I know this chakra far too well –
it’s a monkey wrestling with an owl.
Only when the chatter ends
can I access deeper wisdom.

~

When I’ve been exploring the issues I’m experiencing in all the other chakras they have led me up, through the nervous system, to my brain where I believe many of my problems with disregulation stem from. 

The brow chakra is associated with the mind, both its thinking and intuitive capacities and is viewed in the yogic tradition as the command centre. 

I’ve done a lot of research into the brain and thought, at first, my troubles stem from my hypothalamus, which is the control station for so many of our bodily functions such as sleep, hormone regulation, autonomic nervous system.

Yet, when I did some journeywork around this I got told by my hyopthalamus that it’s only doing it’s job based on signals from other brain parts. Through a combination of journeys and research I discovered that I’ve got an enlarged overactive amygdala, our inner alarm bell, whose constant ringing keeps telling my hypothalamus to put me into a sympathetic ‘fight or flight’ state. My anterior cingulate cortex, which is responsible for attention, emotional awareness, self control and behavioural adaptability, is underdeveloped. 

I’m also subject to getting to stuck in the ‘worry loop’ (a tract of neurons running in a circle from the pre-frontal cortex to the striatus to the thalamus and back linking to the limbic system (which includes the amygdala). For me this manifests as worrying constantly about financial security and being unable to cope if I cannot make a living from my vocation. These thoughts keep my amygdala sounding the alarm bell and result in adrenaline and cortisol constantly coursing through my body, which has led to my overactive inflammation response causing conditions such as rosacea, eczema, tendinopathy and IBS along with Raynaud’s and secondary amenorrhea.

It’s only over the past few years I have discovered meditation, breathwork and polyvagal practices as ways of activating my parasympathetic nervous system, strengthening my anterior cingulate cortex and shrinking my amygdala.

At the brow chakra we find the monkey mind and its constant chatter which keeps ever distracted and ever over-stimulated. Yet we also find the pineal gland and the third eye which are associated with intuition and second sight. There’s less science to explain the latter. I’ve found that when the monkey is quiet, when I meditate, when I journey, I can access depths of wisdom that are not available to the thinking mind and bring it back for others.

~

Location: Brow / Colour: Indigo / System: Brain / Endocrine: Pituitary and pineal / Sense: Sight / Faculty: Mind / Realm: Thought / Faculties: Thinking and intuition / Animals: Monkey and Owl