or my Akashic Record Reading Program.)

More Resources:

For those who are interested in bringing more balance to their energy system, I offer a Chakra Meditation Kit which teaches you to read, heal, open, clear out and rebalance your entire chakra system. It’s a do-it-yourself guide that includes an audio meditation, eBook and a discount to the Intuitive Awakening Course.

You can read the previous articles in this series here:

• The Root Chakra
• The Sacral Chakra
• The Solar Plexus Chakra
• The Heart Chakra
• The Throat Chakra
• The Third Eye Chakra

Is your crown chakra in balance?