Sound and voice - Case Studies

The Breathing Voice
From the moment Liz enters she talks incessantly and in a high-pitched voice, fluctuating in staccato. My first approach is to get her to slow down ~ to breathe ~ and to stand solid on her feet. I ask her to visualise she has the roots of a redwood tree, and to let these roots penetrate deep into the Earth. Then I ask her to breathe deeply, not only into her own body, but also into the Earth as if she was breathing together with Mother Earth. She weeps as the breath brings her back to body awareness. She tells me, “I just need to cry, I don’t know why ~ and I don’t need to know why.”
After a while I have her read aloud from a love poem. I ask her to read with significant breaks after each sentence, to make the break a breathing break and to feel what she is reading. Her voice is already becoming more natural and deep. Thereafter I ask Liz to make a break after each word she utters. She takes to it persistently, her voice becomes softer and flowing, and her face changes. She looks lighter and younger. Suddenly she looks directly into my eyes as she says, “I have been lying to myself and I can’t do it any longer!”

I now ask her to read the poem with as much feeling in her voice as she can. She proceeds and is overwhelmed. In her tears memories surface and I ask her to breathe consciously through the sound of the grief she is experiencing ~ a way to bring greater awareness into emotional release. Liz is able to continue with remarkable resonance in her voice.

I ask her to sing the poem intuitively, making up a melody. She hesitates, but after I give her an example of how it may sound she dives in.

Finally I ask her to improvise how she would sing the poem to a beloved, using partly her own words as well. I also demonstrate and guide her into expanding an unusual range of tones while deep breathing. In doing so her voice becomes dramatic and at the same time very real. Liz says she feels in contact with her authentic voice as never before. It is obvious the tone and the frequencies of her voice have drastically changed. Liz counts her session as a life-changing experience.

Anger & Grief Release in Action
I am working with Mathias who has chronic pain in the pelvic area, which has caused him stress and discomfort. After a couple of warm-up exercises including Anger Release, I ask him to sound directly into the pain with his own sounds and focus on matching the feeling of the pain to the best of his ability. I guide him to make the sound that feels good and resonant. It is like the sensation of being met, as if the sound knows what the body needs.

I now ask him to intensify the sound by exaggerating its feeling, visualising ‘peeling off the layers of an onion within’. I instruct Mathias to talk to the pain through the sound. Tears come to his eyes and he weeps. Mathias is brought back to a car accident he has never completely healed from, where his hip was injured. I guide him and encourage him to dive further into the sound without any judgments or considerations whatsoever, to be experimental with his sounds and surrender.

Through my guidance he understands the magic power of intentionally working with his own sound, which enables him to more strongly reactivate the ‘dead cells’ of his chronic condition. Enormous relief in various waves of emotions is evident.

After a series of sessions, including guided practices between the sessions, Mathias became a new person, pain-free and with a new perspective on life. Mathias explains, “I have not only cured my chronic back pain, but also regained hope and faith that everything is possible when I make a serious commitment.”