Finding Balance: Session Six - Our Intuition

Finding Balance

A series of suggestions to help balance our energies

and our sense of self

There are seven main energy centres throughout our bodies, known in some philosophies as chakras. These energy centres align with the spine, from its base to the crown of the head. They have been described as swirling wheels of our vital life force, where matter and consciousness meet, and they correspond to significant nerve centres in the body. It's important for our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being that these energy centres stay open, unblocked, and balanced. Each of the seven sessions focuses on a different energy centre. They can be used by individuals or by groups. 

The workshops offered on this blog are the result of my thoughts, reflections, and experiences, woven together using my own words and sometimes adapting the words others have used: I am indebted to their wisdom. Please use these workshops freely, adapting them as suits your own context. I am always pleased to hear from people who have used them.

Session Six: Our Intuition

The sixth work-shop is to do with the energy centre of our Third Eye, located

between our eyebrows, and relating to our intuition.

For this session you will need:

• a rug or mat, a mandala outline, and a indigo or violet stone for each participant (remember to have some extras for unexpected attendees)
• incense – frankincense, patchouli, rosemary or sandalwood are good - (if no-one has any problems with the vapour)
• one large candle
• matches

You may also wish to play music during the meditation, in which case choose

something quiet, calm, and unobtrusive.

Welcome, Introduction, and Feedback:

Welcome again to everyone, as we meet to continue exploring ways of finding greater balance between all the elements that combine to make up our selves,

and particularly our energy centres.

This is our sixth session, and we'll be thinking and learning about the energy that centres in the space between our eyebrows, called by some the Third Eye – or perhaps more accurately, the mind's eye - which has to do with what I think of as our sixth sense: intuition.

By developing our intuition, we may also think more clearly, have more vision and imagination, find it easier to grasp the big picture, and develop greater spiritual awareness.

But first, I think we've got lots to share about how we chose to follow up from last time – whether we spoke up about something, began to write a journal, or made an affirmation and fulfilled an intention...

About the 'Third Eye':

Our physical world is experienced through the five senses. Even before we were born we could hear noises, such as our mother's voice and heartbeat, and muffled sounds from outside the womb. Once we're born, we learn about touch, taste, smell, and sight, and we rely on these very much - but we also need greater awareness that the five senses give us: we need our instincts and our intuition, which, once upon a time, we humans relied on far more than most of us do today -

although perhaps it's just that we're not aware of this sixth sense! It's a bit like the gut feelings we thought about before, and I'm sure we've all had hunches about things, people, decisions - a sense of something convincing but that we can't rationalise.

Think now of a time when you had a gut feeling or a hunch about something and ignored it... Were you right to do so?...

And now think about a time when you followed your hunch, your intuition... Did it work out ok?...

Beginning to balance:

Intuition, spiritual insight, is available to everyone, but few of us even begin to tap into our profound potential. When we have a clear, balanced, developed brow chakra our keen intellect is balanced with strong intuitive abilities - what we might call wisdom or insight; we have a good imagination, can visualise things easily, have strong memory skills, are open minded and empathetic, and spiritually aware.

If the brow energy centre is too open, or over-stimulated, we can become, authoritarian, arrogant, and unreasonably logical; if it's blocked or sluggish, we can set our sights too low and fear success; either way, we can experience headaches, moodiness, poor memory, over-intellectualising, decreasing imagination, fatigue, and need increasing isolation to feel renewed and recovered from socialising.

Step one: What is true for us

Which of these statements rings true for each of us?

• I need 'me' time – times of silence and stillness in my life
• I'm not perfect and I mess up every now and then, but making mistakes enables me to learn and grow and develop
• I am the captain of my own ship, and the answer to all my questions lies within me

If you're happy to, please share which of these was truest for you...

Ok, now let's think about when was the last time we sat in silence and listened to our inner voice...

When was the last time we looked outside our self for answers?... What happened in that situation...

And when was the last time we trusted your instincts and intuition?... What happened?

Again, perhaps we can share a bit about this...

Step two: Breathing: The Bee Breath

• Bring both hands to your face, placing the two middle fingers over your eyes, the index fingers to rest on the eyebrow line, and the little fingers under the cheekbones
• In a minute, you'll close your ears with your thumbs – but not until you've heard the rest of the instructions please!
• Take a deep inhalation, and then exhale on the sound AUM with the emphasis on the M, creating a sort of buzzing sound.
• We'll do this for a couple of minutes.

Step three: Meditation

Meditation is one way we can help our selves to move away from over-thinking and over-analysing things - described as getting out of the monkey mind! - and towards a more neutral, open, receptive state of mind. You might find that having a good soak in the bath helps too, or going for a lovely country walk. But here and now, we'll continue to practice our meditation.

First of all, imagine your head is a balloon, and allow it to float to an upright position, with your ears directly over your shoulders. The more we do this, the better our spinal alignment should become.

Now lie down, with the indigo or violet gently balanced on your forehead.

Suggested script for guided meditation:

Take a long, deep breath in...

And now, as you breathe out, move your attention to the centre of your forehead, imagining an indigo-blue centre of energy there.

Now imagine that energy centre becomes a blue doorway...

Open the door and walk into an empty room...

As you look around the room, imagine what shape it is – square, round, oval...

and now imagine what colour the walls are...

what colour is the ceiling, if there is one...

what is the floor made of...

Now imagine what you might furnish the room with, to make it your own, your personal sanctuary...

How does it look, how does it feel, how does it smell...

Now find the most comfortable place in your room, and sit down...

Imagine you're looking out onto the world from this spot in your room... Bring into focus the same thoughts, issues, situations, and ideas, that occupy your everyday life...

How do they look from where you're sitting now?...

What's more important...

what can you let go of...

what do you need to stop ignoring...

Now imagine that the light in your room is indigo blue, like the door you came in by...

The light washes over you, you can relax into it like water...

It pervades every cell of your body...

Breathe deeply and feel the energy that the blue light is bringing you...

and rest in this awareness...

When you feel both rested and full of energy, stand up gently in your imagination, and walk to the door that brought you into your room...

Stand in the doorway, looking back at your sanctuary...

Know that you can return here whenever you need to...

Now bring your attention back to your body and your breathing...

and when you're ready, open your eyes...

Continuing to balance:

There are various things we can all do to continue to develop our mind's eye, and there's a sheet of ideas for you all to take home with you.

But there are three things I'd like everyone to do, and to bring back with you next time – your homework!

First of all, please have a think about what has helped you during times of loss and pain. You may have been helped and supported by a person, or a book, or by doing something active, or simply by the passage of time...

But what I'd like you to get at is what particular bit of inner wisdom did that outside help connect with? Or to put it another way: What came from inside of you

to bring you through the time of trouble?

If you can, please make a note or a drawing to share with us.

Secondly, to get us into the habit of accepting, and not discarding, our intuition, 

write down as much as you can of the non-logical stuff that comes to you - the hunches, the feelings, the urges, the dreams – and what it had to do with.

Don't dismiss anything as silly; keep your list growing... and later on, when you look back over it, I think you'll be perhaps surprised and pleased at what your intuitive self picked up on.

And finally, I'd like us to try using mandalas, to help us develop our mind's eye.

The Sanskrit word mandala means a circle, and it's used as a metaphor for a family, community, world, or universe. As an art form it's a circle full of geometric shapes, which can be used in meditative practice.

One way to use them – and to have some fun! - is to colour them in.

Candle Gazing:

We've thought about the importance not only of our five physical senses but of our sixth sense, intuition; we've started to identify what we our selves most rely on,

and how we need balance; and we've begun to use different practices to help in that.

Now, before we go, we share in a simple ceremony of light.

As I light this candle, settle comfortably, breathe deeply, and bring your attention to the candle flame... Keep gazing at it...

Your eyes will water from time to time, blink, or even close.

If they close, concentrate on the after image, and hold it for as long as possible before you open your eyes again and gaze again at the candle...

This helps to improve the function of the eyes, to increase our focus and concentration, stimulate the pineal gland, and symbolise the energy of light that awakens our intuition...

Now we share a blessing.

There are four sentences to the blessing.

For the first sentence, continue to gaze at the candle;

for the second sentence, close your eyes;

for the third sentence, look again at the candle;

and for the final sentence, look at each other.

And please repeat each sentence after I say it:

As we gaze at the candle, please repeat after me:

May we see more clearly in every way:

     May we see more clearly in every way!

As we close our eyes, please repeat after me:

May we better understand our true nature:

     May we better understand our true nature!

As we look again at the candle, please repeat after me:

May our insight bring new light:

     May our insight bring new light!

And as we catch each other's eyes, please repeat after me:

May our wisdom serve others:

     May our wisdom serve others!

Practices for balancing our Mind's Eye, to continue at home:

• Yoga poses – the child's pose
• Chanting – the mantra sound is SHAM
• Capturing light -
  The Third Eye has to do with intuition, imagination, the higher mind, and light. A simple exercise to begin bringing light into your inner world is to drink in light – such as a beautiful sunset or sunrise, dappled light through leaves, candle-light, star light – with as much awareness as possible while you're physically seeing it, then close your eyes and visualise what you just saw. Keep on doing this until you can call up the image at will. See if you can retain the images, by trying to call them up days later.
• Repeating an affirmation, such as ' My mind is clear and agile' or 'My imagination is vivid and powerful' or 'I am open to the wisdom within me'.

• Let go of competitive energy. Think about your current situation at work, in relationships, in hobbies and activities, and double check if there are competitive vibes that don't support your inner well-being. Make a decision to let them go, and instead find a non-competitive form of exercise you enjoy and can stick with, such as tai chi, walking, yoga, chanting...
• Get lots of vitamin D from natural daylight; include healthy fats (such as coconut oil) and antioxidants (including moderate amounts of red wine, tea, coffee and chocolate!)in your diet; and spend some time alone every day, perhaps reading or meditating (but turn off the TV, radio and phone!) to recharge your energies.
• Download/print off a mandala from the internet, and enjoy colouring it in!