Opening Your Third Eye

Wounds and traumas associated with the sixth chakra (our third eye) have striking similarities to those of the fifth chakra (throat), invalidating our intuition and perceptions and creating a difference between what is seen and said. It’s like living in a world of denial, illusion, repression and dissociation. This occurs (as do all other wounds to our chakras) during childhood, within the family dynamic in which we were raised.

Children of a young age have a limited capacity to effectively communicate, but have a much more heightened level of intuition, which is the non-verbal, vibrational and energetic form of communication.

When a child intuitively perceives or feels something beyond verbal communication, which for argument’s sake is true, and the parent lies to the child, he or she begins to doubt their own feelings and intuitions, which they know are true for them. Thus begins the crumbling of the foundation of inner trust and communication, planting the seeds of self-doubt.

When I was five, I intuitively perceived that something was wrong in my parents’ relationship. I remember asking them if there was something wrong, to which they continuously responded with “everything’s fine.” Of course, being five, I believed them – yet they divorced shortly thereafter. What I saw and intuitively perceived was incongruent with what I was being told.

Another aspect of inconsistency between what is seen and what is said, comes in the form of either one or both parents abusing their children, whether physically, mentally or emotionally – but verbally communicating that they love them or that it’s “for their own good.” When these types of abusive acts are experienced personally or witnessed on another family member, what happens is that the experience(s) are either repressed, or the person becomes dissociated. This leads to denying that the events ever happened, painting the occurrences in a positive framework, or the complete repression (selective memory) of the painful episodes that were either experienced or witnessed. Whether denying, repressing or dissociating, it all creates a world of illusion and effects the sixth chakra by clouding it over with frantic, disconnected images, thoughts and memories, effectively blinding the intuition and perception of our third eye.

First, become reacquainted with each chakra color. This exercise can be done in one of two ways. One, start from the first chakra (root), and work your way up to the seventh chakra (crown). This moves the energy of spiritual liberation. The other is to begin from the crown chakra and work down to the root chakra, which represents the form and boundaries of physical manifestation. Both are interconnected and equally important, and should be alternated. For this exercise, we’ll use the downward aspect of spiritual liberation.

Begin by sitting comfortably with your spine straight. Close your eyes and, with the lightness of a feather, focus upon your breathing. When thoughts begin to bubble to the surface, gently bring your attention back to the breath. Do this until you feel centered and relaxed. From here, feel the energy in your body, taking mental notes of how the energy moves, where any deficiencies or blockages are and any emotion associated with it. This should be done without judgment, but if those thoughts crop up, gently bring your attention back to the breath until you feel sufficiently grounded and clear, and then continue.

Now, imagine a beam of light coming down from the universe and entering the crown of your head. You may experience tingling sensations or vibrations which are characteristic of energy. Visualize the color of this universal light as red, gently allowing it to flow down into your root chakra located at the base of the spine. Allow your attention to sit in your roots and within the color red, taking mental notes of any images, emotions and overall feelings and impressions that arise.

Continue the exact same format, changing and visualizing the color of the universal light for each remaining and associated chakra; orange for the second chakra (sacral plexus), yellow for the third (solar plexus), green for the fourth (heart), blue for the fifth (throat), indigo for the sixth (brow/third eye), and finally, violet or white for the seventh and final chakra (crown).

When you have fully completed this process, think back to the mental notes you took when working through each chakra. Any color that you resisted is a sign that that chakra may be blocked, and could use some work/attention. Are you surrounding yourself with the colors of the chakras that felt the strongest, or the colors that felt blocked or deficient? To help heal and balance the deficient chakras, try wearing clothes and jewelry of the colors that you felt were the most resistant. You can also invest in colored drinking glasses, fill them with water and let them absorb the light energy from the sun. This is like adding a super-charge to your drinking water and, when ingested, helps feed the chakras with color and light-energy combined.

Meditative Practice

There are many forms of meditations that span a variety of cultures and which are used for different purposes, such as material manifestation, spiritual enlightenment and the release of kundalini, just to name a few. However, the meditation for our sixth chakra is that of quieting the mind and sharpening our clarity through awareness. This is usually done by sitting comfortably, either cross-legged or in a chair, with your feet firmly planted on the floor, and with the spine straight.

Close your eyes and gently focus your attention on the sixth chakra, feeling its subtle vibrational energy. Then open your eyes, and with your eyes straight ahead, pick a place on the wall in front of you where you can rest your visual attention. Next, bring your attention to your breath, the inhale and exhale, neither forcing nor striving. Just watch your breath very delicately.

Sooner or later, thoughts will arise in the form of planning and strategizing the future, past events and conversations or any other form of mental activity that attempts to take us from the breath, our present moment.

When this happens, we usually get carried away with these thoughts, as if pulled into a rushing stream, and we forget our breath. Gently – and without judgment or condemnation – bring your attention back to the breath. This is a continual process that requires a daily commitment and builds upon itself, moment by moment, day by day, year after year. Through this practice, gaps of awareness of the present moment are created, and our inner mental screen subsides in its unconscious production of images and memories. This leads to the opening of the sixth chakra, the center of insight, intuition and perception, enabling us to take one more giant step in awakening the spiritual enlightenment that so clearly resides within us all.