According to ancient Hindu tradition, the throat chakra is the energy center in our bodies responsible for communicating our raw and wild truth!
When we have a healthy throat chakra we are creative, honest, confident, assertive, and unafraid of expressing our truth to the world.
However, when we have a blocked throat chakra we struggle with problems such as fear of expressing our thoughts, shyness, social anxiety, dishonesty, stubbornness, untrustworthiness, lack of creativity, and verbal aggressiveness.
If you suspect that you might have a blocked throat chakra, think back to your childhood. Were you criticized a lot by your parents or caretakers? Did your family encourage you to express your truth? Were your thoughts, ideas, and opinions valued? If you felt like you couldn’t openly express your thoughts and feelings, it’s likely that you struggle with an unhealthy throat chakra.
This guide will help you initiate your own unique process of throat chakra healing.
Table of contents
What is the Throat Chakra?
The throat chakra, or Vishuddha, is the energy center within our bodies associated with communication, truth, and self-expression. Located at the base of the neck, the throat chakra is connected to the color blue and the element of aether. This chakra is responsible for regulating the energy associated with authenticity, creativity, and understanding.
What is Throat Chakra Healing?
Throat chakra healing is the practice of opening, balancing, and purifying the throat chakra within our bodies. Generally, throat chakra healing uses a wide range of holistic healing remedies to bring alignment to the body, mind, and spirit. These remedies include practices such as yoga, mindfulness, color therapy, sound healing, self-inquiry, aromatherapy, and many others.
21 Signs of an Unhealthy Throat Chakra
The best way to tell whether you need to undergo throat chakra healing is to pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, actions, and physical sensations within your body.
Here are some signs to look out for:
- You find it hard to express your emotions in a healthy way
- You struggle to verbalize your thoughts
- You feel nervous when trying to share your opinions, OR …
- You tend to aggressively push your opinions onto others
- You struggle a lot with miscommunication in your relationships
- You constantly feel ignored or misunderstood by others
- You keep a lot of secrets from others for fear of not being accepted
- You feel anxious in conversations
- You are shy around others
- You find it hard to be your authentic self
- You tend to be over-opinionated, OR …
- You struggle to have a voice of your own
- You feel almost paralyzed when doing public speaking
- You often enter restrictive relationships that don’t allow you to voice your thoughts and feelings without getting criticized
- You find it difficult to be honest with yourself and others
- Your actions go against your words
- You have swollen lymph nodes in your neck
- Your voice frequently cracks or sounds thin
- You suffer from hypo or hyperthyroidism
- You have ear problems such as premature hearing loss or infections
- You develop regular sinus, throat or upper respiratory infections
How many of these signs can you relate to?
Do You Have a Deficient or Excessive Throat Chakra Blockage?
Did you know that there are actually two types of chakra imbalances?
While a deficient throat chakra is passive or energetically “numb,” an excessive throat chakra is energetically aggressive or manic. Here’s a breakdown of the difference between the two:
Deficient = lifeless, sluggish, passive, blocked, inwards (not enough energy flows in).
Excessive = lively, agitated, reactive, aggressive, outwards (too much energy flows in).
Therefore, if you have a deficient throat chakra, you will be more prone to issues such as shyness, inability to express your thoughts, and secrecy. On the other hand, if you have an excessive throat chakra you will be prone to stubbornness, hostile communication, and a tendency to be socially overbearing.
The question is, what type of imbalance do you have? It’s also possible to fall somewhere in the middle.
20 Throat Chakra Healing Practices
So what does a healthy and balanced throat chakra look and feel like?
When you have a clear, strong, and harmonious throat chakra, you will feel self-confident in your ability to express your thoughts and feelings clearly. You will be open, fluent, honest, and unafraid to share how you truly feel. Respect and authenticity will come to define your interactions with others, and you will freely share your truth no matter what the cost. When you need guidance, you will trust the inner voice of your Soul as your ultimate Teacher.
As a result of cleansing your throat chakra, you will experience more clarity, trust, joy, and freedom as a result of being able to communicate with confidence.
Here are the best throat chakra healing practices out there which will help you balance this energy center:
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1. Use a powerful mantra
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Mantras are composed of sacred words or sounds that help you to access higher states of consciousness. There are many ancient mantras out there to choose from such as “Om,” “Ham-Sa,” “Om Mani Padme Hum,” “I am,” and so forth. Many people also choose to chant the name of their chosen god or goddess such as “Shiva,” “Kali,” “Hecate,” “Osiris,” “Neptune,” etc. You might even like to create your own mantra. Read more about creating your own meditation mantras.
2. Hum or chant “HAM”
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
This sound matches the vibration of the throat chakra. Try drawing out the letters into sounds, such as “hhhhhaaaaaammmmmm.” You might also like to listen to binaural beats (a form of music healing therapy) which helps to activate and clear all the chakras through alternating sound waves. Try these chakra healing songs.
3. Eat more of these foods
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Introduce more of the following fruit and vegetables into your diet which all resonate with the throat chakra: blueberries, blackberries, blue grapes, currants, kiwifruit, apples, grapefruit, lemons, pears, plums, peaches, figs, and apricots.
4. Sound healing
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Sound healing therapy is perfectly suited to purifying the throat chakra. Instruments such as singing bowls, gongs, and tuning forks influence us on a cellular level due to the special vibrations they transmit. Read more about sound healing therapy.
5. Start journaling your thoughts
Best suited to: deficient blockages
If you are struggling with verbalizing your thoughts and feelings, try to record them in a private journal. I like to use online programs such as Evernote to record my thoughts and feelings. Make a daily practice of recording how you feel, and don’t worry about things such as grammar or sentence structure. Let your thoughts and feelings flow freely through your pen or keyboard.
Learn more about how to journal.
6. Breathe into your stomach
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Speaking too quickly and impulsively, or not at all, are both signs that your throat chakra is imbalanced. In order to ground yourself, breathe deeply into your stomach so that it expands gently. Focus on this sensation and allow it to center your energy. Not only does deep breathing calm you, but it also helps you to develop confidence. Read more about mindful breathing.
7. Use the following herbs
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Use herbs such as peppermint, elderberry, clove, cinnamon, echinacea, spearmint, fennel, and slippery elm.
8. Color therapy
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Bright blue is the color of the throat chakra. Try staring at the blue sky, wearing blue, or surrounding yourself with blue and notice the difference. One of my favorite forms of color therapy is painting. If you enjoy art, making your own throat chakra mural or painting with blue as the primary color.
9. Inwardly say “thank you” to life
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Sometimes our throat chakras are blocked because our minds are too full of worries and resentments. By saying “thank you” to life for what you have been given, all of your chakras, particularly your throat chakra, will expand. Find something to be thankful for and sincerely feel this “thank you” bubble up inside of you.
10. Meditate with the following crystals
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Use crystals as energetic totems that will help you balance your throat chakra energy. Try meditating or carrying crystals such as blue kyanite, larimar, tanzanite, azurite, aquamarine, and lapis lazuli.
11. Listen carefully
Best suited to: excessive blockages
If your throat chakra is receiving an excessive amount of energy, you may struggle with dominating conversations and ignoring other people. This habit may get you into a lot of trouble with your friends, family members, partner or colleagues. In order to break the habit, practice breathing into your belly (as mentioned in point 6) and listening carefully to what the other person is saying. Remember to observe their body language – sometimes a person’s words don’t match the energy they’re transmitting. To show that you’re listening, nod, make small comments and repeat back to them what they’re saying. For more guidance read about the art of listening.
12. Screaming and laughing catharsis
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Catharsis is a powerful energy releasing technique which will help you purify your throat chakra. A lot of stagnant energy tends to build in our bodies when we can’t communicate clearly. Release your frustration through laughing or screaming. For example, watch a funny video or, if you have an intense throat chakra blockage, scream into your pillow. When practiced regularly, both of these practices will help you to feel more confident expressing yourself in a healthy way.
13. Clear blocks with yoga
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Balance your throat chakra by doing yoga stretches such as the fish, lion, and plow pose. You might also like to try simply rolling your neck around gently to stimulate blood flow.
14. Sing to yourself
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Singing is a beautiful way to gently open the throat chakra. If you feel self-conscious, sing to yourself quietly away from other people. You might even like to listen to music or watch a movie that makes you want to sing.
15. Cleanse the throat chakra with essential oils
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Use oils such as frankincense, ylang-ylang, neroli, eucalyptus, clove, rosemary, and myrrh. You can put these oils into an oil diffuser, rub them on your wrist (in a diluted form), or wear them in a diffusing pendant.
16. Drink pure water
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Pure and clean water is essential for your throat chakra health. If you suspect that your water is polluted with contaminants such as fluoride and chlorine, consider investing in a water filter.
17. Do a throat chakra visualization
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Imagine a throbbing or swirling ball of luminescent blue light in your throat chakra area. Feel the ball of blue energy dissolving all blockages or aggressive flows of energy within you.
18. Spend time in silence
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
As counterintuitive as it may seem, spending time in silence can help you tune into your subtle inner voice. By allowing your inner voice to emerge, you will strengthen your throat chakra. Yogis often take vows of silence to help them communicate more freely with higher consciousness.
19. Get a neck massage
Best suited to: deficient and excessive blockages
Neck massages are so soothing and calming as they help to redistribute the energy trapped in your neck. Seek out a neck massage from a professional masseuse, or alternatively use a hand massager (such as this one) to massage your neck. I recommend heating up a heat pack and applying it to your neck before you massage yourself as this will encourage your muscles to relax.
20. Practice being assertive
Best suited to: deficient blockages
When you learn how to say “no” and speak up about your needs, you feel empowered. Assertiveness is a throat chakra skill that anyone can learn, no matter how timid you feel. Read more about being quietly assertive.
Finally, you might like to use affirmations such as “I express myself with confidence,” “I speak my truth openly and freely,” “I honor my opinion,” and “I speak lovingly,” to help you access your inner power.
Final Advice
After reading all this information, you might be wondering what you should do next.
I recommend picking a handful of activities from the list above that you’re naturally drawn to. Make sure you identify whether you have a deficient or excessive chakra blockage (or a mixture), and choose accordingly. Experiment with each healing modality for a couple of weeks and observe how you feel.
Tell me, do you have any other heart chakra healing tips? Please share below!
To read more about chakra healing, check out my other articles and test in this series:
- Root Chakra Healing Guide
- Sacral Chakra Healing Guide
- Solar Plexus Chakra Healing Guide
- Heart Chakra Healing Guide
- Third Eye Chakra Healing Guide
- Crown Chakra Healing Guide
- Free Chakra Test – How Balanced Are You?
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When my throat chakra is aggravated, some of my favorite healing modalities to restore balance include drinking Yogi Throat Comfort tea with honey, using a lavender heatable weighted neck wrap, wearing a lapis lazuli and aquamarine choker necklace, singing my favorite songs, going to the chiropractor for a cervical spine adjustment, and attending a restorative or yin yoga class that incorporates sound healing.
As per your examples on causes of a blocked throat chakra, I don’t relate to them. I feel like for me it began in my early twenties. Is it possible that excessive smoking and drinking can cause a blocked throat chakra in adults whose childhoods were quite exceptional?
Thought I’d add more ideas of terms/phrases to google for each chakra, continuing on with my series of comments on the chakra posts. It helps that my throat chakra is the strongest of my chakras though, having a cobalt/royal blue aura and all. So here are ideas of things to google for secular suggestions on the throat chakra 1. How to improve your communication skills 2. How to improve your listening skills 3. Mindful listening 4. Mindful leadership 5. How to overcome the fear of public speaking 6. Public speaking advice 7. Books on communication / Books on public speaking 8. Signs you’re lying to yourself / Signs of self-deception / How to be more honest with yourself 9. How to be more honest / How to stop lying 10. How to practice radical honesty 11. How to speak up as an introvert / How to listen as an extrovert 12. How to explain things better / How to explain things more clearly 13. How to teach someone something / Feynman technique 14. How to tell stories in conversation 15. How to hook an audience / How to hook your readers / How to start a speech 16. How to… Read more »
Balance the throat chakra this way: recognize that the voices or words we hear in our heads come from the throat not from our mind. If the throat chakra is unbalanced then it can lead to psychological suffering. When you are silent focus your attention on your throat and count the words that emerge from it into our head, or into our thoughts. Counting these unspoken words will balance the throat chakra and lead you into a higher dimension, a further spiritual awakening and consciousness and into the indigo rays and violet rays.