The Energy of The Throat Chakra

Why activate the throat chakra?

The power that lies within the throat chakra is the power to transcend space-time. Communication enables us to transcend space as sound waves travel through phone lines, cell towers, and internet connections. We can be virtually present in another place — through audio and more recently through video without leaving our physical location.

Communication happens on many levels, not only the physical. We communicate through words and sounds, facial expressions, body language, thoughts (also known as telepathy), and vibration. A thought is a vibration on a subtle level. The organs and body parts in the fifth chakra allow us to create and absorb the vibrations of sound.

Sound can be used to harm or to heal. The voice of a loved one can be used to say, “I love you,” or it can be used to say, “I never want to see you again.” When used for unkind intentions, such as in rap lyrics filled with words of hate, sound creates separateness and dissonance. However, when harnessed as a powerful expression of beauty, as in Beethoven’s Fifth symphony, it creates harmony, entertainment, and synchronization.

Words have the power to heal when you speak inner truth to yourself. Your inner and outer dialogue about yourself determines how healthy you are. If you repeat to yourself daily, “I’m so fat and I’ll never get thin,” those words have the power to become your reality. However, if you tell yourself, “I’m working on getting healthier each and every day,” you will have quite a different outcome. Words from others also have the power to heal. When a child falls and skins his knee, he will heal faster if his parent says, “You’re all right. Get up and go play.”

On the positive side of words, have you noticed that when you talk to a person you’re close to, your speech patterns tend to mimic each other’s? Words connect in fluid harmony people who like to be together. You can notice this best in teenagers. Listen to the way they speak. They create their own language with words that only they seem to understand. If you have a teenager, you know this. And the language changes quickly, every few years or so. Words such as sick to describe something awesome or LOL, taken from text-speak to mean “laugh out loud”

Singing and chanting are ageless forms of sound vibration. Singing has been used for thousands of years to band people together with a purpose. Song has the power to transcend. Much of today’s soul music originated from music sung by enslaved Africans in the Americas. They used songs to strengthen community and transcend the conditions in which they were living. They also used song to connect with God, which brought them to a state of transcendent bliss.

Singing and chanting can be used unconsciously for brainwave entrainment. People with close relationships entrain, which means their bodily rhythms work together in synchronistic harmony through sound. Mothers chant or sing to their babies to soothe their cries.

You too can entrain your cells to work in synchronistic harmony through sound. I provide a mantra sound you can use for chanting. By chanting the sound HUM repeatedly, you will align the vibrational energy in the fifth chakra and cause your cells to remember their purpose and work toward the greater good, which in this case is keeping you healthy and whole. Mantras in meditation are used for this purpose too. You can chant a mantra, incantation, or affirmation out loud or even in your mind, and it will have the same effect. Simple, primordial mantras chanted out loud have greater vibrations and therefore have greater power. For example, chanting the sound OM, while allowing your lips to vibrate on the mmmmm sound as you exhale, creates an explosion of vibrations in the body and precipitates healing. Chanting out loud the affirmation “I am strong, I am healthy” has great power too, just in a different way with different intensity.

The ultimate healing power in the Vishuddha chakra enables you to synchronize communication between your inner and outer worlds and most importantly to clear the lines of communication to the Divine. Once you have harnessed this power, wherein there is no disconnection or disharmony in communication between you, others, and the Divine, you will have a clear path toward enlightenment. The first step toward this path is to seek and speak truth.

Truthfulness has become more difficult than ever in modern society. We have increased means of communication, and we seemingly communicate all the time. With the constant stream of text messages, voicemail, video calls, social media feeds, and emails, it appears that we’re communicating at a more constant rate than at any other time in history. And perhaps we are.

Yet much of this communication — such as humble-brag Facebook posts or tweets — is one-way and often designed to embellish or conceal the truth. I’m not suggesting that people are inherently dishonest. I don’t have such a bleak outlook on people’s subconscious intentions. However, that faceless and often voiceless communication can result in a portrayal of an alternate reality.

With in-person communication, you can also alter the other person’s perception of who you are by filtering what you let them see. But when you’re face-to-face with another, you have other cues to send you signals as to whether the person is sincere. You can “read” a person’s energy field (we all do this whether consciously or unconsciously). You can notice a person’s body language. You can connect intonation of voice with facial expressions. It’s much more difficult to deceive in person than over the internet or the phone.

Another issue with communication today has to do with the expectation of a rapid response. Because we’re used to instantaneous feedback through instant messaging or texts, we’re inclined to become impatient when we don’t receive a response right away. Two things tend to happen in these situations: 1st we jump the gun and respond harshly when we don’t get an instant response, and 2nd the person on the other end may answer with a less-than-honest, ill-conceived, or poorly researched response because he or she is more concerned with answering quickly than with thinking things through first.

The same happens with our listening skills. Fifth chakra energy is as much about hearing and listening as speaking. Both sides are equally important for effective communication. Through all our electronic ways of communicating, we have become accustomed to jumping to conclusions and laying out what we want to say without necessarily taking in what the other person is saying. Then it becomes two one-sided pieces of communication that never merge into a conversation.

One way to rectify this imbalance is to realize that communication is a dynamic dance of giving and receiving that operates according to a patterned rhythm. If you’re blurting out non-stop whatever comes to mind over various forms of media, you aren’t honouring the natural rhythm of this dance. By taking the time to truly listen to what the other person is saying and asking questions when you aren’t sure or don’t understand, you can help turn the tide back toward authentic and real communication.

Another pitfall of using electronic communication is that it can let barriers down inappropriately. Cyber-psychologists have noticed a dramatic increase in behaviour traditionally reserved for those under the influence of alcohol or drugs, that of dropping all defences and blurting out the truth. People who have had a few drinks tend to lose their inhibitions and tell all or “tell it like it is.” The same phenomenon can happen when we’re hiding behind a username or social media profile. Our typical inhibitions, including a healthy dose of caution, seem to fade away too easily. Many open themselves up to complete strangers, feeling safe when they see reciprocation of such behaviour.

This lack of discernment in communication can be just as dangerous as its opposite: completely shutting down communication closes off the fifth chakra, but throwing it all out there online or in dialogues with people on the internet whom you haven’t met in person can push you into a deceptive reality. In real life and in healthy communication, the give-and-take allows the two parties to open up gradually.

Finally, remember that immediacy of response is not always the healthiest or for the highest good of both parties. At times, thoughtful reflection can help you and the other person get in touch with your highest truth.