Activating Your Throat Chakra by Speaking Your Truth
The throat chakra is our communication center. It represents what we speak into the world and what we take in and process through our mental and emotional bodies. Activating the throat chakra refers to opening up this energy center and allowing your life force energy to pass through without obstruction by freely using the power of your voice.
One can exercise their throat chakra through chanting, singing, and yogic breathing to name a few. Activating the throat chakra relates to how we use our words and whether or not we feel free enough to use our voice when we have something important to say. For some of us, our entire journey leads us through a series of lessons and experiences so that we learn how to speak our truth when the cost is high or when we feel we have something to lose. This is when it is most important to use your voice because you are showing yourself that no matter what the circumstance, you value your truth above all else. When we value our truth and aren’t afraid to express it, we are living as the most authentic version of ourselves. In this space there is nothing to hide behind because you are allowing yourself to fully be seen and heard, and the parameters of your voice are not dictated by anyone or anything. Your expression isn’t leveraged by other people’s influence or approval.
Before one is confident enough to speak their truth, they first need to get comfortable with using their voice. Most people have difficulty asserting themselves via stating preferences, speaking up for themselves, and setting and enforcing boundaries. Even saying “No” to things is a practice in self-love. This comes from the discomfort of not being able to speak our truth. When our throat center is obstructed, one easily allows their boundaries to be violated because they’re not even asserting one to begin with. The word “No” is one of the most powerful throat activations we can say out loud. It’s not just a defensive term, but rather, it asserts personal sovereignty in a world where conformity, compliance, and a veneer of politeness are the norm.
We activate our throat chakra and keep it flowing by continuing to express ourselves until we are no longer self-conscious when setting boundaries, asserting ourselves, standing up for ourselves, and expressing ourselves when we are uncomfortable.
The next level of throat activation is evident by how comfortable we are when speaking our truth. Speaking your truth is the most powerful way to use your voice. By speaking your truth, you’re not just activating your throat chakra, you are reclaiming any part of you that was ever silenced or made to feel powerless. When we speak our truth we speak for all version of ourselves, past and present, including the inner child, who never got the opportunity to do so. We heal this aspect by pushing through the awkward phase that comes with entering new territory and exercising our voice in areas where it was once shut down.
Our voice is a power center; it is inherently going to cause controversy when it’s being activated because it’s the core of our authority. Sometimes we trivialize the necessity of using our voice by telling ourselves that what we have to say is not important. It may feel safer to be hidden and go unnoticed, but this actually makes the inner child feel even more threatened, abandoned, and unsafe because they remain silenced and are never set free by the power of their own voice. Rather, staying silent says: “My truth is not significant,” “I’m not free to stand in my power,” and “My truth is not safe.”
It’s normal to feel scared or anxious when speaking your truth, especially when you are first embracing your voice and power. Anytime we’re reclaiming a big aspect of ourselves, our body feels it. This can be in the form of fear, excitement, or anxiety. The throat chakra is the portal that these feelings must pass through. When a person suppresses their feelings and emotions, it’s common to develop throat issues such as prolonged coughing and sore throats. Some people are so afraid of using their voice that it shakes when they speak because they literally have not exercised it before. If you never felt safe enough to use your voice, you may find you have issues with public speaking and fear around asserting yourself when setting boundaries. Sometimes the body can sense that the aspect being reclaimed is such a huge soul piece it can feel daunted by the prospect of feeling whole again because it never felt safe enough to get to that part of the story. This is precisely why it’s important to reclaim your voice; it’s about getting to the part of the story where you feel worthy enough to embrace your wholeness.
When did we stop speaking our truth? For most of us, it goes back to childhood. Ages one through seven are when we are socialized. We are taught what’s appropriate to say out loud and what isn’t. Our parents essentially pass their programming onto us, and then we begin our societal indoctrination through schooling. When we are excessively punished, abused, or indiscriminately told “no,” we begin to shut down and our subconscious starts to record and associate shame, punishment, embarrassment, and conditioning as a block to our self-expression. Religious indoctrination is another form of silencing since this is when “rules” or “normative” behaviors are engrained. When we then grow into adults and are thrown into a daunting world where we need to be independent and confident, it can be intimidating to boldly show up because this part of ourselves is underdeveloped or completely shut down.
It is not always a third party silencing our expression. Sometimes we choose to stay hidden in life and silence ourselves out of fear of being seen, fear of being reprimanded, not trusting ourselves, not feeling safe enough to speak, or even a fear of being vulnerable. When you silence yourself, you become a background character in your own story. Your thoughts, wisdom, and experiences are secondary to the world telling you what your experience should be. You snuff out your personality and the gifts you’re here to share because its safer to fit in and not deviate from socially accepted rules and norms, even though you’re here to expand to full capacity. We can use our communication to set ourselves apart, or to conform to the status quo. There is an illusion of safety with fitting in, but it comes at the cost of silencing yourself, which undermines a person’s will, truth, and authenticity.
Many of us are using this lifetime to reclaim our power. Whether is shows up in the form of speaking against oppressive authority, leaving abusive relationships, or setting boundaries with those close to us, power is reclaimed through the voice. The voice is the gatekeeper of our truth and our means of expressing our needs, desires, and who we are. The soul needs the body to experience this physical reality, and the body needs the voice to set the parameters for which it can safely live and navigate this realm.
Our voice is how we reclaim power. What we speak into the world is powerful, but when we speak for ourselves, we can reclaim anything that was ever lost in our silence. This can be accomplished by speaking out on issues we find important. If you ever felt oppressed by a system, exercising your voice and right to protest can allow you to actually make a difference in the world while reclaiming a fundamental piece of your power.
It can be downright frightening to speak your truth because we’re rarely validated for it. One is more likely to be silenced or ostracized for voicing anything controversial. But speaking through the discomfort actually makes it easier to speak out in the future. Your voice is like a muscle that needs to be trained and exercised until you feel you can stand strongly and confidently in your truth regardless of how you’re received. If you were never allowed to speak your truth or were reprimanded, shamed, or punished for doing so, any form of expression can feel like a challenge. However, this could also be the exact challenge you set up for yourself in order to reclaim your voice and your power in this lifetime. A lack of experience in vocalizing your needs or setting boundaries can also create anxiety around the issue, but the best way to learn how to master these traits is through giving yourself the experiences you need to breakthrough and freely exercise your voice. The world is only going to get more turbulent, so training your voice now will allow you to calmly and clearly express yourself from a place of confidence when you are ready to speak on the causes you care about.
A classic example of being silenced is if you were told to “shut up” over the course of your life, especially if it began in childhood. Hearing this over and over again would cause even the strongest willed person to shut down. Not shutting up is exactly how you reclaim this aspect of your voice. When you’ve been silenced for so long the way you bring balance back is to go full force in the opposite direction. Be bold, be taboo. Make the noise you were never allowed to make. In this scenario, you have to go way out of balance in order to recalibrate, so allow yourself an unconventional process.
We’ve also been socialized to not “rock the boat” with our expression. Expressing dissent, especially in the political arena, can serve as a rite of passage to reclaiming one’s voice. When we speak our truth we inspire others by showing them that they can also reclaim their power. There’s plenty of power reclamation to go around. When a person overcomes their limitations and finds their voice they learn how to harness their own truth versus accepting the version of truth society uses to oppress them.
Women may especially have a difficult time using their voices. Historically, women have never been in positions of power where they could express themselves freely without persecution or even have a platform for their expression. That’s why it is more powerful when women express dissent, as they break the mold of what has historically been expected from them. History hasn’t traditionally recognized women as warriors or in powerful roles unless they fit a religious narrative such as Joan of Arc. Anytime women have tried to exist beyond what the patriarchy allowed, they were scandalized, abused, called witches and murdered.
When I address “past lives” in my Quantum Sphere Healing sessions with clients, I have found that the trauma from these experiences gets imprinted and stored within their cellular debris, but most notably in the throat center in the form of energetic blocks that tightly constrict the throat. This is why some clients experience physical pain in their throats or a literal feeling of being “blocked” in their throat. The trauma stored in their throat centers literally prevents them from speaking or causes the sound of their voice to quiver and only release in lower octaves. The fear, trauma, or cellular memory associated with using their voices gets triggered, then, a false sense of relief comes from staying silent for safety and protection, which then blocks their overall expression. This also applies to men, as power struggles and abuse are not exclusively a feminine issue.
As you can see, holding back your expression can have physical, spiritual, and emotional implications. One can break through this barrier simply by using their voice. When we speak our truth we speak on behalf of all versions of ourselves that were ever oppressed and suppressed by society, we speak on behalf of any part of us that once lacked courage and worthiness, and we speak on behalf of our inner child. When undertaking this work, trust in your innate ability to start using your voice and activate the lifetimes of power waiting to be reclaimed, integrated, and finally celebrated.
