Yoga Nidra for Single Pointed Focus

Ajna, or the third eye chakra, was the energy centre that we worked with in classes this week. As you can see from the symbol for this centre, there are two sides. In our dualistic world, there are often two sides to everything we experience - night & day, cold & hot, woman & man, two sides to a story. We concentrated on the dualistic nature of the body and mind. The left side of the body is controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain which is the imaginative, creative, intuitive, feeling side. On the opposite extreme is the right side of the body controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain which is the logical, analytical, fact based, thinking side. Two very different ways of perceiving and experiencing the world, but both sides are equally valuable and equally needed.  

Free Your Mind

Mandala made by David Goulet of Pyramid Yoga Center

The 6^th chakra, or third eye chakra, is associated with the element of the mind.  As we move higher up, the work is less about the physical and more about the mental and internal world.  The third eye chakra is about perception, with the verb or phrase associated with this chakra being “I see.”  This energy centre relates to seeing what is happening in our physical reality, but also being aware and seeing what is happening within our inner landscape.

“Ajna” is the Sanskrit term that refers to this energy centre, and loosely translated it means to perceive and command.  This centre is activated and strong when the two hemispheres of our brain are both used, valued and allowed to work in harmony.  The left, logical, analytical side is used to become aware of facts, logistics and to be a witness to the physical.  It is the “perceive” part of the equation.  The right, intuitive, imaginative side is used to assess our feelings and access our intuition to become clear on where we want to go.  It creates a picture and a “command” of what direction to follow.  This week in classes, we’ll be focusing on observing how the different sides of our body and mind work and simply witnessing our dualistic nature.  For more ways to work with the third eye centre, keep reading below. 

Can I See Clearly

How do you see yourself?  How do you see your life?  These are questions that are asked when working with the 6^th chakra energy center aka the third eye chakra aka Ajna.  Ajna, however, is not concerned with what you see on the outside with your physical eyes.  How do you see yourself and how do you see your life when you turn inward?  When there are no outer distractions, when there is no one or no outside influence to plant ideas of how you SHOULD look, feel, act or behave, how do you see your life?  How do you feel about yourself?

Where's Your Mind

On the heels of a federal election campaign and the beginning of the formation of a new government in Canada, we move our focus this week to the third eye chakra.  This 6^th chakra, also known as Ajna (to perceive and command) is all about perception.  Perception makes all the difference in how we form our reality.  We can see this by using the simple “is the glass half empty or half full” idiom.  Two people are seeing the same thing – a glass with water, but one person chooses to see the abundance in the scene, while the other chooses to see the lack.  One picture can create two different perceptions that result in two very different realities.  So it is with the current
election results, but instead of two options/perceptions, you can choose to 

I SEE

We’ve come to a place in our journey where turning inwards is the key.  Last time with the throat chakra, we spent part of our time turning in to deeply listen to what our heart had to say, and the other part expressing out this truth that we learned.  With the third eye chakra we get ready to settle in and discover our inner world.  While the throat chakra was about finding our inner sounds, the third eye is more about inner seeing and the pictures, colors, visions, images, words, etc that are created in our mind.  Our mind is what is focused on in this energy center.  While the other chakras worked in some way with the body and were associated with various body parts or organs, the third eye starts to move away from the physical and is all about the workings of the mind.  Working with our thoughts (and trying to sort through the thoughts that are actually ours and those that come from other people) and creating a vision of what we want our life to look like (instead of allowing these pictures to develop unconsciously) is what the third eye chakra is all about.

I See What I Perceive

“Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it.  Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held.  Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books.  Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin.  Believe nothing just because someone else believes it.  Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true”, Buddha

We have numerous thoughts running through our heads over the course of a day.  Many of these unconscious thoughts are either based on beliefs that have been passed to us from outside sources (family, friends, media, etc.), or they are thoughts that are driven by fear.  One of the major hurdles of working with the third eye chakra is sorting through these thoughts, pictures and images we’ve created in our heads and figuring out . . . . which of these things do I truly believe based on my experience and which of these things are there because someone else has put them there?

Let's See

Continuing along our chakra journey, we come to the last of the chakras that lie within the physical body (the crown chakra rests above us, but . . . . you’ll learn about that next week). Making our way up this rainbow staircase, the physical becomes less important and now we are more focused on working with our mind and inner world.  This sixth chakra or third eye chakra is located between the eyebrows and is known as the “command center” as it is here where we work on learning how to master our minds – the center that is in control of everything. Last week with the throat chakra, we focused on the sounds within our inner world.  Here at the third eye, we enter into the world of intuition, clairvoyance, imagination and visualization.  We work on what we can see on the inside.