The Embodied Voice Workshop Sat. May 11

It's rolling around again! Another chance to open our mouths and explore our voices. Maybe even learn to LOVE our voices. 

The Embodied Voice  workshop**

This work is helpful for anyone who wants to sing, sound, vocalize, tell stories, offer sound healing through the voice and/or speak their truth from the depths of the Heart and Soul.

We will work with a variety of exercises and sounds that help to open the throat, release the jaw, relax the larynx, develop the vocal cords, expand the range and create more awareness and stability in the voice. We'll explore how to use our favourite songs as powerful vocal exercises.

We'll "tune in" and experience voice from a deeper, more internal (or more embodied) place.

We will also explore how to offer ourselves and others some sound healing through the voice.

**For those who attended the March 2 Embodied Voice workshop, this one will differ somewhat. We'll work with some different sounds and exercises and this one will not include Vocalizing into the Chakras. It will include self healing through vocal vibrations, and a little journey into the world of songs!

The Centering Space

59 Cambridge Ave. (just east of Broadview and Danforth)

Sat. May 11, 2013     10:15 am--12:15 pm

Cost: $25.00 (pay at the door)

RSVP  barbarassong@gmail.com


   **Please bring a notebook or journal for this workshop.

**And please come well hydrated.
Drink lots of good clean (if possible) water for at least a day or two prior to the workshop.Vocal cords need to be well hydrated in order to function in optimum condition. And drinking lots of good clean water is an important habit to cultivate anyway.


I'm looking forward to some more inspiring vocal explorations with you!

Barbara

The Embodied Voice Practice

In the previous "Embodied Voice" workshop that I offered, the question came up about how to practice, or how to best work with our Voices. Since then, I have thought a lot about that question and I want to offer a more complete and detailed response here.


Clearly, animals, in their natural habitat, vocalize freely from the depths of their being. Just think about a purring cat -- a very gentle, soft vocal sound -- and yet, you can actually feel the vibration of that sound throughout the cats entire torso. The sound resonates, not just in the throat, but throughout the whole body. That's an Embodied Voice!

People in other cultures, where vocalizing and singing and sounding are a natural part of how they express and celebrate and grieve, also seem to have no hesitation in allowing their natural voice to emerge from their depths. In our Western culture, vocalizing and singing is not always so welcomed. Singing, especially, seems to be relegated only to those "fortunate few" that have (according to our society's standards) good singing voices. Even speaking up freely is not always encouraged, or even allowed. Various kinds of vocal repression, fear of sounding "bad" if we try to sing, shyness -- so many things cut us off from our natural voices and our natural vocal expression.

So the question is, how do we begin to re-train our voices to become more "embodied" or more part of our Whole Being? How do we re-learn to vocalize, express or sing from our Hearts and Souls? How do we help that child part of ourselves  feel safe enough to let his/her voice out into the world? And how do we train and develop our vocal cords which may have become weakened or strained through trying to push a disconnected voice to function without the support, grounding and breath from our core?

Proper Breathing, Posture and Care of the Vocal Cords were covered in my two previous blog posts, so good idea to go back and review that information first.

And then moving on ....

How to Practice

1. Focus:

a.) First and most important is to check in with your voice and reflect on what you think you need or want to get out of your practice at this point. Do you want more stamina in your voice, more stability, more flow and expressiveness, more depth, more connection between your heart and your voice? What do you think your voice needs right now?  Take that question into your heart, and then into the core of your being (as I explained in The Embodied Voice Part 1).

 b.) Another way to tune in to what your voice needs is to actually dialogue with your voice. Doing this as a writing exercise can provide some incredible and amazing results. With pen and paper in hand, bring your awareness into your vocal cords and you can make some sound if that helps you feel more connected with your voice. The simply start writing a conversation between you and your voice. It could start out with you writing something like "Hello Voice. I'm really excited (or nervous, or apprehensive or....) about connecting more deeply with you". And then allow your Voice to respond (you are still writing this down). It might be something like "Wow -- I really appreciate you taking time to connect with me like this. I've been feeling held back. There's so much I want to say, but I feel kind of trapped inside here."  And then you may say something like "How can I help you to feel freer? How can I help you to feel safe and comfortable?" And then your voice can respond. Just keep the conversation going until it finds its own completion. This exercise may feel a bit strange at first but once you get the hang of it and allow the conversation to flow, you may be pleasantly surprised at the kind of information you receive.

2. Creating an Open Channel or Pathway for the Voice:

 Spend a few moments observing the breath as it flows in and out of the throat. On each inhalation, imagine warm healing air passing through the inside of the throat, relaxing and gently opening the throat. Gradually invite that breath to move down into the lower belly or core of your being. Imagine, as you breathe, that you are actually creating a channel for the voice from the core of your being and up through your (now more relaxed and open) throat.

3. Vocalizing:

Once you feel that channel being open, or at least you are imagining it being open, begin to make a gentle sound like MMMMMMM. The sound needs to be a definite, connected sound (as opposed to the quieter, breathy sound that we often make while humming). A breathy sound weakens the vocal cords, so make sure your sound is definite and strong. And then explore just sliding the sound up and down, into a little higher part of your voice and down into the lower part of your voice. At this point, keep it in a comfortable range -- not too high, not too low. Just a nice easy slide up and down a few times.

4. If you want: 

               Stamina and Stability: You can try using a little stronger sound. From that closed mouth MMMM sound, allow the mouth to drop open and the sound to shift from MMMMM to Muuuuh and then keep the mouth open and stay with an Uuuuuuuuuh sound. You can also use Ahhhhhhhh (the sound you make when the Doctor puts a tongue depressor on your tongue and tells you to say Ahhhh. Just spend a few minutes sliding up and down through your voice -- again finding a fairly comfortable range to work through. You are not trying to stretch your vocal cords into their full range. You are just trying to strengthen them and bring lots of circulation into them. Do this maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Start with 5 minutes (unless your voice feels tired before that -- pay attention to the messages of the voice). Gradually work your way up to 10 minutes over a few weeks. Remember -- you are working with tiny, delicate muscles. Any time you do muscle training, you have to increase the weight by increments -- too much too fast will result in strain or injury. Training the vocal cords is no different.

              Flow and Expressiveness: This is where you can try stretching a little further into your full range. If you want to get deeper into your lower range, use the "uuuuuuuuuuuhh" and "ahhhhhhhhh" sounds above. To get more into your higher range, use "narrow vowels" like oooooooo (like the sound in "boat"). Basically sounds that come through rounded lips are narrow and will help you move more readily into the head voice. And again, start with a few minutes and work your way up gradually. Two or three times a week  (not the same days that you work on stamina) would be a good frequency to practice. And just explore sliding up and down through your whole range. Another good sound to explore through your range is simply "ho ho ho" (that's right -- like Santa Claus!! -- except you'll do it through your high (or head) voice and down through your low (or chest) voice. I think Santa Claus only has a deep chest voice!!!

               More Connection Between Heart and Voice: One very simple way to begin working on this connection is to bring your awareness and breath into your Heart Centre. As you breathe into this place, reflect on the qualities of Heart -- Love, Compassion, Truth, Conviction, Forgiveness and whatever else Heart signifies for you. Then tune in to what sound might want to emerge from your Heart. If you are in a "sound friendly" space, then allow that sound to emerge. Otherwise you can imagine what sound might want to emerge.
                  Or -- just breath into your Heart and allow whatever feeling is there to have a voice.
                 Or -- sit with a trusted friend, both of you settling into your Hearts through breath and awareness, and then allow your conversation to flow from there. You can also do this by journaling your Heart Centred thoughts if you prefer to keep this more private.

Vocalizing from the Depths!

   I'll leave you with those thoughts on practicing for now. More to come later! It's a huge topic. In the meantime, check out the video link below for some more fun sounds and exercises to explore.

Some Fun Vocal Warm Ups

                                                                                               
Barbara

The Embodied Voice: Part 2

Those amazing vocal cords! I won't go deeply into the anatomy and physiology of the vocal cords -- there is a ton of information available if you just google Vocal Cords.

They are comprised of muscle and tissue and are very small, considering the amazing amount of sound they are capable of creating. Women, in general, have shorter and thinner vocal cords (1.25 cm--1.75 cm) while men have longer and thicker vocal cords (1.75 cm -- 2.5 cm). That accounts for the (generally) deeper, chestier voices of men.

Vocal cords are very affected by hormones. As people age and hormone levels drop, the vocal cords become slightly thicker and the vocal range may diminish in an untrained voice. However, with the right vocal training and care for the vocal cords, one can maintain, and possibly even develop more range (even after those hormonal changes take place in our 50s.) 


Care of the Vocal Cords

1. If you watch the video (link at the bottom of this article) of the actual vocal cords as the person makes sound and breathes, you'll see that they are very moist. Drinking lots of water is especially important. Vocal cords need to be well hydrated for good health and functioning.

2.You will also see, in the illustration above, and in the video below, that the position of the vocal cords is very different for breathing and for speaking or singing. The vocal cords open up wide when we take in a full breath. To speak or sing in a way that is healthy, the vocal cords need to be mostly closed and then they vibrate together to create the sound. That means only a very small amount of air should be coming through with the sound. If we push a lot of air through the vocal cords as we are speaking or singing (as in whispering or singing in a "breathy" style) we will, over time, weaken the vocal cords.

The good news is -- the body knows how to adjust the air flow if we make sounds in a strong and connected way. For example, many of us like to hum along to songs but too often we do it in a quiet, breathy way which is not so good. If we hum or make that MMMMMM sound and we make it a little stronger and more definite, then we are allowing the vocal cords to stay closed and vibrate properly. (In making that MMMMMM sound, make sure the jaw is relaxed even though the mouth is closed. Even with the mouth closed, you can still drop the jaw to some extent.)

Sometimes, with shy people, there is a tendency to speak in a hesitant,  quiet, uncertain, breathy way. Or if we are in a position to have to sing with a group, I know my former favourite trick was to kind of sing "under my breath" so no one would hear me! To take the best possible care of our vocal cords, it is really important for our sound to be connected and definite. So I still recommend (as I did in Part 1 -- the previous blog post) that we learn to breathe deeply into the deepest part of the lungs and then we concentrate on making the sound correctly and allow the body to adjust the breathing to support the sound. When you are using only a small amount of air, you may find that you can hold the note much longer than you previously could.

3. Caffeine and alcohol are very dehydrating to the vocal cords, so be sure to follow those substances with extra water.Or, even better, eliminate them if you can.  Dairy products can create a lot of mucous in the vocal apparatus. If you try vocalizing or singing the day after you have ingested dairy, you may feel quite "phlegmy" and needing to clear your throat a lot. By the way, constantly clearing your throat can also be hard on the vocal cords. Notice when you need to do it. If it is mostly a nervous habit, see if you can just take some deep breaths instead. Or try decreasing (or eliminating) your dairy intake.

4. All general rules of good health -- adequate rest, good diet, hydration, exercise, also help the vocal cords function at their best ability. Whether we love to sing, sound, vocalize, tell stories, offer our voices in sound healing  or we want and need to be able to speak our truth in a definite and strong way, it all starts with healthy vocal cords.

A GRAPHIC View of the Vocal Cords

Sooooo -- Love your voice, Love your vocal cords!!

These are amazing and awesome gifts we have been given.

Barbara

The Embodied Voice: Part 1

This past Saturday I offered The Embodied Voice Workshop and I'm very grateful to the wonderful group of people who showed up on a Saturday morning and so willingly and openly shared their beautiful voices and energy. The healing power and and the beauty of our final "sounding from the heart" still rings in my memory and vibrates through my body. Wow!




An Embodied Voice Begins with Good Spinal Alignment

We began our embodied voice work by settling into our bodies and becoming more conscious of our posture. One danger in all of the "chair sitting" that many of us have to do, sometimes for prolonged periods, is that we tend to rest against the back of the chair which curves our spine into a "C" shape, as opposed to the beautiful "S" shape that is natural. As a result, not only is the spine then out of its natural alignment, but the front of the body  gets shortened and crunched in -- making for inner organs that are compressed and squeezed.  When that happens, the organs cannot function properly because they have no space to do so. The lungs get compressed and breath cannot flow easily and deeply. And all that leads to a constricted voice that is not supported by breath and cannot move through the body or the Chakras. How ever we find our good spinal alignment (my personal favourite posture tool is Iyengar Yoga, and there are many others like Alexander Technique, Pilates....) I think that an open, aligned posture is the number one essential step in creating a more stable, more embodied voice.

The link below is an interesting and helpful talk on the subject of the spine and proper posture.

TED TALK About Posture.

  

Once the body is allowed to be in its more natural alignment, the breath will likely begin to flow more easily and deeply with little or no conscious effort from us. Being able to breathe deeply into the bottom of the lungs (which will probably feel like we are breathing into the lower belly) is essential for developing a healthy, embodied voice. And it is essential for our good health in general!

In the workshop we began our breathing exercise by simply tuning in and observing the flow of breath in and out of the body. This by itself has a remarkably calming effect on the system. The breath will often become calmer and deeper without us doing anything more than just tuning in and holding it in our awareness.

 Connecting Voice with Heart and Soul

Afterwards, we did bring the breath more directly into our Hearts so that we could speak (and listen) from our Hearts. Then we "invited" the breath to move more deeply, right  into our core or Root Chakra (the pelvic floor) so that we could reflect and speak from an even more "embodied" place. This is a wonderful and very simple way of getting more connected with what wants to be spoken (or sung or sounded) from the depths of the Heart and Soul.

The Importance of "Inviting" the Breath

It is really important to have the attitude of "inviting" the breath, as opposed to pushing or forcing. Only bring the breath as deeply as it is ready to comfortably go. If our breathing has been generally shallow or mainly from the upper chest, we want to allow deeper breathing to happen slowly, in its own way and in its own time. Shallow breathing and tightness in the ribcage might be the result of old emotional issues or trauma. Any resistance to opening up and moving freely needs to be treated with patience and kindness and respect.

 Often, people are drawn to this type of vocal work because they are experiencing some kind of issue or constriction in their voices and/or in their bodies. Constrictions or restricted breathing patterns don't happen for no reason. They frequently are some kind of defense mechanisms that the person needed at some point as protection against abuse or criticism or trauma or physical injury.

So....GOOD POSTURE, CONSCIOUS BREATHING AND A LARGE MEASURE OF PATIENCE AND KINDNESS TOWARDS OURSELVES .... and we're on our way to developing a more stable, embodied voice.

In The Embodied Voice: Part 2,  (coming soon!) I'm going to offer some explanation and detail about the Vocal Cords and using sounds and vocalizing to develop them.

Until then, take good care of yourselves and -- Love Your Voice!

Barbara

The Embodied Voice Workshop

An opportunity to care for the voice, as opposed to always "using the voice" or "pushing the voice out there" in the many ways that we do (speaking, singing, sounding, communicating, cheering, comforting...). The voice, and the vibrations and sounds and words that emanate from it, can be great healers, but sometimes the voice needs attention and healing and strengthening as well. 

This work is helpful for anyone who uses their voice a great deal and also for anyone who feels shy or inhibited about allowing their voice to be heard. And it's just fun to connect with, and experience the voice in new ways.


We'll work with a variety of exercises and sounds that will help to open the throat, relax the larynx, develop the vocal cords and create more stability in the voice. We'll tune in and experience Voice from a deeper, more internal place. We will also explore the possibility of allowing the voice to settle into each of the Seven Major Chakras. As the voice settles more deeply into the body and into the Chakras, the vocal range and expressiveness of the voice will likely change and expand.

. 

                         The Centering Space
                                   59 Cambridge Ave.
                     (just east of Broadview and Danforth)
                                  Sat. March 2, 2013
                                  10:15 am--12:15 pm        

Cost: $25.00

To Register: Contact Barbara Sauvé  barbarassong@gmail.com

                  

My Vocal Journey

Yes it's true. I DO love my voice!!

It's hard to believe now, but only five short years ago I wouldn't even consider opening my mouth to try and sing in front of anybody. Ever!! If anyone ever shoved a karaoke microphone in front of me, I was gone! Out of there --as fast as possible.

 Even trying to speak up loudly enough to be heard was often challenging and stressful for me. Partly that was due to a weak, underused voice and partly it was extreme shyness. Amazingly enough, I did manage to lead workshops and to give talks in the past, but always with the big fear that my voice wouldn't hold up. And in those days I had to really push my voice just to get it heard. Giving a talk or leading a workshop, or even having to socialize in noisy surroundings meant pushing my voice out  in a way that did not feel good or natural and actually left me (and my voice) feeling somewhat traumatized and not wanting to speak at all at least for a day or two afterwards.

The Turning Point

Now, I had, in the past, tried various ways and vocal workshops and healing modalities to  remedy this blocked Throat Chakra and trapped voice of mine. Mostly my vocal chords weren't even strong enough to be able to do the recommended vocal exercises without strain. And in those times when I did manage to open my throat enough to push my voice out with some volume, I would find that, afterwards, something in me would close down even more. Somehow, even hearing my own voice projected out there was scary enough to stop me from wanting to try again. I have to admit to getting discouraged and giving up fairly easily -- until one evening about four and a half years ago. This would have been August of 2008.

I was attending a Peace Circle which I had attended many times before. I loved this Circle and felt quite comfortable and safe in this group -- primarily because the main activity in this group was writing. And I feel really confident and comfortable and "at home"when it comes to writing (I actually do seem to have a lot to say -- and I can usually"say it" freely through writing). This one particular evening, only a few of us showed up for the Circle and it was decided (not by me!!!) that instead of our usual writing exercise, we would share songs. I just froze -- totally lost my voice. I couldn't sing, even to follow the songs that were being offered. My voice, as it always did whenever I felt threatened or uncomfortable, just retreated to a deep, inaccessible place inside of me. Even to try to say anything was painful and took a huge effort. This was a familiar experience and response, but being in this small group, it felt even more intensified. I felt mortified and miserable -- while everyone else was having a great time singing and dancing! 

Yes, I CAN Sing!

   Within 10 days after this miserable experience, I found myself in a singing studio in front of a microphone and singing teacher. I was determined -- I could not live with that kind of vocal repression any longer! This time, I was determined, and fortunate to also have a therapist to help me through the challenges of embarking on this vocal journey. The first singing teacher did get me singing and I will be eternally grateful to him for that. However, he wasn't able to help me with the weakness and fear that were lodged in my voice. My voice would unexpectedly crack or I would get a really  "froggy" throat that no amount of throat clearing would help. So I went searching for a technique that might help me strengthen my voice. By Feb. 2009, I found an amazing technique** for the voice and a really wonderful vocal coach who has helped me immeasurably in strengthening my voice and  freeing the power in it. The vocal work has taken some time, but for me, the step by step way that my vocal coach worked and trained my voice felt safe and manageable. I'm now singing in front of friends and small groups. I'm doing storytelling. I'm leading small vocal workshops, combining voice with the Chakra work that has been so dear to my heart for many years. I have no fears now that my voice won't hold up -- it always does hold up now.  I even have a few private clients that I am helping with their vocal issues and fears.  

**The technique I refer to was originally Speech Level Singing. Now it has morphed in "Vocology in Practice". For info, check out the 3rd Voice link to the right of this blog. Or check out The Singers Instinct by Brandon Brophy -- available on Amazon.

Releasing A Childhood Vocal Trauma

  I'm getting a little ahead of my story here. Going back to Feb. 2009, almost as soon as I began working with my current vocal coach, some really interesting memories and sensations started to show up -- as well as a deeper understanding of why my voice had been so thoroughly shut down in the first place. I was a painfully shy child, so afraid to open my mouth, even with close relatives. As an adult, my voice was still very quiet and constricted and high pitched. One of the first things my vocal coach did, in terms of training my voice, was to help me drop the resonance and vibration of my voice into my chest. Immediately when I started vocalizing from my chest voice, I started to feel some power and strength come through in my voice that I had never experienced before. One particular sound -- NA NA NA -- I had to do  like a "bratty kid" with my tongue sticking out. I loved it! Never got to make those kinds of sounds when I was a kid. And never really got to be "bratty". What a delicious freedom for this nice, quiet, polite girl to be nasty and bratty and to make these wonderful LOUD sounds. 

   As I was doing the NA NA NA scale, I suddenly had this amazing vision that appeared in front of me. I saw myself as I was in about grade 2 or 3. The music teacher we had then also appeared in front of me -- so vividly that I felt like I could reach out and touch her. She was a large, imposing woman, especially to a small child like I was. She had come into our classroom this one day to "test us" to see if we could be in the school choir. The test was having to stand up, all alone, in front of the class and sing DO RE  ME .... Even remembering myself as that shy, withdrawn little girl waiting, terrified, for her turn to come, ties my belly up in knots! When it came to my turn, I don't know what kind of sound, if any, came out of my mouth. Clearly it was not a "good" sound, because I was not allowed to sing in the children's school choir. A few of us got left behind in the classroom while the majority of the class got to go to the gym and sing. It was humiliating and devastating to that little girl that I was, to be told that my voice was no good for singing.  Through this whole vision, I was still standing there in front of my vocal coach singing NA NA NA with my tongue sticking out. As he encouraged me to make it sound even "nastier and brattier" I suddenly felt this surge of power, feeling like I was actually sticking my tongue out and, very brattily saying "NA NA NA" to that music teacher who had so totally traumatized me and stopped me from singing as a little girl. In that moment I felt like I was that little girl again but this time I was saying (loudly) "I'll show you. I can so sing and you are not going to stop me -- ever again!"

In the meantime, my vocal coach was saying to me, "Wow. You are really getting that sound out. You are really in your chest voice. That's great". Little did he know the entire drama that had just unfolded in front of my eyes! That was an incredibly cathartic moment! It helped to release a lifelong  constriction that had been around my throat holding my voice back. And that NA NA exercise is amazing for developing the strength in the vocal chords. My chest voice is very strong and powerful now thanks to those bratty NA NAs and many other fun sounds that my teacher taught me.

I've had many incredible and cathartic moments throughout the past few years since I have been working with my vocal coach and learning this beautiful technique. And, a real added benefit, I'm having a wonderful time re-discovering the music of my teen-age years -- Buddy Holly, Beatles, Rolling Stones and of course, our great Canadian songbird  -- Anne Murray. Their music means even more to me now that I am learning to sing it. I've always loved and admired these musicians and singers but previously I had no idea of what it takes to create these songs, to sing in time and on pitch, to develop vibrato in the voice etc. etc. Now I REALLY admire these singers and musicians. 


The Embodied Voice

Another real added benefit to having this stronger, more stable and expressive voice  is that now I'm able to explore various ways of connecting the voice more deeply with the Heart and Soul, and with the Chakras (energy centres). I'm still exploring and experimenting with ways to more deeply "embody" my voice, to allow it to flow out of my core or my centre. My focus is on allowing the voice to be deeply connected with all parts of ourselves, to be embodied as part of our Wholeness (as opposed to something we just "use" and take for granted). And how to allow our Voices to speak the truth of our Heart and Soul. I think it is vitally important and healing for people to "find their voice and speak their truth". 

VOICE is such an incredible gift. I believe that we do ourselves a big favour by honouring the voice, loving it, caring for it and allowing it to express. As much as I love learning to sing songs (and believe me these songs feel really important to me) , I also feel an equally deep need to sometimes just allow my voice to express in whatever way it needs and wants to. 

It is so important to listen deeply to the needs of the Voice, rather than just pushing it to do our bidding. 

Here's to Vocal Power! May all beings be allowed to sing and to express through the beauty and power of their own unique voice. 

Barbara

PS  On Sat. March 2, from 10:15 am --12:15 pm I am offering The Embodied Voice workshop -- more details to come soon.