Softness And Release For Anxious Throat Tension

Many experience deeply uncomfortable tension in our throats as a result of trapped emotions and worries. Here are three guided practices to clear and release our throats: first, physical exercises for softening and releasing muscles which are bracing; second, a powerful guided visualisation for emotional and energetic release; and third, affirmations for reclaiming your own peaceful truth, voice and full self. It is powerful and affirming to remember how we resourced we are in our own healing.

Transcript

Welcome to this practice to release and to soothe the tension in the throat.

Many people have a vulnerability in certain areas of their bodies where energies like stress and emotional pain can pool and become stuck.

And when this area is the throat it can feel very uncomfortable and distressing.

It can actually feel like having a lump in your throat constantly when there's no actual lump there.

And sometimes it can bring on an infection here in the throat because of the amount of inflammatory chemicals that are coming through from the body's stress reaction.

And I know that having this constant tightness and discomfort can create even more feelings of vulnerability and perhaps a sense of dread.

But don't worry,

You can look after your throat as it is calling you to do.

So in this practice we're going to do three things overall.

We're going to attend to the muscles of our throat that when we feel stress become tense.

And they become tense for other reasons too because we have a lot of muscles in our neck and throat and they're responsible for holding our head up all day long.

But when we feel stress our body's reaction is to release chemicals and those chemicals can inflame the insides of us and cause our muscles to tense.

And in our throats this can be what makes it feel sore and also tight.

So we're going to relax and release the muscles of our throat and all the other muscles responsible for that area,

Our head,

Neck,

Shoulders.

We're going to notice if we're holding on energy,

Emotions and stress and pain that really belongs to others.

So energy workers,

People whose work involves caring for the energy fields of others like yoga teachers and body workers and healers and just those of us who are very sensitive and caring as well can sometimes take on the energy and emotions that don't belong to us as if holding them for others for a while will reduce their distress.

And we do that almost automatically,

Probably automatically.

So we have to be vigilant for this and notice what we might have taken on,

Taken into ourselves that belongs to someone else and then let that go.

It's not ours to hold and it's not helpful to take on someone else's stuff.

It's not helpful to them and it's not helpful to us.

And it causes this pain and discomfort in our body.

And then we're going to use affirmation and vibration to feel safe to express ourselves and to feel safe and light and clear and free in our throats,

In our voice and in our truth.

So any trapped energies there of self criticism might have been caused by other people's judgments that have made us feel anxious about exposing ourselves.

Anything there that is presenting as a tightness and a stickiness,

We're going to make sure that is released by using affirmation and vibration to remind ourselves that we are safe and we can be in our truth and express it and delight in that no matter what the world thinks.

So let's begin.

So as always you've hopefully found a quiet space where you won't be interrupted and you're making yourself very comfortable.

You can lie down for this practice or you can sit.

But the main thing is we need to feel at ease and that we can release holding in our muscles.

So it may be if you're sitting,

You want to have a back of a chair to support you or a wall.

And if you're lying down,

You have a folded blanket underneath your shoulders so that you can completely release your neck,

Head and shoulders.

If you need to go and get anything,

You can pause this recording now.

As you make yourself comfortable,

Tune into your body.

Feel your body.

Tune into your breathing.

Feel how soft and tender your breath is as it moves through your body,

Reaching every part of you and caressing you on the inside.

Tender compassionate touch of your breath,

Nurturing you.

And tune into your presence,

The whole of you.

The precious,

Precious soul and gift of life that you are.

And be aware that within you and from you and around you is your own energy space,

A sanctuary.

An electromagnetic field is inside of you and surrounds you that is vibrant with your essence.

Different with space and light.

Feel that in you and around you now.

And settle your presence fully into that space of light.

Spread yourself out energetically.

And feel that this is special time where you are paying yourself attention and cueing your own body's natural processes of healing and repair.

Have an attitude of sweetness to yourself,

Of ease and grace.

Welcome your compassion and self mercy and tenderness.

Your loving wisdom toward your own body and being.

You'll be using those qualities now to answer what is calling to you from your body and in particular from your throat.

And as you settle in,

Let's consider our throats.

This is the part of you that relates to your truth,

Your honesty,

Your expression and your right to be heard.

It also speaks to your sense of confidence and worth.

When this space feels confident and open and full of life,

We're able to express ourselves freely,

Even if not everyone in the world agrees with us.

We can just delight in our self expression and the openness of our throats.

This is how we want to be and to feel and how we're meant to be and to feel.

Now your throat is just above your heart.

There's a gateway there from your heart,

Which is your center of feeling and passion and creativity.

So you can consider that gateway to your throat and your voice and expression and how your heart wishes to sing from you literally into the world.

And your throat houses airways,

Which take in vitality from the space around you when you breathe.

And it has all the mechanisms for swallowing food and nourishment from life.

It's the center of vital life force energy and a magnificent and honorable space that allows you to receive nourishment and to express your heart and to thrive exactly as you.

So you can completely welcome your throat now.

And I want you to begin to relax your head,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Arms and wrists.

You might want to shake out your shoulders and your arms and your wrists and see how good that feels as you breathe.

You might want to do some rotations of your shoulders.

Give them some love.

Backwards,

Forwards and around.

And bring your head and neck in as well.

Be gentle.

And you can clear out some tension right away with this movement and breathing into your head,

Neck and shoulders.

We have 50 pairs of muscles in our neck and throat alone and they do a lot of work holding our heads up all day.

And as you know,

We sit at keyboards sometimes all day and we drive a lot and energy does get stuck in our shoulders and our heads and our necks.

And when it gets stuck here,

That can cause muscle tension and rigidity which can add to those feelings of tension in our throat.

Just means the muscles have really tensed for a long time.

So with a little movement,

A little agility,

We can start at once to move some of this excess energy and clear this tension out right away.

Now breathe a very easy breath.

And breathe this easy breath all the way into your shoulders so that your shoulders really fill with breath.

They may even lift up.

And when you exhale,

Sigh it out in an ah,

An easy sigh.

And let your shoulders simply flop and slump.

Do this a few times,

Breathing in and filling your shoulders completely and then sighing and releasing your shoulders completely and letting them slump.

And now shake out your shoulders and your arms and your wrists again and give your neck some more love with a little movement.

The shoulder love will help release the tension in your neck and throat.

Okay,

Breathe normally now.

Keep it soft and easy.

And notice what feels more relaxed.

Just scan around your body as you find a nice easy rhythm of breathing for yourself.

And now move up to the muscles of your face.

We're going to just ask the muscles of our face to relax and also give our jaw,

Which is very connected to our throat,

A lovely stretch and release.

So move up to your brow and if there's any tension,

Any frown there,

Just soften and melt your brow.

Make it buttery and silky.

And let go of your cheekbones.

Release your jaw.

Let your mouth drop.

Let your tongue go.

Release any holding in your chin.

And breathe into this new softness,

This serenity of your face.

And then let's release our jaw by giving it a good stretch out first.

Open your jaw as wide as you can.

And then bring it in and purse your lips tight.

And then let go.

Do that again,

Opening your mouth very wide,

Stretching your jaw and then bringing it in and pursing your lips tight.

And then completely letting go.

Four more times.

There you go.

So bringing in a little agility reminds us we aren't stuck and that's good to know.

And now take both of your hands lightly to the centre of your belly.

Just place your fingertips there.

Visualise a bright light there in your belly,

Your core.

Your centre of confidence and quiet power.

Breathe here with that light and your fingers on your belly.

Take a breath in and feel your belly grow and expand into your fingers.

And then breathe out and feel it gather back into your core,

Your centre,

Your quiet power.

Breathe in a relaxed and easeful way.

As you breathe in you feel the light expanding and growing.

As you breathe out you feel the light,

The confidence,

The quiet power gathering deeply into your centre,

Your foundation.

The light grows in both directions.

Your quiet power grows in both directions.

Continue to breathe like this for a couple more breaths.

Breathing in,

Expanding from your centre.

Feeling the light,

The quiet inner power,

The confidence grow into your hands.

Breathing out,

Feeling it come home again,

Back to foundation.

Breathing with your centre,

Your essence,

Your quiet inner power.

Now keeping your right hand on your belly,

Take your left hand and place it on your heart,

Just over the space on your chest where your heart is.

Visualise a bright light underneath your fingers,

The light of your heart.

And as you breathe in,

Feel that contact from your heart to your hand.

Feel the light growing into your hand and the world.

And as you breathe out,

Feel your heart come back inward to you,

Coming home,

The light inside.

Be aware of the hand that's on your belly and the hand that's on your heart.

And again,

As you breathe in,

Feel the light grow all the way through and out of your heart.

And as you breathe out,

How the light,

Your power,

Is called back into your core,

To your centre,

Coming home.

Breathing from your belly to your heart and your heart back into your belly.

Take some breaths this way.

Belly is a gateway to heart.

And let your power spread in you from your core to your heart.

With every breath,

Feel how more space,

More light and more ease is arriving in your body.

And any feelings of freedom and fluidity again.

And now you can bring that left hand to your throat.

Just touch lightly here and greet yourself.

There's a bright light there underneath your fingers.

And delight in your truth here.

Relax again your neck and your shoulders.

Even more.

And soften and release the muscles of your face even more.

Your forehead,

Your eyes,

Your jaw and mouth.

Let them dissolve.

Breathe that easeful breath into your throat.

With your head forward,

Take an inhale.

And then with your out breath,

Turn your head to look over your right shoulder.

And then inhale back to centre.

And again,

Take a breath from the centre and exhale to turn your head to gaze over your left shoulder.

Do this a couple more times.

Giving your neck and throat a lovely stretch.

Getting to all sides and the back of your neck and throat.

And then with your mind in your belly and your heart and your throat and your fingers over your belly and your throat,

Take another conscious breath of light from your belly all the way up through your heart and into your throat.

And pour that breath down through your throat and heart back into that quiet centre of power in your core.

As you feel yourself filling with breath,

Feel your throat filling and filling all the way up to your shoulders.

And all the space created there.

And as you release that breath,

Feel it pouring through your throat,

Front,

Back and sides.

Massaging your throat and relaxing the muscles there.

Soft and easy.

So your relaxed in breath is filling you with space and light from your core.

And your easy out breath is pouring a soothing light balm over your throat through your being like beautiful soothing oils.

Enjoy the balm of your breath from your belly all the way up to your throat and into your shoulders and then let it pour back down through your being deliciously.

Feel again how space and light are filling your inner being and how your own energy is free to dance here.

How there is freedom and space for all your energies,

Your beliefs,

Your creations,

Your truths and your expression.

Now bring your awareness inside your throat.

Be tender with yourself.

Let your breath continue to be easy and soft and light here.

Feel your breath flowing here like fresh air.

And then visualize the walls of your throat and imagine them opening up like windows opening.

Imagine the walls of your throat opening front,

Back and sides so all the fresh air from space can flow through as you breathe easily.

Enjoy the feeling of fresh air flowing in and out of your throat cleansing and refreshing your throat.

You can feel really good.

Like you're taking in the sky and the sunshine and all the prana,

The life force energy that flows through the fresh air and letting it flood your throat and move on through and shift things here.

And visualize a light flooding your throat now.

A bright,

Beautiful,

Powerful light protecting and enlivening your throat.

Casting a spell of power there and freedom in your throat,

Be with that light and breathe.

And say to yourself,

I release everything here that is not mine.

I release what does not belong,

Not yours to hold.

You are releasing other people's judgments,

Criticisms and assumptions.

You're releasing your own criticism or worries about being exposed.

Set it all free into a space where it can dissolve away,

Simply dissolve.

I release everything here that is not mine to hold,

Let the air carry it away.

I release what does not belong.

Relax your mouth,

Relax your shoulders,

Breathe easily.

Feel the light,

Feel the fresh air.

Feel the spell being cast and say to yourself,

I welcome and embrace my truth,

My confidence and trust.

Your self trust is sacred and it validates your truth and your light.

You could simply say,

I trust and welcome my truth.

Breathing easily,

Delighting in the fresh air and the clearing.

Bringing into that space,

I trust my truth.

And now say to yourself,

I am safe to explore and to express.

And breathe those words around your throat as the fresh air and light pour in.

I am safe to explore and to express.

You are safe to express and your voice is needed in the world.

I am safe to explore and to express.

I am safe.

And now let go of the words and simply hum.

Reestablish the walls of your throat softly.

Welcome the clarity there and the new space and hum.

Hum around your tonsils.

Hum around your vocal cords.

Hum the way a bee hums.

A buzzing inside your throat.

Hum the way the end of the om hums the sound of creation.

As you hum,

Feel how soothing and refreshing this vibration is to your tonsils and your vocal cords and your larynx and your throat.

How soothing and refreshing is your vibration.

You are welcome.

You can experiment with sound level,

With tempo.

You can swirl your hum around your throat in a circular motion.

Having your jaw in little circles can help that.

As you hum,

Let the vibration grow from your throat into your whole being.

Hum into your whole being.

You are humming with your essence.

You are humming with life and freedom.

And now relax.

Slowly relax,

Let everything go.

Give yourself a few moments of time and space to notice.

Notice yourself.

Notice your body and your feelings and sensations now.

Notice too your thoughts and any imagery.

Notice where there may have been shifts.

Where you feel more supple and relaxed.

Lighter.

Clerier.

And thank yourself and life for the energies and abilities of your own self healing.

Remember how resourced you are and how nothing needs to remain stuck.

Life is ever regenerating,

Self regenerating.

That is the nature of life and it is the nature of you too.

You just need to remember and make time and space for that to happen.

Now take a wonderful deep breath and a big stretch.

And welcome yourself back into life.

Reviews

Wow! Thank you, Alison. Will revisit. Peace to you. 💜

Helpful

Amazing and powerful?,
‼️🌸☮️🙏

So helpful thank you. I actually fell asleep but felt a release afterwards. I feel stress in my face, would love to have a similar meditation concentrating on brow, eyes, cheeks ☺️🙏🌼

Thank you from the bottom of my heart and throat ❤️❤️❤️