Part 1 - Receiving the Voice

She was making the most beautiful sounds, and I was feeling the beauty and resonance of her voice in my whole body.

I asked her where did you feel that in your body?

She said she didn’t know and I was talking about and that the concept of her feeling her voice in her body was new to her and somewhat surprising that it was actually possible.

"It's not about receiving," she insisted, "it's about giving, and performing the song isn't it?"

"Yes partly, but it’s also about you getting to enjoy the beauty that is being so clearly touched in you as you sing and not just the audience.”

“To allow this beauty to touch you requires that we clear a pathway within ourselves to receive it." I explained, “and that singing can really be both - giving and receiving at the same time if we are open to this happening.”

When input and output flow through the same open channel within us, unobstructed, we create the conditions to be profoundly impacted by our own voice, our experiences, and the presence of others.

Put differently, our body serves as the instrument through which the energy, vibration, and emotions conveyed by our voice are felt and understood within us.

But life happens and we block the input channel - the receiving of life. We do this as a way to protect ourselves from feeling which is understandable and this protective skill is appropriate in many situations but when we sing there is a different and opposite channel of receptivity that needs to open in order for the instrument of who we are to be played.

This block, defense or protection against receiving has devastating effects on our psyche and our quality of life if it’s a one-sided conversation that locks out the receiving of our voice, life and emotions.

To fully embody our voice is to embrace receptivity—to embody our wholeness and the demand the voice makes of us for us to realize the beauty and depth of who we truly are.