Humming with the Bees & Vishuddha
- Karrie Zylstra Myton
- May 30
- 5 min read
We recently finished our annual chakra series in Art Words and Yoga and I was especially impressed with how much students liked the bija mantra for vishuddha, the throat chakra.
Something about the sound of the throat chakra "hum" seemed to still the room as the sound resonated through our throats and into our heads. I hadn't focused much on the mantras for the chakras in the past but something about the throat and its connection to sound and speech drew me to share the yogic tradition of using a repeated syllable. The "bija," or seed, mantra of "hum"seemed to change the atmosphere in the room that day, calming us as a group. Afterwards, many commented on the sensation and how soothing it felt.
(I was encouraged by this to be brave and try new things in class even when I might at first be nervous about it. Chanting out loud feels a little scary to me. It's almost like singing out loud in church, I suppose.)
Pierce County Apiary Days
It took me a while to remember what this experience reminded me of but not too long after that practice, my son Quinton and I helped the Pierce County Beekeepers set up their hives during one of their Apiary Days. We brought our rakes and gloves to help clean up the areas around the hives after the winter months and then put on our gear so we could check inside the bee boxes. Many hives did not survive the winter and we sadly noticed that there is definitely a problem with our bee survival rate right now.
But even where the hives had not survived, worker bees from neighboring hives were buzzing around and collecting the remaining honey and pollen. Bees are nothing if not resourceful.
As I checked the boxes by slowly taking them apart and looking for signs of a thriving hive, those robber bees swirled around me, creating a collective hum that resonated deep into my chest. I realized that they were making the sound of vishuddha, and I felt instantly soothed.
Humming in the Pandemic
The experience of that Apiary Day also took me straight back to the first year of the pandemic when my son and I decided to set up a hive in our back yard.
We really needed a focus during our months of lockdown—preferably an outdoor focus—and we had a friend who was an experienced beekeeper.
My son was in fourth grade at the beginning of the school closures and the online class situation was not at all ideal for the many learning struggles he had related to his dyslexia. In some ways, the pause in all the pressures on his reading abilities were a welcome relief. I've known for some time that while reading is an excellent way to learn, it's not the only way and most of the time it's not the best way for Quinton.
He's always loved anything to do with animals and was totally on board with beekeeping from the moment we checked out my friend's hives. So in the early summer of 2020, she helped us move one of her hives to our back yard. Keeping bees, I figured, would definitely teach us both something about science and about our natural world even while formal schooling had been paralyzed by world events.
The Peace of the Humming Hives
I had no idea how incredibly helpful this would be for my own sense of well being. I was spending most of my time on a screen trying to reach my English and trade school students from afar. Quinton was also spending much of his time on screens downstairs. Our nerves were stretched with all the time indoors and with all of the isolation even though we made a practice of frequent walks and movement breaks.
Each time we opened the hive to feed the bees sugar water or check on them, I felt an overwhelming peace--a sense of awe and wonder at the tiny creatures who surrounded me with their motion and the calming powerful sound of "hum." My husband would often help from the side and take photos until we got him his own gear. Over time, it became a family project that we all enjoyed.
Most of the time the bees weren't terribly upset. As long as I was gentle in my movements and in my demeanor, so were they. It was not hard to stay calm because they made such a soothing sound much of the time.
Sometimes the sound of the hive would become agitated if we were too close to the queen or otherwise messing with the hive's operation. Then it became more of a challenging practice to move quickly while not letting their agitation frighten us into making things worse.
I liked being near the bees so much that I began spending more time in my yard, weeding and puttering around. I enjoyed watching them do their work while I did mine.
My sister also loved that we kept bees and she was even able to visit the hives once while she was trying to heal from cancer. This was especially wonderful because we weren't able to interact much during the pandemic. It was too risky to spend time with her and possibly give her Covid. But she could visit my back yard in relative safety and I'm so glad she did.
Sadly, our first hive died over the winter of 2020-2021 and our second hive moved out for some unknown reason in the fall of 2021. By then my sister had passed and I felt like I needed a break from loss for a bit. We haven't set up our bee boxes since then but making it out to work with the Pierce County Beekeepers sure has been a joy that brought back that humming hive sound and some of my better memories of the lockdown.
A Humming Vishuddha Practice
If you'd like to get a sense for how this feels, you can easily try chanting the vishuddha mantra on your own without needing any bee gear. Find a quiet space and sit comfortably. This can be cross-legged on the floor or in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. However you sit, be sure your back is at ease. Let your shoulder blades relax and tuck your chin to elongate your spine.
Breathe in slowly through your nose and as you exhale softly say "hum." Start with your mouth open to begin and then continue the exhale through your nose on the sound of "m."
Let the syllable stretch out for the length of your exhale and allow the sound to vibrate through your head and even down into your chest. If you'd like, you can imagine tiny creatures floating around you, surrounding you with their mysterious lives, magically bringing us more flowers and honey.
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