The Powerful Throat Chakra

The thorat chakra is located over the physical throat, has sixteen petals, and is blue in color. It is the power chakra, and through the talent of speech unique to man, it can release large quantities of energy, both good and bad.

Through the disciplined use of the spoken word, we can make great progress in the toning of all of our chakras. With misuse-such as cursing in the name of God or Jesus Christ, gossip, criticism, sarcasm, angry words, or "unseemly conversation"-we do ourselves great harm as well as increase the planetary level of human effluvia.

Even irritation toward others and the voicing of that irritation causes imbalance within all of the chakras, because the throat is the command center through which our creative forces flow to all fife, establishing the tenor of our aura and our person.

This concept is not new. Jesus admonished us, "Let your communication be, Yea, yea; and Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil" (Matt. 5:37). This was not meant to exclude necessary communication between persons but was a reminder to us of the seriousness of the misuse of the word; and it also revealed his awareness of the power of the spoken word to affirm Truth.

Through the affirmation of Truth ("Yea, yea"), we channel it in action in our lives, and denying error ("Nay, nay"), we cast it out.

He also stated that "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matt. 12:36, 37).

This shows that Jesus believed words were as important as actions, and that both would be weighed in the soul's ultimate evaluation. It's also important to realize that idle chatter (like idle sex) drains you of the energy you need to focus for maximum performance. Too much talk and not enough action, like any other indulgence, squanders the life-force and reveals an absence of control and personal integration.

Despite its enormous significance in human relations, our society has de-emphasized the word to such a degree that cynicism and incisiveness have become more important than true communication.

Music is the barometer of society, and as the Scottish patriot Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun so aptly commented, "If a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation."

Just tune in your radio to any popular station. Tell me if you can find four songs in a row where some

aspect of life isn't being degraded. Everything is made common. Every action has a hidden motive. People are painted as having no sincerity in word or in deed.

Even words themselves cease to have meaning in the minds of many. People can lie, curse, gossip, and it's all justified matter-of-factly with "It's just words."

The sad part is that, to many, words have become empty-something to use to manipulate others or to express anger. Even though the song is not taken seriously by the majority of those who hear it, it is a most apt description for the way many people communicate.

Much of social interaction today is governed by the 'cocktail party' mentality of one-upmanship--along with the couching of every aggressive statement in terms of some sort of joke or good humor so as to be able to hurt another deeply without "ruffling anyone's feathers."

And heaven forbid that the poor guy should take anyone seriously, lest he be greeted with more hoots of laughter and shouts of "Paranoid?" and "Can't take a joke?"

Generally, the way this is dealt with is that these 'sophisticates' develop a razor-sharp tongue, ready to counter each rapier thrust of caustic wit with an even more incisive jab. Then everyone laughs and supposedly none are the worse for the wear.

But are they? What about the deep-seated scars that this inflicts on the unsuspecting and sensitive individual? What about the sincere seeker whose nature will not allow him to participate in this type of game? Is he to be cast out of society, branded a simpleton?

Certainly all of this is not what the throat chakra is meant for. When an individual is accustomed to hearing mostly innuendo and sarcasm from everyone around him, who should be surprised that he "doesn't listen any more"?

In our society, more than anything else, we need to realize the importance of the word. In our time, when communication has become all but automated, and computers 'talk' to each other faster and more accurately than people, we think of technology as the cure for all of our ills.

Just look at the word technology. It comes from the Greek techne, meaning "art" or "craft," and logos, meaning "word." So here we are, in the age of the art of the word, and communication between individuals is one of our biggest problems!

David's prayer ought to become our own: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, 0 Lord, my strength and my redeemer" (Pss. 19:14).

If we all thought about what we said each time we said it as if we were speaking to or in front of God, our conversations would be quite different. This, then, is the first step to the clearing of the throat chakra: to purify our speech.

The very strength of God's will we misuse in this center can become the power to engage the cosmic law in our life. Try this mantra of Christ's victory in you:

Not my will,
Not my will,
Not my will,
But Thine be done!

It can even be used to maintain the rhythm of your exercise, mentally or verbally affirmed. Visualize the blue flame of life's blueprint working through your throat chakra and spoken word to charge your body with the integrating will of the universe.