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It's about your imagination and intuition.
By Anna Thea — Last updated on Nov 19, 2022
Chakras are energy centers within our bodies that represent lessons we are meant to learn. Originating in India, the chakra system actually has been around for some time, ever since 1500 BC.
There are a total of seven chakras, and each one can be used to help us ground ourselves and self-reflect. Each chakra has a certain type of energy and power that, when opened and healthy, aids us.
The sixth chakra is known as the third eye chakra. But what is your third eye chakra all about?
What is the third eye chakra?
The sixth chakra, also known as the third eye chakra, is your center for intuition, imagination, and being able to “see” clearly. It’s located in the middle of the forehead between the eyebrows right below the crown chakra.
The third eye chakra also has a Sanskrit name Ajna, which is loosely translated to mean "beyond wisdom." The color indigo is connected to the third eye chakra, and its element is light.
The sixth chakra often deals with spiritual communication, awareness, and perception. It's your sixth sense!
The chakra is symbolized by an upside-down triangle and the lotus flower.
Photo: Atarax42 via Wikimedia Commons
What does the third eye represent?
As the intuition chakra, the third eye chakra teaches you how to trust your inner guidance and connect to your higher self.
Your connection to higher states of awareness come from your sixth chakra. This chakra symbolizes a state of enlightenment, mystical insight, and intuition.
It has been associated with psychic powers like seeing religious visions, being clairvoyant, and being able to see chakras and auras. It is connected to having out-of-body experiences.
The third eye chakra also involves your imagination and intellect. In order to manifest something, you have to imagine it first. You need to see it in your mind’s eye before you can create it. What do you want to manifest? Put your imagination to work, and it will support the process of making it come true.
Following your intuition is a big part of the function of the third eye chakra. When you follow your inner-guidance system, you create and manifest. And we are all creators.
How do you know if your third eye is blocked or imbalanced?
A blocked or imbalanced sixth chakra includes having illusions, delusions, and seeing the world in self-serving ways. A blocked or imbalanced third eye chakra can also mean having an overactive mind but using it in a disempowering way.
If your third eye chakra is blocked, you often suffer because you're more in your head and less in your heart. It’s as if your sixth chakra is open and active, but doesn’t have access to your heart chakra, so it’s actually out of balance.
Third eye chakra imbalance behaviors include blaming others, being judgmental, holding resentment, having an inflated ego, overthinking situations, and second-guessing yourself. Others signs are having a horrible time planning things out or lacking in imagination.
What causes a blocked third eye chakra?
Blockages can happen for many reasons. Some causes of a third eye chakra blockage are disconnecting from nature, eating a lot of unprocessed foods, as well as having overwhelming sadness.
Some causes come directly from the pineal gland, and include fluoride calcification and heavy metals. Of course, stress can also block or make any chakra unbalanced.
If you have a closed mind with tunnel vision, your third eye chakra is out of harmony.
How do you know if your third eye chakra is healthy and balanced?
This chakra correlates to your mental capacities, psychological skills, and how you evaluate the world around you. When your third eye chakra is healthy and balanced, you feel intelligent, insightful, and inspired. You also easily gain wisdom from your experiences in life.
You know what's right for you and have a certain "knowing" without question or doubt. You see situations without illusions or delusions and beyond what is obvious.
When your third eye chakra is balanced, you often operate from a place of wisdom and neutrality. Seeing challenging life situations from a place of wisdom is a positive expression of the sixth chakra.
In addition, this chakra is about gaining knowledge, and through that gained knowledge is how you’ve attained wisdom. The difference between knowledge (facts and figures, physical proof) and wisdom is experience.
When you know something because you have proof from research or literature, that’s quite different from personally experiencing something and being transformed by it. First-hand experience, where you’ve been there and have seen it, is different from trusting authority and that what you've been told is the truth.
That’s why, especially in this age of information, a balanced third eye chakra means having a strong sense of intuition — a gut feeling of the truth.
How To Open & Unblock Your Third Eye Chakra
1. Tune in and listen to what your inner guidance is telling you.
If you get an intuitive hit about something or someone, listen to it. Don’t second-guess yourself. You know, when you listen to your inner guidance, exactly what is right for you.
Another exercise is to see a challenging situation from a higher point of view. Step back from it, emotionally. Don’t let that situation get you down. Look at it differently and in a way that allows you to expand and grow.
2. Meditate.
Meditation will help activate your third eye. Sit quietly, close your eyes, and look up and out through the space between your eyebrows.
When the other two eyes you use to see the physical world are closed and you take time to look through your third eye, the space between your eyebrows activates their ability to "see."
3. Use crystals.
Crystals contain healing energies and may be able to help open the third eye chakra. The best crystals to use include amethyst, purple sapphire, purple violet tourmaline, rhodonite, sodalite, labradorite, clear quartz, and moonstone.
Place the stones between your brows when meditating, where the sixth chakra is located.
4. Change your diet.
Some blockages occur as a result of an unhealthy diet, and you may need to "detox."
Try adding certain foods to your diet: raw cacao, goji berries, garlic, lemon, watermelon, honey, coconut oil, hemp seeds, cilantro, and ginseng. Also stock up on vitamin D3.
5. Try breathwork.
Breathwork is a great tool to use to try to reconnect with your body. Many people use it on a daily basis to help with anxiety, stress, depression, and grounding.
Specifically, Holotropic breathwork is a certain type of breathwork often used for inner healing. This can help open your third eye chakra.
6. Pay attention to your dreams.
Dreams are often our subconscious trying to communicate with us. Pay attention to what goes on in them. Write them down, tell them to your therapist, and remember what you saw or heard.
Your dreams can be telling you how to balance the third eye chakra without you even knowing.
7. Use essential oils.
Essential oils have been used for alternative medicine for some time, but they also have properties that help with spiritual awareness. Try using jasmine, lemon, and sandalwood to open up your third eye chakra.
Make sure to always mix your essential oil with a carrier oil (like olive or coconut) since they are extremely concentrated. Once mixed, apply the mixture to your third eye (right between your eyebrows).
8. Do yoga.
Just like meditation, yoga helps you connect and understand your body. Some yoga poses to try include Lotus Pose, Dolphin Pose, Bow Pose, Humble Warrior, and Child’s Pose.
Be sure to focus on your breathing while going through the poses, and pay attention to the places that feel tight and work through them. Yoga focuses on the flow of energy throughout your body.
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Anna-Thea is an author and Certified Divine Feminine Educator. She educates people on how to claim their bodies as sacred. If you’d like to open and balance your chakras, check out her Guided Chakra Meditation for beginners
This article was originally published at annathea.org. Reprinted with permission from the author.