Yoga for the throat chakra in Tenerife
Find your voice through breath, sound and mantra.
Throat classes are themed around Vishuddha, the fifth chakra, which in this framework sits at the throat and is traditionally associated with ether, or space, and with sound. Expect neck and shoulder work, breath you can hear, humming and often chanting.
No classes scheduled in the next two weeks.
What Throat does for you
You loosen your neck, jaw and shoulders, where a lot of everyday tension tends to park. Breath practices with sound, like humming, leave a buzzing, settled feeling through the head and chest. Many people come to get more comfortable using their voice, in a meeting or in a conversation that has been waiting. Even if you never chant anywhere else, it is a low-stakes place to try.
It suits you if
- your neck and jaw hold a lot of tension
- you want to feel more at ease speaking up
- you are curious about chanting but shy about it
- you like breath practice you can hear
Read the full guide to ThroatWhat a class is like, your first time, history and the words you will hear
What a class is like
Most classes last 60 to 90 minutes at a gentle to moderate pace. Expect neck and shoulder release, then poses like fish, supported shoulder stand, plow or bridge, and plenty of breath practice: ujjayi (an audible, ocean-like breath), bhramari (humming bee breath) and lion's breath with your tongue out. Many end with chanting the seed syllable 'ham' or 'om' together, and some include a short sharing circle or journaling. Blue imagery is common. You will hardly sweat, but you will make some noise.
Your first time
- Wear a top that stays comfortable when you lie on your shoulders or turn upside down.
- Bring water, since all that breathing and chanting dries the throat.
- If chanting in a group makes you nervous, say so and simply listen the first time.
Good to know
- Expect to use your voice: humming, lion's breath and chanting are central, though you can always breathe along quietly.
- Shoulder stand and plow put weight on the neck; skip them and ask for an alternative if you have neck problems, high blood pressure or glaucoma, or if you are pregnant.
Where it comes from
Vishuddha means 'especially pure' or 'purification'. In the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, written by the tantric Purnananda in 1577, it is a smoky purple lotus of sixteen petals at the throat, holding a white circle, the sign of akasha (ether or space), with the seed syllable 'ham' and a white elephant as its animal. Its sixteen petals carry the sixteen vowels of the Sanskrit alphabet, which ties this center closely to sound.
That link runs deep in Indian thought, where sound is the quality of akasha and mantra practice treats syllables as charged with meaning and power. Each chakra in the system has its own seed syllable, and chanting them in order is one of the oldest ways chakra imagery reaches a modern class. Like the other lotuses, Vishuddha is a meditation image, and older tantric texts disagree on how many centers there are.
Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) translated the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana in The Serpent Power (1919), and Charles Leadbeater's Theosophical book The Chakras (1927) brought further Western interest. The blue color, the link to the thyroid gland and the themes of communication, self-expression and speaking your truth come from the modern Western system, built up across the 20th century by color therapists, Jungian and human potential writers and the New Age movement. Anodea Judith's Wheels of Life (1987) made communication the standard reading.
In Berlin throat themes appear in chakra series, voice and mantra workshops and kirtan evenings, often in a mix of Sanskrit, English and German.
Words you will hear
- Vishuddha
- Sanskrit for 'especially pure', the name of the fifth chakra at the throat.
- Ham
- The seed syllable (bija) traditionally chanted for the throat chakra.
- Ujjayi
- 'Victorious' breath, a slow breath through the nose with a soft, ocean-like sound in the throat.
- Bhramari
- Bee breath: humming on the exhale, often with the ears gently closed.
- Simhasana
- Lion pose: a strong exhale with the tongue out and eyes wide.
- Matsyasana
- Fish pose: a supported backbend that opens the front of the throat and chest.