The 7th chakra is referred to as Sahasrara (a thousand petals), and is located at the top of the head or slightly above. This area is all about becoming open to, and knowing, that we are divine beings, always connected to Source, here to serve a purpose, and to learn and grow as spiritual beings, says Dr Arien van der Merwe.

The 7th chakra's colour is white or violet and its functions are devotion to soul, inspiration, selflessness and spiritual understanding. It is related to our search for purpose and meaning in life, living our soul's purpose through embodiment in this world; the seat of our spiritual conscience, the still, small voice of guidance from within that we so often ignore.

We are what we think. Thoughts start in consciousness. Everything that manifests on a physical level, that is in your body, your health, rest of your life and relationships, ultimately has its origin in consciousness. Awareness means being present in your life, observing the comings and goings of the conscious or beta wave mind, owning the moment, understanding that you decide what to think, what to feel and ultimately, through thought and feelings, or emotions, create your own reality. Once we understand that specific thoughts, leading to specific emotions, will have very specific effects on the physical body, we can retrace our steps to the origin of our wrong thinking, then through re-programming the subconscious mind, gently lead ourselves back to health and wholeness, with the assistance of our superconscious or soul mind. We are energy beings, and this energy leaves pathways that can help us discover the true underlying cause of distress and ultimately, disease. Similar to Type A personality behaviour leading to heart disease, patterns of stress symptoms leave a trail that can lead to healing once made conscious and released.

We all have an inner guidance system, whether we call it our Higher Self, the Holy Spirit, our Guide, Angel or Higher Intelligence. This energy communicates via our right brain and witnessing consciousness, using gentle thoughts, ideas, intuitions, symbolic dream images, feelings or body talk. It uses our emotions to guide us: it either feels good or it doesn't. We have to listen to this inner guidance and follow our feelings to what feels good and right deep inside. When we don't follow this guidance we feel stress and tension. Once we lose connection to this gentle prompt from our soul, we feel unwell and unhappy, feelings that ultimately tell us to change direction via physical symptoms inside the body. When consciousness changes into different thoughts, the emotions and physical response soon follows. Be gentle, patient and persistent. Don't ever put a linear time limit on your process. Right thinking will ultimately lead to healing of the mind and body.

The crown chakra is our conscious connection to our link with Source. It is balanced through Oneness, or distorted in the separation of the ego mind. Its direct companion chakra is the root, base or 1st chakra, our connection to Earth; two opposite poles in our chakra spiral. This is a clear indication of the continuous movement up and down the central channel, or sushumna nadi, in a balanced dance of life, spirit manifesting in physical life and moving in an ever-increasing rise in consciousness up the chakras and spine, into the crown and beyond, and back down again.

If the 7th chakra is closed, we experience a sense of isolation and aloneness, shut off from our Self and those around us, fearing death, believing in limited resources and a lack of abundance. We lose a sense of direction. Becoming aware of this, we can deliberately choose to restore the balance and connection to our divinity, to God or Source, the energy of love.

When fully developed, the crown chakra assists us in understanding the oneness of universal consciousness, and experience true inner peace. The sense of separation disappears and we are able to tap into sources of collective and universal wisdom and knowledge, enhancing our sense of knowing or gnosis. We are able to learn how to channel this energy even into our DNA through the peptides binding to receptors on our cell membranes, sending the messages of love, acceptance and peace into the very source of our cell's nuclei, to effect a change deep within the DNA of our being, re-programming for health.

This brings us to the end of this series on the chakras. The seven chakras actually exist as pairs facing forward in front of the body, and backward behind the body, with the 1st chakra facing down and the 7th upwards. This gives us 12 aspects. More chakras are opening and at the last count, it is believed by some that as many as 22 chakras are now available to human consciousness. Keeping our chakras balanced, is the ultimate goal of a healthy life, well lived in body, mind and spirit. Whenever we use and deliberately choose, to access higher states of consciousness, we help to advance the consciousness of our entire planet via the collective unconscious or mind belt. Every single one of us can therefore contribute to raising the consciousness of humanity, preparing and welcoming the new era of higher human consciousness, always aware that the sense of trepidation and uncertainty many of us are experiencing, are the forerunners for dramatic change, to be welcomed in expectation and a sense of excitement, rather than fear and worry.

Our true being exists in joy and happiness. Reaching our essence through deep meditation will gradually open our whole being to experience this essence waiting at the core of our being. The answer to fear and worry is to go within, to quiet the left brain with its predominant, contracted beta waves, and deliberately relax into the wider, slower alpha and theta wave states, to ultimately connect with Source, in the delta state. The more you are able to sense this joy from within, the more you attract the positive and good into your life. Be patient, increase your quiet time every day, and the time of grace will soon appear. Live within a balanced aura of dancing rainbow colours, manifesting health and wholeness on all levels of your being.