Healing In Harmony
Nurturing Singing Group & Vocal Sound Healing Workshops
Singing.
The thing that everyone used to do daily to enjoy and celebrate life, and to help process the experience of being human, with all its complexities and challenges... and help us feel whole. To help us feel connected to life, to each other, and to ourselves.
I am so sorry that it has become a source of shame, embarrassment, pain, even trauma, and avoidance or non-participation for many.
This modern day phenomena affected me greatly in my own path, and it affects us all to some degree.
Children are born ready to sing, and love singing.
Until they don't... due to social pressures.
Our singing is connected to our emotional centers, to our depths of being human, to the raw and tender parts of us. This allows mamas and babies to bond so quickly, yet this very same quality can make us feel extremely vulnerable when not supported.
It touches me deeply to hear people singing in a less refined yet heartfelt way, and enjoy providing opportunities where we can feel safe and supported, and connected in our singing.
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The Sensitive Singing Voice
I loved to sing.
Trouble was, there was an insecure little girl in me that had longed to be really good at something. Special enough to ensure love and acceptance in the world. And since singing was that one skill that seemed to bring me the approval and recognition I had sought for, how well I sang mattered so much. Too much.
But you really don't need to have such a thin skin or low confidence in yourself to feel sensitive about your singing.
The singing voice IS sensitive - that is its very nature, its power, and its beauty. And if you grow up in modern societies where daily "amateur" singing is no longer expected or (at times) no longer accepted or embraced, you can very easily feel vulnerable.
Following my passion and pursuing singing in school crushed the part of me that loved to sing.
No matter how much I practiced, the quality of my singing was night and day, depending on my audience and how nervous I felt. In fact, the stage fright seemed to worsen with each experience. It mattered so much to me, yet the harder I tried, the more tension I developed and my singing got worse.
The incredible singers I was surrounded by at school certainly didn’t help me feel any better. Plus, my brain didn’t seem to be designed for memorizing lyrics. Funny enough, the sections that I’d forget while practicing were never the same sections as the ones I’d forget on stage.
I also struggled with multi-tasking - remembering the words, often in foreign languages, tracking where you are in the song, acting, and staying focused while being flooded with sensations from the sounds, being swept away by the feelings coursing through me, etc..
And I failed 2 out of 3 chances to pass my singing exam, which I had to pass in order to graduate from college.
After that, I shied away from singing for many years, diving instead into the world of psycho-spiritual-emotional healing.
During this hiatus from singing, I had a series of alarming dreams in which I would wake up with tears all over my face and pillow, my heart crying in pain from the lack of singing.
My heart had a clear message for me. I would be facing serious illness if I didn’t start singing again soon.
I discovered the wonders of singing to children during my graduate studies, and have since had the privilege to sing to many more, including those in hospice care. Singing to children has provided some of the best medicine for my heart.
It is my hope that you too will find ways to sing in the most nourishing ways, to sing more often, and to be nourished by a deeper connection to life, to self, and to others in the process!