Vishuddha – The Throat Chakra

The fifth Chakra refers to as ‘Vishuddha or ‘Vishuddhi Chakra’ or ‘Throat Chakra’. The word Vishuddha literally means pure or filtered. It is the chakra of communication and expression. So the purity in communication with self, world and the God indicates how pure we are inside out.

The chakra governs what we truly want to express, the truth. It is not only about the communication on the material plane but onto the spiritual plane. And in the same way it is not only about the communication to the others but to the self too. The balanced throat chakra provides you ability to express yourself freely, truly, clearly and fearlessly.

As the name suggests it lies in between the heart and third eye, which implies it is connecting brain and heart. Therefore, it is a bridge between thoughts and our emotions. How we express our thoughts and emotions in balanced way to self and to the outer world depends on how balanced is the chakra. The lower chakra are linked to the material plane. Instinct to survive, personal ego, self related things come under the lower chakra. Where heart chakra is the bridge between the lower three chakras and the higher three chakra. Throat is the first of the chakra where the things go from individual to all, from self consciousness to the higher consciousness, from me to we.

Location

This energy centre, The Throat Chakra is located at the pit of the throat, at the base. It governs the thyroid gland. These seven energy centers affect us at all the levels physical, mental and emotional. Vocal cords, mouth region, esophagus, ears, neck muscles etc come under the throat chakra region. Sense of hearing is also governed by the throat chakra.

Symbol Of Throat Chakra

What the symbol says? It has 16 petals in it. The colour is turquoise light blue. This Chakra is activated by the 16 vowel sounds or swaras. Once the dormant kundalini energy is activated at the Throat Chakra, power of speech, communication, health, strength and occult start manifesting within the human body.

The masculine deity associated with this Chakra is Lord SadaShiva and the feminine deity is Goddess Sakini. In the Sanskrit literature, these sounds are associated with Throat Chakra Petals are: am Am, Im, im, um, Um, Rm, RRm, IRm, IRRm, Em, aim, Om, oum, aha, aham.

Also there is a bright circular form that shines the full moon. This is representative of Nabha, of the Akasha or space element, which is associated with this chakra. And this nabha or the circle is said to be carried by a snow coloured elephant.

The Element Ether (Akaasha)

The element of the Vishudha is Akaasha, the space. The space is canvas where beautiful paintings and stories can be drawn. It is believed in Hinduism that Gods travel through Space, the Akaasha and therefore it is called akaash marg. It is the space where vibrations, waves can travel. and when these travelling waves reach to ears we hear, Thus hearing and ears have an association with the throat chakra. What we speak, the waves of the sound travels and resonates. Therefore it is said think before what you speak. As what we speak will create the environment around. Hence we are responsible for what we create. We create the positive and negative energies around by our speech, choice of words and mantras.

Out of panch tanmatra that are, shabd, sparsh, roop, ras, gandh, shabda has element akaash. And the sense organ for this is Ears. We create shabd from mouth and listen from the ears. Hence both listening and speaking are associated with the throat chakra.

What we speak we will create the same kind of energy around which results in the same kind of words we listen. So speak that what you want to listen. If you speak ill, it’s obvious you will have to listen the bad from others. On the other hand if you speak good and be thankful then you will get back the good words and feelings. Therefore it is important to have a balanced, opened throat chakra. You can manifest what you want by chanting and saying.

Blocked Throat Chakra

Our voice and expressions are directly related to Throat Chakra. The throat chakra blockage is believed in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism and they would associate these chakras to subtle body impacting the physical body when there is an imbalance in any of the energy centres. The fifth Chakra covers the neck system and certain parts of the body associated such as thyroid, mouth, ears, shoulders and neck.

This chakra is all about expressions, feelings, ideas, communication, dialogue, sound, talking and listening. It can be verbal and non-verbal. Not just talking with others but an internal communication or self-dialogue capability is also covered.

An Off-balance throat chakra Physical signs:

• Sore throat
• Hoarse voice
• Neck Pain
• Stress on Neck and shoulder area
• Thyroid gland related issues
• Vocal cords related problems and more.
• Hearing problems

Psychological symptoms of a closed/blocked Throat Chakra:

• You are not able to communicate, articulate and express.
• You tend to Stammer and fumble.
• Fear of speaking truth
• You are not able to listen properly and understand.
• You cannot cope with a group of people, meetings, interviews due to hesitation, loss of words and zero confidence.
• Heart and brain are not working in harmony.
• Fear of being ridiculed on speaking
• Self-talk may not be constructive.
• Insecurities in expressing the true me.
• Not able to understand what you actually want to say and what you said. May lead to misunderstandings.
• Maynot be a good listener

Overactive Vishuddha Chakra:

• Excessive talk
• Hindering other’s expression or communication.
• Neglecting others point of view, unwilling to listen and want to dominate the whole conversation.
• You want to arrogantly supersede others authority and overly interested in gossiping on several topics.
• Show off and exaggerations

A Healthy & Balanced Throat Chakra

• Your flow of communication becomes fluent in meetings, conferences, interviews and others.
• Listening abilities bloom and before speaking you understand others point of view.
• Your articulation, coherent expressions and choice of diction improve.
• You calmly listen to your inner voice, start to have a self-dialogue and Introspection with a stable mind.
• Intellect and emotions work in harmony and you are able to express accordingly.
• You will be able to express your thoughts in word in the right manner.
• In debates like situation you will listen and able to put your point of view.
• Healthy thyroid gland, flexible neck region
• Attractive voice and hence you will be charming when you communicate
• You will be friendly and open but still not interested in gossiping.

Significance Of Colour & Sound

Color

The color is calming, soothing blue. The peaceful, serene sky’s color is the color of the throat chakra. It is color of stillness. The cloudless sky depicts that clearly. The color signifies that you are at peace with expressing yourself and also with listening to others when the chakra is balanced. When the sky is clear sun rays or moon rays directly fall on the earth without obstruction. Clear sky signifies the clear communication between celestial being. Similarly the clear or balanced throat chakra indicates the clear communication without any hassle.

Sound

The beej sound of the throat chakra is Ham. Resonating with the sound of HAM will attunes the chakra. Undoubtedly beej mantras are very powerful mantras. To more about them see the blog on Beej Mantra. Ham chanting will remove the blockages in chakra if any and further you go deep into the meditation. The meditation on the Ham will open the power of throat chakra and one can get all the hidden powers behind.

One who constantly meditates on this chakra attains siddhi of speech called vaaksiddhi and a peaceful mind. Consequently, one becomes quite knowledgeable and fluent in his speech. Meditation or chanting the beej mantra also makes a powerful bridge between brain and heart.

How To Open / Heal / Balance / Activate Throat Chakra

It is to be noted that our throat chakra works in conjunction with the sacral chakra. Because through sacral chakra we better express our emotions and feelings. These both chakras are inseparable as expressing our creative thoughts is possible because of the connection between the two chakras.

For the restoration of an imbalanced Throat Chakra, there are several techniques and methods that can be adopted.

The Sound Meditation or Chanting

Though the meditation is extremely beneficial for all types of Chakra blockages, practising meditation daily specifically for Throat Chakra can make worthwhile benefaction to heal and activate the Throat inadequacies.

In sound meditation or chanting you can work with the “Ham” beej mantra as Ham is the mantra of Vishuddhi or throat Chakra. Sit in the comfortable position without any movement. Keep your spine erect all the time. Turn on the sound Ham or you can chant yourself. Focus on the sound while saying and listening. The meditation on Ham will heal the chakra and makes it as clear as sky. After a few days of practice you will feel the positive changes in you. With the frequency of Ham, you frequently find the desire to express yourself to the world physically. You start to enunciate and articulate words that embody through feelings. Thus practising mantra chanting will tune the chakra to the right vibrations.

Ham is a gateway to your inner voice.

With Colour and Symbol

Just sit in a comfortable and relaxed position and focus your attention to your throat by imagining the blue colour glowing at the base of the throat. Visualize the 16 petalled symbol there with Ham written inside. Feel the colour is spreading all over inside and outside. You are filled with the sky and the room in which you are sitting is also filled with the blue energy. You can keep on spreading as much as you want and can stay longer. There is no hard and fast rule for any meditation. Let the energies flow.

If you cannot visualize you can place a symbol in front of eyes. Fix your gaze and do tratak. Now feel the room is filled with the symbol and so are you. Feel the blessings and opening of the chakra.

One should combine the mantra and symbol technique together if one can easily or one can take two together once stabilized with one technique.

Yogic Practices

Yoga is an ancient and authentic practice to attain holistic health. Certainly, yoga asanas profoundly heal the whole neck area and open up the Vishuddha Chakra. Asanas such as cat-cow pose, singhasana or lion pose, halasana or plow pose, Matsyendrasana or the lord of fish pose, Sarvangasana or the shoulder pose and other more yoga asanas can assimilate throat activation along with overall well-being. Pranayama like ujjayi can miraculously affect the chakra. Along with the pranayama and asana, bandha like jalandhara bandha (throat lock) has great impact on the throat chakra. But it is always advised to learn and practice under the guidance of master.

Reiki Healing

Taking Reiki Healing sessions would be of great help in chakra cleaning, charging and balancing. A reiki master knows well how the work with chakras and aura. Various techniques like crystal, healing, chakra healing and colour healing are the part of the session. One can take touch healing or distant healing from the master. Time needed to balance the chakras depends on the blockages and negativity. The master or reiki grandmaster clear off the disturbing things and fill the chakras with positive vibes.

With Stones & Crystals

Blue coloured stones gives a positive impact on the throat chakra. They activates and balance the chakra. Crystals vibrate on their frequencies so choose the crystals which get tune up with the frequency of Vishuddha chakra. Stones or crystals that can be worn are Amazonite, Turquoise, Lapis lazuli, Aquamarine, Blue Kyanite are the few. You can wear them in your neck or keep them with you in raw form.

Engage In A Conversation

Another effective way to open up the fifth chakra is to converse. Conversations can be beneficial. The more you communicate, the more your inability to express honestly and candidly will go away. Practice open conversations regularly with family and friends to uplift the energy flow of throat chakra and your voice considerably improves. As a result hindrance in communication will fade away and more confident is you!

Affirmations

Last but not the least affirmations are the powerful tools. These are seeds which germinate into a tree one day. So constantly reminding the subconscious to manifest the desired intention into reality, affirmations play a key role for positive healing of Chakras.

Some of the Throat Chakra Affirmations you can try are:

1. I trust my Voice
2. Expressing myself freely.
3. I am honest about myself
4. I speak the truth openly
5. What is in my mind I say clearly.
6. I patiently listen to others
7. My voice is sweet and I am thankful for it
8. I am at ease with my communication
9. My thoughts are pure and positive
10. I am confident and accept myself

Communicate, Spread Love, Speak Truth, Get Attuned With Ham, Be as Peaceful as Sky!!!