Question:
I have been reading Upanishads, yoga literature, Buddhist books and Ayurvedic texts for  about 8-10 years. I am also working on my PhD. I have chosen a spiritual path for fulfillment and contentment. Since, November 14, 2008, I feel that my energy runs up my body and gets all stuck in my head. I have had quite a bit of chakra work done to anchor my root chakra. With loads of meditation, mantra chanting, yoga practices, reiki practices (self treatment), massages and finally Panchakarma, I have learned to bring my energy down quite a bit, but not completely, and when I do it does not stay down very long. Growing up I learned that vignaya marg is the highest path, hence I have focused on knowledge. My solar plexus is the root cause of my problem, where manomaya kosha has created a barrier with my anandamaya kosha. For a while I could feel my heart chakra having a strong protective layer around it. Previously, it was not there, but some major life incidences and situations built a strong layer that prevented me from feeling in the heart for about two years. Seven days of Panchakarma treatment helped me open up my heart. However, my energy still runs up in my neck and head. Do you have any suggestion for me on how to break the cycle of that my mind has gotten stuck , so that my spiritual growth continues and I can function and feel better. I am taking some Ayurvedic herbs (shank pushpi, bacopa, gotu kola). Chakra tuning, chakra shudhi, meditation, and shri yantra mantra chanting and such efforts do help, but not enough. I live in Cheyenne Wyoming where I do not have access to many of spiritual activities or spiritual gurus that metropolitan city often offers.

In the recent chakra balancing by a woman, I learned that my heart chakra has changed its color from green to dusty rose/pink? During her chakra balancing work, she informed me that my heart chakra changed its color from dusty rose to green only in the center. Is there any significant meaning behind the color change and spiritual journey?

Answer:
There may be some significance to your heart chakra changing color, but I really don’t know what that might be in your case.
You seem to have determined that your major issue is that your mind is stuck and it is impeding your further progress. What occurs to me in reading your letter is that you have taken an extremely intellectual and problem-solving approach to overcoming your mental limitation. You have thoroughly analyzed the situation, and utilized a long list of very effective procedures and practices to address it. But when the mind’s limited, linear thinking habits are the problem, using the mind’s same analytical habits will not free you.
Another book or technique to wrap your mind around won’t help. What you need is something that takes you utterly outside your typical patterns of thinking.  Falling head over heels in love is probably the most radical cure for that, but there are other more controllable things you can do as well. You live in a beautiful part of the country. Make a point of spending time outdoors communing with Nature—the trees, the streams, the sunlight, the grasses and flowers. Allow yourself to feel all these aspects of Nature as an extension of your own self.
Go dancing and singing and don’t worry what anyone else may think. Just let whatever feelings inside you express themselves freely. You may want to write poetry or paint or photograph as well. Creative expression is beautiful way to free oneself from the prison of the critical , task-oriented mind.
If you have relatives and friends with young children, seek out opportunities to play and laugh with them. Let your Being absorb the joy and wisdom in their simplicity and purity.
The path of knowledge or Vignaya marg is a great path, but the highest knowledge is not intellectual knowledge of the mind, but the pure, simple, joyful knowledge of the cosmic mind that you cannot be taught, but rather you must become.
Love,
Deepak