Last Friday night, my husband and I were invited to attend an acoustic Living Room Show of the small indie duo, Marie/Lepanto up in Petaluma. A Living Room Show is a sort of pop-up where musicians make their way around the country sans stage or soundsystem welcomed by hosts into the intimate settings of their living rooms full of about 40 people.
As we rode with our friends through the back winding roads of West Marin, making our way up to Petaluma before dusk settled over the hills we caught glimpses of foxes, hawks, and deer through the rolling cattle lands. You could feel a collective exhale as the four of us made our way farther into the countryside.
The singer-songwriter duo was made up of two bearded guys in baseball caps who hailed from Arkansas and Missouri with a sort of Ray LaMontagne vibe. They made their way through Marfa, Phoenix, LA, SF and Petaluma before hitting up Reno, Portland and back towards Denver.
The gentle picking of acoustic guitars, foot-stomping to keep time, and lyrics telling stories of black dogs at night, rivers running through middle America and one lonely Christmas Eve in Missouri mesmerized the entire room. What captured us most were their voices, like mellifluous honey pouring out of their being, so resonant you felt like you could have reached out and grasped a ribbon of it as a keepsake. God graced these men with powerful gifts and throat chakras!
Vishuddha
Your throat chakra is the 5th chakra landing at the base of the throat between the heart and 3rd eye of the forehead. It's sanskrit names is Vishuddha. When there is an imbalance in the throat chakra we experience sore throats, jaw tension, even thyroid imbalances.
It’s the place of expression, telling our story, speaking our truth. The throat chakra also activates a process which parallels the metabolic system which allows us to assimilate and speak concepts with clarity. Here’s how.
Looking at the physical and emotional parallels within our body: Metabolism involves two processes, catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism is the breakdown of certain substances in order to release energy. Anabolism builds new tissue from less complex substances.
So just as the thyroid gland synthesizes nutrients to build and maintain the physical body, the Throat Chakra synthesizes the energies that travel through it to build and maintain the energy body. As we receive ideas, guidance, wisdom through our Crown Chakra, it travels through the 6th Chakra, your mind’s eye or “3rd Eye” to break it down to clarity and insight, the “a-ha” moment.
This new information then travels through the Throat Chakra to become synthesized in the body. Your body’s energy system is now taking this new information and integrating or “metabolizing” it into the body so you can grasp it then express it clearly out into the world. This is beneficial to writing, lecturing, even channeling information.
The Throat Chakra’s vibrational color is blue, so wearing or holding stones such as turquoise, lapis and kyanite are very useful for opening the energies of the Throat Chakra.
Additionally singing like Aretha in your car or the shower can be powerful to clear blocked channels. I actually love the practice of Kirtan which is devotional chanting. You can often find this in a yoga class where the instructor will lead you in a brief call and response sanskrit chant. The energy of chanting something out of devotion creates a higher vibe in the body, beneficial in clearing blockage.
Finally, pay attention to your voice. Your voice should be like your breath, deep belly breaths, deep belly voice. Dropping your voice down to the belly and speaking from your center helps to strengthen the Throat Chakra rather than taxing it when we speak from a more shallow place.
Common physical manifestations of the Throat Chakra are:
frequent headaches
dental issues
mouth ulcers
hoarseness
thyroid problems
laryngitis
Temporomandibular disorders of the jaw (commonly known as TMJ)
neck pain
Obviously, if you experience any of these ailments for a long period of time it's good to seek help from your physician. But also focusing on the energy of your body, emotions, where and why you're holding tension provides a more holistic perspective.
Want to learn more about the chakras and energy healing? Join me for the VIBE Reiki Training!