Freeing Your Voice, Empowering Your Message, Listening with Intent… The Throat Chakra

By Cindy Harley

Hello Spiritual Seekers,

We are continuing our exploration of the seven main Chakras. We have explored and examined the first four Chakras.

The First Four Chakras: Grounding and Your Center

First Chakra – Root: Feelings of safety and groundedness

Second Chakra – Sacral: Center of creativity and passion

Third Chakra – Solar Plexus: Center of power and empowerment

Fourth Chakra – Heart: Center of love, compassion, and truth

The first three Chakras are really helping us ground into our body in this dimension. If they are operating correctly and the energy is flowing, you can feel and experience your place here on Earth. You can experience the connection with Mother Gaia. You feel like you belong here and now.

The fourth Chakra is the Heart Chakra, and this is your center. From here you can experience or sense your truth. It is also the link between the lower Chakras and the upper Chakras. You can experience or sense your connection to the bigger picture. When this Chakra is open, you are able to feel you are worthy of being here and giving and receiving love. Your sense of self is strong, and you feel compassion for yourself, others, and the planet.

The three upper Chakras are now helping you to solidify, express, sense, and allow your connection to your higher self and The Divine. If your lower Chakras are open and the energy is flowing easily, you can really feel this connection. Remember, you need to feel safe and have your physical needs met. You need to feel creative and passionate. You need to feel empowered. You need to feel love.

The Fifth Chakra: The Throat Chakra—Your Communication Hub

The fifth Chakra—the Throat Chakra—is called Vishuddha Chakra in Sanskrit. This is your communication hub. If this Chakra is not flowing freely, you may find that it is hard to speak or, in the case of an overactive Throat Chakras, hard to be quiet.

There have been times in my life where I felt like I wanted to express a thought but held my tongue. There have also been times when my mouth ran away before the coherent thought process was fully formed.

In high school, I took a speech class. There were all kinds of requirements for giving a speech. But it was when my speech teacher asked me to speak about my summer AFS international secondary school exchange program to Austria that I could really open up and speak my truth. I loved my trip to Austria and my host family. I felt everyone should experience time in a different country. It expanded my worldview and opened my eyes. I was easily able to share information about the program. Now compare that to when I had to prepare a speech on an assigned topic: eggs. I did my research; I knew all about the nutritional value of eggs, how they were brought to market, and the different types of eggs. But this was actually a hard speech to give. I believe it was because this was not a topic with which I had an emotional connection. It was a bland topic that I wasn’t passionate about. As I reflect back, this could mean that without the emotional connection, my throat chakra was not flowing freely.

The Throat Chakra is our way of expressing our thoughts and our emotions (or emotional attachment). The Throat Chakra is also associated with the ears. And the association with the ears may mean that we miss things that are said.

There is so much going on in the world around us. There are so many conversations, music playing, birds singing, children laughing, children crying, cars, trains, the television—it can almost seem like it is just a lot of noise. We then have to decide what we are going to focus our attention on. What are we going to listen to? About what do we want to speak? All this has a correspondence to our Throat Chakra.

The Throat Chakra Speaks

This past week I have been with my daughter helping her move. We were sharing a hotel room before starting back to our home. Although, I don’t think I snore, my daughter had to wear air pods and have white noise going in order to get to sleep.  Now, I felt guilty when I heard that. My daughter said it is a natural thing and to not feel guilty. Snoring, sore throats, coughs, ear aches can all mean there is something going on in the Throat Chakra. It doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In my case, I think I was feeling overwhelmed with moving and was tired. And it made me feel better when someone actually said that snoring is a natural thing. I probably will still snore and I don’t hear it. It is also my body telling me that it is ok to rest. Funny aside, I have also been told I sometimes talk in my sleep.

Watching movies often leads to me experiencing epiphanies. A movie that really illustrates the Throat Chakra is The King’s Speech. (If you have not seen the movie, spoiler alert.) In The King’s Speech, King George VI stutters. He hires an unusual speech therapist that has him swear to release rage. He gives him a set of tools and is with the King whenever he gives a speech. I found it interesting that the therapist had him read while listening to loud music through headphones (he could not hear himself), and he read the passage without a stammer.

Colin Firth in a BBC interview states, “One of the things that was most painful to observe about George VI is that if you read what he wrote, this is a man with a subtle, elegant mind… was judged as dull-witted because he couldn’t express all that.”

We may not be King George VI, but we can get tongue-tied. We have so much to express, and it just gets blocked in our throat. Watching The King’s Speech, I had the epiphany that I might also get tongue-tied and stumble over words when I am trying to express an idea. Or I may just start talking, talking, and talking (stream of consciousness) and just not get to the main point. All these correspond to the energy flow in the fifth Chakra.

I always like to include a musical number that I associate with the Chakra I’m writing about. This is one that always makes me smile: “Happy Talk” from South Pacific “If you don’t have a dream, how will you ever have a dream come true.”

Throat Chakra

Correspondences to the Throat Chakra:

Sanskrit Name: Vishuddha Chakra
Color: Blue
Element: Sound or Space
Stones and Crystals: Aquamarine, turquoise, angelite, blue calcite, and other blue stones

Signs Your Throat Chakra May Be Blocked or Unbalanced

If your Throat Chakra is blocked, you may notice these signs in your physical or emotional environment.

-Trouble speaking
-Sore throat, cough, hoarseness, sinus infections, TMJ, ear infections, stiff shoulders
-Talking too much

Ways to Align Your Throat Chakra

-Wear blue
-Protect your neck
-Tea and honey
-Chant, sing, or hum to start the throat vibrating
-Do tongue twisters to get your tongue working
-Practice yoga: Lion’s Pose
-EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) is a practice of tapping on meridian points to help release blocked emotions or energy. We often will experience an event, and it will add to our stress level. Our body remembers. So, by using tapping we can calm our body and allow the trapped energy to release. For example, you have a fear of public speaking, you may have had an experience when you were young that someone made fun of you speaking. And even though the person didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, it brought up anxiety. So now whenever you are asked to speak in public or even share your thoughts, you get a feeling of anxiety. When you start to get that anxious feeling, you can stop and, with conscious intent, do a round of EFT.
-Get an energy treatment. Nerissa offers Angel Reiki—email her for available sessions.
-Practice saying what you mean. Speak slowly and listen with intent. Birchlight Energy’s guided meditation Meditation Mini “Resting into Self” can help with this.

Phrases to Help with Throat Chakra Imbalances

Here are some set-up phrases to help with throat chakra imbalances:

Even though I am worried about giving my speech, I choose to release the worry and know that all will be well.

Even though I have feelings of anxiety when I think about speaking up, I love and honor myself and my feelings.

Even though I get stage-fright and my stomach fills with butterflies and knots, I now choose to take a deep breath, speak slowly, and know that I will be all right.

Some affirmations:

I speak with grace and ease and am understood.
I listen and really hear what others are saying.
My words matter.
I express my creativity with grace and ease.
I enjoy speaking my truth.
People hear and understand me.

Like the song “Sing” from the Carpenters (an oldie): “Sing out loud, sing out strong…”

You are here and deserve to be heard. Your creativity matters. Be yourself proudly.

May you lead with your heart and feel the love of all.

Blessings!

Birchlight Energy | BE–Shine Bright