The Middle Way - Balancing Light & Dark
Everything in nature seeks balance and harmony and it is the same within us whether we are aware of it or not. From how we work, play, relax, enjoy, explore our emotions or ignore them we are in a perpetual, fluctuating interplay between the contrasting energies of light and dark energies within us.
The singing voice plays a key role in bringing awareness to this harmony as it serves as a reflection of the delicate balance or imbalance of these energies within us.
This merging of darkness and light exists and flows inside every note we sing or speak.
Bringing them together into The Middle Way
Brene Browns wise words, “When I know better I will do better”, and, “everyone is really doing the best they can, including myself.”
Learning to bring both energies of dark and light, personal and impersonal, masculine and feminine, structure and flow together as one natural way of living, is no small task.
The buddhists call this The Middle Way.
This is the work the singing voice has the potential to actualize within us if we so choose because of the nature of balance that has to occur within the tone of the voice in order for a voice to be beautiful.
When I find compassion for the parts that I have pushed away in myself and others, then and only then will I be able to fold them into the fabric of who I am then and only then will the present moment be fully available.
The Natural Voice - A Fine Balance of Dark and Light
Because of the inherent nature of the voice to exhibit these two distinct energies of light and dark the voice gives us a direct reflection of how they are relating to one another.
The singing voice can be a portal to look behind the scenes at what is really at play in each moment and which side or aspect we are judging and holding out in our lives and our relationships.
The yearning for our unwanted, unclaimed opposite qualities of light and dark are always there waiting to be integrated and brought into balance within us.
Each side of the equation when out of balance or disconnected can bring feelings of despair, depression, anxiety and shame. Life can feel very one-sided.
The repairing of this partnership is to heal our past, embrace our wholeness and find a resting place within the core of who we are. Again, no small task.
Within our everyday communications we have the opportunity to weave together our wholeness through speech, words and the feeling tone in our voice. Within each vowel, each consonant, each word, each phrase and each moment lies the potential for this inner balance to create stronger yet more heartfelt connections with ourselves and with others.
The essence of life flows from words carefully that are thoughtful and have emotional depth. These words carry the life energy that flows through the very structure and focus of our communication.
When the speech is balanced it resonates and connects both and all parties. This is very healing indeed.
Structure and Focus - The Impersonal, Masculine Aspect
Clear, direct, stable, impersonal, still, focussed, structured, boundaried.
*If you have pushed away structure and focus in your life to some degree and feel like you are drifting without action and purpose, it can be quite alarming as well as disorienting to bring a more structured and disciplined focus into your daily life.
*You might feel as if you have tiptoed in and out of the arenas of structure, discipline and the impersonal masculine directive but routine and structure still elude you.
*You may feel that you are stuck in the doer one-sided dialogue focused on tasks and work but lack the warmth of feeling and connection with others.
*You find you can be short and on the edge of mean and thoughtless in your communications with others.
*You are factual and ruled by order and black and white straightness. Tasking, organizing and moving in a straight line feels like the only thing worth doing and feelings, emotions and indecision are quite simply wrong.
Flow and Emotion - The Personal, Feminine Aspect
Emotional, personal, flexible, compassionate, kind, loving, indecisive, unstable.
*If you have pushed away an emotional, flowing rhythm in your day to day life, you might feel you are held rigidly within the confines and structures of life and lacking in empathy and compassion with yourself and others.
*In comparison, inviting the feminine principle of emotion and flow into your energy field can be equally as alarming as knowing a more structured and masculine life.
*You can become equally as stuck in emotion and feeling as you can in structure and focus.
*You can sometimes get lost inside of the intoxication of feelings and emotions as well as in simply existing and not getting anything done.
*You just go with the flow and lose the focus in life.
When there is a great deal of personal energy then your personality can become a little too pleasing and malleable to others needs and wants.
It's common to find oneself entrenched on one side of this equation, remaining there for extended periods, perhaps even a lifetime. Yet, the contrasting voice, energy, or aspect patiently awaits acknowledgment, so that we may achieve a sense of completeness through restoring balance.