Third eye meditation

Mindfulness Meditation
#1

I have been meditating daily for several weeks but have recently tried to meditate while focusing on my third eye.

However, I cannot keep my eyes looking to the third eye area with my eyes closed for more than a few seconds without them straining and I have to lower them again. I have read that you have to actually physically look up to the spot, but can you just mentally visualize it instead? Or do you have to practice and then your eye muscles become stronger?

I want to do this properly but at the same time if I am straining I will not be able to meditate properly which is defeating the object.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

#2

The aim is to look up physically at the spot, which does indeed put a strain on your eye muscles, but this is the aim because this puts you in a special mudra which directly targets activation of third eye. What you can do is whenever you feel strain, loosen it a bit, and then try to refocus.

#3

I would say relax your eyes whilst closed and then draw them very slightly inwards. (as if going slightly cross eyed) At first you may over strain this but just do it a [B]tiny bit[/B] inwards. It should be comfortable eventually once your muscles adjust to this and should not take long to gain that comfort. If you find it too much of a strain you are over doing the drawing of the eyes inwards, lessen it. Do not look upwards. I am doing it now. The area I am covering is from the tip of the nose to half way up the forehead…this is the area I can see in the darkness. This is the expnse od darkness to seek out a tiny light which when you do see it you will probably lose it so keep looking and looking for it, it comes and goes. This is the point of focus to search for, the tiny dot of light. Then this light eventually will get bigger and the screen area you then have is clearly quite a large area, half the depth of the forehead to the tip of the nose.
The expanse of scene is bigger because you would not be able to fit what you see on the spot…if you get me.

Laying flat on your back helps align the eyes better with the target IMHO. I find it harder sat up, less comfortable and more body focus. But this is just me. Do as you see fit if it works.

When you are used to doing it you can do it in seconds in almost any body position, laying sideways for example…but I find on my back is very comfortable and is the position I choose to find/meet the inner Guru. Your body can be completely relaxed and disconnect so that the mind has no attachment to it other than the bare minimum needed.

When the inner Guru is found and awoken to join you, he sits at the spot you are talking about. The spot is therefore the seat of the Guru rather than the place you look for the small light to get the third eye to open. The spot is the location where the inner Guru comes in and out of. The third eye is continuously open when the Guru is sat at the spot.

This is how I view it. I wonder if the reason people find it hard to open the third eye is because they are confusing the spot as the place to look upwards to rather than realising it is where the Guru sits once you have found him or once he has joined you.

#4

Karen knows it the best.

The physical co-ordinates of the ‘third eye’ (2 cm inside where eyebrows meet) is only an approximate location. It is a chakra, which shifts when in motion, and is more or less active at different times.

Any strain is un-yogik. The location of the third eye is to be experientially perceived by the beholder and the following methods have helped me. (But, the methods are only the means for reaching the feet of the inner Guru; not the end in themselves.)

1/ While breathing normally, tilt head down until chin touches the chest. Continue to look up as much as you can (stop when it strains; try again after a while or next day). Eyes would naturally squint and your sight would converge at a point where the third eye is. Patient practice will make it easier and surer.

2/ Hum “Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do (on the next scale)” while meditating on the approximate physical locations of chakras along the spinal cord. Start with Muladhara chakra for “Do” and move up. Thus, “La” shows the Anja chakra or the third eye. (Ti is at Sahasrara and high “Do” at a positionless point in the space above.) Repeat it in reverse and go down. One can do this with Alternate nostril breathing, as well. It is better when one knows the correct musical notes.

Activated third eye first pulsates in rhythm. Then the inner guru appears at its own pace, to grace in its unique way and then, one doesn’t need to strain anything.

#5

Yoganewgirl,
I would recommend to choose a middle path. That is neither be too rigid to focus at third eye center (Ajna Chakra) with your physical eyes only, nor just be relied on visualization or mentally focusing at the center. Rather, start your practice by focusing your attention at third eye center with the physical eyes for a few seconds to … for the time period you feel comfortable and then focus your attention at the center with your mental eyes.
Meditation is practice of attention by refocusing attention on the chosen object (chakras or mantra or physical object, etc). As, regular practice and refocusing attention is important of meditation, both should be acceptable to the practitioner.
I agree, to improve practice and reap benefits, with Kareng and Suhas Tumbe on ways they ways/methods they have depicted such as location for third eye meditation, visualization of light, purification and activating other chakras, etc.

#6

I wouldn’t call it visualisation of light IMHO… The light is there, no visualisation is needed. It is finding the correct way to seek it out with positioning etc etc that enables one to find this tiny light …

#7

[QUOTE=Suhas Tambe;73407]Karen knows it the best.

The physical co-ordinates of the ‘third eye’ (2 cm inside where eyebrows meet) is only an approximate location. It is a chakra, which shifts when in motion, and is more or less active at different times.

Any strain is un-yogik. The location of the third eye is to be experientially perceived by the beholder and the following methods have helped me. (But, the methods are only the means for reaching the feet of the inner Guru; not the end in themselves.)

1/ While breathing normally, tilt head down until chin touches the chest. Continue to look up as much as you can (stop when it strains; try again after a while or next day). Eyes would naturally squint and your sight would converge at a point where the third eye is. Patient practice will make it easier and surer.

2/ Hum “Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do (on the next scale)” while meditating on the approximate physical locations of chakras along the spinal cord. Start with Muladhara chakra for “Do” and move up. Thus, “La” shows the Anja chakra or the third eye. (Ti is at Sahasrara and high “Do” at a positionless point in the space above.) Repeat it in reverse and go down. One can do this with Alternate nostril breathing, as well. It is better when one knows the correct musical notes.

Activated third eye first pulsates in rhythm. Then the inner guru appears at its own pace, to grace in its unique way and then, one doesn’t need to strain anything.[/QUOTE]

Suhas…always insightful!

Suhas, I am assuming that it doesn’t matter which octave you start in as men generally have lower voices than women. So the choice of octave is not brought into it yes?

#8

Karen,
You must be correct about the octave. I am good at listening but poor in rendering. If I could do it, anybody can.

#9

Thank you all so much for your kind replies. What great advice!

I will practice straight away with the techniques you suggest and keep at it.

#10

I do this type of meditation as well. You can focus on the third eye without physically looking at it, however I do notice that when I focus on it my eyes tend to want to look up at it. In my opinion it’s more subtle than literally staring at the third eye, it’s the focus on it that counts. :slight_smile:

#11

I have a slightly different take.

The third eye is a very, very powerful lens. However it has no inherent wisdom. For this reason students are well-advised to use extreme care when pursuing such meditations. All too often the student pursues in order to gain the power without any comprehension of it and this, obviously, is a pursuit of ego. It is in much the same way students ask about levitation, walking hot coals, or making coins disappear. The possession of the power without any reason tethered to spirit results in a path of ego.

Of course students will do all sorts of things (at home) and that is just that. Should said student(s) have any sort of dark visions the meditation should be stopped immediately.

gordon

#12

I agree completely, Gordon. I use the focus of the third eye as a tool in my meditation, sort of the same way some people come back to the breath, I come back to the third eye. I’m not trying to have any “magical” trip during meditation. Although the light is an important part of meditation and spiritual practice for me. I find it dangerous and definitely counter productive when people try to have out of body “trips” or use psychic phenomena within their spiritual practice, this definitely enhances the ego and retracts from spiritual progression.

#13

I believe the ‘third eye’ chakra is called aj?a. I’ve always been a little puzzled by this, since j?a is knowledge or knowing, and aj?a would be the opposite. Anybody have any insight?

अज्ञ aj?a

अज्ञ a. [न जानाति, ज्ञा-क. न. त.] 1 Not knowing, unaware of, unconscious, devoid of knowledge or experience; अज्ञो भवति वै बालः Ms.2.153; ज्ञाज्ञौ (ज्ञः ईश्वरः अज्ञः जीवः) the knowing and unknowing, supreme and individual soul. -2 Ignorant, unwise, foolish, silly, stupid (said of men as well as animals); अज्ञः सुखमाराध्यः Bh.1.3, Pt.2.3. -3 Inanimate; not endowed with the power of understanding (अचेतन.)

#14

The third eye is used to locate the Inner Guru. When the inner Guru is found he joins you and sits between your eyebrows (approx just above) and when he is there the third eye is permanently open. The inner Guru is a tiny man, a real one in appearance. He will come forward of the place he sits, in and out of that place, you are fully conscious when all this happens and you can clearly see his body movements and everything. You will see him pop in and out, move forward of you, increase in size, decrease in size. He is in the Lotus position. As your mind becomes even more crystal clear he becomes bigger and bigger…your perceptions are perfect, your health is perfect, any illness will dissapear, your intuition is powerful you are in a perfect state of exquisite peace. Simplistic, exquisite peace. He will guide you.
Devotion to maintain the perfect state is required. As he grows in size so will the temptations and your weaknesses will be put to the test and should you fail to sustain a crystal clear presence about you, you will suffer the consequences. Life will become hard for you. Devotion to practice [B]must[/B] be sustained continuously when he is present.

The third eye sights must be simply noted and ignored, (except for the inner Guru) looking past the scenes as you are presented with them. Each scene that you pass successfully will lead you closer and closer to enlightenment.

The next day, lets say, you will have a greater sense of the path to self realization. This is one of the advantages of using the third eye to attain enlightenment. It acts as a visual guide and thereby offers progress you can see happening before you. It also offers you a Guru. Each scene is accounted for. Nothing you see will be new, it is written about. A Master in it will understand all that you see and inform you of your progress.

If you look at the story of Buddha. You will read about Mara…the demon of desire who tempts Buddha…you will read about the dancing girls that appear to tempt him, one two or three…you will read about fantastic war scenes he is presented with, previous lives that he sees . Each time he sees these scenes he attempts to dismiss them unswayed mentally by not paying them any attention. These scenes are the third eye scenes of all that is in you, about you, of you. It was this practice that he attained enlightenment by. This was his method. One of His main weakness was sexual desire and so some of the very last temptation scenes were of dancing girls that he needed to dismiss. Another weakness was inner unconscious aggression hence the war scenes and lastly his desire in thinking he was an individual when really he was part of the fabric of everything, not separate but a part of all around him always, the earth, the universe etc…when these things were conquered, he attained enlightenment.

The Astral path when encountered should be ignored in order to move on to the next scenes deeper and deeper and deeper. You are not meant to participate in using your mind to have fun in these areas or to try to visit people on this earthly plane using the third eye. It is a serious practice not a frivolous one to have fun with. The goal is enlightenment not to boast and impress people or even tothink you are something for achieving these things, hold a steady thought pattern of nothing as much as you can.

It isn’t magical what I have talked about but it is fantastic. If ever there were a tool to use to give you ultimate confirmation of all that is aimed for, this is the one. This is not Psychic phenomena. This is a very serious practice that is real and if understood, leads to enlightenment.

Dark visions (as it was put by Gordon) may/will be encountered but again your thoughts must remain steady and then they will disperse. There isn’t anything to fear if you understand what you are doing. If you don’t then you shouldn’t be practicing the above until you have educated yourself properly or by finding a Master of this or even better by finding the inner Guru inside you yourself because then he will do all the guidance by communicating with your intuition.

I have understood that many people attempt to practice without understanding its great purpose. Or, they don’t actually open the eye and so consequently see nothing but interference, like the interference on a TV screen…speckles, flashing lights, black n white specs…nothing…so they give up and scoff at it from then on as nonsense or over simplify it as a hocus pocus tool that serves little purpose. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I cant emphasis this enough!!!

If you don’t see anything, you are not doing it correctly to open the eye…ok

The inherent wisdom is boundless when the Guru joins you

#15

Asuri,

The sanskrit word is to be pronounced as “Aadnyaa” and that means ‘command’. (“Aa” & “aa” is like long ‘a’ in after) It is vastly different than the one below.

Adnya, means what you have said. (“A” & “a” here is like ‘o’ in occur)

Again, “ज्ञ” as “?” is not exactly “dnya”, but that’s the closest one can go.

These are problems of transliteration and believe me a lot is lost in translation as well.

#16

Thank you all for your continued replies.

Gordon, I understand fully what you say. However, I am personally not interested the third eye for my ego or power trips. I appreciate you pointing out the dangers though, thank you.

Kareng, thank you so much for your information about the inner Guru, along with the warnings. It’s very helpful, thank you.

#17

You are welcome Yoganewgirl…

#18

What then is the correct & most recommended method to open the 3rd eye?

#19

The Seven Chakras
When you first hear about chakras, the concept can sound very confusing. You might wonder exactly where all these chakras, including the third eye chakra, are supposed to be. Plus, how can we influence them? Do you have to become a meditation master to use them for healing? Consequently, you might feel tempted to just move on to another type of healing work.

However, opening chakras doesn’t need to involve years of studying or practice. This guide to chakras for beginners will focus on third eye awakening, in particular, exploring how you can detect and remove blocks to your third eye chakra. In a way, learning how to do third eye chakra exercises prepares you for more complex chakra healing in the future. This is because the third eye chakra is all about honing your intuition and attuning to the wider universe.