What is a corona?  If you’d have asked me a couple of months ago, I would have probably described it as a gateway beer or an acceptable breakfast drink whilst on a beachy vacay.  Now?  Lord only knows.  Oh, and Google.  I’ll ask Google.

Google says a corona is the Latin word for crown.  Commence gears turning and smoke emanating from my ears…is there a connection between our experience of the Covid-19 (corona) pandemic and our crown chakra?  I am noooooo chakra expert so it’s time for more Google antics…hold my beer.

The crown chakra is our seventh and highest chakra and is primarily associated with psychological functions of awareness and understanding.  It connects us to the formless, limitless wisdom of consciousness and gives us the sense that everything is connected on a fundamental level.  The crown chakra allows spirituality to integrate into our physical lives and helps us to liberate ourselves from limiting patterns and outdated, egoic programs.  When our crown chakra is balanced, we can easily access our inner knowing and feel a sense of serenity, trust and completeness regardless of our external circumstances.  When our crown chakra is out of balance, we tend to feel disconnected, apathetic, tired, intolerant, close-minded, materialistic, and lonely. 

Ladies.  Gentlemen.  Let’s check our crowns:

Covid- 19 = externally imposed restrictions: Are you able to spiritually or emotionally transcend these limitations or are you feeling trapped and restricted?

Covid-19 = a media frenzy of fearmongering and public panic: Are you finding peace amongst the chaos or are you getting sucked into a spin cycle of confusion and distress? 

Covid-19 = the temporary suspension of physical and external sources of connection, distraction, entertainment, and routine: Are you feeling a sense of gratitude, empathy and presence or are you feeling impatient, bored, triggered, or lonely?

Covid-19 = a potential threat to personal attachments (i.e. jobs, hobbies, relationships, etc.): Are you connecting to a deeper sense of self or resisting the loss of superficial definitions of identity?

Covid-19 = a potential threat to your safety or security: Are you feeling a sense of trust and acceptance or stressing over your health or resources?

Let’s be real…this Covid-19 situation is a new and disorienting experience.  I am in no way attempting to minimize the pain, loss, and worry many people have felt over the past weeks.  I know people who are grieving the death of a loved one.  I know people who have lost their jobs.  I know people who are stressing about overdue bills.  I GET YOU. 

What I am talking about here, is our ability to choose how we navigate challenging or painful circumstances.  It is the fundamental premise of the illustrious Serenity Prayer: “accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”  Acceptance or action.  These have been our only choices since the dawn of time.  Covid-19 is merely shining a blinding spotlight on what has always been. 

If our crowns are looking a little wonky, our perception of choice and emotional regulation are probably looking a little wonky too.  When we are in a state of discomfort or pain, it can feel addictively easier to slip back into dysfunctional patterns of being (i.e. worry, judgment, blame, resistance, catastrophic thinking, anger, settling, etc.) than to align with the depth of our own inner knowing and intentionally cultivate a sense of trust, curiosity, and stillness.  The wisdom to know the difference between acceptance and action seems inaccessible.  Why?  Because when we are afraid, acceptance feels pointless and our actions become motivated by fear, attachment, conditioning, and limiting beliefs. 

But there is another way.

The corona pandemic is a call to consciousness. 

Covid-19 is an opportunity to develop a deeper level of self-awareness and to question the illusion that we are separate from one another.  It is an encouragement to move beyond our fears and limitations and finally give ourselves permission to create more inspired, meaningful, compassionate, and joyful lives.  It is a chance to transcend the unnecessary suffering we invent through undisciplined thinking and detrimental patterns of reactivity. 

Covid-19 is also an opportunity to wake up and recognize that old patterns and systems are breaking down.  And it’s time.  We have all been programmed to believe that we must search outside of ourselves for safety, security, and happiness.  We elect governments thinking they will protect us.  We work 9-5 jobs thinking they will give us security.  We enslave ourselves to consumerism thinking we can buy happiness.  We destroy Mother Earth thinking she can sustain our abuse.  We adhere to organizations and structures predicated upon principles of inequality, discrimination, and injustice thinking it’s okay because “that’s just how it’s always been”.  None of it works.  None of it is okay.  None of it is even real.

I’m not pretending to have all the answers.  I am also not pretending that things will (or should) just “go back to normal”.  What we defined as normal were merely patterned ways of being, many of which were highly dysfunctional and unethical.  The corona pandemic offers a potential opportunity for us to be liberated from these unconscious conventions and recognize that our identities are so much more than a collection of habits.  Habits do not define us…they are simply choices we continue to make.  And unless your name is Siri or Alexa, your choices do not have to be programmed.

Corona Consciousness.

If you are curious about ways to use this temporary social pause for some crown chakra realness, here are a few ideas:

•  Self-reflection specific to self-isolation.  Be honest with yourself. How am I feeling?  What do I miss?  What have I gained?  How is this change difficult for me?  How is it enjoyable?  Take stock of the things you would be happy to resume and the things you would prefer never to go back to. 

•  Dedicate a time for stillness.  Meditate if that’s your thing.  Journal.  Sit and connect with the true nature of who you really are.  Contemplate your values, aspirations, and ideas.  Use the power of your imagination to envision what kind of life you ‘want to’ have…not the kind of life you think you ‘have to’ have.

•  Expand your mind.  We are blessed with an abundance of self-growth content…take advantage!  Read books, watch videos, listen to podcasts, source out inspirational and enlightening material that is in alignment with your curiosities and beliefs. 

•  Simplify your environment.  You don’t wear even half of those clothes (talking to myself here).  Downsize.  Donate.  Clean.  Lighten your material load.  This does wonders for the spirit. 

•  Develop your own spiritual practice (create art, garden, spend quiet time in nature, practice breath work, mediate, pull some oracle cards, do some yoga, etc.)…the possibilities are endless.  The purpose is to give yourself time, space, and permission to simply be.

Change is created one person at a time.  Consciousness is raised one person at a time.  The world is healed one person at a time.  Armistead Maupin once said, “The world changes in direct proportion to the number of people willing to be honest about their lives.” 

Your consciousness is calling you…don’t send it to voicemail.