Communicate Your Needs
Communicating needs to others and to yourself can often be very hard. This is especially true when one is struggling with food and body image. There are so many fantastic therapeutic ways to learn how to communicate your needs, but today I want to focus on the vishuddha chakra or our throat chakra.
Vishuddha Chakra
Our throat chakra resides, you guessed it, at the throat! It governs our communication, creativity and self-expression. If you’re struggling to communicate your needs to yourself or others, it might mean that your throat chakra needs some attention. This chakra is not just about communicating your needs, but communicating in general. So if you struggle to communicate your feelings, boundaries, needs, wants, desires and struggle with effective listening skills, keep reading!
One barrier that comes up very often with my clients and in support groups is not knowing what your needs are.
Take a moment and notice if that is part of your story. It is extremely hard to communicate needs when those needs are not known. This is where the integration process begins.
Chakra Integration
It’s been a minute, so I want to first explain what the chakras are. The chakras are energy vortexes that reside within the subtle body. You can think of the subtle body as our energetic body. If you were to look inside your body, you wouldn’t actually find these chakras swirling around as they operate on an energetic level. Just as you can’t see the atoms in the device you’re using to read this, you can’t see your chakras. As you trust that atoms reside in everything all around us, so does energy!
Our subtle body or our energetic body, directly informs our physical body and our mind. Thus, working with the chakras can be a powerful tool for healing. You can learn more about the chakra system here.
The one thing to keep in mind is that the chakras are always operating as a system. While many of my posts thus far have spoken to one specific chakra, I feel it’s time to begin to explore the integration of the chakras as part of our healing journeys’.
Let’s explore how the 7 main chakras integrate to help one communicate needs.
Root chakra
This chakra allows us to feel grounded. Once grounded, we can begin to explore what our needs are. It can also allow us to feel safe and trust that the person we communicate our needs with will at least be able to receive the information. People can’t always support our needs in the way we want or need, but that is another blog post for another day.
Second chakra
This chakra is actually where we connect to our needs! So if that is your main barrier in communicating needs, look no further than the sacral chakra.
Third Chakra
Our solar plexus or navel chakra give us the will, determination and confidence to be able to communicate our needs.
Heart chakra
It is within our heart center that we can accept our needs in a way that allows us to then communicate them to ourself and others.
Throat chakra
As we learned, this chakra allows us to communicate them whether that is through words, art, dance, music, etc.
Third eye
This chakra allows us to have an awareness of what our needs are and why they are important. It can also provide insight into the best way to communicate and to whom.
Crown chakra
This is where we formulate the thoughts to be able to communicate needs.
There you have it! Now this is a very oversimplified explanation of a very complex system. However, I hope you can see the integration of the seven main chakras as playing significant roles in communicating needs. Remember it’s not only communicating needs, but really every aspect of self.
You can look at the above example and notice where you might be gettin stuck along the way. That might be a clue as to the chakra(s) that are perhaps out of balance.
Please also know, this was just one way of looking at this. As the chakras govern every aspect of self, you can view and interpret in a myriad of ways. This is also why I love this work. There is no right or wrong and the key is looking at it through YOUR personal chakra system.
Hopefully you can now understand how the vishuddha chakra helps to communicate needs with the assistance of the entire chakra system.
Ways to Balance your Throat Chakra
You might be thinking, yeah, but what do I do about this?
Well, I’m so glad you asked…
There are maaaany different ways of working with the throat chakra. I explore this in great detail in my course Getting Unstuck. You can also learn general balancing practices in my Chakras 101 course.
Below are some ways you can work with your throat chakra below. Take a look and notice which one(s) resonate with you.
Movement
Explore movement in the throat, shoulders and arms. These segments of the body directly connect with the throat chakra. So finding movement to support the overall well being of these areas of the body can be supportive.
Mantra and Affirmations
Mantras or affirmations. You can utilize mantras or affirmations to help support your throat chakra. Notice what authentically arises for you when you think about this. This is another way to begin to tap into what your needs are! You can explore affirmations for the sacral chakra and solar plexus chakra to begin to formulate your own for the other chakras. And don’t worry, I will be writing blog posts for each of the 7 chakras so be sure to check back in for those!
Color
Blue. The color of the throat chakra is blue so incorporating blue in your clothes, home, food, accessories, etc is a great way to work with it. The key is to utilize it with the intention of supporting your throat chakra. Where you attention goes, energy flows!
Therapy
Therapy is a wonderful tool to support all of the chakras, but specifically the throat chakra. Now this does not have to mean talk therapy. Art therapy, dance therapy and somatic experiencing are all wonderful ways to support your throat chakra and to understand and communicate your needs on a deeper level.
Music
Music is a wonderful way to connect with this chakra. While the element of the chakra is space, many people attribute sound to this chakra. Going to a sound bath, listening to music, singing, kirtan, chanting, etc. can all be wonderful way to support this chakra through music.
Skill Stacking
There you have it friends! A simple overview of how you can begin to foster trust, understanding, confidence and acceptance of your needs so that you can then communicate them using the vishuddha chakra.
Just as you can skill stack with conventional therapeutic skills, you can do this with the chakras! You can wear blue as you do shoulder and neck exercises while listening to music and reciting affirmations and journaling about your experience after!
Feel free to check out my youtube video that combine affirmations with chakra specific sound baths as examples of how to do this. I currently have videos for the sacral chakra and solar plexus chakra.
If you want to learn more you, I do invite you to check out my two chakra courses. Both are available for purchase! The group coaching program with Getting Unstuck will open Fall of 2023.
Disclaimer: This post is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute individualized support or medical advice.
Blair is a registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor, E-500 RYT and Reiki Master. She integrates spirituality with modern day science to help people heal and reclaim their relationship with their body and food.