Ajna Chakra: Trust Your Intuition
The third-eye center, or Ajna chakra, is where we connect our wisdom and intuition.
The sixth of the seven chakras, Ajna, translates from Sanskrit as ‘command’ or ‘perceive.’ The third eye symbolizes our ability to transcend the ego and move to a higher consciousness where trust, intuition, acceptance, and clairvoyance guide our actions.
At the third eye, we practice listening to our intuition through meditation to allow the answers to arise naturally. Ajna chakra reminds us that we can balance self-doubt and questioning with a deep appreciation for honouring our instincts and trust in our process.
When we become still and silent, we create the space to sit with our discomfort and receive our body’s messages. The body does not lie. The practice of yoga may be a tool to cleanse and purge the physical, mental, and emotional tensions so we can come to meditation and listen to what we need.
When Ajna chakra is balanced, we see things as they are. We can step back and examine more than just the objects in front of us; we might step back to take in the full room and explore each item’s relationship. When Ajna chakra is out of balance, we live in Maya, the illusion, and can be disconnected from the truth.
This chakra asks us to deepen our understanding and acceptance of the world precisely as it is, so we might see how we belong and interact within the world around us.
This week on the podcast, we discussed Ajna and its themes, blockages, and imbalances. We also discussed how we might connect to inner wisdom and intuition and explored Patanjali’s Sutra 11.6 in terms of falsely identifying with the ego over our truth.
Read the highlights below, or get the full episode on Spotify.
You have many chakras (intersection of energy lines) in your body. We, as yogis, focus on seven that run up our main energy channel known as Sushumna.
In this series, explore each chakra with unique classes geared towards lighting them up.
Ajna Themes, Blockages, and Imbalances
CRO– The sixth chakra is at the third eye center. If you were to draw a line from one temple to the other and then from the middle of your forehead to the back of your head, where those two lines intersect is where the third eye center is. The third eye center has a lot to do with intuition, wisdom and clairvoyance, beyond reason into a more profound knowledge. When we connect to our third eye, we see the bigger picture, step outside of our experience, and look at the world objectively versus a subjective point of view.
Ways of connecting to the third eye chakra and creating harmony would be meditation. Another way you could connect to the sixth chakra would be through jiva bandha. If you’re doing a yoga practice, you take the tip of your tongue and place it to the roof of your mouth, where the top pallet meets the back of your front teeth. It creates a soft opening of the jaw, but it also may activate the third eye center.
When there’s an imbalance, you’re generally not grounded, lose all sense of who you are, and get lost in the ether. That’s a person who doesn’t know what’s going on.
The blockage around the sixth chakra is that you can’t hear or feel your wisdom. And so, in that way, you’re running around in your ego, meaning the survival part of yourself. And you don’t know. What it is that you need. Another way a blockage would be expressed around the sixth chakra is that you can’t see the bigger picture when it’s closed.
Watts talks about this being like the bug’s eye view versus the bird’s eye view. The bug’s eye view is the idea that all you can see is what’s directly in front of you. You can’t see the bigger picture and kind of an idea. And when we’re in a bug’s eye view, we can’t see all the things. We can only see the stuff directly in front of us. So that would be a blockage.
False-identification is confusing the nature of the seer or Self with the nature of the instrument of perception. In other words, false identification happens when we mistake the mind, body, or senses for the true Self. – Sutra 11.6
CRO–The yoga sutras are one of India’s oldest texts written by a person called Patanjali. It’s a how-to for meditation to connect with your higher self or your inner wisdom. The sutras are a guide on how to meditate, how to connect to self.
The yoga sutras are ways to break free of the Maya, meaning the illusion we live in. So, a large part of the practice is this idea of connecting to our consciousness or the space that actually lives in the third eye center.
The third-eye and the concept of truth versus ignorance make me think of the Matrix, and the moment Neo must choose between the blue pill (to see the truth) and the red pill (remain in ignorance). The thing is, if you take the blue pill, you can never come back. You can never unsee what it is that you saw. So the question around Ajna chakra is, do I want to stay ignorant, or do I want to go deeper?
This idea of false identification. It’s because we live in illusion, and we do not see the truth for the way it is, meaning that we’re hanging out with the red pill and not the blue pill. (If we’re going back to the Matrix metaphor).
A lot of yogis believe that we are not our minds, bodies, or emotions because they are always in flux. We’re looking to connect with a part of ourselves that is unchanging: the higher consciousness or collective consciousness.
The bigger ‘S’ self is the higher consciousness, and the lower ‘s’ self is the ego. The ego in this definition is who we think we are, our thoughts, our emotions, our bodies. If we don’t stay connected to our bigger ‘S’ self, our consciousness, we’re in reaction mode versus response mode, meaning we’re not connecting to the greater wisdom that lives inside. We’re constantly in survival mode and living in the ego that’s always changing.
Ajna: Ego versus Inner Wisdom
SDT– When have you felt your ego push up against your inner wisdom and went against your gut instinct?
CRO–The most recent, the most recent event that happened would be around my child last week. When I breastfeed or when I pump, I do a lot of Googling. Google is not necessarily the best Oracle, as we like to call it. And so I was Googling about breastfeeding, and then I was Googling about sleep training because she’s coming into her four months, and I felt like I needed to figure out about sleep training. Suddenly, I got into my head about the fact that I’m not doing what all these things are telling me to do, like what I’m supposed to be doing. And then I got into my head that I couldn’t put my daughter down properly and couldn’t feed her properly. I couldn’t because I was so in my head about what I thought I should be doing. And from being in my head, I couldn’t Intuit. I couldn’t tell what it was my daughter needed. I ignored my intuition.
I texted a friend of mine, and she was like, stop reading, you know what to do. For the past four months, I’ve put her down when she needs to go down. I fed her when she needs food. But all of a sudden, after reading, my ego took over and made me question what I should be doing. I stopped connecting to my wisdom.
We need to listen, but there’s still so much space for a moment of self-doubt. Doubt is a good attribute to have. One thing I love about the Jewish faith is that they ask you to doubt. They ask you to question. It’s essential to ask questions because when you doubt, it solidifies what you believe.
To connect to our sixth chakra, we need to get quiet. I generally need to get still or meditate, or some people like to do some repetitive movement. You need to turn your brain off and just listen.
That is the most direct way to connect to our intuition, connect to our wisdom, and connect to our innate knowing. Listen. Whenever I start to get too busy, that’s an indication that I’m not connecting to my inner wisdom; I’m lower down in my first chakra where there’s fear. So I need to stop, be still, and listen. That’s the ego’s job to keep you alive and protect you, but we need to observe what else is there and listen to what arises to honour our inner wisdom.
Join Practice with Clara
Sign up for a recurring subscription and get access to hundreds of different yoga classes and join the weekly LIVE yoga class.
Connect to the Power of the Chakras
Your guide to each of the chakras with movement practices including yoga and meditation, to create balance and connect to the potential of each energy center.
Learn the themes, imbalances, blockages, and ways to connect to the 1st chakra.
Learn the themes, imbalances, blockages, and ways to connect to the 2nd chakra.
Learn the themes, imbalances, blockages, and ways to connect to the 3rd chakra.
Learn the themes, imbalances, blockages, and ways to connect to the 4th chakra.
Learn the themes, imbalances, blockages, and ways to connect to the 5th chakra.
Learn the themes, imbalances, blockages, and ways to connect to the 6th chakra.
Learn the themes, imbalances, blockages, and ways to connect to the 7th chakra.
Join Practice with Clara
Sign up for a recurring subscription and get access to hundreds of different yoga classes and join the weekly LIVE yoga class.
Join me for an experiencial practice!
My favourite thing about yoga is getting to watch people have a connection with themselves.
Join Practice with Clara
Sign up for a recurring subscription and get access to hundreds of different yoga classes and join the weekly LIVE yoga class.
Yoga at Home
Reaffirm your commitment to a home yoga practice!
Read our post on how to set up a home yoga studio and the benefits of joining the Class of the Day.
✧ Join the Community ✧
Our community boasts yogis from countries all over the world who gather and co-create the spaces we share on the Practice with Clara platform.
Join a community of over 1.3k yogis from around the world in the Practice with Clara Facebook Group.
✧
· Share your feedback
· Seek help and motivation from the community
· Discuss and receive input on yoga challenges and injuries
· Cultivate a global community
· Exclusive access to content and upcoming events
· Bring your ideas and questions to the Practice with Clara Ambassadors
Take a LIVE yoga class with Clara each week and join hundreds of yogis worldwide.
✧
· Ask Clara questions in the live Q&A after class
· Participate in a class with Clara and the community
· Put in your request for a specific class
· Build to a peak pose in a vinyasa-style sequence
· Learn modifications for injuries
· Receive how-to guides to advance your practice
More Opportunties on Practice with Clara
See the History of Our 30-Day Yoga Challenges
Take a look at the past 30-day yoga challenges.
Read the history of the 30-day challenges with the past partnerships, themes, interviews with professionals, and more.
Join an Upcoming 30-Day Yoga Challenge
See when the next 30-day yoga challenge is hosted to join the LIVE yoga & meditation classes.
Check out the events page to learn more.
Are you looking for more opportunities to practice yoga, for free?
Check out our Free Yoga page to see the latest offerings.
Choose from three unique, free, offerings:
▴ 30-day challenge
▴ 7-day series for beginners
▴ 7-day series for advanced vinyasa yogis
✧ Community Feedback ✧
✧ Frequently Asked Questions ✧
1. What is the Practice with Clara Membership & App?
Practice with Clara is an online platform and Apps that allow you to take your yoga with you anywhere, anytime! With hundreds of classes in various styles, including Hatha, Vinyasa, Restorative, Yin, Prenatal, and Meditation, there’s something for everyone at any level of the practice. The Practice with Clara Membership provides a monthly or yearly subscription package with the first 7-days free for you to experience the courses.
2. How is the Membership Different from the YouTube Playlists?
A membership to the Practice with Clara Apps provides:
- Access to the members-only library of yoga classes
- Weekly LIVE classes with Clara
- Unique events and workshops
- Downloadable assets including:
- Monthly Calendars
- Journaling Booklets
- Spotify Playlists
- Access to a community of yogis worldwide
- Q&A sessions with Clara
- & much more!
Clara’s YouTube Channel provides carefully curated playlists to introduce you to the free programs and yoga challenges for you to get a taste of what’s offered and commit to your wellness!
3. What Do I Get When I Join the 7-Day Program?
The 7-day programs include:
- 7-Days of Vinyasa Yoga Intensive
- 7-Days of Yoga for Beginners
These programs provide a weeks-worth of yoga classes to ignite your yoga practice and cultivate a new, healthy habit.
When you sign-up for one of these programs, you’ll receive:
- A welcome email to the program from Clara
- A class each day for 1-week
- Curated Spotify playlists to accompany each course
- A calendar to track your progress
- Access to the private Practice with Clara Facebook Group
These programs are free with no hidden costs or fees; PLUS, you’ll still receive the 7-day free trial on the Practice with Clara Apps once you complete the series!
4. What Do I Get When I Join the 30-Day Yoga Challenge?
We host quarterly 30-day yoga challenges that are always free for all members of Practice with Clara. Each yoga challenge is themed based on the season. We’ve provided our inaugural challenge, Reconnect | A 30-Day Yoga Challenge, as an email series for you to try to test your physical and mental discipline and endurance!
What you receive in Reconnect | 30-Day Challenge
- A welcome email to the program from Clara
- A class each day for 30-days
- Curated Spotify playlists to accompany each course
- A calendar to track your progress
- A journaling booklet to incite self-reflection
- Access to the private Practice with Clara Facebook Group
This program is free, anytime, with no hidden costs or fees, PLUS you’ll still receive the 7-day free trial on the Practice with Clara Apps once you complete the series!
5. I Want to Try the App, What’s Next?
Great, we’re so happy to have you join our community!
To set up the Practice with Clara App, here are your next steps:
- Sign-up for a membership
- Try the 7-day free trial, OR
- Choose the monthly/yearly subscription package.
- Download the Practice with Clara App to your device of choice. We have iPhone – Ipad – Apple TV – Android phone and tablet – Roku – Amazon Fire TV – Android TV.
- Peruse the classes’ catalog, and feel free to write in the comments if you have any questions or requests!
- Join the Practice with Clara Facebook Group if you’ve not already and converse with Clara and the community.
6. I’m Injured, Pregnant, or New to the Practice—Can I Join?
YES, no matter where you are at in your practice, there are classes for you on Practice with Clara.
We’ve created playlists for beginners and those who are new to the practice.
we also have the Prenatal Collections with classes from the 1st – 4th trimesters that I created when I was pregnant with my daughter.
Finally, I offer PLENTY of modifications and suggestions based on injury in all the platform classes.
The biggest thing is to always listen to your body; your body is the greatest teacher.
Join Practice with Clara
Sign up for a recurring subscription and get access to hundreds of different yoga classes and join the weekly LIVE yoga class.