The Third Eye Chakra

Its Colors, Symbols, Meanings, Glands, & More!

The 6th Chakra – The Third Eye Chakra – Ajna – उँ

The Third Eye Chakra, Ajna, translates to “beyond wisdom.” This is considered the sixth chakra, located at the forehead, between the eyes. Its color correspondence is indigo. This chakra opens up your mind to information beyond the material world and the 5 senses. Extrasensory perception, intuition, and psychic vision, all come from the third eye. This is the chakra to focus on if you are feeling out of touch with your instincts. If you tend to carry a sense of paranoia about what your gut tells you, or overanalyze ordinary experiences, your Third Eye Chakra may be overactive. This chakra influences the pituitary gland, hormones, eyes, and brain.

• Color: Indigo
• Location: Center of the forehead, at the brow level
• Mantra: "I am open to exploring what cannot be seen."
• Element: Light/Darkness
• Gland: Pineal
• Sound: Om
• Musical Note: A
• Gemstones: Any dark blue or indigo-colored stones (e.g. Lapis Lazuli, Amethyst, Fluorite, Sodalite, Tanzine Aura Quartz, Sapphire, or Tanzanite)
• Essential Oils: Mugwort, Blue lotus, Juniper, Cypress, Yarrow, Opoponax
• Herbs: Eyebright, Juniper, Mugwort, Poppy, Mandrake root, Blue lotus, Cypress
• Physical Body: Eyes, Nose, Sinuses, Face, Pineal gland, Brain
• Emotional Body: The Third Eye allows one to look within and exam his/her own thoughts and limiting belief systems. It is located where the left and right hemispheres of the brain connect, so it is connected with balancing our creative mind and analytical mind.
• Spiritual Body: This is the mind’s eye. It’s through this chakra that clairvoyance (clear seeing) occurs. The Third Eye is sometimes called, “the seed of the soul”. It’s where our ability to see within ourselves and others is combined with a greater universal understanding. The Third Eye allows us to see the truth and the meaning behind it.

Crystals & Gemstones for the Third Eye Chakra

Your Third Eye will readily respond to crystals and gemstones. Crystals take millions of years to form in the earth, and hold ancient wisdom. Look for purple stones to help balance the Third Eye Chakra. You can place them directly on the forehead during meditation, under a pillow at bedtime, or carry them with you. Do as you feel guided. Here are some of the best stones for the Third Eye Chakra:

Third Eye Chakra Assessment

Is your Third Eye blocked? Here are some questions you can ask yourself to determine if your Third Eye Chakra is open or not: 

• Do I acknowledge my inner truth detector?
• Am I in touch with my feelings?
• When something doesn’t go my way, do I need a logical explanation or trust that it wasn’t meant to be?
• Am I afraid of succeeding?
• Can I trust my gut?
• Do I set my sights too low because my desires seem out of reach?
• Am I overly attached to material belongings?
• Do I approach situations with a healthy balance of logic and emotion?
• Am I a good judge of character?
• Do I tend to repeat the same make mistakes?
• Am I open-minded?

Signs of an Unbalanced Third Eye Chakra

If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, you may have an imbalance in the Third Eye Chakra:

• Confused
• Unclear how to handle situations
• Out of touch with emotions
• Unable to see the bigger picture
• Unaware of other people’s energy
• Afraid or doubtful of your own success
• Illusions
• Headaches or migraines
• Clogged sinuses
• Issues with vision
• Nightmares or poor sleep

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Signs of a Balanced Third Eye Chakra

When your Third Eye Chakra is in balance, you will feel:

• Clarity
• Eagerness to grow and expand
• Intuitive insights
• Inspired and creative
• In touch with your emotions
• Aware of others’ motives and feelings
• Psychic phenomena
• Honor your personal truth
• In the flow of your life
• Process unwanted emotions with greater ease
• Telepathy

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How to Heal, Unblock, & Open Your Third Eye Chakra

You can think of your Third Eye as your psychic antenna, picking up on subtle truths all around you. Your emotions play a huge role in your intuitive guidance. So it’s important to honor your feelings as you set out on this journey. This doesn’t mean you have to experience everyone else’s emotions – that would torture! But you do need to be open to the gentle feelings you pick up. When you acknowledge what your feelings are telling you, you can release them.

Ask for Signs

To start opening your third eye, ask your spirit team or higher self (whatever source you identify with) for signs and then document what you notice in a journal. As a result, you’ll begin to prove to yourself that you are receiving real messages.

The most common mistake people make is asking for a sign, and then brushing off the answers they receive. Remember, to be intuitive you must accept there’s more to life than what you pick up with your 5 senses. So when you get those intuitive nudges, acknowledge them, say thank you, and write them down. The more you do this, the more messages you’ll begin to notice.

Trust Yourself

Have you ever been deceived, and then after the fact thought... “I knew it!” Well yes you did know it because that was your intuition at work. You sensed something was amiss before you had physical proof.

First, don’t beat yourself up because hindsight is always 20/20. But you can use that situation now to understand how you receive intuitive hits. Did you get a physical feeling in your stomach? Did you have a dream? Or perhaps you just had a knowing that you couldn’t explain. This information is valuable in understanding how your intuitive guidance comes through.

Practice Honesty

It’s important to practice honesty in all forms for third eye chakra opening. This includes being honest with yourself about your own feelings, as well as speaking the truth to others (which is the sign of a balanced Throat Chakra). The gift of intuition really boils down to knowing the truth when you sense it, and then taking inspired action.

If you’re confused and feel you aren’t tapping into your Third Eye guidance, take a step back and ask yourself what the truth of the situation is. As you make it a practice to seek clarity with an open heart, your Third Eye Chakra will open more.

Assess Your Lower Chakras

It takes confidence and self-love to trust your guidance, especially if you can’t rationalize it. So a balanced Third Eye Chakra is affected by the Solar Plexus Chakra and Heart Chakra. You may want to look at the assessment questions in those ultimate guides, to see if you have any healing opportunities in those areas. Your chakras work together as a system, so it’s difficult to open higher chakras, like the Third Eye, when your lower energy centers are out of balance.

Third Eye Chakra Affirmations

Affirmations are another method of balancing a specific chakra. Repeating affirmations directs healing energy to restore balance to that aspect of your body, and your life. These powerful statements rewrite the patterns in our subconscious minds and direct healing vibrations to the chakra. If your Third Eye Chakra is out of balance, repeat these affirmations:

• "I trust my inner wisdom."
• "My inner guidance is always helping me."
• "I recognize divine messages when they’re sent to me."
• "My actions are divinely guided."
• "Inspiration always finds me."
• "I’m always in the right place at the right time."
• "Everything is working out perfectly."
• "I honor my feelings."

Conclusion

You absolutely are intuitive even if you don’t realize it yet. Opening your Third Eye is just a matter of recognizing how you receive messages, so you can trust your guidance and then act on it. You’ve embarked on a highly rewarding journey. Go inward, and in very little time you’ll become attuned to how your body and brain receive information from the subtle realms.

If you’re ready for more, check out our Ultimate Chakra Guide for your Root, Sacral, Solar Plexus, Heart, Throat, and Crown Chakra!