Universal Consciousness and Bliss

The Yoga Upanishads describe five sheats, or five bodies: annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, jnanamaya, and anandamaya. These equate to the food body, the energy body, the mind body, the wisdom body and the bliss body. Just like the chakras, the koshas (Sanskrit for sheath/body) are on a spectrum of subtlety. The lower the body (the earlier on the list), the grosser it is. The higher koshas relate to more subtle things like consciousness and bliss. This coincides with the higher chakras. The lower koshas relate to the physical and emotional bodies, just as the lower chakras relate to the physical and energetic bodies.

Studying the seventh chakra is not easy. Few yoga poses work on the seventh chakra, notwithstanding headstand. Due to its lack of accessibility I often find that yoga teachers skip over the seventh chakra. This is a pity as openng the seventh chakra is the entire aim of yoga. I have noticed there is a connection between the heart and the seventh chakra. Indeed, opening the heart chakra could be considered the aim of yoga, and a lot of bliss emanates from here. If I had to make a disctinction I would say that an open heart brings earthly bliss, an open seventh is more like heavenly bliss, or an other worldly feeling where we have transcended our body, much rarer.

In yoga, we are aiming for open, balanced chakras along the whole spectrum. Aside from headstand, meditation is good for accessing the seventh chakra. Starting or ending your practice with meditation is one way to ensure you are paying the seventh some attention. Head massage is another way to stimulate the nerves around the top of the head and prepare the head for prostration pose (headstand prep).

When prana moves around the body it is sometimes possible to feel either a tingling sensation, heat or pulsation. This occurs when energy moves within the chakra, perhaps it is opening, closing, speeding up or slowing down. Chakras are wheels of light vibrating at such high frequcnies we cannot see them. There are hundreds of them all over the body, particularly at the intersection of the nadis, the energy channels, that flow around the body. There are believed to be seven major chakras along the spine, and it is these main channels that we often focus on during our yoga practice.

Some writers present the layers of the koshas almost in line with the seven chakras, In fact each of the chakras emits its own aura, so there are not five bodies, but at least seven. Each yogi must decide for themselves what they can see or sense in their aura. I have trouble grasping all five, or even seven auras at once. There is different energy that corresponds to emotions, thoughts and prana it can be useful to learn to watch the self in meditation, or with the ‘focussing’ technique, how the different information moves.

For me the seventh chakra is associated with the colour gold. When we are enlightened we are filled with a golden light and it is this source energy where we find universal consciousness. Universale consciousness refers to that space where ‘we’ the beings on earth are all one. The underlying energy that unites all the beings on the planet comes from the same source. We must remember this when we practice yoga. When we rest in the knowledge of oneness we are able to master our emotions and connect with those around us on a more authentic level.

If you cannot manage headstand, then spending time in prostration pose (kneeling with the crown of the head on the floor) will stimulate the crown chakra and possibly prepare you for half headstand and full headstand in the future. Don’t worry if prostration pose is as far as you can go, you will still rea the benefits. When we lie in shavasana at the end of an invigorating practice,we can sometimes feel the energy flowing up to the higher chakras, so be sure to finish with shavasana.

Om shanti