Third Eye Chakra: Challenges and Balance
Part 1 of the Third Eye Chakra guide can be found here.
The power of the third eye chakra lies in allowing us to imagine possibilities that currently do not exist. We can work to manifest those ideas with a clear mind. Illusion, the main challenge of the sixth chakra, inhibits perceiving reality with an open mind, which blocks any attempts to gather truth and use it to make progress. It causes fixation on a false idea that prevents us from living authentically.
Shame is also a major challenge to the third eye, because it creates the illusion that we are profoundly flawed. It causes intense self-scrutiny that blocks our perceptions, because when our vision is only turned inward, we are not able to gaze outward with clarity. In cases of trauma or abuse, we often create our own illusions when dealing with negative memories, the images we store of our experiences. We can repress painful memories to block our perceptions (we can’t feel what we can’t see). We can also dissociate from painful memories by disconnecting our reactions from our perceptions (we can’t see what we can’t feel).
Dissociating from memories is often attributed to an excessive sixth chakra. Images that are not grounded in experience will show up in dreams, obsessive delusions or hallucinations. Their imagination runs wild. This excess energy causes people to get lost in fantastical ideas without the grounding structure and stability of physical reality established in the lower chakras. Poor boundaries mean those with excessive third eye chakras are so open to reception, they are unable to rationally sort through what is truth and what is fantasy. Their mind is bombarded with so much input that anxiety and the inability to concentrate are common.
Those with deficient sixth chakras often choose to live in denial. Because they may have poor visualization skills and are unable to use imagination, they cannot envision other possibilities. They will choose to stay where they are familiar and simply accept “this is the way I am” or “this is the way it is” or "this is the one and only truth." They refuse to change or consider other options, especially if they have not established stability and confidence in the lower chakras to let go of security. They may have poor memories if they are unconsciously spending extra energy to repress negativity. Poor intuition is also common, being so blind to the subtle nuances of emotion and social cues that they may be considered insensitive. This is often over-compensated by fixating on the rational mind and logical thought.
Balancing the Third Eye Chakra
Opening and balancing the third eye chakra requires exercising skills that may be underdeveloped or tangibly manifesting ideas that only exist in the mind’s eye. Those who are deficient must first choose to let go of denial before any progress can be made. They must choose to be open and receptive to new perceptions and information. From there, working with visual art helps the deficient develop their imagination and visualization skills, and it helps the excessive channel their unbridled images into tangibility that can then be sorted through. This creativity is not meant to be displayed or gifted, but rather as an exercise to stimulate visual thinking. Developing the imagination with verbal exercises can also help. For those with dreams that overflow into and disrupt waking life, keep a dream diary and note that dark, scary elements may actually be there to help by having something to teach. Finally, meditation can calm anxiety and improve concentration. Like a flashlight, it can narrow the focus of the inner eye and illuminate what was once in shadow.
When we are able to not just experience life but also perceive it with clarity, we have the ability to turn that experience into wisdom and progression for the future. We are able to creatively imagine profound possibilities, balanced by the structure and stability of rational thought. Grounded in ourselves and our experiences, we are able to practice the expansion of our mind and spirit by learning and understanding vast systems and ideas. We are free to explore and establish our purpose in life and our place in a universe that is so much larger than ourselves.
Credits and Resources:
Eastern Body Western Mind by Anodea Judith
7wisdoms.org by Shai Tubali
Chakras.info by Lizzy Martin
My Other Chakra Guides:
Chakras 101: Energy and Balance
Root Chakra: Part 1 and Part 2
Sacral Chakra: Part 1 and Part 2
Solar Plexus Chakra: Part 1 and Part 2
Heart Chakra: Part 1 and Part 2
Throat Chakra: Part 1 and Part 2