How does Vocal Activation work?

When love first tapped your lips ~ You started to Sing!!

It seems 'Vocal Activation' is the new buz term!  Hey, I use it, my teachers use it, it's all over Social Media.  But... What exactly does it mean?

Well back in the late 1990's when all of this was beginning to emerge, we used to call it chanting or toning.  We used to sing mantras or hymns or chants.  The term 'Medicine Song' did not exist, at least in the mainstream.  But the practices did. And, as they became ore common with the expansion of 'Sound as Medicine'** new systems began to appear and with them new names, terms and labels.

With the expansion of Sound Healing, it began to be clear that many of our traumas are around our self expression and ability to speak our truth.  Often because we become separated from our truth in order to comply with social constructs, and, part of that means keeping quiet.  Silencing our joy and our pain.  Silencing our voice because someone said it doesn't sound good or does not fit with the external expectations we allow ourselves to be ruled by.

So, what does vocal activation mean?

In simple terms it means to be free!!! But for most of us that is not so simple.  We have layers of ideas and trauma to peel off before we can get there.

Many people that come to our workshops and trainings say they cannot sing, or they feel their throats are blocked.  I can totally relate to this as once I was there too.  My simple answer to this is: 'it's not true'.  Everyone can sing, perhaps not as you 'think' singing should be, but YOU can sing.  And, the blockage in your throat is in your mind.  Perhaps from old traumas, perhaps something you are carrying with you from generations past.  It actually doesn't matter because the only way to feel free with your voice is to silence the voices that are telling you that you are doing it wrong, drop into your body and feel the vibration of a simple Hum. That is where we start...

There are many practices and tools to reach this place.  I know, I have used many of them.  And, believe me, after all these years there are times when my voice is activated and times when it is a closed knot.  I simply know what it feels like in my body and what to do to release.  There are those who say a 'Vocal Activation' is something which can only be passed on from a teacher to a student.  I believe, not only.  I have experienced being in the presence of musicians and vocalists who are connected to source, completely present in the now, and my own voice tapped into that place and in that moment it felt as though heaven flowed out of my mouth.  Yet it is not just about the sound, it is about the feeling that arises within you when you make sound and listening with your Heart.

You cannot activate your voice with your mind or ears.  Yet, we can all sing when we drop into a place of presence and feeling.  Our voice becomes active when we drop into deep listening with all of our senses and express what we hear and feel with our own vocal chords.

This is Vocal Activation - Feeling your Sound with all of your being.  It takes a little practice and a little guidance, but we can all do it, no matter why we don't.

**Another term: "Sound Medicine" which when I used it back in 2018 came through my mind alone. I did not hear it spoken by anybody else.  It is now a mainstream term. Perhpas I will write about that soon...