Even though I may have been told to be quiet in the past, I now understand that it is ok to find and express the true power of my voice.
Even though I may not be a super star, and despite what other people may have said, I am learning to love the sound I make.
Even though I may have been negative about my voice, I am working on developing a healthy relationship with it right now.
Even though my voice may not work as I want it to all of the time, I know that this is not always important, sometimes there is beauty in imperfection, and even so, my vocal development will always be incomplete. There is always more to experience, greater heights and deeper depths of expression, range, clarity and dexterity.
Just because it is easier for me to sing in one particular style, it doesn’t mean that I cannot enjoy singing in other styles.
I was born with an inherent ability to make strong sounds. Even though society may have conditioned them out of me, I am now finding them again. It is a joy. I am on a journey and will be for the rest of my life and beyond.
Monday 10 May 2010
Sunday 2 May 2010
Being an authentic teacher
I'm very excited to announce that I'm changing. Ten years ago I was inspired by a voice teacher at the top of her game who's methods I adapted and adopted in my own teaching.... trouble is I realised I wasn't being authentic as I was tired after every lesson covered in struggle and riddled with mental tension. The lessons I most enjoyed were the ones where I was totally engaged energetically and emotionally with my client. I would finish the lesson feeling light, open and awake. This has become more and more aparent over the years to the point where now I can't lie to myself anymore. The last week or so of my life has been full of aggresivity, wars of words and power struggles with folk who will remain nameless and being a person who does self inquiry I've asked myself why this has come all at once. The arising situations have highlighted where I havn't acknowledged my own agressivity and for that I am grateful. In two weeks time I'll be going to france to become a Core Singing Instructor. It was my intention to be rid of anything inauthentic so that I could start afresh and come back with a clearer sense of myself so that I could help others engage more fully with who they really are through the art of singing. A truly nice place to be.
Getting through your day
It’s 6am and I’ve just woken up…I say to myself, ”right then SG, you have this, this, this and THIS to do today, so if you’re going to become a successful songwriter, better get out of bed!!” But Ugh! where oh where am I gonna to get the energy to do all this? I’m totally overwhelmed, as burnt out as a smoked fag and, as a consequence, de-motivated. “I know” I say, “I’m just gonna have to force myself! By 9pm I will be so exhausted that I’ll have no energy for hobbies, my partner or my friends.”
I got used to forcing myself when I would follow the instructions of a well known master life coach. I managed my state of mind by reciting those positive incantations which were supposed to get me going but *UGH* (effort noise), they seem to just make me feel worse because the reality was totally different. All the forcing seemed to just fire off my adrenal glands which only gave me the illusion that I had all the energy in the world to move mountains. But deep down inside there was this feeling of captivity, frustration and resentment since all I really just wanted to do was rest or at least feel differently about doing these tasks before me.
Do you ever find yourself feeling like this? Of course you do! You’re human! If we don’t learn to chill out this could be our fate as we try to juggle many many things. As you face each day it may seem like a mountain to climb and although we are meant to be the enlightened ones (fellow healer/artist/musician/writer/independent entrepreneur), it’s very easy to become caught up in 3rd dimensional drudgery. I don’t know about you but I want to float through my day approaching each task with delight, managing each task with ease and relaxed muscles. To me “State Management” feels like a very masculine approach to the day and has made me quite sick in the past as I’ve ignored my body’s needs. As we evolve into this new feminine energy, I honestly don’t think that this ‘action only’ approach can sustain itself. More and more we are being forced to be un-enforced, to take extremely good care of ourselves and to listen to our bodies… no, I mean REALLY listen. Getting caught up in ‘clock time’ & scheduling, to me, seems as inefficient as staying in bed all day.
It’s 6am. My body is dormant but my brain has become conscious, my eyes remain closed. I think to myself, “oh God, it’s morning again. How will I cope today?” While I’m laying there, I breathe deeply to try and stop the panic and say to myself, “it’s ok SG, no decisions need to be made yet!” So I get up and have my morning pee with the lethargy of a tortoise and then I realize that tortoises live longer than humans. “I wonder why?” I think, “Maybe it’s because they are slow?!” After I’ve washed and breakfasted, I decide that instead of going to my computer, I will sit and meditate for 10 minutes. As I do, I eventually settle into stillness. After about 5 minutes this gentle wash overtakes me and I have this urge to circle my body and to move my neck and shoulders, to dance to the silence with the rhythm of my heart keeping time. I realized what just happened. As I embraced stillness for just a moment my body and heart were able to join and open. In doing so they became dynamic and moved to the dance of their own internal song. Suddenly an idea was born. Suddenly from nothing, there was something, so pure and right. Suddenly natural joy and enthusiasm enfolded me and I realized that this was the real energy I’d been looking for. As we rampage through our day, we miss the softly spoken caresses of our moment to moment urges…. We simply cannot hear them.
I notice that it takes real courage to be still and simply allow urges to come up and to somewhat ignore the vast lists of things to do that take over our minds. It’s contrary to what society tells us to do. That’s not to say that we should ignore our projects totally, but gently waiting until we hear the inner voice that says ‘yes’ before doing tasks, often means that they will go more smoothly. It takes faith to allow the seeds to propagate without trying to drag the seedling up out of the earth with our bear hands. But this is how Mother Nature and Great Spirit do it. ALL IN GOOD TIME. Every action we take that is not done with joy in our hearts is pretty much null and void. As we move closer to the new age we will find that the ‘grin and bear it’ approach bears less and less fruit. Learning to stay with joy, for the most part, and taking a little inspired action each day will produce miraculous results based on synchronicity. This is the law off attraction. It can’t not work! So is our daily priority then, to do things that cultivate feelings of joy and freedom within ourselves? Choose your tasks wisely friend.
These feelings of joy are surely more than states of mind. These are organic and totally natural ways of being. Doesn’t it feel good when you feel good? When we float through our day with contentment in our hearts, everything flows, everything works, projects are effortless, connections are seamless and there is no struggle. You decide at the appropriate moment what your next task will be and when you are in joy, there can be no wrong choices, as decisions are made as if God where making them (and of course, they are!). Moving through our day is a delicate dance of stopping, listening and acting, acting, stopping and listening. Make it so. Enjoy your day.
I got used to forcing myself when I would follow the instructions of a well known master life coach. I managed my state of mind by reciting those positive incantations which were supposed to get me going but *UGH* (effort noise), they seem to just make me feel worse because the reality was totally different. All the forcing seemed to just fire off my adrenal glands which only gave me the illusion that I had all the energy in the world to move mountains. But deep down inside there was this feeling of captivity, frustration and resentment since all I really just wanted to do was rest or at least feel differently about doing these tasks before me.
Do you ever find yourself feeling like this? Of course you do! You’re human! If we don’t learn to chill out this could be our fate as we try to juggle many many things. As you face each day it may seem like a mountain to climb and although we are meant to be the enlightened ones (fellow healer/artist/musician/writer/independent entrepreneur), it’s very easy to become caught up in 3rd dimensional drudgery. I don’t know about you but I want to float through my day approaching each task with delight, managing each task with ease and relaxed muscles. To me “State Management” feels like a very masculine approach to the day and has made me quite sick in the past as I’ve ignored my body’s needs. As we evolve into this new feminine energy, I honestly don’t think that this ‘action only’ approach can sustain itself. More and more we are being forced to be un-enforced, to take extremely good care of ourselves and to listen to our bodies… no, I mean REALLY listen. Getting caught up in ‘clock time’ & scheduling, to me, seems as inefficient as staying in bed all day.
It’s 6am. My body is dormant but my brain has become conscious, my eyes remain closed. I think to myself, “oh God, it’s morning again. How will I cope today?” While I’m laying there, I breathe deeply to try and stop the panic and say to myself, “it’s ok SG, no decisions need to be made yet!” So I get up and have my morning pee with the lethargy of a tortoise and then I realize that tortoises live longer than humans. “I wonder why?” I think, “Maybe it’s because they are slow?!” After I’ve washed and breakfasted, I decide that instead of going to my computer, I will sit and meditate for 10 minutes. As I do, I eventually settle into stillness. After about 5 minutes this gentle wash overtakes me and I have this urge to circle my body and to move my neck and shoulders, to dance to the silence with the rhythm of my heart keeping time. I realized what just happened. As I embraced stillness for just a moment my body and heart were able to join and open. In doing so they became dynamic and moved to the dance of their own internal song. Suddenly an idea was born. Suddenly from nothing, there was something, so pure and right. Suddenly natural joy and enthusiasm enfolded me and I realized that this was the real energy I’d been looking for. As we rampage through our day, we miss the softly spoken caresses of our moment to moment urges…. We simply cannot hear them.
I notice that it takes real courage to be still and simply allow urges to come up and to somewhat ignore the vast lists of things to do that take over our minds. It’s contrary to what society tells us to do. That’s not to say that we should ignore our projects totally, but gently waiting until we hear the inner voice that says ‘yes’ before doing tasks, often means that they will go more smoothly. It takes faith to allow the seeds to propagate without trying to drag the seedling up out of the earth with our bear hands. But this is how Mother Nature and Great Spirit do it. ALL IN GOOD TIME. Every action we take that is not done with joy in our hearts is pretty much null and void. As we move closer to the new age we will find that the ‘grin and bear it’ approach bears less and less fruit. Learning to stay with joy, for the most part, and taking a little inspired action each day will produce miraculous results based on synchronicity. This is the law off attraction. It can’t not work! So is our daily priority then, to do things that cultivate feelings of joy and freedom within ourselves? Choose your tasks wisely friend.
These feelings of joy are surely more than states of mind. These are organic and totally natural ways of being. Doesn’t it feel good when you feel good? When we float through our day with contentment in our hearts, everything flows, everything works, projects are effortless, connections are seamless and there is no struggle. You decide at the appropriate moment what your next task will be and when you are in joy, there can be no wrong choices, as decisions are made as if God where making them (and of course, they are!). Moving through our day is a delicate dance of stopping, listening and acting, acting, stopping and listening. Make it so. Enjoy your day.
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