My Furrowed Brow—The Sacred Hall of Impression

Why do we want to hide our wrinkles, as if it’s shameful, unattractive and unappealing to get old? OK, maybe it is kind of a drag, but do I really want to botox and deaden the deep furrow between my eyes and smooth out my forehead to look more relaxed and younger? OK, maybe, I do!

I had a revelation while dripping with sweat, endorphins raging, at the end of my spin class. This deep furrow that I wear between my eyes, this crease that I’m constantly rubbing to release the tension in a hopeless attempt to try to prevent scowling, has something to say about me. This deep furrow that I’d like to hide and pretend is not there has something to show me, as well as the world.

I discovered that this interesting brow muscle is called the corrugator supercilii that pulls the eyebrows down and together and essentially corrugating your skin.

Now let’s examine that high-falutin word “supercilious” from Latin superciliōsus, from supercilium eyebrow; a feeling or showing haughty disdain, displaying arrogant pride, scorn, or indifference. Dare we add “brow-beat” to the mix—To bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way, by overbearing looks or words Is that what my puzzled, corrugated midbrow expressing or is it my fear of supercilious brow-beaters?

According to Alex Korb, PhD, and his article “Calm Your Face, Calm Your Mind”: The midbrow area gets used to expressing displeasure, anger, worry and a host of other negative emotions. However, your furrowed brow itself is perhaps your greatest source of consternation and discontent. In the same way that your brain notices when your “smile” muscles are flexed and thinks you’re happy, your brain notices when your corrugator supercilii is flexed and thinks “Oh, I must be upset or worried about something.”

Maybe this “mark of time” is reflecting my hard and curious intense edge while trying to conceal my soft underbelly. Maybe this midline crease is conveying my judgment, my angst and essential discontent with the human experiment. Maybe this frontal trench is reflecting my deep sensitivity towards everything in my field and manifests as worry and anxiety. This demarcation line over that proverbial third eye may also be revealing my innate intelligence and insight and an overly active and discerning mind. Dare I say a suspicious one? I’m a Scorpio, for heavens sake, of course I’m wary of other humanoids. Alex just has to call my name and I respond with a scowl. What is that all about? I’ve always hated when someone observes me looking worried and rudely asks, “What’s wrong?” as if something really bad is going on behind my eyes and then I can really get worried! I have, therefore, learned to compensate for wearing my emotions on my face by opening my eyes wide in an attempt to express wonder instead of angst.

I’m becoming more aware as I age that my face has long expressed pensiveness, as well as every emotion under the psychic rainbow. What can I say? I’m a deep, sensitive person and I’m concerned, very concerned. My older sister used to upset me when I was a teenager, which didn’t take much, by accusing me of being “overly analytical”, as if that’s a bad thing to avoid. Yes, I’m analytical, judgmental, critical and somewhat neurotic. So? I should have become a Jungian Analyst, but instead have been served well by sticking needles in people for a living these many years.

The older I get and the deeper my brow cleavage gets, the more conscious and appreciative I become of my multi-layered nature and my gifted shadow side. “Oh, I see you…and you…and you,” I marvel to myself. “Aren’t you a funny one, angry one, scared one, sweet one”. It’s really quite an eclectic and colorful territory, this land of psyche that splashes itself all over our faces and bodies! Have you looked in the mirror at your many faces lately or observed those interesting souls stomping through the mall? What do those faces and bodies reveal or conceal? I’ve become ever more suspicious of a flawless, expressionless face where I can’t see who they are. We humans are marked, often scarred, from head to toe, but so are trees, rocks and mountains, and we don’t judge them as lacking beauty. Oh, wait, they’re lacking consciousness, or so we assume. So, is it consciousness or the lack of that marks us?

There is an acupuncture point located midbrow that I frequently needle on patients to calm their mind and help relieve insomnia, anxiety and stress. It is called “Yintang” and translated as “Hall of Impression”, perhaps implying intuitive impressions or inner visions that can be tapped into via this point. This area is also referred to as the upper Dantien, one of the three treasures, as practiced in Qigong energy exercises. The space can also be called the “Crystal Palace” alluding to that mysterious master gland—the pineal—located in the center of our brain. The midbrow point is most notably referred to as the third eye, Ajna, or “eye of insight” referring to the 6^th chakra energy center of Hindu and yogic practice.

Studying my furrowed brow has taken me on quite a paradoxical journey from worry, consternation and superciliousness to an esoteric gateway opening to inspiration and wisdom. It’s all just another reminder of being an infinite spiritual being having a weird human experience in a finite deteriorating form. I’m still wondering, though, if cosmetically deadening those supercilii muscles might really make me feel less concerned about it all. D’ya think?