Connecting at the Throat Chakra

Quiet Listening

“Deep listening is a skill that creates a profound connection with other people at the throat chakra and often leads to more compassionate connections at your heart chakra.”

Swami Saradananda (Chakra Meditation)

We humans love to talk. Ever since we gave up communicating by hand signals, and started mouthing off, we've been in love with the sound of our own voices. And it's not just our voice we love, but just sound in general. My friend, Harry, and I meet for coffee every Friday afternoon. We've tried a number of coffee shops around town, and settled on one called The Red Cat. We meet to converse about Spirituality Group, the coming Sunday's topic, and possible sources of information. Some Fridays, it's almost impossible to hear each other speak. There are tables full of college students and people doing business, multiple computers going at every table; in the background, music plays, employees communicate orders to one another, dishes clash, latte machines hiss and a flood of humanity comes and goes. The louder the environment, the louder people talk to be heard above it. Sometimes stepping outside onto the busy city street is a relief.

We who live in cities are simply assaulted by noise—it damages our ears and our hearts. To counter this damage, we need to practice silence for part of every day, and that includes shutting our own mouths. Along with letter writing, one thing that seems to be disappearing from our human interactions is simple listening. We have forgotten that soul connections are formed by deep listening—with the heart, and not just the ears. When we create silence to listen to our own inner voice and to contemplate, we prepare ourselves to interact with others in a thoughtful, meaningful way. We are less likely to talk just to hear our own voices. Silence brings health to our throat chakra, and listening with our full attention, opens the heart chakra.

Today, even in the midst of the holiday rush, let's take some time to be silent. Let's rest our ears and our mouths—maybe even try a few (nice) hand signals! It'll be good for us—for our hearts, and for our relationships.

                                                         In the Spirit,

                                                             Jane