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