FEEDING THE CROWN CHAKRA

Feeding the Crown Chakra: Foods for Interconnection and Purification

Many of us realize that eating is a physical act – our bodies harness energy from the food in order to move around, be active, live life – but how many of us recognize the inherent spiritual aspects of eating? When I say that eating is spiritual, what I am actually saying is that it connects us to all of life. Spirituality, in my opinion, is synonymous with “interconnection”. When we share a meal with friends, family, or co-workers, we are entering into a venue of connection. We connect through conversation, eating together, laughing together, and talking.

There are actually many layers of interconnection that can occur within a meal besides relating to another human being. We would nourish not only our bodies but our souls if we were able to see the cosmos in our plate – an energetic lineage – spanning from the seed, which was planted in a field and tended to by a caring farmer and workers, bathed in sunlight and moonlight, visited by a multitude of insects, to when, eventually, the seed transformed into a vegetable picked by someone’s loving hand. The vegetable made a hearty journey to ultimately make it to the store or farmer’s market. It connected with someone enough for it to be selected and bought. A chef or cook took great skill in preparing it into a dish, and days later, it has found its way to your plate.

So when we are eating, we are not just eating a blip in time, savoring a present moment of goodness, but a whole past history of connection. We eat our connections and take in not only the physical energy of each one, but the non-physical energy as well. Therefore, it is very important to eat the energy you want to become! Organically grown food and free range animals are excellent counterparts to conventionally grown produce and caged animals, and will have a different resonance.

The part of our subtle anatomy that connects to interconnection (spirituality) and purification is called the crown chakra (in Sanskrit, sahasrara). It is located at the top of the head and is said to vibrate to the colors white, lavender or gold. During meditative practices or prayer, this center is opened and serves as a conduit to the flow of universal energy and peace. The crown chakra is less about physical embodiment than the other chakras, and it vibrates at the highest rate. The root and crown chakras share similarities in that the root chakra extracts energy from the Earth for its vitalization while the crown chakra is nourished by the life force of All That Is.

Due to the fact that it is not physical in nature like the other chakras, the crown chakra is more about how we eat than it is about what we eat. It can also resonate with lack of eating (fasting) as a means to purifying and clarifying the physical body. In order to work with this chakra through food, it is best to see the act of eating as a spiritual act of interconnection. Every meal is indeed a miracle. How we approach that miracle could serve as nourishment for the body and soul, just like the food constituents themselves.

Purify the body through pure foods – The message of the crown chakra is purification and releasing the physical body from debris so that there is a better connection between body and soul. One of the ways to purify the body is to refrain from eating foods that have been contaminated with artificial ingredients or additives, such as artificial sweeteners, dyes, preservatives, and colorings. When we load ourselves up with these synthetic ingredients, our nervous systems (as well as the rest of our bodies) become toxic. We may develop neurological symptoms like headaches, hyperactivity and inability to focus on task.

Incorporate gentle detox in your everyday routine – You may have heard the word, “detox” used to refer to cleaning the body of toxins. Many of us are bombarded by environmental stresses such as pollution, unhealthy foods, and lack of activity. By making sure to do something every day to keep you “clean”, you will keep your toxin load to a minimum, and thus, feel and function better. There are a number of things you can do to rid the body of toxins. One of food that is great for sweeping toxins out of the body is fiber. Eating high-fiber foods like non-starchy vegetables, berries, and legumes are excellent ways to trap toxins in the gut and carry them out.

Connect with interconnection through eating – With each meal, take a couple of moments to reflect on the complexity of connections that you are about to take in. Give thanks or say a prayer for all of nature that went into the making of the foods – whether people, animals, or plants. By doing so, you acknowledge the interconnection of all the pieces that are involved in the lineage of that food. Imparting a blessing through prayer or a spoken intention will help to connect the food to your spirit, and even alter the food compounds to make it resonate on a more positive level.

Sunlight: The crown chakra has often been referred to as the sun, or as being gold in color. Like the individual photons vibrating within the glorious sun rays, the magnificent crown chakra resonates to the fine vibration of the source of universal light. Sunlight and crown chakra energy can permeate our physical being and spark certain cell processes. Connecting with the sun’s rays fills us with the nourishment of hope, love, and divine grace. It balances the body and the soul. Allow your plateful of food to bask in the sun for a couple of minutes, allowing it to be invigorated with the high photonic energy of Divine radiance.

Oxygen: Oxygen, extracted from breath (referred to as “chi” or “prana”), is the subtle substance we are always sipping in to keep our cells vibrant and flowing with life. We couldn’t survive without it. Oxygen is the key component that the body uses to access the energy contained within bonds of glucose in a process called oxidative metabolism. We cannot assimilate the vibration of foods to feed our chakras unless we have the essential wiring in place to our crown chakra. With oxygen, our being stays conscious, alive, and invigorated. Deep breathing and oxygenation therapies help to clear the crown chakra. Breathe deeply when you eat to ensure that you are harnessing all energy within the food.

Love: Ultimately, love alone nourishes us. It is different than food in that the more we allow it to feed us, the more it grows, enabling others to be fed. When we are ready to accept love fully and completely, without limits, we are liberated from having to ingest any food to feed our vibration. We can experience love in its many facets – love of self, of others, of nature, of planet, of God. By practicing indulging on love in all its many rainbowed forms, we open ourselves to a connection that our bodies, hearts, and spirits crave most!

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Deanna Minich, PhD, CN, (www.foodandspirit.com) is a nutritionist who sees more to food than calories and macronutrients. She blends cutting-edge nutrition information, quantum physics, and the ancient chakra system to guide others to use foods and eating as tools for spiritual growth and nourishment for the soul. With her latest book, Chakra Foods for Optimum Health: A Guide to the Foods that can Improve Your Energy, Inspire Creative Changes, Open Your Heart, and Heal Body, Mind, and Spirit , she opens your heart, unravels your intuition, and guides you on a journey to inner and outer bliss with every bite you take! Her new book, An A to Z Guide to Food Additives: Never Eat What You Can’t Pronounce, is a companion guide for your journey to the supermarket to help you make sense of your food!