Wanted: a lung for my third eye.

Yoga teachers keep telling me to breathe into my third eye?  The third eye or ajna chakra is associated with intuition, imagination, concentration and Self-mastery. Knowing this, you can see why I would really like to breathe a little life into it.

I have been working on consiously breathing into my body for a good few months now and I understand breathing into my belly, my heart, my back, my pelvis.  But each time I try to breathe into my third eye, I only end up with a headache.  Do I have a lazy third eye? 

Maybe it's in part due to the fact that I can see my belly rise with each belly-breath, I can feel my back muscles expanding when I focus my breath on my posterior body.  Maybe the concept of the third eye is a little too 'out there' for me. Maybe I am not yet ready to dabble in the energy world.  I met a lady the other day at a yoga class and she heard that I had graduated from teacher training and she said, "Ah, you are now part of the Woo Woo Industry."  This comment tickled me and I have been thinking about it, wondering how many people feel that way about yoga?  How many yoga students feel that way about yoga?  I like working on my breathe, I like to chant, I have mala beads and I meditate, I wonder if she thinks I am Woo Woo?  Probably!

Her comment and the realisation that she probably thinks I am 'out there' actually helped me to see that I have come a long way on this path to self-awareness.  Maybe, one day, I will have a relationship with my third eye the same way I do with my other two eyes.  Maybe I will always need to think of anatomy and science to understand the concept of the third eye.

You see, it's been said that the third eye is actually the pineal gland, which rests between the two hemispheres of the brain. Reptiles and amphibians sense light through a structure associated with the pineal gland, called the parietal eye which regulates the circadian rhythms and helps with navigation.  This is helpful information, this is something I can work with.

Instead of breathing into my elusive third eye, I am going to try breathing into my pineal gland in hopes of waking something up. 

Happy Sunday friends.

xoxoxox.
Jacqui.