Sounds of silence
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1. Energy traps in the neck-throat region
2. The role of Udana Vayu
3. Study the pattern
4. Techniques to reclaim the Udana Vayu
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“I don’t understand how I get these rashes only around my throat. This has been extremely bothersome and embarrassing. How to get rid of it?”
“There is constant persistent cough, can’t speak more than a sentence without being interrupted by the cough”
How much of what we think and feel is actually communicated and how much is left unsaid, unexpressed or even unacknowledged to ourselves? With so many real and imagined barriers to self-expression, the neck and throat have become the seats for many illnesses and imbalances. Thus, the prana – specifically the Udana Vayu – gets trapped.
When was the last time you felt a strong emotion of pain, anger, fear and held it not knowing how to get past it, not having the courage to face it, feared the consequences of expressing it to the person concerned? The next time you feel it, try to see how it is precipitating in the body, how it is playing itself out in your system. Anything from persistent cough to allergies to stiffness and pain, hormonal imbalances…
The site of the symptom is a vital piece of information, are you listening?
The Udana Vayu that has its seat in the throat is the uplifting energy. To hold the head high in confidence and courage requires the Udana Vayu to be strong, we can then express ourselves with clarity and conviction. Yoga Sutra talks about mastery of the Udana Vayu in the 3rd chapter (Yoga Sutra III.39), indicating that it can confer lightness of body so that we can walk on water, quick sand and thorns and actually levitate! Well, if not levitate the least we would desire is clarity of thought and expression. Free of imagined consequences of our actions.
Of course, it might not be prudent to always speak our mind. So there is constant conflict, what to say, how much to say and what not to say… The throat becomes the battlefield, trapping and depleting the Udana Vayu. Stooping shoulders, stiff neck, tightness in the chest with shallow upper-chest breathing - clearly the Udana is affected.
So whenever you experience a conflict in communication, observe the sensations in the throat. Most often these are well rehearsed plots, conditioned responses/reactions that are on auto-pilot. That is why the body has now taken over the job of indicating something is wrong – through physical symptoms and imbalances.
Here’s what you can try:
Study the pattern
Choose just one relationship in your life that is significant for you and observe next time what you are saying and not saying. Usually what is unconsciously (or consciously) withheld is some aspect of our feelings that we do not identify with our sense of self. For example, I may be feeling very angry and hurt by the way somebody is talking to me or treating me but I may not acknowledge or express it (even to myself) because I believe it is “not OK” to feel it. It is not what I would expect out of myself. The ego has created its own trap, and the prana is stuck!
The next time this happens, observe your sensation in the body, specifically around your neck and throat.
Hold your attention there and just for yourself, acknowledge and accept your feeling, validate it for what it is.
Observe the various ways and methods that you cover it up, deny, deflect or suppress it, these are often conditioned reactions or responses.
Where is this coming from?
Usually most of this comes from fear, when you get in touch with the seed of fear, enter it, breathe into it and slowly release it.
It is certainly not easy as sometimes this whole process of acknowledging and staying with the seed of pain is intolerable. But having said that, the process of undoing the knots is itself quite simple and straightforward.
Techniques to the rescue Your daily asana, pranayama, chanting practice can be great avenues for unlocking and releasing the Udana Vayu.
Ujjayi Making a gentle restriction in the throat that creates a soft hissing sound as you inhale and exhale. Even if you just worked with extending your breath, making it longer and longer, there is a natural restriction created at your throat that can then guide your mind to stay focused. Note: Ujjayi has to be soft and subtle, just for you to hear and be guided.
Try breathing in from the front of the throat and breathing out through the back of your throat, touching deeper and subtler parts of the throat passage.
When the sound is subtle, the control over the breath is better.
It also means your mind has to be so quiet to listen to the breath, so naturally we come into the present moment, releasing ourselves from past and future.
As we extend the inhalation and exhalation, we are able to work through the blocks in a very gentle manner and release the prana.
Gentle neck movements – extension, flexion and axial twisting movements along with arm/body movements will allow for better opening and release.
Sitali pranayama (inhaling through tongue curled up on the sides to form a tube, raising the head simultaneously and breathing out through nostrils lowering the head) is a beautiful technique that can help us release so much of tension in the throat and neck region.
Jalamdhara Bandha – the chin lock position helps to lift the spine up, open up the chest for better breathing and also the restriction at the throat combined with ujjayi breathing in suitable postures and pranayama can intensify the process of burning through the blocks and releasing the prana.
Chanting as a form of release is a wonderful idea. By this, we are able to transmute all that we have not been able to say/share into something sacred, powerful and liberating.
This of course, is not the complete list of techniques but only an indication of direction. Even if we do not experience any apparent problems in the neck and throat, we could still benefit from seeing how to deal with conflicts arising from communication and clear it out through everyday practice so that we are not creating more traps for the prana.
One of the meanings of the word yoga is “Yukti” - intelligent, creative, resourceful application. It is not so much the tool or technique but how and for what purpose we deploy it that matters. The above techniques, when used consciously and in an intelligent manner, can clear the bottlenecks in our daily life effortlessly.
Just like the farmer clears the weeds and breaks the dam so that water can flow into the fields (Yoga Sutra 4.3), the technique simply opens up the knots and releases the prana that can then lift us up, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually!
Choose just one relationship in your life that is significant for you and observe next time what you are saying and not saying. Usually what is unconsciously (or consciously) withheld is some aspect of our feelings that we do not identify with our sense of self. For example, I may be feeling very angry and hurt by the way somebody is talking to me or treating me but I may not acknowledge or express it (even to myself) because I believe it is “not OK” to feel it. It is not what I would expect out of myself. The ego has created its own trap, and the prana is stuck!
The next time this happens, observe your sensation in the body, specifically around your neck and throat.
Hold your attention there and just for yourself, acknowledge and accept your feeling, validate it for what it is.
Observe the various ways and methods that you cover it up, deny, deflect or suppress it, these are often conditioned reactions or responses.
Where is this coming from?
Usually most of this comes from fear, when you get in touch with the seed of fear, enter it, breathe into it and slowly release it.
It is certainly not easy as sometimes this whole process of acknowledging and staying with the seed of pain is intolerable. But having said that, the process of undoing the knots is itself quite simple and straightforward.
Techniques to the rescue Your daily asana, pranayama, chanting practice can be great avenues for unlocking and releasing the Udana Vayu.
Ujjayi Making a gentle restriction in the throat that creates a soft hissing sound as you inhale and exhale. Even if you just worked with extending your breath, making it longer and longer, there is a natural restriction created at your throat that can then guide your mind to stay focused. Note: Ujjayi has to be soft and subtle, just for you to hear and be guided.
Try breathing in from the front of the throat and breathing out through the back of your throat, touching deeper and subtler parts of the throat passage.
When the sound is subtle, the control over the breath is better.
It also means your mind has to be so quiet to listen to the breath, so naturally we come into the present moment, releasing ourselves from past and future.
As we extend the inhalation and exhalation, we are able to work through the blocks in a very gentle manner and release the prana.
Gentle neck movements – extension, flexion and axial twisting movements along with arm/body movements will allow for better opening and release.
Sitali pranayama (inhaling through tongue curled up on the sides to form a tube, raising the head simultaneously and breathing out through nostrils lowering the head) is a beautiful technique that can help us release so much of tension in the throat and neck region.
Jalamdhara Bandha – the chin lock position helps to lift the spine up, open up the chest for better breathing and also the restriction at the throat combined with ujjayi breathing in suitable postures and pranayama can intensify the process of burning through the blocks and releasing the prana.
Chanting as a form of release is a wonderful idea. By this, we are able to transmute all that we have not been able to say/share into something sacred, powerful and liberating.
This of course, is not the complete list of techniques but only an indication of direction. Even if we do not experience any apparent problems in the neck and throat, we could still benefit from seeing how to deal with conflicts arising from communication and clear it out through everyday practice so that we are not creating more traps for the prana.
One of the meanings of the word yoga is “Yukti” - intelligent, creative, resourceful application. It is not so much the tool or technique but how and for what purpose we deploy it that matters. The above techniques, when used consciously and in an intelligent manner, can clear the bottlenecks in our daily life effortlessly.
Just like the farmer clears the weeds and breaks the dam so that water can flow into the fields (Yoga Sutra 4.3), the technique simply opens up the knots and releases the prana that can then lift us up, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually!
Don't let your throat tighten with fear.
Take sips of breath all day and night,
before death closes your mouth.
- Rumi
Take sips of breath all day and night,
before death closes your mouth.
- Rumi
