The Chakra Way
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THE CHAKRA WAY W E E K S E V E N - I N T U I T I O N W I T H R O S A N N E N I E B O E R W W W . C H A K R A - W A Y . C O M WELCOME TO WEEK 7 THIRD EYE CHAKRA - AJNA CHAKRA Section Page At a Glance 5 The Intuitive Chakra 8 Ajna in Action 9 Endocrine system 11 Inner Vision 15 Visualisation 17 Imagination 20 Intuition 21 Clairvoyance 23 Healing the Ajna 26 Symbols 29 Affirmations 31 Yoga Practice 33 Questions 34 THIRD EYE CHAKRA A J N A C H A K R A The SIXTH chakra is often referred to in common parlance as the "sixth sense". It is our source of intuition and our visual centre. It is our witness to the world around us. We use our eyes to absorb huge amounts of information about our world. Our dreams connect us to our subconscious. Our intuition helps us through situations guiding us with inner wisdom. This chakra draws together these two ways of seeing - inner and outer. When we use our seeing eyes we internalise the exterior world and with our third eye we can bring together all the information we have to remember the past and visualise the future. "Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self" The Bhagavad Gita W W W . C H A K R A - W A Y . C O M THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA REPRESENTS INTUITION VISION LIGHT IMAGINATION VISUALISATION SELF REFLECTION DECISION MAKING CLAIRVOYANCE AJNA CHAKRA AT A GLANCE LOCATION - Between eyebrows TRANSLATION - To command , to perceive CHARACTER - Intuition COLOUR - Indigo blue CHANT - Om or Kasham ELEMENT - Light SENSE - Seeing AFFIRMATION - I am guided by intuition RIGHT - to know BODY PART - Eyes and nose ORGANS - Brain GLAND - Pineal Gland EMOTION - Perspective AGE - 36- 42 AJNA CHAKRA AT A GLANCE FOODS - Entheogens - pyschoactive substances MINERALS - Quartz, Lapis Lazuli, star sapphire ANIMALS - Owl PLANETS- Sun & Moon PETALS- Two OPERATING FORCE - Seeing LOTUS SYMBOL - Two petals around a circle with a downward pointing triangle containing the bija mantra Om within, a crescent moon and Bindu dot of manifestation above. PANTHEONS - Krishna, Shakti Hakini, Isis, Appollo PHYSICAL MALFUNCTIONS - Headaches and migraines, sleep issues and nightmares, vision issues, eyestrain EMOTIONAL MALFUNCTIONS - Inability to visualise, imagine or dream, difficulty making decisions, feeling stuck, lack of clarity AJNA CHAKRA AT A GLANCE POSITIVE QUALITIES OF THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA Clarity Strong intuition Ability to dream without fear and to realise those dreams Ability to make decisions Perception Equanimity Inner knowledge Big picture vision Insight SIGNS OF AN OVER ACTIVE THIRD EYE CHAKRA Difficulty concentrating Spacey-ness Living in your head Allowing yourself to dream but not allowing yourself to fulfil them Difficulty sleeping Indulgence in fantasies and illusions SIGNS OF AN UNDER ACTIVE THIRD EYE CHAKRA Being unimaginative Closed mindedness Cynical Self limiting Rarely dreaming Being afraid to imagine Inability to visualise Rejection of everything spiritual or beyond the usual Lack of clarity will affect both an under and over active Ajna chakra The Intuitive Chakra The Third Eye chakra is commonly understood in society as our "sixth sense", being that place where we see beyond what is in front of our eyes. It is the part of us that allows us to see beyond the reality of what we observe with our seeing eyes. It is a unique sense organ that allows us to use our connection with our higher consciousness to operate in the world from a place of intuition. Those moments where you know you have a "hunch" or "a feeling" that you need to be somewhere, or make a call. It is often called our "gut instinct" but whereas we know that our enteric nervous system is more tuned into our survival mode, this third eye energy is more subtle and has a more clairvoyant quality to it. As we climb higher to the upper chakras we can see that the work we have done down below becomes more important. In order to access this intuition we must have done the work in our throat chakra so that we have an honest inner dialogue that we trust. Our intuition will be there to help us when needed but if we don't have the inner dialogue and inner truth there to back us up the intuition will be ignored or overlooked. Ajna in action The translation of Ajna is "to command" and "to perceive". It is important here that we consider both these translations carefully. Our absorption of light through our eyes gives us information about our surroundings and experiences. We all have a choice of how we perceive what we see - how we assign it or how we choose to react. Our perceptions of a situation may be totally different to someone else. Just ask any set of siblings who have ostensibly had the same upbringing but perceive their childhoods totally differently. These perceptions could be described as the illusions that we all hold. Common illusions are that we are not enough or worthy or more simplistically things like bigger is better. Our expectations of situations also are perceived. We frequently take ourselves down well trodden neurological pathways expecting X situation to be followed by Y response. The other half of the Ajna chakra translation is "to command". This is often seen to mean that the 3rd eye chakra is our command centre. The place of our higher self that is in charge. This is rarely the case and we need to think about using our command centre in a more subtle way. It is the place from which we command our reality. How we choose to see the world and how we choose to process information that is coming at us from all directions. Ajna in action Most crucially this command centre of the Ajna chakra is the place of our visualisation. It is where we can imagine, dream, plan and bring to manifestation our dreams. The key to a healthy Ajna chakra is the ability to visualise. Visualise our past, present and our future. Plenty of people spend time looking back with regret or wistfulness or cannot imagine a future that is any different to their present. These are closed Ajna chakra aspects. If we are afraid of the future and regretful of the past then we become stuck. On the flip side, those people who spend their lives fantasising, living in their heads but never allowing any of those dreams to become reality - indeed, even believing that their dreams could never come true - are suffering with an over active Ajna chakra. An inability to concentrate is the most common excessive trait of this chakra. Being easily distracted - like a dog who sees a squirrel - we can be drawn off focus all too easily! A balanced 3rd eye chakra needs clarity, it needs to listen to and trust intuition and most importantly it needs the ability to dream and visualise without fear so that those dreams and visualisations can become reality. Third Eye and the Endocrine system The translation of the Sanskrit name for this chakra is 'command’ which means that when we have that chakra open and balanced, we can take our instructions for navigating through our lives, from this seat of higher consciousness, being able to listen to our intuition. The element of this chakra is light and it is through the sensory interpretation of light that we gather information about our surroundings. We depend pretty heavily on our eyes to do this task for us but we are reliant on how good our eyesight is. But within this chakra we look beyond our eyesight to our potential psychic abilities. The position of this chakra is unique to all - for some it is directly between the eyebrows, for others it is slightly higher but if you close your eyes and place your finger on the tip of your nose and slide it gently upwards to your forehead you will instinctively know when you have reached your third eye. Third Eye and the Endocrine system It is important to understand the endocrine system with reference to the Ajna chakra. Here we have the very important Pituitary and Pineal glands. The pituitary gland is located just under the brain at the top of the spine and is under the hypothalamus. (Side note - The Hypothalamus is the essential link between the endocrine system and nervous system. It receives it's signals from the nervous system and secretes a substance that will start and stop secretions of the pituitary gland. It is responsible for the regulation of all hormone production in the endocrine system.) The Pituitary gland is about pea-sized. If the Hypothalamus is the Chairman of the endocrine system then the Pituitary gland is the Managing Director. It regulates all the other glands. When the hypothalamus sends a signal to the pituitary by sending a ‘releasing’ hormone, the pituitary then sends out a ‘stimulating’ hormone to the gland requiring action. The pituitary is responsible for growth hormones and for emotional well-being. The Pineal gland resides in the centre of the brain and its main function is managing our sleep cycle. It produces melatonin and is governed by response to light. It has been suggested that the Pineal Gland is the seat of our soul. Is this perhaps because light has a definite effect on both our physical and mental health? Melatonin is chemically similar to many hallucinogenic substances and taking it as a sleep aid has been proven to increase dreaming.