Third Eye Chakra, Edited by Cyndi Dale

LLEWELLYN’S CHAKRA ESSENTIALS SERIES

•

#1 Root Chakra J UNE 2023

•

#2 Sacral Chakra O C TOBER 2023

•

#3 Solar Plexus Chakra J UNE 2024

•

#4 Heart Chakra O C TOBER 2024

•

#5 Throat Chakra

•

J UNE 2025

#6 Third Eye Chakra O C TOBER 2025

•

#7 Crown Chakra

•

J UNE 2026

#8 Out-of-Body Chakras O C TOBER 2026

© Sweet Light Studio

Cyndi Dale is an internationally renowned author, speaker, and healer. She has written more than thirty books, including Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Chakras; Energy Healing for Trauma, Stress, and Chronic Illness; Kundalini; and The Complete Book of Chakra Healing.

Her yearlong apprenticeship program through her company, Essential Energy, assists individuals in developing their natural intuitive and healing gifts. She also teaches in-depth classes via the Shift Network.

Visit her at CyndiDale.com.

THIRD EYE CHAKRA YOUR SIXTH ENERGY CENTER SIMPLIFIED + APPLIED

EDITED BY

CYNDI DALE

Third Eye Chakra: Your Sixth Energy Center Simplified and Applied Copyright © 2025 edited

by Cyndi Dale. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd., except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems.

first edition

First Printing, 2025 Book design by Rebecca Zins Cover design by Cassie Willett Illustrations by Llewellyn Art Department Llewellyn Publications is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data (pending) ISBN 978-0-7387-7327-8

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business transactions between our authors and the public.

All mail addressed to the author is forwarded but the publisher cannot, unless specifically instructed by the author, give out an address or phone number.

Any internet references contained in this work are current at publication time, but the publisher cannot guarantee that a specific location will continue to be maintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website for links to authors’ websites and other sources.

Llewellyn Publications A Division of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. 2143 Wooddale Drive Woodbury, MN 55125-2989 www.llewellyn.com Printed in the United States of America GPSR Representation: UPI-2M PLUS d.o.o., Medulićeva 20, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia matt.parsons@upi2mbooks.hr

The information in this book is not intended to be used to diagnose or treat a medical, emotional, or behavioral condition. To address medical, behavioral, or therapeutic issues, please consult a licensed professional.

The author and publisher are not responsible for any conditions that require a licensed professional, and we encourage you to consult a professional if you have any questions about the use or efficacy of the techniques or insights in this book. References in this book are given for informational purposes alone and do not constitute an endorsement.

All case studies and descriptions of persons have been changed or altered to be unrecognizable. Any likeness to actual persons, living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

CONTENTS List of Practices … xi Introduction … 1

PART 1: ESTABLISHING THE FOUNDATION OF YOUR SIXTH CHAKRA KNOWLEDGE [12] 1: Fundamentals … 17 2: The Physical Side … 49 3: Of the Psyche and the Soul … 55 PART 2: APPLYING SIXTH CHAKRA KNOWLEDGE IN REAL LIFE [74] 4: Spirit Allies … 79 Margaret Ann Lembo

5: Yoga Poses … 91 Amanda Huggins

6: Body Wisdom … 101 Lindsay Fauntleroy

con ten ts

7: Self-Healing and Grounding … 115 Amelia Vogler

8: Guided Meditations … 127 Amanda Huggins

9: Vibrational Remedies … 137 Jo-Anne Brown

10: Crystals, Minerals, and Stones … 149 Margaret Ann Lembo

11: Mantra Healing … 159 Blake Tedder

12: Colors and Shapes … 169 Gina Nicole

13: Recipes … 181 Part 1: Anthony J. W. Benson, 181 Part 2: Susan Weis-Bohlen, 191 Conclusion … 199

x

PRACTICES Mantra for Devotion to Mystic Law … 31 Try On Your Sixth Chakra Archetypes … 64 Sixth Chakra Yoga Flow … 92 Acupressure for Dynamic Energy Portals … 106 Energetic Hand Testing … 109 The Body Pendulum … 110 Kalesvara Mudra … 111 Establish an Etheric Band of Protection … 116 Bypassing Programs and Opening Higher Vision … 119 Discerning the Truth … 121 Tuning In to the Third Eye Chakra … 129 Engaging Your Intuition … 131 Creating Your Intuitive Sanctuary … 133 Sixth Chakra Intuitive Hub Activation … 146 Creating Neural Pathways for New Potentialities … 147 Using Your Third Eye Stones … 156 xi

p rac t i c e s

Start Simply with the Essence … 161 Deepening the Seed … 164 Work with a Traditional Mantra … 166 Harness the Power of Feng Shui to Attune to a Goal … 173 Utilize the Power of Shapes in a Crystal Grid Activation … 174 Meditate in Color … 177 Illuminate Your Inner Vision with a Color Spotlight … 178

xii

INTRODUCTION A journey through a single chakra is a call to embody the wisdom related to that unique energy center. If it is deep insight you are seeking, you will treasure this book. It is a portal into your third eye.

The term “third eye” recognizes one of the chief functions of this energy center. Yes, it enables sight through your two ordinary eyes. Equally exciting is the psychic application of this extraordinary, energetic eye.

Often called clairvoyance clairvoyance,, referencing the ability to see intuitively, this psychic aptitude is innate within you. It presents colorful dreams, intuitive pictures, and flights of imagination. And if you are dedicated to developing its notso-secret powers, you might reach an even greater height: transcendence.

I’ll explain.

Called ajna in Sanskrit, an ancient Hindu language known for its spiritual depth, your third eye is anchored in the middle of your brow. It is the sixth of seven in-body chakras so is called the sixth chakra as well as the forehead or brow chakra. My personal name for this chakra is “light 1

in trod u c tion

power” because it promises a kiss from your own higher consciousness.

The meaning of the word ajna hints at this interpretation. In Sanskrit, it represents “command” and “unlimited power.” Associated with the mind as well as vision, this energy center matures when one obtains the skills necessary to assess and direct light, with the goal of ascending beyond the rigidity of black-and-white beliefs and perceptions. By stretching yourself beyond duality, you can achieve the objective of transcendence: the transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Pause for a second to consider how your life might change if you stopped distinguishing between old and new, pain and pleasure, failure and success. You would move beyond the limitation of comparisons. That becomes possible when you recognize that you and everyone and everything are composed of light, the substance that, from a spiritual perspective, is considered to be composed of love.

Fittingly, love is also made of light. As is true of love, there is no hue or variety of light that is better or worse than any other. Light flows as streams of grace—as love that makes a difference.

The enlightened life begins, and is emboldened, when we can access all the crayons in the box. Your third eye assures this range of choices because through it you envi2

in trod u c tion

sion pictures, perceptions, and pathways made of color, including the colors that compose you. And when you share your own colors with the world, you get to be yourself all the time. It then becomes easier to accept the individualism of others.

In recent years chakras have become trendy, partly because of the global attraction to yoga and meditation.

Unfortunately, the popularity of a subject can leave us confused about it, so let’s look at some fundamentals.

Chakras are subtle energy centers. Energy is information that vibrates, and everything is made of it. However, there are two types of energy, and almost none of it is physical, or concrete. In fact, more than 99.9999-plus percent of reality is formed by subtle energy, also called spiritual, quantum, and psychic energy.1 While your physical organs run your physical energies, your chakras manage those infinite subtle energies. Every chakra regulates a specific band of frequencies—the key components of energy—to govern a particular set of physical, psychological, and spiritual functions.

Color is one way we describe frequency. The spectrum related to your sixth chakra is usually considered violet, 1

Ali Sundermier, “99.9999999% of Your Body Is Empty Space,” ScienceAlert, September 23, 2016, https://www.sciencealert .com/99-9999999-of-your-body-is-empty-space.

3

in trod u c tion

although some would call it indigo. Another vote is purple, which is different from violet. I’ll explain the distinctions between violet, purple, and indigo in chapter 1 and tell you why my allegiance is with violet. For now, know that whichever of these shades you choose to associate with your third eye, in most cultures all three tints indicate spirituality, mystery, and royalty.

Those attributes suffuse every major third eye task, which includes supervising physical affairs such as eyesight, hormone regulation, and automatic bodily functions; performing psychological duties linked with self-esteem, philosophical perceptions, and higher philosophies; and overseeing spiritual functions such as clairvoyance, which includes predicting and creating the future. Truly, developing this light-power chakra can invoke the knowledge you need to become the ruler of your own destiny.

This portal into your third eye is a stand-alone book. It is also the sixth in an eight-book series called Llewellyn’s Chakra Essentials.

Each book in the series is a mini universe unto itself, so you can visit the lands within them in any order. Having said that, the series starts with a book about the first chakra, which is scarlet red and in charge of physical health and basic life needs. Up the ladder we journey to the next book, shifting from the hip location of the root chakra to 4

in trod u c tion

the abdominal position of the second chakra. It is easy to love the cheery orange of the sacral chakra, along with its special sauce made from the spiciness of emotion and the expansiveness of creativity.

Onward the odyssey unfolds via the yellow splendor of the third chakra. Formulated within the solar plexus, this chakra flavors our mental activity and workplace goals with a wondrous luminosity.

The fourth chakra book is all about heart—literally—as it is a heart organ–based center. Through it we advance our dedication to love and healing. The green of this center sparks our potential for progress. The book before this one features your true-as-blue throat chakra. The fifth step on the ladder toward heaven, this chakra is a busy one, devoted to communication and learning.

There are two more books to come after this, completing your chakra education. Atop your sixth chakra is your seventh, the crown chakra, the subject of the next book in the series. White and pure, it guarantees the embrace of spirit. The eighth and last book covers the five chakras that function outside of the body proper. (More on these later.)

Most contemporary chakra systems profess the existence of seven in-body chakras, each anchored within the spine, ascending numerically from the coccyx to the top of the head. However, chakras aren’t only three-dimensional.

5

in trod u c tion

To support this idea, consider the first appearance of the word chakra. It showed up in Hinduism to mean “spinning wheel of light.” That is exactly how the chakras were perceived intuitively long ago, mainly in Tantric and Buddhist literature: as multidimensional vortices of light and sound interconnecting bodily tissue with the soul.

The Hindus weren’t the only ancient culture that testified to the existence of chakra-like energy centers. The Mayan, Aztec, Cherokee, Lakota, Hebrew, Berber, African Kemetic, and many Asian cultures, among others, also professed the existence of subtle centers. It simply makes sense that all wisdom-seeking cultures would perceive the same vessels that store information and reach toward the heavens.

Chakras aren’t the only vehicles for subtle energy. It’s vital to become acquainted with the other two subtle energy systems as this knowledge will help you more fully engage your sixth chakra. It’s easiest to describe all these subtle structures with an analogy to the body’s basic structures.

There are three systems within your body that mainly regulate physical energies. These categories are the organs, like your gallbladder and stomach; channels, such as the cardiovascular and lymph vessels; and fields, which are emanations of vibrating frequencies of sound and light.

The systems related to the body are often measurable. For 6

in trod u c tion

instance, we determine the body’s composition of fat, muscle, and bone minerals using X-ray machines. Brain waves are perceivable with an electroencephalogram (EEG).

Just as your body employs three structures to direct physical energy, the subtle body does the same to steer subtle energy. Also called the subtle body and the subtle energetic anatomy, this overarching system is composed of three primary structures. The chief organs are your chakras. The major channels are your meridians and nadis. The fields are the auric fields, which encircle you and are produced by the chakras.

Meridians have constituted a fundamental aspect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and many other Eastern spiritual sciences for over five thousand years. They are basically rivers that carry life energy through your connective tissue. Nadis are a central feature of Hindu metaphysics and are often correlated with the nerves. Both channels move energy in and through the chakras.

Now for your auric fields, also called auric layers. Every chakra composes its own auric field, and together they make up the twelve-layered auric field. Basically, each field is programmed by its related chakra to filter incoming and outgoing energies. This book features your sixth auric field, which is an extension of your sixth chakra.

7

9 8 7 6

5 4

3 2 1

11

12

10

the twelve - chakra system

in trod u c tion

In part 1 I will also briefly discuss another very special type of energy, one that influences your physical and subtle well-being. Kundalini is both a chemically generated and a divine energy. When activated, it rises upward through the spinal chakras and the nadis to provide cleansing, healing, and transformation.

In Sanskrit kundalini means “coiled snake,” and that is the easiest way to picture its undulating movement. As you’ll find out, the sixth chakra plays a very special energetic role in determining kundalini’s ascension into the highest of chakras.

A WORD ABOUT THE OUT-OF-BODY CHAKRAS

I made a vow and I’m keeping it—I’ll return to the subject of the eighth book in this essential chakra series. That’s the book that will illuminate the five extraordinary out-of-body chakras.

I employ a twelve-chakra system. Contemporary Western culture usually focuses on the seven in-body chakras, and those are part of my model as well. When I was a child, however, I could see twelve chakras and auric fields, both with my ordinary eyes and my paranormal/third eye.

9

in trod u c tion

Starting at about age twenty, I began journeying to various parts of the world to study energy with healers, shamans, intuitives, and gurus. I have many stories from many countries—including Venezuela, Peru, Belize, Japan, Costa Rica, Morocco, and others—that describe more than seven chakras. Ancient systems from around the world profess anywhere between three and dozens of chakras.

My first book about the twelve-chakra system was published decades ago by Llewellyn. Since then, my portraiture of the chakras has become world renowned. Having taught this template around the world, I can promise that you will benefit from knowledge of the five “extra” chakras. As examples of their power, you can connect with anything on earth or in the heavens through one of these centers and journey to other dimensions through another. But before tackling these chakras’ playgrounds, it’s essential to become educated about your light-power chakra and all it can afford you.

A TOUR THROUGH THE BOOK

There are two sections to this book. I have authored part 1, which consists of three chapters covering the foundational concepts related to the third eye. Much of the information is based on ancient Hindu knowledge, yet sprinkled throughout are modern ideas and even scientific research.

10

in trod u c tion

You’ll appreciate this data even more when you engage in the practices that are included.

Chapter 1 goes over functional topics such as the third eye’s purpose, location, names, color, and sound, as well as the associated elements, breaths, lotus petals, affiliated gods and goddesses, and so much more. Kundalini takes a bow here and also continues to entertain us in the next two chapters.

In chapter 2 we’ll delve into the bodily sanctity of the third eye. This center of light empowers many of your physical capacities. Then we’ll head into chapter 3 for a deep dive into the psychological and spiritual functions of this light-power energy center.

Your bags are now packed to journey into part 2, where you’ll make a lot of new acquaintances. The chapters in this section are written by an array of energy experts, companions who will instruct you on specific sixth chakra topics and related practices. Think of it as being invited to a huge spa day where you’ll be treated to topics ranging from vibrational remedies to yoga. It’s all here.

Just imagine how brightly you will shine by the end of this journey.

11

PART 1

ESTABLISHING THE FOUNDATION OF YOUR SIXTH CHAKRA KNOWLEDGE

Envision the brightest light you can imagine. Now see it within your third eye area. Next, take a deep breath, inhaling through your nose to pass air into your chest, feeling your diaphragm extend. Then, through your mouth rather than your nose, force out a single but equally deep exhalation. Push out the air until your diaphragm relaxes into your abdomen.

On your next in-breath through the nostrils, concentrate on the luminescent light in your brow chakra and let it merge into your inhalation. Hold your breath at the height of the inhale and allow the magic of this lightning power to flow throughout all parts of your body. Then quickly exhale through your mouth. The light now releases into the external world, taking with it waste and tension. Resume your normal breathing, but also invite your third eye to continue filling you with—and releasing—light with every in- and out-breath.

You just experienced your light-power chakra. This is what it is like to both embrace and be encompassed by the light of the universe, which can enter and exit through your third eye just as air does through your lungs.

13

par t o n e

Your sixth chakra is about clear seeing and luminous light, but it’s also about belly-deep joy. When we engage with the light of all, we fill our minds with truth and love, which increases our happiness. We invite ourselves to transcend—to express the entirety of our soul through our everyday existence. Life can involve drinking moonlight and sunlight on an ongoing basis. Eventually you might become as bright as the stars and perceive others in the same way.

At that point, light can equal love—and love can equal light.

The third eye isn’t only about higher ethers aimed toward lofty goals. It also manages self-image, perceptivity, and the ability to clearly distinguish what is genuine and authentic from the counterfeit and artificial. The clairvoyance relayed through the brow chakra can be used to envision otherworldly beings and obtain wild dreams, which are great supernatural events, as well as create future plans and select right action.

On the bodily level, your light-power center functions through your pituitary gland, the master hormone organ of the body, so it is engaged in nearly all basic biological functions. In fact, at every level this center can uplift and unite your body, mind, and soul.

Often considered a chakra sensitive to the aesthetic pleasures, your third eye can help you decide how to decorate your bedroom or select an outfit for an important meet14

par t o n e

ing. While it is focused on beauty, it is also silently sorting through and forming memories.

Many memories relate to trauma and stress. Thankfully, you can work through many of your historical pains via the third eye’s ability to perceive truth and transmute darkness into light. Accessing your divine nature invites kindness and living in the moment. Essentially, operating through the third eye invites you to choose how to envision yourself, others, and the world.

Through ajna you can also experience the manifestation of kundalini. Associated with this chakra is an energetic construct called a granthi, which is a subtle energy knot that must be untied to allow kundalini’s divine and earthly fire to rise into the top of the head. At that point, infinite possibilities awaken within and around you, and the power of light becomes perfected. You can now perceive yourself as perfectly imperfect and imperfectly perfect. Those two ways of being can now become one and the same.

With that brief sixth chakra overview, you are now entering part 1 of this book. Welcome. The veils of time and space will part with every word you read. The light often ascribed to enlightenment will glow brighter and brighter as you journey through this section, as within these pages are the substantial teachings required to understand your third eye.

15

par t o n e

Laid out in a logical order, each of the three chapters here will feature a vital approach to your light-power chakra. In the first chapter, I’ll share knowledge from the Hindu lineage as well as present salient points from modern times. Chapter 2 will focus on the physical functions and activities of your sixth chakra, and chapter 3 features its psychological and spiritual qualities.

Prepare yourself for the turning on of light and for practices that will bring the stellar into your everyday.

16

1 FUNDAMENTALS Visual intuition. Self-realization. Inspiration. Imagination.

These are a few of the qualities afforded you through a balanced and healthy ajna chakra, which is essentially a center of divine light.

Connecting with this chakra is a beautiful, intense, and often aesthetic process that offers layers of learning. For instance, it holds the programs related to your self-image.

As you can imagine, some of these are less than ideal, and it would be good to alter them. Linked to many physical processes, this subtle organ impacts every part of your body and day-to-day existence, running everything from your eyesight to your inner sight. As you access its powers of clairvoyance and mindfulness, you can start to exert authority over memories, traumas, and goals. You can become the conductor of your own destiny.

I will begin this chapter with a real-life story about a client whose life improved immensely when she interacted

17

c h ap t e r o n e

consciously with her third eye. Then I’ll illuminate various characteristics of your brow chakra. I will emphasize treasures mined from Hindu treatises and share important contemporary concepts.

Instructional insights are one thing, but hands-on experience is another. Because words come to life through activity, this chapter will present several exercises that will help you mind-meld with the material.

Now it’s time to explore the power of light.

THE ESSENCE OF YOUR SIXTH CHAKRA

Sarah was a medical resident at a city hospital. Though youthful, she was exhausted. She loved providing clinical care to her inner-city patients through her internal medicine specialty, but she didn’t know how much longer she could keep going.

She did not start medical school until she was in her late thirties because she suffered from serious depression. The depression lifted, but embarking on her physician training was equally depleting, and she struggled to make time for her child, wife, home, and physical health. When I met her, she still had three years of training left. Serving patients with chronic conditions had always been her goal, but she constantly felt ill herself.

18

f u n d a m e n tal s

Sarah snuck in to see me on one of her few days off, expressing how guilty she felt that she wasn’t shouldering care for her son that day. “Maisie was willing to watch Grant, although I really need to take a turn,” she expressed.

Sarah’s litany of challenges included aches and pains, stomach complaints, nightmares, constant muscular tension, and a drowsiness that clouded her day while keeping her awake at night. She pinched her abdomen and laughed.

“I haven’t passed the inch of fat test since I entered school,” she bemoaned, and spoke too about dry skin and a lack of libido. She was just as worried about her psychological and spiritual states.

As a child, and even throughout her decades of clinical depression, Sarah had been a dreamer. During her nightly dreams, she enjoyed angelic and otherworldly visitations.

Every so often, one of her supernatural visitors would give advice. They kept her going during her twenties and thirties, during which time she went to college part time and worked for an inner-city nonprofit. These paranormal interactions lasted until she entered medical school.

A recent panel of tests showed that Sarah’s adrenals were dysfunctional and her thyroid was low. These conditions are often the result of serious stress and tend to hit when we have the fewest resources available for self-care. By the 19

c h ap t e r o n e

time she engaged with me, Sarah was already working with a functional medicine provider and following a strict dietary and supplementation protocol. She was hoping to avoid prescription medications, as she had knocked out the depression medications earlier, although she was willing to go that route if needed. She’d been undertaking that regimen for a few months but had experienced no benefits.

Immediately my clairvoyance presented me with a couple of clear psychic images.

First, I perceived an inner image of Sarah as a young child. She looked overwhelmed and frightened; in fact, her slight body was shaking. The next vision I received was of her sixth chakra.

I want to see healthy coloration around someone’s third eye. It might consist of violet, indigo, or just about any other type of purplish hue, but the chakra must be spherical and glowing to be judged as healthy. Sarah’s sixth chakra was tiny and pale compared to the huge balls of light I often see emanating from many individuals.

From a physical point of view, the third eye is linked to the pituitary gland, which oversees the body’s full spectrum of hormones. Blood tests had already revealed that she was low in certain hormones, but I thought there were more causal components to her low functioning than could be attributed to her endocrine glands alone. So I asked her 20

f u n d a m e n tal s

what had occurred when she was a young child that traumatized her.

Sarah began to cry. When she was eight years old, her parents had left her to babysit her two-year-old brother for an evening, although she was far too young for that responsibility. She filled a small tub with water to bathe him, just as she had seen her mother do, but hadn’t been taught to test the temperature. Her brother suffered second-degree burns on his lower body and even today still has some scarring. Immediately following that harrowing experience, she decided she would assist people with critical injuries.

During her years working with the nonprofit, she had spent extra time with individuals in various states of life and bodily crises.

Interestingly, Sarah’s dreams had never revealed the objective of becoming a doctor. Rather, her visions were full of animals.

Since starting medical school, Sarah had stopped dreaming. She had been so devoted to becoming the perfect student and then doctor that she never asked herself whether she liked doctoring. I believed that her childhood trauma had set her up for a goal that didn’t suit her personality and that the living of it was blocking her third eye. Over several sessions, Sarah realized that she hadn’t failed her brother; rather, her parents had let her and her sibling down. As 21

c h ap t e r o n e

soon as she forgave herself­, and her parents too, she was able to see herself in a new light—literally.

Sarah cried during that session too, but not because she was upset. Rather, she received a vision of an angel, right there in my office, and the angel kept handing her animals.

The message was clear. Then and there, she decided to shift her career and attend veterinary school instead. When she returned a few months later, she reported that most of her problematic symptoms had improved by at least 50 percent.

Sarah felt complete with our sessions.

Sarah checked in with me years later. She was vibrant and smiling. She was at least thirty pounds lighter and proudly told me she had finished her veterinary training.

She and her wife and son were now operating a nonprofit animal rescue where she tended to needy animals. Even better, she was back to dreaming of good and sweet things.

As Sarah’s tale suggests, the third eye is the vault of our true self; we’ve only to learn how to view ourselves with clear eyes.

OVERARCHING PURPOSE

Ajna runs the mind, self-image, and our psychic and sensory sight. It invites pattern recognition and allows us to reach states of higher perception, the key to awareness and grace.

22

f u n d a m e n tal s

IT’S ALL IN THE NAME: TERMS FOR THE SIXTH CHAKRA

Ajna means “command” or “summoning” as well as “authority” and “unlimited power.” These depictions support its position as an energy center that offers guidance to all other chakras.

There are many other descriptive names for this chakra.

One is bhrumadhya, which consists of bhru, meaning “eyebrows,” and madhya, “in between.” This chakra is also called the trikuti, or “third eye,” referencing its power of clairvoyance and reflecting its importance in chakric interaction. In modern circles it is referred to as the brow, forehead, third eye, and sixth chakra.

LOCATION OF THE SIXTH CHAKRA

Your third eye sits at the very top of the spinal column near the medulla oblongata, the lower half of the brain stem that connects the brain and the spine. Basically, it is rooted in the midbrain, behind your brow. From this position, it controls vital processes like breathing and blood pressure.

The brow chakra is also associated with the cavernous plexus, a bundle of nerves in the sympathetic or excitatory nervous system that lies below and inside the carotid artery on either side of the butterfly shaped sphenoid bone.

23

c h ap t e r o n e

Within this bone lies the pituitary gland, resting in a hollow area called the sella turcica.

Even with this seeming anatomical exactness, it can be hard to determine the specific location of the third eye.

One of the reasons is that in some systems, the third eye is tied to the pineal rather than pituitary gland; I’ll address this question mark several times in part 1. Because of this confusion, many chakra aficionados focus on the ajna kshetram, or activation point, at the mid-eyebrow area.

COLOR OF THE SIXTH CHAKRA

As explained in the introduction, each chakra functions on a particular set of frequencies. In other words, a chakra encompasses a range of colors and sounds. We’ll learn all about the tones linked to your third eye in the next section.

Right now I want to introduce you to three major ideas about the coloration of the light-power chakra, first discussing the distinction between violet and purple and then introducing indigo into this medley.

Many chakra experts see the sixth chakra color as violet; others see it as purple. I personally go with violet as it is a simpler and more fundamental frequency than purple.

Technically, violet is different from purple. Purple is composed of two different colors, red and blue, while violet is created by the color of a single wavelength of light.

24