Have you ever had the pleasure of singing with a group of people and felt that amazing connection and oneness from joining in unison through our voices? Or does the thought of singing your heart out terrify you?
I love to sing in the shower, while I am driving on my way to work in the morning, but I was not always like this.
In the past two years of my life, different opportunities and people have come into my life that have inspired me to use my voice more and more, and it has made me more aware of just how closed off many of us are to expressing ourselves through our voices.
I was inspired to create a CD of guided meditations after my clients would repeatedly ask me to record my voice which they said helped them to relax during our healing sessions where I would guide people to a state of deep relaxation and also to breathe while they were experiencing emotional releases.
A thought came into my mind, “why don’t I make a CD of guided meditations, so people could take that home and it could also help people who lived in other parts of the country who wouldn’t be able to have a one-on-one session with me?” A voice inside would tell me, “but Michelle, you are not a singer, you have never made a CD before!” Then the universe brought events and people into my life that would eventually lead me to create the “Free Yourself Guided Meditations CD.” Recording those meditations with Fernando Subirats, the producer and musician who created the beautiful music for the tracks taught me how to sit for hours while speaking in a very relaxed posture to convey my message. These hours of recording with him, made me very aware of how our voices carry so much more than a sound, but a whole feeling and experience of who we are-our essence, our soul.
Somehow that experience of creating the CD, of recording my voice, made me honor and respect my own voice, so much more, and to not take it for granted.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Rabbi Marc Labowitz, who has an amazing voice, and singing with TAO Orchestra this past year. I learned a variety of Hebrew chants and beautiful sacred songs. I attended rehearsals and discovered first-hand the benefits of singing with a group to heal my own heart and for clearing and empowering my physical voice and my authentic voice.
This past year I met an amazing Vocal Coach and Sound Healer, David Jesse Kennet, who uses his voice with intention to facilitate miraculous healing for individuals with asthma and allergies and a host of other emotional and physical challenges.
I have had the pleasure of taking voice lessons with David which has given me a new awareness of how sound travels in my body and how I can control and move different parts of my body to affect the tone and power of my voice with minimum effort. David not only teaches individuals how to sing, but he also teaches individuals to connect to what he calls their “soul sound.”
I have discovered that my body is an instrument that creates beautiful sounds and harmonies. I have more respect and admiration for my body temple from this newly discovered awareness of how to to empower my soul’s voice and my voice box.
5 Researched Health Benefits of Singing according to The Institute of Musical Education at Frankfurt University :
1.Singing strengthens the immune system.
2. Improves our mood.
3. Stimulates Oxytocin, the love, pleasure, and healing hormone. This hormone makes us feel more connected to ourselves and others. It helps us focus and release stress and anxiety.
4. Lessens feelings of depression and loneliness.
5. Singing tones abdominal and intercostal muscles and the diaphragm, and stimulates circulation (blood, lymph and energetic flow).
If you don’t speak up or if you give your power away by not expressing your truth, try singing! It helps us to step into our power and to also learn how to become more aware of our bodies and souls. Singing is a great to practice listening, acknowledging and honoring our voice, who we are and when we can give this to ourselves, we can also create that in our relationships with others. We value ourselves and others more when we learn how to listen to ourselves and respond to our own voice.
Do you like to sing, or are you nervous at the thought of singing? Let us know how singing helps you, or what resistance you might have to singing!
Learn more about singing lessons with David Jesse Kennet HERE.
And if you are in South Florida this weekend, join us for a very peaceful voice opening event this coming Sunday called “Soul Sounding for Inner Peace”. Details HERE:
