The Voice and Consciousness

Every person holds a map of consciousness within their voice. The energy inside the voice directly affects the mind and body. Using the voice is an efficient and natural way to massage the bones, organs and skin from the inside out. It is a natural accessory for the release of tension, the stimulation of the mind, the expression of thoughts and bridging the emotions with the mind.

Forms of drumming, singing, and chanting all create endorphin releases that reduce pain,calm the mind, lower brain wave patterns and balance the body. Music therapists are using the voice as a tool for healing the link between conscious expression and physical disabilities.

New forms of healing and relaxation insist that the generation of the vibration come from within the client rather than through the instrument, the drum, a recording or the voice or music of the therapist. New systems are encouraging you to do it yourself…to tune in and tune up.

Self-created relaxation is actually a repatterning and retraining of the mind and body through various levels of sound production from the voice and muscle rhythms of the body. With the voice and the awareness of making inner sounds in the mind, you can begin to find effective and readily available ways to tune in and tune up your consciousness, body and emotions.

Below are some exercises you may want to begin experimenting with to help induce
relaxation. Although they sound easy, obvious and quite unsophisticated, give yourself two weeks to explore their power, their ease and remarkable results.

EXERCISE 1: I AM VIBRATION
Sit comfortably in a chair so there is a feeling of relaxing upward. Close your eyes and imagine your whole body as a balloon. Inhale, sensing your body expanding with ease. Then exhale,visualizing your body releasing air from every pore in the body.

Continue to sense the balloon gently expanding and releasing with deep long exhalations and inhalations for about 2 or 3 minutes.

When you feel comfortable with the breath, then relax the jaw and allow a HUM to begin.It is not a melody, a chant, or a tune…it is a tone. This tone is not being made for the purpose of making beautiful or musical sound. It is being made for the purpose of massaging the body from the inside out. The jaw is loose, the teeth are slightly apart and the lips are together. The sound is low and soft. In your mind, think:

I am exhaling tension by massaging the body and mind with vibration
I am inhaling harmony and well-being
I am vibration

Complete this exercise for 4 to 5 minutes each morning and evening a week to tune up your world! Let your critical, verbal brain to take a rest and allow the rest of your brain and body to naturally attune itself.

EXERCISE 2: RELAX WITH VOWELS
Set aside a time where you can explore the vowel sounds. Sit comfortable in a chair and exhale a few times releasing thought. Then for 3 -5 minutes begin to tone with a relaxed jaw. Place the palm of your hand just below your throat so that it rests comfortably on the upper part of your chest. Bring the other hand to your cheek and allow your head to gently rest on your hand. Close your eyes.

Day 1: Open the lips slightly and make an “eh “ sound.
Day 2: Relax the jaw and make an “eee” sound
Day 3: Make a gentle “ah” sound
Day 4: Make a long restful “ oh” sound
Day 5: Make a gentle “ouuuu” sound

Imagine you are deaf and that all the energy of the sounds is massaging your body from within. Let you hands be your ears and sense the vibratory power. Do not look for an outcome,just be aware of the presence.

After your time of toning, put your hands in your lap, keep the eyes closed and deeply sense your body and mind.

Each vowel at every pitch has a different power. Each person responds differently. Let you voice be lower in pitch as you begin this tonal awareness. Keep the same pitch for most of the time your are toning. If you ever feel strain or stress, just stop for thirty seconds, the begin again. If you feel it is just time to stop, then just stop.

At times an emotion or a memory may arise. You can choose to tone right through that
memory and allow it to be cleared away, or you may come to rest and know that you will work with that feeling at a later time. There is wisdom of the vowels in the body, become aware of their power to charge, relax and heal.

Source: Adapted from The Big Book of Relaxation