Spit or Swallow?

I know what you’re thinking … here’s a slutty dating story! Sorry to disappoint all the perverted people out there, because this is a post about health!

Have you ever been around someone who is always clearing their throat? Recently I found myself staying with a habitual phlegm hocker. It didn’t matter if I locked myself away into my room. It didn’t matter if I had the television volume a little louder than my ears desired. I could still hear her hocking up phlegm more often than a Hillbilly chewing and spitting tobacco.

My instincts knew that she was suffering from a blocked throat chakra. My experience told me that she also didn’t want to be healed. Put into simple terms, the chakras are energy centres. There are seven energy centres in the body and they correlate to different organs and parts of the body. A deeper study into the chakras delves into physical and emotional conditions when the energy is blocked or unbalanced. Healing modalities such as Reiki, Colour Therapy and Energy Healing deal with chakras, auras and energy fields. Before you call these therapies “woo woo” remember the existence and importance of energy is science based.

Without placing my Reiki attuned hands on her throat, how did I know that she had a blocked throat chakra? The throat chakra is about communication. When the throat chakra is balanced, one freely expresses themselves honestly, truthfully and calmly. There is no fear or anger, just assertive expression. Communication includes listening and being open to what others have to say, even if you do not agree with them.

When I mentioned Reiki, she bluntly said, “I’ve never hear of it.” Yet she didn’t ask me what it was. She looked back at her television. She had a closed mind. Whilst living together, we never had conversations about the many interesting topics most adults discuss. If I opened a discussion about something new to her, she would ignore me or look blankly at me. When she asked me a question, she never listened to my answers. She would often ask the same questions and I had to repeat myself daily.

This woman had no idea how to communicate clearly or respectfully. All that was spoken was either a negative judgement or criticism. It wasn’t that she spoke passionately. She actually spoke aggressively. I never heard anything positive or joyful expressed. When she had nothing negative to say, she actually had nothing to say! Strangely, she asked simple questions with confusion or unwarranted urgency. For example, when I told her I was heading into the city, she repeated the statement in question format with a confused and somewhat worried look on her face as if I told her I was off to swim the English Channel.

Just like prison, my bedroom cell was not my escape. I couldn’t escape the sound. You know that moment when you squeeze your eyes shut, press your lips firmly together, hold your breath and tense your muscles because you’ve experienced something that makes you want to dry retch? Well that is the instant reaction I felt hourly for weeks upon weeks. I guess I could look at the positive side. From my bedroom, I could never hear a follow through spit. So did she swallow then?

Aside from the torturous loogie sounds that seemed like they were coming out of a football locker room, my strong beliefs in the metaphysics were supported. This person’s issues with communication were deeper than I thought. Rather than introducing her to something new, I tried to ask about her “coughing”. I either got an answer that didn’t make sense or a dirty look with no words. Once again, my Reiki and Chakra training were supported by a true life case that I unfortunately had to live with.

Do you spit or swallow? Your phlegm!! Men are the best at spitting and seem to be able to project it straight out with force. Some people, particularly women who can’t hurl a loogie with ease are uncomfortable with spitting as they can taste the phlegm as it is released from their throat and crosses their lips. Some swallow because they feel it gets stuck if they try to spit and hate the taste of it in their mouth. Young children don’t know what to do with their phlegm and often vomit it out. Some people take cough syrup to help release it. Wouldn’t it be great, if we could just prevent it! This is where strengthening your throat chakra comes in.

How does one strengthen their throat chakra? A quick fix is a Reiki treatment. There are many other forms of Spiritual Healing that focus on clearing the energy channels as well. As well as your readjustment, you can work towards strengthening your throat chakra through developing your communication skills.

Remember that a sore neck is a symptom of a weak throat chakra as well. Until learning Reiki, I often had a sore neck. I needed to get acupuncture on my neck regularly. It was often at times when I was either not voicing myself or yelling. They say that a non-assertive person goes from one extreme to the other. Afraid to speak up, the build up results in them exploding. This realisation made me aware of how important it was for me to assertively speak my truth. The results were amazing. I’ve only need a treatment, once in the last 7 years. If I ever get a sore neck, I acknowledge where I miscommunicated, meditate and focus on where my communication needs to improve plus use my Reiki attuned hands on myself … wink wink!

Every day I wondered … Was the phlegm real? Was she actually hocking up phlegm or was she just exceptionally loud at clearing her throat? Is there any point of hocking it up and swallowing it? Was she doing the silent slow spit into a tissue that didn’t penetrate the walls? And if so, why couldn’t she do it all quietly? If the phlegm really did exist, did she spit or swallow?!

One day, while walking past each other in the apartment, she cleared her throat right in front of me without covering her mouth. She didn’t seem to swallow and she surely didn’t spit. “What’s going on with your phlegm?” I pleaded.

According to her doctor, issues with her stomach caused phlegm in her throat and she spat when she had a tissue. Relationship issues relate to another chakra. Relationships and communication go hand in hand. It all made sense. The other thing that made sense was that she never told me if she swallowed it when she didn’t spit, so one can only assume that she swallowed if she didn’t have a tissue.

In conclusion, some spit, some swallow and some do both! … And better to communicate clearly and calmly than to turn others off!