InnerBliss: Awakening Your Intuition & Being True to Yourself

Big Sky.

Listening to: Some songs sound to me not written by mere humans but as if they have sprouted from earth, like great trees. This is one of those.

Bliss: Is there enough music in your life? I am so pleased with the new iTunes Genius Sidebar; it's totally introducing me to lots of new stuff that I wouldn't have found otherwise. Very cool. And it's supposed to get better with age -- like a good wine!

(If you've missed the other chakras: first, second, third, fourth, fifth.)

As I've mentioned before, I used to get horrendous migraines; I got rid of them but not before they did some damage.

I got what is categorized as the "classic migraine," which includes a visual aura before the headache (and vomiting, etc.) hits. It works as a warning of sorts, I guess. I called my visual aura "my hippopotamus." He would start in the far left corner of my left eye and slowly lumber through my field of vision, over the bridge of my nose, and across my right eye. When he got close to the right corner of that eye, I knew I better get to a dark room and a private place fast.

I was in my senior year at Penn State and I was an R.A. (resident assistant), so I had my own room. One of the girls from my floor was visiting, complaining about her roommate. I was doing some stretching when my hippo came.

But this time, he got to the center of my left eye and he didn't leave. Weird. I went to bed, and he was still there in the morning. I called home because my father was a physician. I promptly got yelled at for being so damn stupid and was told to get my ass to the E.R.

Long story short, I'd experienced an ocular occlusion and permanently lost a section of the vision my left eye. (Something I only notice now when I drive; I turn my head all the way around instead of using the left rear view mirror because the vision loss affects my peripheral -- when my right eye can't be compensating for the loss.)

If we can see (some) illness as metaphor, what was this loss telling me? It seems obvious to me now, but it took me years to see how blindly I was living my life. How much I was refusing to see myself for who I really am; how much I was refusing to acknowledge my dreams and needs; how much I was refusing my inner voice, my intuitions.

The sixth chakra is the third eye or the Ajna, meaning "command" or "authority." (And boy, was I missing both of those things in my life at the time of the sight loss!)

It is associated with the color indigo, and the area of the body including the eyes, the brain, the neurological system, the ears, the nose, and the pituitary and pineal glands.

And here are some questions and ideas to consider this week:

Do you ever ignore the still, small voices in your mind and your heart? Why do you do this?

Do you learn from experience or do you deny the importance of experience?

Do you spend a large amount of your time fantasizing? Are you able to clearly see your own delusions? Do you think you have a good grasp on your own reality?

How open minded are you? Really. Spend some time with this one. For example, do you think the other side of political debates might have something to contribute or are you dismissive of their opinions?

Are you receptive to new ideas? Do you think of yourself as an open conduit? Do you spend time being that open conduit, waiting in silence on a daily basis?

Is there a truth that you are repressing? Is there a truth that you are afraid to face?

Do you suffer from bouts of depression?

Do you suffer from panic attacks?

Do you often feel confused and overwhelmed?

Oh my, this list could take a very long time for most of us to work through!

The main gemstone that helps with this chakra is lapis lazuli, which is believed to bring about mental clarity and emotional healing. The essences that are helpful include wild oat, lavender, queen anne's lace.

To work to strengthen your intuition, look into lucid dreaming.

In terms of yoga, meditation on the third eye point is a good place to start. Close your eyes and roll them up so you are looking through the center of your forehead.

Also, a bowing exercise is wonderful. Sit with your legs tucked under you. Close your eyes. On the in breath, look up and reach your third eye to the sky while thinking "Sat." On the out breath, bend forward, placing your third eye area as closely to the ground as possible, thinking "Nam." Do this for as long as you like. This exercise is simple, but I love it.

If you need an answer to something, just concentrate.
In one second the answer will come to you.
It's a law of the Universal Mind.
The Universal Mind is always there to feed you.
Right within you there is a very feeble, simple,
unoffending, absolutely knowledgeable, little conscious
voice. It talks. It's not loud. It's very soft.
--Yogi Bhajan