There seem to be lots of questions here about opening it. I have had sensations in that area for years and consider it (from the standpoint of buddhist meditation and personally) nothing really special.
Truth is one, paths are many.
From the zen buddhist point of view, sensations in the ajna chakra would just be “makyo”. Not something to pay attention to.
That would be true for the karma, bhakti, raja and jnana yoga paths, too, I guess.
However, from the point of view of hatha yoga it is important. The original hatha yoga is very much geared towards enlightenment in this body and by this body. And you should take body in the wider context, including the subtle body. Hatha yoga is the yoga “of the force”, the force being kundalini, the latent power at the base of the spinal column. Kundalini is an expression of universal energy Shakti. The whole universe is none other than Chit-Shakti; consciousness and energy combined. Hatha yoga tries to awaken this energy, leading it up from the lowest chakra (muladhara) through the spinal column (sushumna) up to the crown of the head. On its way, the energy will encounter “points” of energy, called chakras. The ajna chakra is the very last chakra before the final merging of Shakti and Shiva at the crown. This merging of energy and consciousness is similar to the highest stages of samadhi attainable by the other paths.
You can translate “ajna” as command, meaning that it is more important than the lower chakras. It is concerned with the sensory mind, intuition, and knowledge. It is the safest chakra to wake up first. It is the focal point of many hatha practices. E.g. spinal breathing, where energy is visualised from the perineum to ajna and back again.
So ajna is most significant in hatha yoga. But you may disregard it on other paths.
It was nice talking to you again.
[QUOTE=Willem;29278]
It was nice talking to you again.[/QUOTE]
Yes and thank you for the nice summation. 
http://www.yogabound.com/yoga/cha_sixth_ajna.htm
http://www.desivideonetwork.com/view/mrqrrqm06/ajna-chakra-activation/
Hari OM!
Adityananda
Ajna Chakra, the energy center of the third eye, is the meeting place of the masculine and feminine energies of the body and the ruling chakra of the mind.
Thank you
[QUOTE=Evelynlexo;29465]Ajna Chakra, the energy center of the third eye, is the meeting place of the masculine and feminine energies of the body and the ruling chakra of the mind.
Thank you
http://yogaspot.wordpress.com/[/QUOTE]
Namaste Evelyn:
As I was taught, it is not the Ajna Chakra, but the Sahasrara or Crown Chakra that is the meeting place of the masculine and feminine energies since it is associated with complete Oneness and Unity.
Hari OM!
Adityananda
Didnt want to create a new thread for this -
So, its been 9 months since I am doing the Praanayama and the SudarshanKriya But offlate, I am experiencing 2 things…not daily though…probably 2-3 times in a week…
After completing the Sudarshan Kriya, when I lay down to relax :
a) I am experiencing some sensation in middle of my forehead
b) I am experiencing a sensation in my back…like say…a creeping sensation like something moving up from my lowerback to upperback…
What are your input on this? I mean, is this the usual sensations or some chakra getting activated or praana shakthi force…
a) sounds like ajna getting awakened, & b) kundalini or ‘prana shakthi force’ as you put it.
These are effects of sustained ( & usually patient)yoga practices over time.In this repsect it is normall-ish within the context of dedicated yoga practice-less normal if it arose spontaneously without any structured stimulation,i.e formal practices-traditional methods…There may or may not be a meditative component in your sadhana.If your kriya yoga/ /pranayama/AOL teacher accepts the concept of Kundalini and as it relates to the subtle sensations experienced during yoga practices then he/she should be able to confirm this.Kundalini can i believe be explained to some extent in scientific terms.Some folk associate it as being a mystical state,paranormal or supernatural. And it does’nt have to be so or aint necessarily so…
When it happens the main thing is to just surrender, to the process.It is through the Third eye that you intuit the other ones but it is the crown, i agree wih adityananda that you experience wholness,oneness,unity. The crown is probably best left to open indirectly on it’s own mainly through work done elswhere like the Third-eye, i would say.
As far as i am aware Sudarshan Kriya is taught by teachers associated with the Art of Living foundation whose head teacher,guru, if you like, is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.I think it’s said he got the practice via divine insight while deep in meditation or silence.
http://www.artofliving.org/spirituality-human-values/sudarshan-kriya/origin-of-sudarshan-kriya.html
[QUOTE=core789;31280] & b) kundalini or ‘prana shakthi force’ as you put it.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for your inputs.
a) But I have a doubt here. I said I had a creeping sensation moving up from my lower back to upper back, thats it…You have said it is kundalini awakening…
But as I read somewhere , Isnt Kundalini awakening rising from the root chakra…passing through all the other chakras till the crown chakra…?
b) And when you say ‘Surrender to the process’…does it mean ‘be with the sensations’ or is there any other thing to be implemented?
SMB,
Ideally yes, eventually maybe, but not necessarily. What you may be feeling is one side of the body gravitating to the other at one or more chakra along the way, like a gyrational connection between them, drawn together further by your breathing?
I don’t want to get off topic here. Perhaps an administrator might start a new thread, although I have made a comment about the ajna down below, to which the entire post here is relevant.
It’s easier to understand kundalini if you first observe our two alternating bodies, ha and tha, or ida and pingala, yin & yan, are divided by the sagittal plane and working independently . We develop physically alternating from one side to the other. Kundalini is the coming together of both sides at the seam, into sushumna, or the central channel of your body, so both sides become joined in their actions. In my experience, a spontaneous connection can occur anywhere along the sushumna, however more likely below anahata, and move either up or down, pulling together like a zipper, or like magnets, there can be an internal feeling of both attraction and repulsion, and it’s like you’re trying to line them up and that causes you to squirm?
If this is truly kundalini, it may continue to progress by surrendering, or it might pass. In my opinion, you are now in control. You have to “thread the needle.” You will have to explore it, prod it, poke it, stoke it, using all the yoga technique and discipline you can muster. It won’t just happen. You have to make it happen, and it’s not easy.
You should also understand that it’s sometimes possible for that connection to occur before one or both sides of the body are ready to give up their independent behaviors. They are not too eager to change how you have developed them, what you have programmed into them. That’s what the yoga is for. Careful not to let your pranayama practice progress ahead of your asana. It’s possible to “break the dam” too early that way, so to speak. Take your time, but work it. If ever you feel something moving so strongly you’re not able to control it, DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH! Breathing will once again restore balance.
Now about the Ajna…the peripheral nerve bundles from each side of the body go up either side of the spinal cord and cross over at the ajna? How significant is that? Also, you have the pituitary and pineal gland right there too. It’s a very hot spot, and you could have a variety of sensations that are not related to kundalini. In order to raise the kundalini through vishudra and then ajna, you would have to be well connected to all the lower chakras down to your mula…and be strong has hell. It doesn’t happen overnight.
peace,
siva
well, I think the obsession with ajna chakra is in flowing… I’ve heard a lot of stories in how the opening of ajna chakra can make you see the future, read others people thoughts, and other things we usually do not see…
I think all chakras are equally important to wellbeing.
More important is to balance all chkras, since over active chakra can give you as much trouble as under active one…
There are lot of info on chakras an like on Swami John website. go google it
Hi SMB,
Welcome to the forum,
[QUOTE=SMB;31283]Thanks for your inputs.
a) But I have a doubt here. I said I had a creeping sensation moving up from my lower back to upper back, thats it…You have said it is kundalini awakening…
But as I read somewhere , Isnt Kundalini awakening rising from the root chakra…passing through all the other chakras till the crown chakra…?[/QUOTE]
I don’t see any conflict in these two statements.
b) And when you say ‘Surrender to the process’…does it mean ‘be with the sensations’ or is there any other thing to be implemented?
It is usually more of a state of non-doing.
Watch,witness,observe rather than to attach to sensations,judge or react etc.The only doing going on are the practices themselves designed to nudge us forward & open up the nervous system in a gradual,systematic,safe & smooth manner.
BTW— SMB,
I actually attended PART 1 of AOL ,SUDARSHAN KRIYA, but i’ve forgotten the practice though i’m regularly invited to practice sessions.
Well…I am surprised as to how you forgot the practice as there is nothing to by-heart there 
its just the rhythms…
Forgot to tell…I told I am getting some sensations in my forehead…over the past week or 2, when I relax after the practice…I am seeing colour,light,glow and stuff… 
wonder what is happening to me
If my memory serves me correct, i think we were told we were forbidden to share the practice with others. A kind of oath of secrecy, kind of thing about the teachings…i think.
But that is not the first time i have encounterd that. I have encountered that with tibetan zogchen lama teacher plus there was a lot of ritual involved. I’m inclined to think alot of this stuff may have to do with tradition.
Both of those things i attended were based on invites from two hatha yoga teachers i have known.They are otherwise not things i may have attended of my own volition.But i feel i got something from them both.IT did expand my appreciation at the time that yoga was more than just asana.Baba Ramdev is also another populariser of the benefits of pranayama.
You never stop learning.
No Hatha Yoga without Raja Yoga. No Raja Yoga without Hatha yoga.
There is secret meaning in those words found in the Shiva Samhita and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.
Bhakti, Raja, Hatha/kriya/tantra, Mantra, Karma, and so on all work together. Like a good team.
[QUOTE=m0rl0ck;29270]There seem to be lots of questions here about opening it. I have had sensations in that area for years and consider it (from the standpoint of buddhist meditation and personally) nothing really special.[/QUOTE]
Hatha Yoga Pradipika says:
that the chakra you mentioned is the point where sushumna raises kundalini in the total bliss. Before activation of this ajna chakra one need to:
- clear nadis first,
2)than clear the sushumna, - open other cakras, since kundalini need to go through the other chakras in order to hit ajna.
- one would not benefit without those steps
[quote=CityMonk;32720]Hatha Yoga Pradipika says:
that the chakra you mentioned is the point where sushumna raises kundalini in the total bliss. Before activation of this ajna chakra one need to:
- clear nadis first,
2)than clear the sushumna, - open other cakras, since kundalini need to go through the other chakras in order to hit ajna.
- one would not benefit without those steps[/quote]
Hi City Monk,
Very good answer!
Some of my understanding and reading is this:-
Ajna is generally taken as the master controller centre or chakra.It gives us our sense of inner space and intuition/Third-Eye(& so called visions) and so on.
So it and/or the root/muladhara/base chakra are generally opened first;That is ,in approaches where chakra purification is followed as a step towards a full Kundalini awakening,awakening of the energy body,the quantum energy vacuum,ecstatic conductivity. or whatever phraseology or terms you opt to use.
I think you are right though; there may well be approaches that do it in the order you suggest.But a number of approaches often get some opening in there early on in the process.Techniques can range from sambhavi mudra with Om chanting, nadi shodhana,focusing on the flow at the nostrils and the bridge(these are mentioned in the sadhana i am following from the bihar satyananda school although my ajna had already had a certain amount of prior opening already using another system )…Combining is often used to make more potent…
I agree completely that safety is important for a smooth,comfortable journey in the spiritual field… But would maybe jumble about the order you suggest a tiny bit:-
1)clear the nadis- any of the limbs and tools of yoga and it’s vast suite could do this incl. meditation ,asana and common pranayamas,the shatkarmas ( mind-body hatha yoga purification techniques- see [I]Hatha Yoga Pradipika[/I] and/or [I]Gerhanda Samhita[/I]).So we can loosen the nerves,the physical and the psychic, and stimulate the energetic flow.Like puttiing a mild current through our system. It kind of tends to warm and loosen things up.
2A)Some approachches stress balancing ida & pingala as it is said Mother Kundalini then finds it irresistable to rise up sushumna nadi or the central channel, located where the spinal nerve is.Others don’t get so tangled up in micro-management and used broader global purifiers, sometimes going for sushumna early on, and maybe even loosening things first with meditation also (or an effective meditation technique is employed as an over-all mantra/raja yoga strategy ,for the long-haul).I tend to think of ida/Pingala as a see-saw or pair of scales;only when both sides are sufficently balanced, prana-wise, will you get a centreing. Otherwise imbalance can (sometimes) result.
So open ajna and/or muldahara/or root chakras respectively ,first of all if you take the chakra approach.Nadi shodhana is a powerful tool to open third eye particularly used in combination with other techniques. But it must be practiced consistently over time-scales.It is not to be under-estimated as mere relaxer and can really serve to help folk particularly those that might have imabalance issues.Some that write it off as simple relaxation are mistaken.I would’nt recommend kumbhaka with it for a beginner though.Again Some folk may use ratios to potentize it but this is completely optional and up to the practitoner to be sensible and guage how it is affecting him or her. Always use common sense and go easy at all times.(Never strain or force or if breathing is too irregular stop. for e.g)
2B)The other chakras can be then tackled in ascending order.
3)Suhumna nadi or the central channel that connects all the chakras awakens more fully.We typically feel esctatic,waves of esctacy surge through the body.A disapssionate witness & letting-go attitude is best at every stage of the process, particularly crown maturation.
4)The crown opens and then a further maturation process continues and refines itself.
The crown then opends indirectly and by itself as a result or effect of the work done elsewhere.Some appoaches might use targeted crown/sahasrara work though to me it might seem wise to let the crown do the job itself, as it is almost like K has an intelligence and design of it’s own.
All The nadis open up ideally in a balanced fashion .The maturation prcess may continue for a number of years and then refine,i am led to believe, particualry wwhen deep forms of meditation ,i think, are used.
The samadhi that is commonly spoken of like a blend of esctacy( the effects of Kundalini woken up,more sensory awareness and so on) and bliss(the latter is the transcendent self,the witness or seer shining thorugh).So ecstatic bliss. LahirI Mahsaya, a famous kriya yogi who claimed he got his teachings from Babaji described it also as a combination of emptiness ( that buddhist phrase) and euphoria. Indeed pretty similar sounding, in terms of a description yes.
If we take prelimary steps by ensuring enough puriffication has occured too accomodate the large reserves of prana or untapped energy potential,located at the root, then we can have a pretty safe and straighforward,smoth journey ,through the whole process.It helps if you understand essentials & absolute basics of those dynamics so you can, like i say navigate your way through without any possible mishaps. Self-pacing is the main precaution. Whatever vehicles( i.e system of practices) we use, we make use of the brakes and accelerators.The system you referred to City MOnk is a fast track apporach, alhtough ironically i might actually appear slow both to one practicing and to any observer. But like i say awakening in it’s marked stages can occur all of sudden.That is why we nudge forward gently in a contorled fashion ,with balance. As it can be a razors edge . Therefore consistency relative to practice and the tool-suite we are using is one of the keys to a smooth opening and balanced awakening.Predicatiblity.
If you’ve done yoga long enough it would seem relatively unorthodox to challenge the notion that there must be energy channels that are being awakened and stimulated as a result of practice. It does’nt seem to happen when we play netball or a round of golf,or ot that i have noticed, but it does when we practice yoga.
(Note:- Directed and/or specifc Pranayamas and versions of kriya yoga are generally regarded as the fastest and most potent direct ways of stimulating the energy body and the awakening the channels and Kundalini,the untapped energy potoential , our primordial life-force. Gopi Krishan who had a rocky journey himself, called Kundalini in his book the evolutionary energy of man , it was like our dormant potential (normally lying coiled up in the base of the spine supposedly of most people,literally and metpahorically… He said man was at a cross-roads and merely had to to wake up tothis patent potential that is waiting to be discovered inside us all)
I will also say this too.The job is not finished once your kundalin ascension takes place,the awakening,subsequent stabilisation,blending and maturation and refiinement. Meditation is commonly prescribed aferwards so we get that merging of ecstacy and bliss( pure Consciousness or satchidananda), which tends to characterise samadhi .The goal of yoga is ,of course the union of individual consciousness with Cosmic Consciousness.Expansion…
Significance of Ajna working.
It’s like your internal TV screen. If its not on there ain’t no pictures. If it ain’t working properly the pictures could be fuzzy or fluttering.
There are specific practices as already mentioned but also, as already mentioned . . . a generalized practice of the hatha,raja, and mantra systems will develop everything nice and harmoniously.