An Intro to Chakras – Visuddha

“He who has attained complete knowledge of the atma becomes, by constantly concentrating his mind on this lotus, a great sage, eloquent and wise, and enjoys uninterrupted peace of mind. He sees the three periods and becomes he benefactor of all, free from disease and sorrow and long-lived and like Hamsa, the destroyer of endless dangers.”

Description of the Six Centres, Verse 31

Visuddha – the throat chakra

The next chakra in our journey is visuddha, the throat chakra, also known as the purification center (visuddha translates to “especially pure”). The idea is that this chakra has the ability to process toxins (of both substance and ideas). Associated with self-expression and communication, the visuddha chakra relates to listening as well as speaking.

According to Hindu tradition, the mandala for this chakra is described as having 16 purple or smoke-colored petals, the color of wisdom and spirituality.  These represent 16 of the 25 powers that the practice of yoga can impart.

The center of the mandala contains a white circle, representing the full moon, contained within a sky-blue, downward-pointing triangle.  We learned in manipura that the downward pointing triangle represents the element of fire; however, the element associated with visuddha is ether and the materials that I reviewed neglected to explain the significance of this symbol which was previously associated with fire.  I am going to speculate that it may have something to do with the influence that manipura exerts on visuddha.  Think about ether as vibrations; the air (from anahata) is moved through the throat by the fire of manipura (like smoke rising in a chimney).  In the throat, the rushing air vibrates, creating sounds that are the words we speak.  The ethereal quality of those vibrations means that we also feel them throughout our entire body.

Inside of the mandala’s white circle is a white elephant, a symbol of luck, wealth, power, wisdom, and clarity.  The syllable for visuddha, “ham,” means “I am.”

An imbalance in visuddha may manifest in a fear of speaking, a lack of control over one’s words, lying, gossiping, the tendency to not listen to what others are saying, being verbally aggressive or even mean, or feeling a lack of purpose in one’s life. When blocked, a person may feel insecure, timid, and introverted, and may blame others for their own unhappiness. Think about a time when you realized that someone doesn’t have the faintest idea what they are actually saying, they are literally exhaling their thoughts and feelings with no awareness of what they are doing to other people.

A cause of blockage in this chakra is not speaking up for one’s self.  When we tolerate bad treatment and insults, that external negativity is like a toxin.  Speaking up for ourselves is purifying.  When our visuddha chakra is open, we are able to transform negative experiences into wisdom and learning.  However, we must be careful to not express ourselves with hurtful words, mean thoughts, and bad behavior. Authentic expression is not something that comes easily. One exercise that can be helpful is to pass your words through three gates before speaking: is it true? is it necessary? and is it kind?

“The truth should always be spoken with love and not with knives…”

Shree Mahaprabhuji, Hindu Philosopher

For Jung, in this chakra one steps beyond the empirical world and lands in the world of concepts – of psychology. Here we realize that the external thing that we think that we are reacting to doesn’t exist, it relies on our interpretation of it to have any meaning.  We become aware that everything is subjective. The world that we inhabit, for better and worse, is a reflection of our psyche.

This chakra actually inspired this entire series.  Here’s the story: I was at Consuelo’s and Arvindjeet’s yoga event in February.  We were just starting to get settled in and I began to have a terrible coughing fit.  Unbearable, tickly coughing.  Consuelo mentioned that she had had a cough like that before.  Later, when I asked her about it, she said that it was related to the throat chakra.  And down the rabbit hole I went.