The mind/body connection: seeing with the sixth chakra
by Nancy B. Loughlin
Published July 9, 2013. Posted with permission.
If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a noise?
No. Understanding this unlocks the sixth chakra.
A falling tree’s crashing doesn’t happen “out there.” The audible splintering wood and toppling branches are the brain’s creation.
The sooner you figure out how much reality your mind is manufacturing, the quicker you’ll be out of the woods.
The sixth chakra, the third eye center in the forehead’s middle, is about seeing, not looking.
You think you’re still, yet you’re in a vibrating chair that’s placed on a spinning rock hurling through the void. Senses deceive.
Re-read Catcher in the Rye. The novel’s protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is plagued with sixth chakra malfunction. He is incapable of really seeing the world. Every person he encounters is a mirror of his own dysfunction. His mind is polluted with maya, illusions of the ego. In the end, he self-destructs, swallowed by the world he created.
Holden’s story is extreme, yet the illusions of the ego’s personality impact all. Perceived labels, political and religious affiliations, and interpersonal roles all filter the life experience. Who you think you are shapes how you experience the universe.
How often do you reject relationships, new ideas or opportunities because they don’t resonate with the role you think you should be playing?
The point of meditation is to silence the mind’s chatter and to link to the universe sans filter. Like clairvoyants, close your eyes and move inward instead of outward to see truth.
Given that the sixth chakra is the home of intuition, people with sixth chakra weaknesses tend to live in hyperdrive, obsessive striving. They mangle time, ponder if past experiences should have made them angrier. They play what the French call “The Wit of the Staircase” and rehash comebacks. They grind mental gears.
To visit your sixth chakra, practice seeing in alternative ways.
Tarot Cards. No, this little deck of cards does not have magical powers. But its pictures and off-beat interpretations could trigger some new ideas.
Chant rounds of OM. Om is the sixth chakra’s sound. It has no meaning, and it is the sound of all sounds. Visualize or wear indigo.
Draw. Explore the symbolic side of your imagination.
Keep a bedside dream journal. When you wake, free-write all the scraps you recall. Your dreams are passages to your subconscious mind.
Alternate-nostril breathing. Pinch one side of your nose then the other in rhythmic breaths to balance the right and left sides of the brain.
Clear the maya. You have thoughts every 1.2 seconds. Sit, breathe with your belly and silently count as high as you can without thought interruptions. You may only get as far as two. It’s called “practice” for a reason.
Just try to stay out of the way.
