The Body is The Doorway To Flow…
Returning to the body, again and again—turning toward ourselves in the here and now—we cultivate a felt sense, an awareness that resides within us. The body is the doorway to everything: what is present now and what lingers from the past, projecting into our lives. We emit both—past and present energies in our expression.
Why does this matter in singing? Because the more present we are in our body, the more a natural clarity and resonance can emerge in us.
When we are bound by the past, our body—our instrument—becomes bound as well. Voice lessons help because singing inherently reconnects us to our bodies. Still it’s remarkable how we can compartmentalize our emotions—singing for years without truly feeling what’s happening within us.
In class last week, I asked students to sing a simple song while listening to their voice. Then, I had them sing again—this time, feeling where their voice was coming from. Another approach is to sing into different parts of the body, connecting voice to energy and energy to voice.
It’s a feedback loop—voice creates presence, and presence creates voice. I call this Presonance (presence + resonance).
Bringing these two awareness practices together—listening and feeling—grounds us in the body, allowing us to witness what is happening right now. Singing then moves this energy, creating space within us, until eventually, the movement itself moves us—with an intelligence beyond our own.
Imagine a river rushing forward, pulling sediment from its depths and sides into the flow. Moving energy can feel turbulent, but when we add singing the vibrations help to move this energy forward, purifying and releasing what has surfaced.
Yes this may feel discomfort as things rise into awareness, but if we keep the bigger picture in mind, we remember: this is movement. It is flowing through us—if we allow it.
And the result? We begin to live from a state of flow. We speak from a place that is innately us—yet feels beyond us. We surrender to the river, to the current, trusting—somewhere deep inside—that it will carry us exactly where we need to go.