Chakra Series: Third Eye

The third eye chakra, also known as the ajna in Sanskrit, is the sixth energy center in our body. It is viewed as the center of intuition, insight, higher consciousness, spiritual awareness and psychic abilities. This chakra is located between the eyebrows and is symbolized by a two petal lotus flower with an inverted triangle. It is also connected to the element of light.

A balanced third eye chakra enhances clarity, foresight, connection to the divine,  mental clarity, and insight. It enhances your ability to understand situations from a broader perspective and make better choices. You may also experience a strong intuition or a gut instinct, experience heightened spiritual awareness, have vivid dreams or dream recall, and be able to see past illusions. When this chakra is imbalanced it can either be because it is underactive or overactive. In the case of being underactive, it can manifest as a lack of intuition, a struggle to make decisions, feeling disconnected spiritually, being close minded, or having a lack of creativity and imagination. However, an overactive chakra can lead to an overactive mind with hallucinations, disconnecting from reality, an obsession with conspiracy theories, headaches, dizziness, or mental fog.

Something that can be used to balance this chakra is crystals. An example of this would be how Amethyst helps intuition, Lapis Lazuli aids insight, Sodalite helps rational thinking and intuition, Fluorite aids focus, perception, and decision making, and how Labradorite awakens your spiritual abilities. Essential oils are also good tools to help clear this chakra. Scents like Frankincense, Sandalwood, Lavender, and Clary Sage are all the scents that are typically associated with this chakra.

You can meditate by imagining a deep indigo light between your eyebrows that slowly expands. You can also meditate while doing yoga poses like the child's pose or balasana, downward dog or adho mukha svanasana, seated meditation or sukhasana, and the eagle pose or garudasana. Repeating affirmations while both meditating and doing yoga can help to better clear the chakra, some examples of good affirmations include “I trust my intuition and inner wisdom.”, “I see clearly and can see the truth.”, “I am open to divine guidance and higher knowledge.”, and “I embrace my inner wisdom and insight.”

You can also eat foods to reset and rebalance the chakras. For this specific chakra, any dark blue or purple foods will work like blueberries, blackberries, grapes, and eggplants. Also, teas like mugwort, lavender, or gotu kola would be good. Of course it is important to remember to do your own research before ingesting anything to check for potential allergies or other possible negative effects.

As you can see, balancing this chakra is important for seeing beyond the physical world and learning how to trust yourself and your intuition. The best part is that through the methods of meditating, yoga, using crystals, essential oils, and even by eating healthy foods, can all help you attain a higher level of clarity and balance, helping to open your third eye.