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