Healing the Fifth Chakra

(Check out Phoenix Adoni’s other two articles on the fifth chakra here and here.)

The wounds of the throat chakra primarily have to do with lies. Lies fall within two main categories, with various shades and degrees in between. There is the lying of commission, and the lying of omission. When children are of a young age, they are equipped with a limited ability to verbally communicate, but a much more heightened awareness of the non-verbal, vibrational, energetic form of communication.

When a child intuitively perceives or feels something beyond verbal communication, which for argument’s sake is true, and the parent(s) lie to the child, he or she begins to doubt their own feelings and intuitions – that which they know is true for them. Thus begins the crumbling of the foundation of inner trust and communication, and the planting of the seeds of self-doubt. Because lying is lying, whether by commission or omission, both work to destroy the beauty of truth.

The other form of lies comes in the form of incongruities between that which is verbally expressed and that of an action. For instance, a parent who expresses their love for their child, yet abuses them physically, emotionally, mentally or sexually, is a perfect and common example of such behavior. The child usually grows up with a distorted view of love, living in the perpetual cycle of the pain/pleasure paradigm.

Lies not only serve to distort and destroy truth, but also splinter the self, distorting our perception of who we truly are. When this self distortion becomes activated, children grow into adulthood never really knowing who they are. They become divorced from themselves, compartmentalizing various aspects of their personality, believing that the lies they tell themselves (and others) to be truth, oftentimes turning into a “the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing” scenario.

How do we begin to heal this chakra?

Listening

The most important aspect of being an effective communicator is being a good listener, a skill many of us lack, as we are all usually thinking of what we want to say, and merely waiting for the other person to stop talking. An excellent exercise is to watch one of your favorite television shows, keeping the volume low enough to barely be able to hear what the characters are saying. This narrowly focuses your attention upon hearing and listening to what is being said, but also what isn’t being said, in the form of the character’s body language. Also try doing the same exercise while watching a show that you have absolutely no interest in. This will help develop your listening skills in areas of your life with which you may usually tune-out when you should be paying attention.

Neck Stretches

Stretching and rotating the neck helps release blocked energy from the throat chakra which manifests itself as cramping or tension. Start by sitting or standing erect and tilt your head back slowly and as far back as you can, without straining or going beyond your comfort level. While feeling the stretch in your throat, inhale through your nose and, as you do, imagining energy flowing with the breath into the chakra. With each exhale, imagine the tension and psychic debris flowing out with the breath. Do the same by tilting the head forward, as if you were trying to touch your chin to your chest, and then side to side, as if trying to touch your ear to the top of your shoulder.

The Unspoken Journal

A common issue with a blocked throat chakra is not verbally expressing or communicating our thoughts, feelings and emotions to people in our lives. This can range from a friend having said something that hurt your feelings to a parent abusing you at a young age.

Begin by writing the name of the person who hurt or upset you. Next to their name, write what was said that hurt you, and next to that, write why it hurt. Finish by writing what you would like to say to them in a healthy and productive manner. Once done, review your journal and see if it would be appropriate to actually address some of the people you’ve put down on paper. This takes incredible courage and honesty, and will help you connect to these unaddressed feelings.

Note: If dealing with issues of severe abuse of any kind, it is important to seek the help of a licensed therapist.

What are your favorite methods for working with and healing the fifth chakra?