A Guide To Opening Your Third Eye & Accessing Your Highest Intuition

If you hang around New Age circles long enough, you've likely heard talk of the third eye—the sixth chakra and an epicenter of intuition and psychic ability.

In my private practice, I use the Seven Senses framework to explore the spiritual aspects of health through the lens of the seven chakras. Each chakra is associated with physical structures in the body, so every illness or ailment can be traced to a corresponding chakra for a deeper understanding of the energetic origins of the disease. In other words, the chakras help us understand why illness develops and what we can learn from it. The physical structure most closely related to the third eye chakra is the pituitary gland—the queen of the endocrine system. Headaches, hormone imbalances, nightmares, indecision, burnout, and lack of purpose are all common manifestations when there's an imbalance in the third eye.

The pituitary provides oversight for many of the glands of the endocrine system, including the adrenals, thyroid, ovaries, and testes. Just as the third eye allows us to see the entire picture, the pituitary gland provides oversight for the endocrine system. It produces stimulating hormones that trigger distant glands in the body to perform their jobs, and its responsibilities change during different phases of life. For example, when you're a new mom, the stimulation of the mammary glands is uniquely important.

Just as the pituitary gland monitors and manages hormonal release from glands throughout the body, the third eye has the ability to regulate the flow of energy throughout the entire subtle body.

Embodying the third eye's expansive energy requires the maturity, life experience, and wisdom that we gain with age. The chakra is thought to reach peak development from ages 35 to 42. It builds upon the developmental path that begins with the root chakra, where we experience the conflict between attachment and authenticity. At around 7 years old, we move into the sacral chakra, the home of feelings and emotions. The next stop on this developmental path is the solar plexus, where we confront our judgments and limiting beliefs. Only then can we generate the courage to open the heart chakra, the key to giving and receiving love and compassion. With a healthy foundation in the lower four chakras, we can cultivate and communicate our authentic truth through the throat chakra.

To open the third eye is to see ourselves fully—to see all of the ways that we play the victim, all of the ways we project our judgments, insecurities, and assumptions onto others. Someone with an open third eye is also aware of all the roles they play in the world. Perhaps you are not the same person with your lover as you are with your mother. Perhaps your behavior in some of your relationships is a response to other people's assumptions about who you are or the things they project onto you. An open third eye sees all of this, and it leaves us no choice but to move past the illusions that define our existence.

Consider yourself as you are today and write a list of sentences that begin with "I am …" Write down as many things as you can think of that feel true right now. For example, "I am a writer, I am a sister, I am a wife, I am happy, I am beautiful, I am lonely, etc."

Then imagine yourself 10 years ago, and create a similar list for yourself at that time. 

Choose another one or two time periods in your life and do the same thing.