AROMATHERAPY SERIES
by Tracy Griffiths // Photos of Grace Flowers by David Young-Wolff
The Fifth Chakra
Techniques to Speak your Truth
P
racticing yoga and meditation can help
us to become more aware of the con-
nections between our body, our mind,
and our emotions. This awareness is ampli-
fied when we combine asana with meditation,
affirmations, conscious breathwork, Polarity
(and other energy exercises), attention to the
chakras, and aromatherapy with essential
oils. Integrating practices serves to restore
balance. This is especially true when we pay
attention to the fifth chakra—the energetic
center which influences our ability to speak
our truth.
The chakra system is a map of the subtle
and energetic body, revealing where and how
the physical body intersects with the subtle
body. (The subtle body includes our mind,
our emotions, and our energetic experience.)
The Sanskrit word “chakra” is often de-
scribed as a “wheel of energy.” Each chakra
is a center of energetic activity that generates,
assimilates, and expresses life-force energy, or
prana. The chakras also represent the evolu-
tion of the human psyche and our emotional
and spiritual development.
Adding essential oils to asana and energy
exercises adds multiple dimensions to our
practice. Therapeutic-grade, pure essential
oils stimulate the transmission of important
information to the brain and affect physio-
logical functions. Smell bypasses our cerebral
cortex or thinking areas of the brain. At the
same time, oils connect us to our feelings and
psyche through direct access to the limbic
system. The limbic system is comprised of
the regions of our brain that store emotional
memory and rule our survival instincts and
flight, fright, or freeze actions.The Seven Chakras
Each one of the chakras is connected to the
others.
The first five chakras are connected to the
five elements. The sixth and seventh chakras
are beyond the elements.- 1st Earth – security and survival
- 2nd Water - connection and relationship,
procreation - 3rd Fire - action, transformation
- 4th Air - mental activity, compassion
- 5th Ether (space) - purification,
connection to source, speech - 6th Personal Spiritual Essence
- 7th Universal Spiritual Essence
The Fifth Chakra
The Sanskrit name of the fifth chakra is
Vishuddha, often translated as ‘purification.’
It is the place of our connection to source.
Our connection to source is our connection
to truth. Speaking our truth and keeping our
word maintains our purity.
Ether—or empty space—is the element re-
lated to this chakra. We need space in our lives
to experience the quiet necessary to tune into
ourselves, to experience equanimity and, most
importantly, to recognize and speak our truth.
This chakra is the center of communication
and sound. It is the energy center that aids
us in expression through speaking, chanting,
toning and singing.
Unfortunately, we often repress feelings
like grief and may even compromise authentic
expression for fear of showing vulnerability.
When we fail to speak up or don’t speak our
truth, energetic correlations may lead to a sore
throat, a sore neck, or even losing our voice.
The throat chakra is linked to the thyroid.
In our endocrine system, the thyroid is one of
the master controllers of our metabolism. This
chakra also relates to our sense of hearing, the
feeling of spaciousness in our lives, and our
connection to spirit or source energy.