InnerBliss: Let Your Voice Be Heard

Sanskrit has 96 words for love; we have one
(whether it's for a favorite cake or a person).

Listening to: The power, the beauty, and the honesty of this voice never ceases to make my heart ache, especially in this little known song recorded shortly before his death. Here's another to lift your spirits after that first one.

Today's Bliss: Take some time to sing! In the shower, in your car, in front of your computer with a YouTube video, belt it out! Feel how GOOD that feels! Here's a good one to try and another and another...(giggle).

(We've already covered the first, second, third, and fourth chakras.)

About six years ago, I had this throat thing happen. I felt, 24/7, like I was being strangled. My throat was tight, gripped, unable to relax. I was constantly swallowing to "check" it. I started eating less and less. I lost weight (in that very bad way).

I would wake up in the middle of the night, seized by the fear that I was dying. That there was something fatally wrong with me. This went on for many, many months.

Finally, I went to my family doctor, who knew me well enough to just order the test I wanted and not to argue with me. The test, of course and as she knew it would be, was 100% normal.

I was still being strangled, but I was starting to understand that this was all psychosomatic. No less real... but under my control.

Soon after, I met someone in a coffee shop, and we spoke for many hours. It was one of those strange, chance encounters that seem more prevalent in a coffee shop, where you meet someone and have so much in common and then never meet again. He was interested in perhaps a date, but I was unavailable; we talked anyway.

I found myself telling him some stories about my past. And he got it.

"Do you think this is what's causing your throat thing?"

DUH! It was light a lightening bolt from a blue sky. Now I really knew it was just about my old stuff, stuff I was not digesting, stuff I refused to swallow. I had told my story, spoken my story aloud to a stranger; he had accepted my story and treated it with respect; I had placed my story outside of myself into the shared air and breath.

By doing so, I had reclaimed the power of my voice.

I had reiki done, now more clear on the nature of my personal monster. For days after, I would be awakened by jolts of electricity shooting through my body.

And then my throat relaxed and I was done with it. I had taken in what I needed; I could eat again; I gained back some of that unhealthily lost weight; and I could speak again, clearly.

Things can so easily get stuck in our throats. And when you think about that little neck of ours, defying all laws of physics, carrying around our heads, when really it should just snap, you realize how amazingly, precariously strong the throat/neck area is. You realize that everything has to get funneled through there -- whether it's incoming or outgoing or internally moving -- it all goes through this area.

The throat chakra is the color blue, which I wore a LOT during my healing. It is the element ether, from which we get the word ethereal, meaning of unearthly delicacy and refinement; the spirit or essence.

In Sanskrit it's Visuddha, meaning purity or purification.

Here are some questions to ponder, write about, speak about:

Do you speak the truth? What does "speaking Truth" mean to you?

Are you afraid to voice your opinions?

Do you try, above all, to please everyone? To keep things calm? Is being polite and not rocking the boat the most important thing to you? Why?

Do you label some emotions and feelings as negative and avoid them? At what cost? Do you feel free to express all of your emotions, feelings, opinions, thoughts, ideas?

Are you dogmatic or fundamentalist in your beliefs or perhaps wishy washy? Is it easy for someone else to change your mind?

Do you have any oral fixations or addictions?

Do you throw up to make yourself feel better if things are getting too emotional?

How often do you take the time to sing or chant? Do you listen to a variety of music? Do you really listen or do you just use sound as background?

Do you attend live music? If not, why?

Do you walk your talk? If not, your integrity is at risk.

Do you really listen to the people around you? Do you really listen to your world?

Are you conscious of your wording when you write an email? Do you over-analyze the words written by others?

Is there anything that is trying to come out of you? Are you denying any part of your self or your story?

How is your eating and digestion?

Do you talk from high in your throat or have you taken the time to discover your authentic voice, which starts from your diaphragm?

Are there people to whom you speak in a childish way? Are there people to whom you speak in a whispery, weak way? Why?

Do you regularly tell anyone to "shut up"? Do you use words as weapons? Do you use silence as a weapon?

For the throat chakra, of course, the absolute best thing you can do is sing and chant and laugh and giggle and read poetry aloud and hum and speak kindly and productively and creatively.

You can also do breath of fire or dog breath (with your tongue out, panting). Neck rolls are good, as is shoulder stand, and bridge pose.

(For a great fiction read about silence and speech and voice and essence, try this novel. For nonfiction: this, this, and this are books I've been using in my own chakra studies.)

What do you need to be saying that you aren't?