Part 1 - On the rEvolution of Women: Throat Chakra & Thyroid Health
Unburdening the Voice
Unburdening the voice is a journey of reclaiming our authentic expression and healing ancestral and personal wounds stored in the throat center. When we reclaim our voice, we reclaim our vital life force energy, our boundaries, and our powers of manifestation. We become spell makers in service to our life dreams. We are able to heal thyroid and energy challenges at the root.
In Taoist and Hindu traditions, the throat (Vishuddha) chakra is understood as:
The energy center of communication, authenticity, and truth
Associated with the color blue and the element of ether/space
The bridge between heart (emotions) and mind (thoughts)
Governed by sound vibration and authentic expression
A great reservoir of vitality and refinement of qi
The Wounds
Humiliation and embarrassment, usually produced by expressing oneself innocently and authentically early in life, has lifelong effects of closing down our expression, our creativity, and our voice. We were angry about something or our boundaries had been crossed, but for survival reasons or the simple lack of internal or external resourcing as a child or young adult, we were unable to speak that truth or hold that boundary.
And so, the pattern was born.
Creativity is interwoven with change and transformation, and when we are unable to change, when we're inflexible, when we become rigid or we're afraid or unconsciously stubborn about staying where we are, then we shut down the avenues of creative solutions and the creative ways of dealing with life that might be new or different. Creative expression also gets shut down when we lose touch with our inner children who know how to play and not take life so seriously.
I love what Louise Hay says about the thyroid. She says hypothyroid can be about “I never get to do what I want to do. When is it going to be my turn?” Hyperthyroid is a signal of “rage at being left out.”
Trauma and programming within our childhood family/culture of origin is the place to look for clues of our original wounding. And if you suspect ancestral or karmic origins of the pattern, then still looking at your personal experiences will provide the “doorway” into those time oriented wounds.
Trauma can become stored in the throat area physically
Shame can often tag along with trauma, so any form of trauma can inhibit the throat center via shame
Somatic voice work and embodiment practices are highly effective for releasing stored emotion or energetic blocks in this region
Breaking the silence: community and witnessing in voice healing supports us to enter the raw edges of our discomfort
The thyroid's relationship within this framework:
Positioned physically at the throat chakra's location
Seen as the physical manifestation of the throat chakra energy
Considered responsive to sound vibrations and vocal expression
In Taoist medicine, associated with the "sea of qi" that influences metabolism and voice
Qi Vitality & Thyroid
In Taoist medicine, the concept of the "sea of qi" in relation to the throat and thyroid area represents a sophisticated understanding of energy circulation that predates modern endocrinology by thousands of years.
The throat region in Taoist internal alchemy is considered one of several important "seas" or reservoirs of qi (life force energy) in the body. The Sea of Qi affects the amount and flow of Qi (energy) within the body. A person with excess Qi may experience problems of an excess nature in the upper body (headache, red face, fullness in the chest, etc.). A person with Qi deficiency may experience problems with fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, etc. We can see the mirroring of this in hyper- and hypothyroid conditions.
The throat energy center or upper sea of qi is understood to:
Act as a crucial energy transformation point where the "raw" qi from the lower centers is refined into more subtle forms of energy
Control the distribution of warmth and metabolic energy throughout the body, similar to how we now understand thyroid hormones to regulate basal metabolic rate
Serve as a gateway for qi to enter the brain and higher energy centers (we talk more about this in Part 2)
In the ancient Hindu Chakra science, your voice is the avenue of sound that is vibration and the element of ether. So on a subtler level, a healthy throat chakra is a force of creation through vibration and energy. To be able to manifest through our vibration and energy is the power of the throat.
We can think of the etheric in two ways.
First, simply as our “energy vibration” - what is our vibe and what does it attract? Secondly, it’s about how much physical energy we feel and have access to in order to live our lives on the daily.
We see this very clearly in the connection to the thyroid which is right there in the throat. When we purify the throat, we get the most bang for our buck - we will feel a great increase in energy, the most of any chakra. The thyroid gland is an endocrine gland and is responsible for metabolism and energy levels in the body, in addition to temperature regulation.
Taoist understanding recognizes that imbalances in this throat “sea" will manifest as various symptoms including:
Voice changes and weakness
Metabolic disturbances (feeling too hot or too cold)
Emotional difficulty with self-expression
Neck swelling or constriction
Challenges with energy levels and vitality
The Voice Tells a Story
When we practice somatic sounding, speaking or singing, our voice carries vibrations and those vibrations are emanations of self, but also of our ancestral past. The tones and inflections can tell a whole story about a person’s constitution, gifts, and wounds. In Worsley 5-Element Acupuncture lineage, we learn to understand the voice in context of the elements to diagnose and treat.
(For those who the concept of ancestors coming through our voice is not easy to understand, we can just say that our ancestors are part of our genetic makeup and that which was passed down to us. Our genetics show up in all ways - physically, emotionally, and behaviorally - and voice expression or lack thereof is no different.)
In Taoist qigong and meditation practices, you can work with the throat and thyroid area through:
Specific sounds and tones that vibrate the throat region including sound baths, humming, and somatic sounding that releases energy in different parts of the body.
Visualization and breathing techniques that direct qi flow through the throat; in the energy work practices that I teach, visualizing and breathing up the central channel (chong mai) can support opening the throat to the Earth Shakti from below and the Cosmic Light from above.
Contemporary Medical Research
From a physiological perspective:
The thyroid gland wraps around the larynx (voice box) and trachea
Produces hormones (T3, T4) that regulate metabolism, growth, and energy usage
Directly affects the voice through proximity to vocal structures
Thyroid dysfunction manifests in voice changes:
Hypothyroidism can cause voice deepening, hoarseness, thickness
Hyperthyroidism may cause tremor, weakness, or breathiness in voice
Laryngeal tissues contain thyroid hormone receptors, making them responsive to thyroid fluctuations
Recent research has identified:
Bidirectional relationship between vocal use and thyroid function
Stress impacts on both thyroid function and voice quality
Inflammatory responses affecting both thyroid health and vocal fold function
Connections between emotional expression and thyroid regulation through neuroendocrine pathways
The Integrative Connection
The places where East and West converge can help us integrate these practices and teachings into our lives for healing and transformation.
Expression and Health: Suppressed expression correlates with throat/thyroid issues. Research now confirms psychological stress affects thyroid function, something the ancient traditions have built into their chakra and meridian sciences.
Sound Healing: Ancient practices use sound vibration for thyroid healing; modern research shows vibrational therapy can increase circulation to the thyroid.
Mind-Body Connection: The thyroid's responsiveness to stress and emotion supports the esoteric view of the throat chakra as processing emotional energy.
Bioelectric Properties: The thyroid is electrically active, producing measurable electromagnetic fields, which parallels the concept of chakras as energy vortices.
Developmental Links: In embryology, thyroid tissue migrates from the base of the tongue (speech) to the throat, suggesting evolutionary connections between communication and thyroid function.
This integration of ancient wisdom and contemporary science suggests that practices focused on vocal expression, sound healing, and emotional release may have tangible effects on thyroid health!
Your throat chakra isn't just about communication, darling. It's about POWER. It's about CREATION. It’s about becoming truly ALIVE.
It's about speaking worlds into being.
The universe is waiting for your voice.
Check out PART 2 as we continue into the psychospiritual aspects of Throat Chakra and Thyroid Health!
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REFERENCES:
For the "Expression and Health" connection:
Carta, M. G., et al. (2018). "The link between thyroid autoimmunity (antithyroid peroxidase autoantibodies) with anxiety and mood disorders in the community: a field of interest for public health in the future." BMC Psychiatry.
Helmreich, D. L., et al. (2005). "The effect of stress on thyroid function." Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism.
For "Sound Healing":
Sihori, P., et al. (2017). "Effect of sound therapy in attenuating stress response in patients with hypothyroidism." Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine.
Crowe, B. J., & Scovel, M. (1996). "An overview of sound healing practices: Implications for the profession of music therapy." Music Therapy Perspectives.
For "Mind-Body Connection":
Zabelina, D. L., et al. (2019). "Creativity and sensory gating: Neurophysiological investigations of sensory gating and creativity." Neuropsychologia.
Peterson, K. P. (2017). "Psychoneuroendocrine influence on thyroid hormone actions." Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology.
For "Bioelectric Properties":
Rajabi, S., et al. (2015). "The effects of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields on thyroid function." Journal of Research in Medical Sciences.
McCraty, R. (2015). "Science of the Heart: Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance." HeartMath Research Center.
For "Developmental Links":
Brown, R. S. (2004). "Minireview: developmental regulation of thyrotropin receptor gene expression in the fetal and newborn thyroid." Endocrinology.
Nilsson, M. (2007). "Iodide handling by the thyroid epithelial cell." Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes.
More comprehensive sources on the intersection of Eastern and Western perspectives:
Frawley, D. (2012). "Ayurveda and the Mind: The Healing of Consciousness." Lotus Press.
Judith, A. (2004). "Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self." Celestial Arts.
Pert, C. B. (1999). "Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine." Simon & Schuster.
These references provide scientific and scholarly support for the connections described in the material above, The Integrative Connection.