Because the fifth chakra involves the area of the neck, throat, shoulder blades, upper arms, and thyroid, it is a very important chakra for the singer. Taking responsibility, speaking the truth, and the ability to ask for and receive what you need are all characteristics of a balanced fifth chakra. The fifth chakra is connected to the second chakra (creativity) and when both are working together you feel like you can both create and express the creation. A good way to see if this chakra is balanced is to ask the question: “Am I saying (and singing) what needs to be said in my life?”
This chakra may be very complicated for the singer. I know it is for me. We spend so much time working on the technical parts of our voice and have so many aspects of our lives attached to it—from supporting ourselves financially to fulfilling life dreams—that this chakra becomes multifaceted.
In my opinion, the first step to freeing this chakra is realizing its existence. It was very enlightening for me when I realized that through all my work with my voice I had actually put my voice in a box (no pun intended). This is a difficult concept to understand fully. Even if you are singing at your peak, you may be using your voice in only one way, and this may limit you as a singer. Thinking about your voice in a different way may enable you to bring a new dimension to your voice.
I began my voice training when I was a sophomore in college pursuing a business major. Singing in the choir was enjoyable so I decided to audition for a scholarship for private voice lessons. When I started lessons, singing remained “fun,” but it turned into something more—a passion, a technique, a source of self-esteem, an identity, and a way to support myself. Those half-hour voice lessons changed my life forever.
Through the years of completing my business degree, adding a music degree, getting my master’s degree in vocal performance, performing, singing in competitions, auditioning, singing for three different opera companies, teaching voice lessons, and essentially making my voice into a career, I realized just how much thinking and analyzing was going into my voice. I called it “The Other Head Voice.” Before I was introduced to yoga, I unknowingly balanced this out by volunteering to sing at the bedsides of critically ill people. That got me out of my head world and into the healing world. Singing lullabies to my children and singing in Kindermusik classes also freed me from my “other head voice.”
When yoga came into my life and I learned about the chakras, I realized that through this “free singing” my body was trying to seek balance in the fifth chakra. I was holding too much in that area and I found ways to gently let it go. Yoga introduced me to a way of freeing this chakra in different ways than I imagined. It was an unexpected journey.
The first way I felt my voice freed was through the physical aspect of yoga. Certain exercises left my voice feeling freer after class and I felt I could sing better. I decided I would take this new sensation and add it to my performances. I was performing an opera at the Kennedy Center and I made a promise to myself that for a year I would come an hour early to experiment with yoga and the voice. I would go into an area of the house where I was surrounded with red, a grounding color of the first chakra. I would practice yoga for an hour and observe how the poses affected my performances. This was an important step in the clearing of my fifth chakra and the basis of the method I use to teach yoga to singers.
Try the following physical and vocal exercises to awaken your fifth chakra.
Physical Exercises
Head Roll: Begin with little circles, pretending you are drawing a dime-sized circle with the tip of your nose, first around to the right, then to the left. Gradually increase the size of the circle to as large a circle as possible. Again, first to the right and then to the left. Look down to the floor and place your hands gently on the back of your head. Tip your head back while putting your bottom teeth on your top lip.
Another pose helpful for awakening the fifth chakra is the lion pose.
Lion Pose: Sit in a chair or on your knees. Place your hands on your knees. Take a cleansing breath. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth while sticking your tongue out and bringing the gaze of your eyes upwards. Spread your fingers wide and straighten your arms if you choose. Repeat this three times. Take a cleansing breath to close the pose.
Vocal Exercises
Attending a yoga class that included chanting was another important step in my own exploration of the fifth chakra. Chanting was definitely not my thing, but I learned a valuable lesson: I realized the importance of adding sound to my yoga practice. I needed a way to free my voice with sound. I brought “toning” into my yoga.
When I teach YogaSing workshops and classes, the section on toning always appears on the feedback assessment form. Many students comment on how much they enjoy that part of class, and a few always say it was a “life/voice changer.” It is very difficult to teach toning in an article but you may begin the practice by adding sounds to movement.
Stand in mountain pose with your arms by your side. Take a deep cleansing breath, inhaling and exhaling. Sing an “ah” and bring your arms up to extended mountain pose. Change the vowel to an [i] and bring your hands out in front of you. Return to the “ah” vowel and bring your arms out to your side. Change to an [o] and bring your arms in front of you again. Now sing an [u] vowel and bring your arms down into mountain pose again.
For singers and non-singers alike, the fifth chakra changes the way you live. Every aspect of your life is involved at some level. If you are not saying what needs to be said in your marriage, to your boss, your friends, your children, working with the fifth chakra is a valuable step in balancing “the other head voice” with the voice in your body.
To explore this concept further, don’t miss the Suzanne’s classes at this year’s Classical Singer Convention in the beautiful city of San Francisco!
