Speaker 1: 0:13

Welcome to Roots of the Rise. I'm Sarah Hope, and today we arrive at the fifth chakra, the center of communication. If you've ever struggled to say what you mean, to speak your truth, if you've ever stumbled over words, said too much or couldn't speak at all, this episode is for you. We are in week five of exploring the chakra system as a path to deeper self-understanding. Quick reminder if you haven't already, you might want to go back to episode 42 for an overview of the entire system and maybe check out the first four chakras before diving into this one. That said, if your interest is really just focused on the throat chakra, then you're right where you need to be. Also worth noting, this is not a deep dive. Think of this more as broad strokes, a taste test to help you decide. If you want to go deeper, I'll include resources in the show notes. If you do so, let's get started.

Speaker 1: 1:13

The fifth chakra, as you've probably already noticed, is located at the throat. In Sanskrit it's called visuddha, meaning pure or purification. This chakra governs our ability to express ourselves clearly, truthfully and authentically, as Anadeya Judith puts it. It's her books that I've referenced below. Purification here is kind of a vibrational refinement. It happens when we detox the body, speak truthfully and work through the blockages of the lower chakras. In other words, the more we align with our true nature, the more clearly and honestly we can speak. The color most often associated with the throat chakra is blue.

Speaker 1: 1:56

To really understand this fifth chakra, we have to first recognize that all life is energetic. People say things like I resonate with that or we are not on the same frequency. And even though it's become a little cliche to hear things like that, there's deep truth in the languaging. Resonance is when two or more sources vibrate at the same frequency. And isn't that what relationship is all about? That sense of connection, of being in sync. It often begins with communication.

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Communication is the central theme of the fifth chakra. It's also one of our centers of creativity. So the second is home to unconscious, generative creativity, like having a baby. But the fifth is what holds consciously directed creativity, like we are quite literally creating our world through our words and how we express ourselves. Again, as Judith writes, if you tell someone you want them to come closer, you create intimacy. As you tell someone to go away, you create solitude or alienation. So through expression, the world knows what's happening inside of us and we only truly know others when they communicate with us. The throat is also this internal bridge between the body and the mind. Energetically, it can act as a bottleneck. If it's blocked, the upward movement of energy is restricted, it can't pass freely into the higher centers of perception and thought.

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You know, this chakra is about our right to speak and to hear truth. Therefore, its demon is lies. Lies are the opposite of truth and they block not only communication but trust, connection and clarity. So let's take a moment to consider just how much is communicated to us every day, just how much sound we absorb, how much we see or read. We are constantly bombarded by noise. Sound pollution is everywhere, especially in the more populated areas, obviously but also by bad news, by tragedy, by endless advertising, by the chaos and competition of social media. I mean much of what we hear is dissonant, misaligned and totally overwhelming. On top of that, think about how much we've learned to censor ourselves. We've trained ourselves to only speak in polite niceties and to reserve raw truth for hushed conversations with people we have thoroughly vetted to make sure that they're on the same page as we are. I spoke about this during the episode on cancel culture, where even the way you phrase something can be seen as harmful and might get you essentially thrown out of the tribe. So we're saying less and less. We monitor ourselves so carefully we barely see anything at all, and that's disembodied communication and it's a symptom of a blocked throat chakra.

Speaker 1: 5:00

When the fifth chakra is balanced, communication flows with clarity and ease. There's an ability to both express and listen honestly, diplomatically and being fully present. People who have a balanced fifth can articulate what they're experiencing and also hold space for others to do the same. There's a natural rhythm and balance between speaking and listening. It's important to mention that the voice itself is a living expression of one's core vibration. Since this chakra resides in the throat, the quality of a person's voice can reflect the health of this energy center. So when it's balanced, the voice tends to be clear, resonant, rhythmic, concise.

Speaker 1: 5:45

When it's out of balance, we might hear it in the voice. Someone may speak in a whiny, whispery tone or mumble, or at the other extreme, they might be loud or shrill or overbearing. So when the throat chakra is imbalanced, we can see, you know, obviously, the opposite of those positive qualities. So there may be a deep fear of speaking one's truth or a difficulty putting feeling into words. Sometimes we see the flip side excessive talking, dominating conversations, using words as a way to offload energy or stand control. Over-talking can sometimes be a defense mechanism. We might also notice poor listening skills or difficulty processing what others are saying. Gossiping is another sign of imbalance here. It's a distortion of communication that often stems from insecurity or disconnection.

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The throat chakra typically begins developing between the ages of 7 and 12. Reminder, all chakras are always present. It's just that, as with anything, there are certain times of life where there's more of an emphasis in a certain energy center. So between 7 and 12 is when the throat really gets its programming, its focus. So this is the time of life when we start to wonder about our contribution to the world. Not in any kind of grand or adult way we're still kids but there's this budding desire to offer something outward and be recognized for it. It's the beginning of understanding that we can gain appreciation or recognition through what we create or express. Appreciation or recognition through what we create or express. Now imagine how damaging it would be if a child's contributions during this time were dismissed, ignored or, worse, criticized or ridiculed. That kind of response doesn't just hurt in the moment, it shapes how we relate to our voice, our worth and our willingness to speak up in the future. But overcoming the criticism we get at this stage for what we are trying to create is very difficult.

Speaker 1: 7:55

This stage of development is also when we need to be guided or encouraged in how to communicate. We're learning how to say what we mean and mean what we say and not say it mean. If we're never given the opportunity to practice speaking our truth, even about simple or everyday things, we don't develop the skill of clear, confident communication. Alice Miller said it is not the traumas we suffer in childhood that make us emotionally ill, but the inability to express the trauma. Every experience we have creates a vibration in the body. If that vibration isn't allowed to move, if we cannot express it, it becomes stored as stress. Holding back emotion or truth requires effort, and that effort creates tension.

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Think about what it feels like when you are desperate to say something but feel like you shouldn't, so you bite your tongue, or when you're so angry you literally can't speak. Where do you feel it? The throat, and how does it feel? Tight, constricted, stuck. Learning how to unblock that area, how to release what's been trapped there, can be really hard, but it's essential for healing and self-expression.

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So what makes us learn to stay silent? What blocks our expression? One of the biggest culprits is shame. Shame tells us there's nothing worthwhile or valuable in what we have to say, so we might as well keep our mouth shut. This links directly back to the third chakra, where the shame is demon. We talked about that a couple of weeks ago. You'll see, as we move through the chakral system, the third and fifth share a special connection, as do the second and sixth, the first and the seventh. So we'll talk about that as we get there.

Speaker 1: 9:42

But back to shame. When we internally rehearse what we want to say, shame often shows up as the relentless inner critic, that voice that says no one wants to hear this. You don't know what you're talking about. You're going to sound stupid. Have you ever been in one of those situations where it's like you're meeting everyone at some sort of function and everybody has to go around and say their name, where they're from and one interesting thing about themselves? Have you ever spent the entire time leading up to your turn mentally rehearsing exactly what you're going to say? Then you blurt it out and you spend the rest of the time tearing yourself apart for sounding too awkward, too boring, too, whatever. I remember those days so well and I also remember the exact moment I realized I had just made it through one of those icebreakers and 30 minutes later I hadn't second guessed myself once. I hadn't thought about what I was going to say beforehand, I wasn't stressing while I spoke and I hadn't, like, analyzed my performance. Afterwards my mind was blown. It was one of those like ah, I guess what I'm doing is actually working moments.

Speaker 1: 10:50

Because here's the thing that inner critic was formed to protect us from real humiliation. It showed up to defend that vulnerable self from perceived threats. But the critic tends to be a little bit overzealous, like. It tends to be pretty harsh, pretty unrealistic, and its words become self-fulfilling prophecies. It creates so much fear and awkwardness that then when we do try to express ourselves, it goes poorly and that gives it the opportunity to then jump back in and say see, told you, you're an idiot. Often it's the voice of the child who never got to talk back to a critical parent. Giving that silenced child a voice can be profoundly liberating.

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Another understandable major block to the throat chakra is fear for our safety. We instinctively know to stay quiet when we're in danger. So if you grew up in a household that felt emotionally or physically unsafe, it's likely your throat chakra began to shut down early. The fear itself creates a physiological block. And then there are secrets.

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Secrets require us to suppress our authentic expression, especially when tied to trauma or abuse. Secrecy can become a prison. Abusers often threaten their victims with violence if they speak out. If you tell anyone, I'll hurt you, I'll hurt someone you love, and the resulting fear can lodge itself so deeply in the body that even decades later, speaking about it can trigger panic. Sometimes secrets aren't about direct threats. They're about shame.

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Families might hide things like addiction, mental illness, financial struggles, past crimes. Families might hide things like addiction, mental illness, financial struggles, past crimes. Sometimes it's the unspoken things everyone knows about but no one names. For example, if you asked my parents, they'd tell you I was always welcome to talk about being adopted, that it was totally, you know, open and we could chat anytime about it. But that's not how it felt. I knew on every level that bringing it up was forbidden Not overtly, but if I did mention it, my mother would somehow have trouble controlling her diabetes the next day and there'd be subtle or overt guilt trips about how I didn't love her. I wasn't stupid. I learned what I could and couldn't say Most children do.

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Mixed messages and lies are also huge blocks. When we're told we don't have a right to feel how we feel, we begin to mistrust our own experience. As Anadeya Judith writes, hearing I love you while being abused, neglected or shamed makes a lie of love. Being asked to apologize for something we're not sorry about, to be nice to someone we dislike or to be thankful for something we didn't want these all teach us to lie. They teach us to lie to ourselves, to each other and to our bodies. They create dissonance within the basic vibration of life.

Speaker 1: 13:39

Let's also talk about the quality of communication. If you grew up in a household with a lot of yelling, arguing general unpleasantness, did you want to go home? I didn't. When the home atmosphere is harsh to see or hear, we often learn to shut down our senses. We block out what's happening. By tuning out, we may create an internal counter-dialogue, mentally checking out when someone's yelling at us. As adults, this can lead to poor listening, an inability to entertain new ideas or a tendency to tune people out before they've even finished speaking. We prepare our arguments and defenses before the other person has even made their point. Too often we listen to reply, not to understand. One of my favorite quotes and I don't remember who said it, I'll look it up.

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Then there's also the message many of us get growing up, which is don't talk back. Children should be seen, not heard. But that's simply not true. Children need to be heard. If they aren't, they lose all connection to their own voice. They won't ever be able to hear themselves. If we're not listened to, the throat chakra shuts down. We internalize the message that our truth doesn't matter, that we don't matter. Is it any wonder, then, that our inner voice gets drowned out by peer pressure, that we say yes to things we don't want, that we can't hear our own boundaries when a boss pushes too hard or a partner criticizes us unfairly?

Speaker 1: 15:03

A huge block to communication is simply being out of touch with who you really are. If you've been told that who you are is wrong or not enough, you may create a false self trying to express the version of you that's acceptable instead of the real you buried beneath all the not good enoughs. It's no surprise that expression becomes confused, halting or disjointed. For some people, the restriction is physical tightening in the throat, shoulders, neck. Others suppress their voice symbolically, stuffing food down their throats almost like a gag. After all, you can't speak when your mouth is full. When we don't speak, the truth we disconnect from it, we bury it deep and after a while, we forget what it even feels like to speak honestly and openly. The longer something goes unspoken, the harder it becomes to say, and that's how silence can become a cage.

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So what do we do about it? How do we begin to heal the throat chakra and reclaim our voice? One of the most powerful places to begin is with emotion. Emotions are often what either shut us down or open us up. Think about the times you've gotten choked up, whether from sadness, grief, anger. That's the throat chakra reacting to emotion in real time. This is why working with emotions can be so important, especially not just mentally but physically, because emotions are stored in the body. Have you ever spoken before you thought? Or maybe that's a chronic pattern? You blurt it out now, regret it later. That may be because there's energetic buildup and no container. Many of us were never taught how to be with emotion, only how to react to it.

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There's often a subconscious belief that feeling something means we need to express it right away, but part of throat chakra healing is learning how to take a pause, to choose expression that's both honest and wise. Craniosacral therapy, massage, somatic work all of that can be useful for helping to release this buildup tension. Of course, there's the obvious learning clear communication skills. You know, often people can't truly listen until they feel like they've been heard. So if you want to be understood, first seek to understand.

Speaker 1: 17:10

So much healing can happen simply by having our stories, feelings or opinions heard, even if the situation doesn't change. You know, part of this is finding a place where you can practice speaking your truth as openly and honestly as you can, not even about big things. Start small. Practice speaking your truth as openly and honestly as you can, not even about big things. Start small, just naming your favorite restaurant or simply saying how you feel without needing to justify it. Start small, then move to harder things with someone who can lovingly support you as you figure out how to do this. Learning to listen deeply is part of healing. Practices like active listening, nonviolent communication, can be incredibly helpful. I'll link the NBC episode in the show notes. These tools teach us how to hear others without defensiveness and how to speak our truth in a way that is more likely to get our needs met, and often we need a safe person to practice this with.

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A more playful and surprisingly powerful method is using your voice through toning, chanting or singing. You don't need to be musical, just hum, chant a mantra, belt your favorite song. The point is not to perform, it's to express, to wake up and to energize the throat center. Along these lines, breath work can be useful, since the throat is part of the breathing channel. So practices like ujjayi, breathing lion's breath, or even sighing, just gentle sighs, can help release tension from the throat and help reestablish energy. Or you can try journaling.

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Writing is also expression. It may not be coming out of your mouth, but it helps your inner truth find shape and form. And for many people, if they're not used to speaking out loud, writing feels so much safer than speaking at first. I'll link the journaling episode too. And of course, meditation is always on the list. Meditation purifies, it calms, it refines our inner world, which helps us respond instead of react. Certain styles of meditation, especially ones that emphasize witnessing, loving awareness, inner inquiry, can bring clarity to when and how we speak. They help us tune into that inner voice before we open our mouths. Healing the throat chakra is not about becoming loud. It's about becoming true. It's about knowing when silence is strength, when speech is liberation. It's about learning how to say what's real with heart, clarity and power.

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So, as we wrap up today's episode, I want you to give this a try sometime. Take out your journal or simply sit in stillness and ask yourself what truth have I been holding back? It might be something small or something you've been carrying for years. Just give yourself space to name it and to acknowledge it, and notice what happens in your body as you do. Try speaking it out loud, even if it's just to a mirror or the trees or the inside of your car. Let it have a voice.

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Maybe in doing so you'll realize there's work to be done here. There's a part of your voice or your story that's ready to be witnessed. And if that's the case, find someone to speak it to A partner, a friend, a therapist. Or maybe you want to stay anonymous. Send a postcard to PostSecret. Have you heard of it? Check it out.

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It's one of my favorite things. I'll link it in the show notes. Or you can always send me a message by clicking the message me button if you're listening on Spotify, or email me at rootsoftherise at gmailcom. I love hearing from you, so please send me your questions, thoughts or aha moment and, as always, if this episode resonated with you, share it with someone else who might need it. Let's keep this ripple of expression going. Have a wonderful day and remember, know who you are, love who you've been and be willing to do the work to become who you want to be, and be willing to do the work to become who you want to be. Just a quick reminder this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. That said, I hope it inspires you to grow, heal and seek the support you need to thrive.