Although all of the seven chakras are significant, the Throat chakra has an especially powerful role in the impact we have on the world. Known as the ‘Vishuddha’ in Sanskrit, this fifth chakra is located in the mid-point of the neck, and it’s the energy center that gives us our abilities around self-expression and communication.
A throat chakra blockage might mean you experience physical symptoms, like a frequent sore throat or laryngitis – but perhaps more significantly, it could leave you struggling to express your inner truth, or unable to communicate with confidence and honesty.
Do you feel like there’s a disconnect between your true feelings and the ‘you’ that you present to the world? Do you want more from life but find yourself unable to speak up and work towards that dream? Maybe you feel like your needs constantly come second to someone else’s?
If these situations sound familiar, you’re not alone. A blocked throat chakra is incredibly common – but the good news is, there are plenty of very effective techniques you can explore that will help you find your true voice.
Find out which of your chakras are open, weak, or closed.
Symptoms of a Blocked Throat Chakra
As complex spiritual beings, you can probably appreciate that no two peoples’ experiences with a blocked Throat chakra are exactly the same – but there are common traits.
I’ve tried to categorize the kind of symptoms you might find if your Vishuddha is either blocked or out of balance with the rest of the seven chakras.
Physical Manifestations
You won’t be surprised to discover that the physical symptoms that relate to the Throat chakra relate overwhelmingly to the neck area:
Hoarseness: The need to frequently clear your throat, a raspy voice, congestion.
Sore throat: Pain swallowing, tonsillitis, throat infections, reflux.
Thyroid problems: Fatigue, weakness, muscle cramps, weight problems, poor appetite, constipation.
Laryngitis: Difficult speaking, a fever, an irritating cough, swelling, breathing difficulties.
Neck pain: Stiffness, soreness across the shoulders, tight muscles, tension, difficulty getting comfortable.
Emotional Manifestations
As the bridge between the Heart chakra – representing love and emotion, and the Third Eye chakra – representing intuition and the mind, it’s clear that the Throat chakra has incredible emotional power:
An inability to express yourself: Struggling to make your inner voice heard, not getting your point over to others, frequent interruptions as you speak, a struggle to explain your needs or desires.
Depression: Feeling like there’s a disconnect between the positive feelings you want and the difficult darker feelings that occupy your thoughts.
Anxiety: Feeling unprepared for life, worried, or unable to change your life direction when you know things aren’t going to plan.
Aggression: Struggling to express yourself so much that anger takes over, often coming from a place of frustration.
Low self-esteem: Feeling like your wants, needs, or desires don’t deserve a place in the world – or that you have to lie and pretend to be someone else to get by.
Possible Causes of a Blocked Throat Chakra
It’s often very difficult to pinpoint an exact instance that’s caused a blockage in the Throat chakra. Instead, for many people, there’s an overriding feeling about life that’s meant your fifth chakra has become blocked.
Rather than tell you definitively why you’re struggling, it’s worth considering a few questions:
- Were you criticized a lot as a child? Did you feel like your parents or caregivers didn’t value your opinion or allow you to contribute?
- Have you had an overbearing or abusive partner with a “What I say goes” attitude?
- Were you bullied or made fun of when you expressed yourself when you were younger? Are you experiencing bullying or demeaning attitudes from people to this day – perhaps at work?
- Did you experience abuse of any form as a child – with no ability to tell someone about what was happening?
As heartbreaking as it is, these things are painfully common. To make matters worse, as you struggle more and more with the symptoms of a blocked throat chakra, situations like these have a tendency to reappear and repeat – making it so important that you work towards a healthy throat chakra.
Ways to Open Your Throat Chakra
Since it’s now clear that there’s such a huge amount at stake, it’s useful to find Throat chakra healing techniques that you can bring into your life.
If you’re keen to improve the energy flow through your Vishuddha with a view to aiding your overall well-being, you might want to explore the following:
Throat chakra gemstones
The Throat chakra’s got a blue energy, and as such, you’ll find that keeping blue gems and crystals close by can be enormously helpful. Lapus lazuli, aquamarine, amazonite, and turquoise are all perfect – and if you can find something that hangs around your neck, even better.
The color blue
It’s not just blue gems that will help with throat chakra healing – anything blue will help to free the natural energy that resonates from your Throat chakra. Why not add a little blue to your wardrobe – or refresh your bedroom with blue sheets? You might even decide to bathe in some blue light or spend a little more time outdoors under clear blue skies.
Cleanse
Water is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle – and it’s a great way to help cleanse the Throat chakra. Try not to let thirst dictate when you drink – in truth, we often mistake thirst for hunger – and end up snacking and over-eating. Instead, try to set a water schedule, making sure you consume a glass regularly through the day. You might even find it useful to use an app that prompts you periodically too.
Eating fruit
Fresh fruit is another great part of a healthy lifestyle – so adding apples, peaches, lemons, and limes to your day will almost certainly help with Throat chakra health. If a lime or a lemon is a little too sharp for your taste, why not add the freshly squeezed juice to one of your eight glasses of water? Zesty water like this is a firm favorite of singers and performers, as it helps to cut through any stickiness in your vocal cords.
Breathing
We know how transformative breathing correctly can be – but why not take things a step further and cleanse the air with some aromatherapy oils and a diffuser. Scents such as rosemary, jasmine, sandalwood, calendula, and ylang-ylang are all excellent for Vishuddha health – and bring a lovely calm atmosphere to your home.
Honesty
We’re all honest, right? In actual fact, virtually everyone tells slight untruths through the day – and for many of us, not being honest is just part of life. Genuine honesty can be completely transformative for the Throat chakra – so next time you catch yourself on the edge of being dishonest, open up and speak your truth instead. The reaction might surprise you – and it’s a powerful boost for the Throat energy.
Journaling
Few of us take the time to actually express our feelings out loud – and that’s why journaling can be so transformative. Take a few minutes every day to speak your truth on paper – whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about spelling and punctuation; just get into the habit of getting those feelings out.
Communication
Don’t be fooled into thinking that a healthy Throat chakra is just about making your own truth heard. It’s equally important to be a good communicator – listening when it’s required. Explore some active listening techniques to bring a new level to your interactions.
Singing and humming
Whether you’re taking a shower, driving in the car, or just standing with a hairbrush in front of the mirror – singing along to some great songs is a great way of giving those vocal cords the kind of stimulation they might not get at any other time. If you’d prefer, humming exercises can be great too.
Letting it go
It can be incredibly freeing to think about what we truly have control over in life. If you’re being held back by something that you have no control of, learning to let it go has tremendous therapeutic benefits. Don’t worry if it takes some time – it can be something you work on in your journal.
Yoga Poses for the Throat Chakra
If you practice yoga, you might want to build the Camel (Ustransana), Plow (Halasana), Bridge (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana), Fish (Matsyasana), and the Standard Forward Bend (Uttanasana) into your practice. Each requires effort from a slightly different set of muscles connected to the neck – bringing elevated blood flow and flexibility to the area.
Chanting
Chanting can give those vocal cords another work-out in a slightly different way to singing or humming. The chant “HAM” is useful for unblocking the throat chakra – and you’ll notice the cleansing sensation of the chant as you exhale it from your lungs, through your throat, and out of your mouth.
Affirmations
There are a number of affirmations and mantras that you might decide to use as part of a meditation practice, as a stimulus for your journal writing, or maybe just as reminders when you need the wind in your sails.
“My voice is heard”
“I vocalize my feelings”
“I claim and honor my true voice”
“I have an important voice in the world”
“My honesty attracts what I deserve”
“I am safe and trust others to allow me to express myself truthfully”
Working to Unblock and Activate Your Throat Chakra
How many of the blocked Throat chakra symptoms can you relate to?
For many of us, the thought of telling people exactly how we feel is unthinkable; we keep our opinions to ourselves, taking the safe option – both in our personal lives and professionally. Every day, millions of us force a smile and get on with a life that they never said yes to, instead, just getting swept along with the decisions that other people make for us, afraid to make our own voices heard.
If this feels familiar, you’re probably struggling with a blocked Throat chakra. Without energy flowing freely from the Vishuddha, we can feel trapped in a world where everyone else has a voice, but we can’t communicate truthfully, clearly, assertively, or effectively.
The truth is, if we don’t speak up and live our own life, we can end up as nothing much more than a footnote in someone else’s story.
You deserve so much more than that.
You’re a force for such good in this world; it would almost be criminal not to try to live to your full potential.
If you’d like to be part of a community of people who are taking steps to have their own voices heard, come and explore what’s happening on the Live Your Truth pages on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
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