Many folks I see have come in with an subtle way of diverting their energy that may surprise you – it’s a form of count your blessings, but instead of it being a way to express gratitude it turns into a way of shutting down their emotions often about a painful experience.
Here’s an example; my family member has X diagnosis and now I am responsible for all these new things…but at least we have a house; at least we are not living in a war zone; at least I can drink the water; I need to be grateful for what I have. I strongly believe gratitude is a helpful and healing practice, but counting your blessings as a way to divert or suppress energy is not. Counting your blessings often serves as a shut off valve to how you actually are feeling about the situation. Perhaps you are actually resentful about your new responsibilities or sad or scared about the situation or maybe all of the above. By holding the space to experience all these feelings, they can dissipate and give you more energy to negotiate this new and different terrain. When we suppress or divert our feelings it can be a way of spiritual bypass. We also do this when we say here’s how I’m going to handle the situation and don’t ever check in on how we feel about it. From an energetic perspective here’s what that looks like; energy gets stuck in certain spots of the body, often stomach or throat area from not being authentic (3rd chakra) and not speaking your truth (5th chakra). It also leaves us carrying around the weight of congested energy, which is like carrying around a heavy purse of energy we can’t access.
So what do you do when you find yourself cutting yourself off with your blessing countdown? Pause. See if you can speak out loud to someone else or even just out loud to yourself how you are feeling about something / someone before rushing into your blessing around breathing. This is not about getting swamped by your emotions, but it is about airing them.
Speak up, please
What is it that you haven't said?
Ready to dive into some truth telling? An open fifth chakra is what you need. Mother’s Day was a hard time for many folks I know. They have strained relationships or have experienced abuse from their moms. They don’t want to celebrate with them or be bombarded with the hoopla that surrounds this holiday. I also know many out there who wish to be moms and haven’t been able to conceive or have had many miscarriages and disappointments. I also want to presence the moms who have so so relationships with their kids for whom this day brings feelings of being unappreciated.
One of hardest parts of all these possibilities is the feeling that we can’t be open and honest about it. The constricted feeling that if Mother’s Day is miserable for us, we need to isolate or suck it up and be fake, when the most healing thing we can do is to own our feelings about it. Many times well meaning people respond to these feelings with, “But you should be grateful at least you’re here.” Or “Focus on the positive.” As we all know when someone tells us either of those things and we’re not feeling it, we do not feel grateful or happy.
What does this have to do with the throat chakra? When our throat chakra is balanced we understand it is our right to feel the way we do and can express our emotions without having to diminish another. The throat chakra is about taking in and assimilating (both food and information), speaking our truth and bringing our full self through our work and sharing that with the outside world. This chakra is also related to listening, being able to hear what others have to say, even if what they have to share with us is that we’ve caused some pain.
When I was in healing school a teacher at the beginning of the year mentioned that all the students needed to speak up, not just the ones who felt comfortable. If we were to not share what we were thinking or feeling we would create a drag on the class as a whole. Each one of us was vital to the energetic field we were creating and a hole would be created by our lack of speaking out. If I'm feeling anxious about expressing something, I often think of this to summon the courage to share.
Here's a brief overview of the throat chakra.
Physical level: The 5th chakra governs the throat area, neck pain, teeth, thyroid, speaking and hearing.
Psychological level: When this chakra is balanced we are able to express emotions and feel we are heard.
Spiritual: This governs our ability to express the truth and communicate freely.
If your throat chakra is off you may be:
- Over-talkative
- Unable to express views
- Dogmatic
- Unreliable
- Arrogant
- Experience thyroid issues
- Overeat and never feel satiated
- Feel like no one listens to you
Some suggestions for opening your throat chakra and bringing your chakra back into balance:
- Experience sky blue light emanating out from your neck and throat.
- To open your throat chakra quickly; sing your favorite song out loud – if you’re shy do this in your car with the music turned up.
- Yoga poses: shoulder stand, neck rolls, baby cobra pose, fish pose and plow,
- Affirmations: I speak the truth. I communicate honestly and directly. I always speak from my heart.
- Practice chanting the sound “Om”
- Essential oils; birch, lavender, oregano, chamomile and peppermint.
If you’re feeling you need some support with this chakra, schedule a session, we can see if you need a chakra restructuring or chakra balancing to bring your truth out. Here’s to being you in your most powerful form.