Introducing Shamanic Voice Work

We once held tremendous power over words, but at some point, words came to hold power over us.  Now it is time to reclaim that power.

Shamanic Voice Work is a means to reclaim our power over words. It works on deep energetic levels to cleanse and widen our expressive channel, purifying it and restoring it to its unadulterated state. Through breath, movement and sounding practices, we shift blocks and holding patterns, making room for our truth to ring with the clarity of a bell. You get to control how deeply you engage, and you are the master here. No one else.

Each person’s voice is a link to that power we seek to reclaim, like a chord or tether from the Great Mystery to the manifest. The voice is used to make everything more and more real.  Without awareness, the voice can convince us of the realness of a dream.  But when we begin to pull our attention away from the illusion of form back to the formless, the voice becomes a tool of Spirit.  We begin to create with impeccability.

It’s very powerful and personal work and can be quite challenging. But the rewards are many.  You can watch one of several videos about Shamanic Voice Work here or find out more at The Voice of Life.

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A Turquoise Necklace: Perfect 5th Chakra Power Object

In The Unknown Mother, Wrenne, the central character, loses her voice. After helping her discover the root cause of her vocal crisis, Matrina gifts Wrenne with a beautiful Navajo turquoise necklace. So, why that? Why not a  pearl necklace or diamond broach?

Every gemstone has its own vibrational frequency and healing properties. Turquoise is one of several 5th chakra or throat center stones. It helps to open and protect our expressive center. In fact, when given as a gift, as is the case in The Unknown Mother, turquoise is believed to bring the wearer protection from negative outside influences. So in gifting Wrenne with her necklace, Matrina is actually bestowing a powerful amulet on her student.

Turquoise is also said to take on the characteristics of the owner. So this necklace will not only carry the refined level of consciousness from its previous owner, Matrina, but it will also program itself in its service to Wrenne ensuring her ability to communicate her unique message authentically, cleanly, and completely. Furthermore, it will help her control her physical speech, quelling nerves and supporting the vocal apparatus.

In addition, turquoise brings the wearer equilibrium, calms the nervous system, builds one’s confidence, and clears self-esteem issues. These are all things Wrenne needs as she relearns to use her voice in this world.

There are many additional benefits to wearing turquoise including body detoxification and the lifting of depression.

And as for why the gift is a necklace and not something else entirely? A necklace rests right on the back of the neck and, depending on length, rests somewhere between the throat and heart center to the front. It offers 360 degrees of protection to the 5th chakra and therefore not only connects our speech to our heart, but encircles it with protection.

A turquoise necklace…the perfect 5th chakra power object.

Quick Quote

“The trouble with words is that they give us the illusory sense that we are making ourselves understood as well as understanding what others are saying. However, when we turn around and come face-to-face with our destiny, we discover that words are not enough.”

Paulo Coelho in Aleph

A Sufi Tale

There was once a man who spent his days calling out to God…every day of his life. While a few people in the village saw him as very devout,  most thought him a fool. Did he really think that God would respond? One day, the skeptics’ doubts began to infect his mind. He  questioned why in all his dedicated years of calling out to God, God never once answered him. His spirit broken with this realization, the man stopped calling out to God and resigned himself to sleep.

That night, he had a dream. In it, the presence of God came to him and asked him why he stopped calling out to him. The man explained that God never once answered his call after all those years! Why should he continue to waste his breath?

God replied, “Was my answer too simultaneous? Did you not see? Each time you called out to me, your voice itself was my response!”

Quick Quote

“Learning to spell occurs at such a young age that people are unaware of the changes in perception it causes. Once a person learns an alphabet, alphabet mental processes will influence their every assumption and decision for the rest of their lives.”

From The Alphabet Versus the Goddess by Leonard Shlain

Speaking in Tongues: A Meditative Vocal Practice

Glossolalia, otherwise known as “speaking in tongues” has its roots in ancient tribal and religious practices. The idea is letting go, sometimes into a trance-like state but not necessarily so, and allowing Spirit to speak through you. Some who practice glossolalia also translate it into understandable spiritual messages.

Recent research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown just how glossolalia affects the brain. Those speaking in tongues experience a sharp decrease in frontal lobe function (this is opposite of what meditators’ brain scans show) and an increase in activity of the parietal region. The former area of the brain enables reason and self-control so glossolalia involves a surrender or letting go. The latter takes sensory information and tries to create a sense of self relating to the world. So glossolalia may help us make sense of our experiences in life.

There is a lot of initial discomfort for people when talking this way. It may feel like silly, gibberish, and I guess from a certain perspective, it is. But the point is what that practice of making gibberish is doing for you and whether or not you can allow it to provide you with a rich resource for inner guidance that bypasses your judging, justifying, “need to know” mind. If you can get over yourself and the embarrassment of making strange sounds, you may be able to get in touch with a part of you that is comfortable with and open to mystery. It just may enrich your spiritual life and fulfill a need you didn’t even know you had.

Try it. Light a candle. And just set your intent to engage in speaking nonsense. See what happens. Do you fight it? Giggle? Can you let go of the part of the mind that resists? Can you enter a space of surrender? As you become more and more comfortable with this practice, you can begin to use it for information. You can ask for teachings on situations in your life that are troubling you. And eventually, you can learn to translate what you receive into messages that help you. It’s just a tool. Experiment and see what it can mean for you.

Treasures in the Throat

Our voices are unique, like a signature or fingerprint.  Are you using yours to its fullest potential?  Not likely.  We have only begun to understand the creative, healing, and expressive power of the voice.  The only way to discover its true potential is to keep exploring what it’s capable of.  But not many people walk this path of voice.  Most people are terribly uncomfortable in this arena.  They hate the way they sound when recorded or they don’t think they can sing, and they often don’t know how to speak up for themselves enough to simply ask for what they want or say how they really feel. But in taking one small risk, to speak up about something, to show up at a workshop or to buy a toning CD, to take that first step, they find that their greatest fears evaporate and are replaced with the joy of self-discovery, “Wow, that’s me!”  The relationship with our voice is a pure reflection of just how alive we are.  The voice is not only a tool for authenticity and healing, it is a tool for creative manifestation.  When we tap into the frequencies of our biggest dreams, we can sing them into being by aligning with their vibration.  We can energize our visions with the resonating characteristics of our voices.  So never underestimate the treasure awaiting you in your throat center.

Waves or Bubbles or Both?

In school, we are taught many things that we just assume represent reality.  We learn that the Sun is the stationary center of the Universe.  We learn that Columbus discovered America.  We learn that Edison invented the light bulb.  And, we learn that sound moves in waves.  By adopting these beliefs, we also believe that we “know” how something outside of personal experience went down and “understand” how the Universe works.  But…

It’s crazy how literally we take concepts, like “soundwave,” until the concept itself narrows the reality…like partial truths that skew everything. In truth, sound forms bubbles, not waves.  Check out this cymasope research that explains how sound moves spherically.

The idea of sound bubbles makes so much sense in terms of why toning with a group is so whole-bodily transforming, and for some, even levitating and teleporting.  And it makes sense why reciting mantras is so powerful and known to protect the individual…it literally surrounds us in a protective bubble.

But before I get all celebratory about this new theory, I must take into consideration the fact that I have also seen with my own eyes the energetic tendrils of music coming out of a stereo in the dark. They were more like dancing filaments of light,  stretching up and out into space, combing it like long graceful fingers.

Waves, bubbles or…both?  So many layers, so many dimensions! So much yet to discover!

3 Steps to Freeing Your Voice

I recently met a woman who near broke into tears just speaking with me about what I do. Just talking about singing and expressing herself freely was enough to ignite her deepest fears underneath which hid her deepest longings.

Why are we so frightened by our own voices? Why do we judge the way we sound on an answering machine? What is that fear that keeps our mouths so tightly closed when we really, really want to speak? Why do we deny ourselves the joy of singing along? Maybe you don’t. Maybe you’ve managed to break through the myriad inhibiting beliefs, and you’ve set your voice free. But if you haven’t been one of the lucky ones, then what?

So, first, the whys. And then on to the “then what?”

At some point in our lives, we have experienced “the clamp”. It is a defining moment or moments when we learned it simply wasn’t safe to open our mouths. Either we were yelled at or physically abused, ostracized, or humiliated for something we said. Regardless of the details of the situation, we realized that we could instantly lose love by something as simple as making a sound.

And then, along the way, we come to realize that we can also use our voice to stir a bit of trouble. We can speak words that trigger others…sometimes hurting those we love most. We learn that we have a rather interesting power at our disposal. Yield it one way, and it becomes a deadly weapon. Yield it another, and it is a fine tool. Either way, it is something over which we must exert the utmost control. Or so we believe.

And hence, the fear we have today…one so complex and intertwined with so many of our root beliefs that it is quite a challenge to free ourselves from our self-imposed prisons. But we can free ourselves. We must free ourselves! Because our voice is our power to create and express Life!

Step One
So the first step in overcoming our fear is an assessment of where we stand now. Do you like the sound of your voice? If not, why not? Do you allow yourself to speak up? In what kinds of situations do you “clamp it”. Do you sing? Where and how? And if not, why not? What do you believe about how you sound? Is it true? Who says? Do you want your freedom?

Step Two
Once you answer “yes” to that last question, you can take the next step of watching yourself. This is a period in which you know you want to change, but you don’t hold unrealistic expectations for yourself. You simply watch yourself repeating old habits. You are learning the lay of the land, so to speak, so you can figure out where to take action in the next step.

Step Three
Once you become aware, then you can begin to take steps to change your habits. Take baby steps if necessary. Hum along to the songs that play while you grocery shop. Sing along to your music collection as loud as you dare. Allow yourself to say “ouch!” when you bump your elbow. Keep saying it until the pain goes away. Keep moving into your fear, and you’ll find it evaporating like fog. The light of your voice will lead you to the other side.

And what’s there? You’ll find immense joy and pleasure. You’ll find a liberty and strength within you you never knew existed. You’ll find that you are a creative being with a beautiful voice!