From the heart there radiate a hundred
And one vital tracks. One of them rises
To the crown of the head. This way leads
To immortality, the others to death
Kathe Upanishad [3.16] (1)
This moonth I am working on the throat chakra. It is connected to the heart below and the ajna chakras above. When I practice neck stretches, I become aware of the tensegrity that connects the body, via the fascia, from one chakra area to another. Moving the head slowly either side to side, or up and down, you can see for yourself, all the muscles as far as the heart chakra, down the back and the front of the body, are stretched.
No chakra is worked in isolation from the others, and few poses focus on a single chakra. I have noticed that as I deepen my focus on the throat chakra, I open my heart chakra; backbends become more accessible and, at the end of a session, I feel elevated in such a way that is only achieved by opening the heart. The diagram above shows how the neck and throat connect to the heart space. By opening one chakra, we open the other.
The verse from Katha Up. suggets that there is a fine line connecting the heart to the crown of the head. This conection is psychological, or in some way more subtle, than a physical line that you can find in the body. The verse makes it clear how fragile the connections between the chakras really are. Out of a hundred and one lines, there is but one that reaches to the crown. It requires sensitivity, patience, and discernment to transcend the physical body and find enlightenment. The verse also suggests that both immortality and death are present within the body at the same time. This gives us a clue that in practice, we cannot embody light 100% of the time throughout 100% of the body.
I am increasingly aware of other connections between the chakras. Did you know, when you work on one chakra you are also workingon alternating chakras? So th odd numbers are stimulated simultaneously, as are the evens. This means that when working on the fifth chakra, I am also stimulating the first and third chakras, likewise, the second, fourth and sixth chakras tend to be activated together. This is explained when you read Rosalyn Bruyere’s Wheels of Light; the chakras are grouped together by polarity (2), the odds express energy, the evens take it in. Alternating chakras are also linked to the primary curve: the neck (fifth chakra), lumbar (third chakra) and legs (first chakra) are all secondary curves. The sacral (second charka), the heart (the fourth chakra) and the skull (the sixth chakra) are part f the primary curve.
The verse quoted above, from the Katha Upanishad, reminds us that the heart chakra is connected to the seventh chakra. There is in fact a continuum between all seven chakras that enable energy to travel from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, and in some belief systems, back down again. All the chakras are connected with each other, regardless of their differences, via the sushumna, ida andpingala channels. Through practice, these energy channels revealthemselves.
I find the connection between the heart and seventh chakras recurring in my awareness. Both are major channels of compassion. The heart is the home of loving kindness, the seventh universal consciousness and bliss. Unconditional love is often what we are searching for when we seek enlightenment. Some people even believe there is a second brain the heart, which guides us and helps us to connect to others. To be filled with love for all beings is surely an elevated state. Is there a special connection between the crown and heart chakras? This verse suggests so. When one informs the other, we can imagine that an elightened state would follow.
In drafting this post I have come across a diagram from 1925 that suggests there is indeed a direct link between the heart and the top of the head chakras. I must also mention that the connection was cemented by a simple visualisation that was taught to me just last week (serendipitously) by Tarik Dervish. ‘Imagine a silver thread connecting the heart to the head’, he said.
When I imagine the heart space connected to the crown, I imagine being flooded with a sense of the infinite, silence, and light. By visualising an image of a fine thread connecting the heart to the crown, I find that my posture comes into alignment, my head lifts, my necks lenthens and my heart opens.
In view of the verse, ‘there are a hundred and one vital tracks, one of them rises to the crown […] the others to death’ I am made aware that there is darkness inside me, just as there is light. In navigating this three dimensional world I know I will encounter pain and suffering, as much as there is light and love. The truth is not always easy to bear, sometimes it is elusive and we have to be ok with not knowing. When we work on the throat chakra we invoke the truth, but we also confront that space of darkness, that centre of secrets and deception. It can be painful, or difficult to integrate new found truths. By taking support from the wellspring of love in the heart and bliss in the seventh chakra, this lesson somehow makes working on the fifth chakra easier to bear. Love doesn’t mind if you don’t know everything, you are entitle to be blissful no matter what you know.
The truth, or the purported truth about a situation can make enlightenment difficult. We worry, we ponder, we get nervous, we escape. There is only one truth out of hundreds of possiblities, and it might be some time before we know what the truth is. Only the fullness of time will deliver the satisfaction, or the horror, of knowing for sure how something will turn out. So when we focus on the fifth chakra, we must learn to park our ideas, and others’ projections, and carve out a small space for our true heart line. Unknowing and unknowable, but perfect just the same, we strive for the freedom of immortality and enlightenment. The Katha upanishad reminds us that sometimes the pathway to bliss only emerges when we acknowledge that there is pain and death within us. Then we know, We are not that pain, we are light and love.
(1) Easwaran, E. (1987) The Upanishads. Canada: Nilgiri Press, reprint 2007
(2) Bruyere, R. L. (1989) Wheels of Light. New York: Fireside p.78
(3) Leland, K (2016) Rainbow Body. USA Ibis Press p.195
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