Communicate Your Truth: Understanding the Throat Chakra

Throat Chakra: Communication
Location: throat, neck, cervical spine, jaw, tongue, teeth, ears, hearing, thyroid
Bija Mantra: Ham
Sanskrit Name: Vishuddha (purity)

The vishuddha chakra is located at the throat and neck, and incorporates our hearing and thyroid gland, as well. This chakra’s element is ether (or, space), and it rules our communication and listening abilities. The throat chakra represents the first of the “heavenly” chakras, and as such, it is meant to communicate our connection to ourselves and our highest intentions. The Sanskrit for this chakra, vishuddha, translates as purity, which indicates that our system of communication ideally expresses our highest truth.

The throat chakra is correlated with the sense of hearing. It is through this chakra that we take on information and hear the words of others. In this day and age of information onslaught, we often take on information that brings us down. Think of how inundated we are by negative news feeds, and toxic journalism that soils our sense of self. In order to uphold this chakra’s balance, we must carefully curate the information we take on, and what we listen to.

This is not a suggestion to hide our head in the sand and avoid news at all costs…but must we be overwhelmed by it? It is one thing to remain educated, it is quite another to allow these sources of information to lead us into fear or closed-mindedness. This holds true for communication we receive from individuals. Harmful communication from others is some of the most psychologically damaging stuff around. The negative voices in our head often repeat the words of those who hurt us, and create a cycle that is challenging to recover from!

But, not impossible.

Keeping Ourselves Pure

Others say what they say. Ultimately, we have no control over that. What we do have control over is our own level of purity and consciousness…our own level of worthiness. To know we are worthy keeps the energetic field of this chakra resonating at a level that negativity cannot stick. Imagine a sponge. If a sponge is dry, it soaks up whatever soppy mess is thrown at it. However, if a sponge is already wet, it cannot take on any more liquid.

Basically, we need to stay saturated with our own worthiness and higher truth. This ensures that no matter what life throws at us, we remain steadfast in our own belief about ourselves. The more we immerse ourselves in positive internal communication, the less that outside forces effect us. This is not a suggestion to start using chintzy positive affirmations all the time (“I’m smart, I’m funny, and gosh darn it, people like me!”), but rather a notification of the following:

No one else can make you feel anything.

If someone else’s words or actions have an affect on you—and they do, we’re all human—that effect is determined by the contents of our own mind. Wayne Dyer says it best when he talks about karma. He says, “How people treat you is their karma. How you react is yours.” This empowers us to start getting to the heart of our own reactions and ensure that they line up with our beliefs. If we believe ourselves to be wholly worthy of love and belonging, then we react from a place of love and belonging. If we believe ourselves to be unworthy of love and belonging, then we react from a place of unworthiness.

Our greatest work in terms of our throat chakra is to fill ourselves up with beliefs that support our health, wellness, personal growth, unlimited capabilities…our worthiness of all that is good and beautiful in life. Every single one of us is deserving of these things. It is high time we start telling ourselves that!