Singing Takes Guts
I've had voice teachers tell me flat out, "I won’t go near there—it’s too difficult and stirs up too many old wounds."
Where is "there," you ask? It's the belly, the gut where the seat of our emotions lies, along with everything else that’s been tucked away and long forgotten."
Over the years, I've taught many students, and one common challenge I observe is this difficulty in emotionally connecting to their voice in a way that is balanced. There is either an over connection to their emotions, to their gut that can lead them to push their voice, or, a lack of connection to this place which creates a voice that might sound void of emotion and connection.
The delicate balance of emotion, control, and technique in a singer is truly remarkable. To me, the greatest singers seem to possess this ability effortlessly, they are just born with it. That being said, I've spent my life breaking down this 'balance' into manageable pieces, both for myself and my students, as I continue to explore and study the voice from every possible angle.
Singers who connect to this passion and emotion in them in a balanced way are fully embodying their voice - it’s raw, it’s vulnerable, and resonates throughout every cell in them. Those singers who truly sing from the belly or gut can communicate something profound that feels rooted and authentic in them. You know a great singer when you hear one.
While it’s incredibly powerful and moving when a singer is deeply connected to their voice—when they tap into that well of emotional depth and vulnerability—it can also come with a significant cost, especially if they haven't done the work to heal certain aspects of themselves.
When a singer opens up and expresses themselves through their voice, they are sharing something intensely personal with the world. It’s like offering a piece of your heart, and while it can be beautiful and transformative for both the artist and the audience, it can also be deeply exposing. If those emotions and parts of the self aren't fully healed, that kind of exposure can be very depleting.
When emotional wounds and old traumas go unhealed, it can lead to struggles with addiction, isolation, and even depression. These are common stories in the music world—artists who burn out because they haven’t healed the wounds from their past.
On a more personal note, in the early part of my career, it felt like I could do anything. Opportunities were coming my way one after another, and I was on a high. But as time went on, something started to shift within me. I began to feel a disconnection, almost like I was becoming disconnected from myself—and it started to show in my voice.
I never went as far as falling into addiction, and I was fortunate enough to move towards therapy and towards the path of healing. But even so, I can understand how easy it is for performers to lose their way and fall into addictions.
I had the incredible privilege of touring with Mary Wilson of The Supremes through parts of Europe, the US, and the UK. Watching her, I saw firsthand the intense toll the spotlight can take on a performer. The world expects so much, and it’s easy to get lost in the noise. You’re always on display, always giving, but there’s little space to truly care for yourself or find moments of stillness. The deeper you go into a life of performing, the more it becomes clear: unless you have a strong sense of self, unless you are truly grounded in who you are, the spotlight can consume you.
That experience with Mary Wilson brought into sharp focus how easily being in the spotlight can overwhelm what we really are feeling inside. It is easy to become blinded by the light and to forget what’s really important, if we even know that.
This delicate and powerful area in the belly is deeply emotional as well as psychological as we all know.
Because of my own struggles in connecting to this deep part of myself, I decided to embark on a three-year training in Integrative Body Psychotherapy (IBP). At its core, IBP is the study of the movement of energy in the body and how to help people unravel and heal the stories that this energy holds. I wanted to truly understand what was happening inside me, so I could bridge the gap between my body and voice, and gain a deeper understanding of how to release the emotional and physical blocks that prevented my authentic expression.
This training was transformative, not only for me but also in the way I work with my students. It’s allowed me to guide them to access their entire body when they sing—not just their throat. While it can be intense to drop into the body and face what lies there, the rewards are immense. When you can connect deeply to this place, your voice becomes a true expression of your inner world and is able to convey exactly what you feel.
It’s nothing short of magical to witness a student release a block in their voice that’s been with them their entire life. To see the shift in their face, their body, their entire presence—it’s like watching them come alive for the first time. Their voice transforms, and with it, something deep inside them awakens. It’s a beautiful, raw moment of liberation that never gets old.
The "gut" is often called the center of our emotional life for a reason. It's a place where our deepest feelings manifest physically—whether it's anxiety, excitement, or deep sorrow. This emotional seat is what many teachers sometimes shy away from because it’s hard to navigate. The teacher(s) I mention above did not want me to tap into that place as she was afraid of potentially triggering something much deeper in me, and I understand, as a teacher it can be challenging sometimes to be responsible for opening up people in this way.
Not everyone can feel equipped to handle the emotional side of vocal work, however, the reality is that accessing the belly and singing from this place can be incredibly healing. It allows the voice to resonate in a grounded, powerful way inside. For myself, when I feel this connection everything in the world stands still and it feels like there’s just me, my voice and this electricity that is alive and free.
We are experts at compartmentalizing emotion and putting it away inside of our body, but if you sing and really want to uncover what is in the way of your voice you inevitably need to go through this emotional work. Not everyone will go here, and again I understand completely, it can be really hard to heal those deep emotional blocks and traumas.
To sing and to access the powerful emotions in the gut is at the heart of authentic expression. When we sing from this place, we tap into a depth within us that moves audiences to tears and as I said earlier you know a great singer when you hear one, the connection in them is undeniable.