Did you know that singing and your voice are powerful tools for healing and empowerment? Or that there is a strong and magical connection between the vagina and the vocal cords?!
In this article, we take a look at the different ways you can use your voice for your holistic health journey and sound healing, and why it is so important to activate your voice and self-express during your process of liberation.
Does Singing Help You To Heal?
Yes! There are a variety of different ways to use your voice for healing and sound therapy beyond just singing, such as mantra, chanting, vocal exercises, affirmations, vocal toning, poetry, and speaking.
Whether you feel like you can sing and hit notes or not, your voice is a powerful tool for healing that can be used in a variety of different ways for your holistic healing journey.
Why Is Singing So Healing?
There are a variety of different benefits to singing and vocal exercises. A medical journal by the Journal of the Voice Foundation notes that on top of self-reports that singing enhances a sense of well-being, there are physiological changes that have been measured.¹
For example, the cardiorespiratory system is being repeatedly used with frequent singing and vocal training, which can result in optimised breathing and strengthened respiratory muscles.
It has also been found that singing can cause fundamental hormone and neurotransmitter changes, which include the increase of oxytocin, endorphins, and immunoglobulin A which help to improve immune function along with increasing feelings of happiness.¹
Another medical journal, by Heart Views, notes that singing has been explored in a variety of different clinical studies which found that singing helps to relieve stress, activates the immune response, can increase the pain threshold, enhances lung function, and can support the grieving process—along with creating a sense of belonging, community, and connection when singing with others.²
Another medical journal, by the European Journal of Pain, noted during a study conducted on people with chronic pain and long-term health conditions, that singing could be used as a complementary therapy to help reduce pain intensity and depression.³
Singing and vocalization can also help to heal and restore the body by activating the parasympathetic nervous system and the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve, which is one of the most important nerves in the body, travels through the larynx.
The vagus nerve is one of the most vital components of the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for your body’s ‘rest and digest’ or ‘feed, read, and breed’ response. This is the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system which is responsible for your ‘fight or flight’ response.
When the parasympathetic nervous system is activated your body relaxes, slows down, soothes any tension and anxiety—and most importantly, undertakes maintenance and repair activities.
And because the vagus nerve travels through the larynx which is home to the vocal cords and the windpipe activities such as singing, humming, and rhythmic breathing helps you to heal and rejuvenate. This is because they massage the vagus nerve and stimulate the body’s natural inbuilt restoration and repair response.
If you want to learn more about the voice and the vagus nerve, check out my blog article on the vagina and voice connection here to learn what the yoni and vocal cord connection is all about.
And if you want to learn more about why sound and music are great for holistic health and healing, you can check out my blog post on the healing effects of sound and music here.
Singing And Your Chakras
Asides from the physical, emotional, and mental wellness benefits that have been noted by Western medicine, there are energetic benefits to singing and vocal exercises for healing too.
Voice, sound, and music have been used for centuries for spiritual and religious purposes. For more information on techniques, you can check out my article on how to use sound and music for healing and release here.
Your energetic body, which can also be thought of as a map of energy channels (much like meridians) responds to vibration. Each chakra has an associated bīja. In Sanskrit, a bija translates to seed.
And whilst the word bija is used in a variety of different contexts within Asian spiritual philosophy, in this context it refers to a one-syllable sacred sound that corresponds to each chakra.
Each chakra has a one-syllable sound (bija mantra) associated with it that can be chanted, used in mantras, and meditation. Bija mantra are used to enhance the power of your chakras, strengthen your energy channels, access higher levels of consciousness, and contribute to your spiritual practice and evolution.
In summary, singing and using your voice is helpful for your chakras, energetic body and to move stagnant energy through your energy channels using the vibration of sound.
Even though all of your chakras are energized by their associated sounds and vibrations, the throat chakra is particularly energized during singing.
The throat chakra, also known as vishuddha chakra in Sanskrit, is located in the throat around the area of the thyroid gland and the larynx. Vishuddha chakra is responsible for authenticity, pure communication, and expression of the Divine truth.
The larynx is also referred to as the voice box and it’s the area of the throat that houses your vocal cords. For context, your larynx also plays an important function in breathing, eating, and drinking too.
Singing And Your Breath
In Sanskrit, there is the concept of prāṇa. Prana means vital life force energy. Prana is the energy that runs through all things within the entire universe. It is an energy that gives vitality to all manifest creations. Prana is essentially the energy that gives you life.
One of the ways we can replenish and energize our prana is through prānāyāma. Pranayama is a variety of different yogic breathing techniques which control the flow of breath into and out of the body. They help to cleanse and energize your energetic channels and chakras.
Singing forms its own unique breathing technique, much like pranayama because it relies on good breath control.
To sing properly, you must inhale fully, and then your exhale carries the breath from your lungs which makes your vocal folds vibrate. And it’s your exhale in particular that produces the vocalisation and sound.
During the process of singing, not only are you improving your respiratory system, but you’re also helping to cleanse your energetic channels and replenishing your prana through the use of your breath.
The Vagina And Vocal Cords Connection | The Vulva And The Voice Box
Did you know that the yoni and voice are connected physically and energetically?!
There are a variety of really interesting links between the vagina and the vocal cords that can help you to improve your self-expression, connect to your sexual wellness, and support your healing journey.
If you’d like to learn more about the relationship between the vagina and vocal cords then check out my blog article on the yoni and voice connection here to learn how the two are related.
What Are The Spiritual Benefits Of Singing?
If you’re still on the fence about using your voice for your healing journey, then here are some great ways that you can use singing and your voice for healing and empowerment.
1. Speaking
Speaking is a very simple and overlooked way that you can use your voice for healing. If you’re not comfortable with singing, chanting, or other forms of vocalisation for healing—then speaking is a great place to start.
Whenever you start to feel more comfortable you can even start to incorporate some artistry via poetry into your speaking if you wish.
In terms of speaking for healing and empowerment, there are a number of different ways that you can beneficially use your voice.
Journaling And Talking Aloud
Journaling is a very powerful practice for healing and manifestation. But you can increase the potency of your journaling by reading your writing out loud. You can do this in private or, if you wish, with someone else.
Whether you’re talking out loud on your own or with someone else, it can help you to organize thoughts in your mind and process information.
This is also why conversations with others can be so helpful and healing. During the process of talking out loud, you are able to sort through, filter, and organize your thoughts and information.
Speaking To Yourself In The Mirror Using Affirmations
Mirrorwork is great for healing. And there are a variety of different ways that you can speak to yourself in the mirror.
Either you can read through a letter you wrote to yourself, or perhaps you prefer reading yourself a set of affirmations that you resonate with. Or maybe you don’t feel like preparing anything and prefer just to say what you feel like you need to hear in the particular moment.
It can be really transformational to connect with yourself by looking in the mirror and vocalising some powerful messages that you need to hear and process.
Speaking To Someone Else
Conversation and communication can be extremely healing, and sometimes a necessary part of your healing and empowerment process. Perhaps you need to have a conversation with a co-worker, friend, family member, or loved one.
Maybe you are in a position where you need to get something off your chest, and in order to move forward with closure or find a resolution to a challenge—a conversation needs to be had.
There are many parts of your healing journey that you can embark upon alone, but it’s highly likely that many parts of your trauma and healing will involve interpersonal relationships. Addressing these issues is really empowering because it allows you to process, accept, forgive, let go, and move on.
Poetry
If you’re not quite ready to move into singing, or don’t like singing and chanting, then poetry is a great option too!
Poetry allows you to be a bit more creative and artistic than journaling, but it can feel more enjoyable if you don’t like singing. Or poetry can be a great stepping stone to help build your artistic confidence so that you can happily move into singing and chanting later.
2. Singing
Singing is another great way to use your voice for healing and empowerment. Either you can write your own songs to express emotion, perhaps using poetry as a starting point. Or you can sing some of your favourite songs by other artists as part of your healing process.
The great thing about singing is that you can do it alone or with others, and both are equally as powerful.
Singing helps you to find your voice and become comfortable in being seen and heard which is extremely empowering. It also has numerous benefits from activating the throat chakra, to stimulating the vagus nerve and your parasympathetic nervous system.
You can find out lots more about the healing benefits of singing and the voice in my blog article on the importance of awakening vagina and vocal cord connection.
If you’re new to singing it can be helpful to get an experienced voice teacher who can support you in finding your authentic voice and tone through singing lessons—even if you have no intention of being a professional singer.
A good voice teacher can help you understand proper vocal technique, whilst improving your singing voice, speaking voice, and vocal range.
Having professional voice lessons can help to reduce any anxiety you have around using your voice, and your teacher can give you a set of tailored vocal exercises for your vocal range and ability.
3. Mantra
Sacred mantras have been used for thousands of years in Asia and can be traced all the way back to the Sanskrit Vedic scriptures. They are regarded as Divine sounds with unique and magical vibratory qualities. The correct pronunciation of mantras is very important because the pronunciation can change how the sound wave vibrates through the physical and energetic body.
There are a variety of different mantras that you can choose from depending on your needs. You can work with different Gods, Goddesses, and Deities depending on your intention.
Mantras help to harmonize your body, mind, energetic body, and soul to balance your energy and being. One of the most common mantras that you may have heard of is ‘om’, pronounced ‘aum’.
Six of the seven chakras have an associated mantra which is called a bija mantra in Sanskrit. Bija translates to seed.
The bija mantra associated with each chakra is a sacred syllable regarded as the central seed and sound of the chakra.
Bija mantras are very powerful tools for meditation and chanting. You can meditate upon, chant, or sing the bija mantra to assist your healing and empowerment journey and to cleanse and energize your energetic body and chakras.
They can also be included within larger mantras to enhance the power of more complex mantras, within yogic asana practices, and within rituals and ceremonies.
Here Are The Bija Mantras For Each Of The Chakras:
- Muladhara chakra (root chakra), earth element, ‘Lam’
- Svadisthana chakra (sacral chakra), water element, ‘Vam’
- Manipura chakra (solar plexus chakra), fire element, ‘Ram’
- Anahata chakra (heart chakra), air element, ‘Yam’
- Vishuddha chakra (throat chakra), ether, ‘Ham’
- Ajna chakra (third eye chakra) ‘Om/Aum’
4. Chanting
You can chant in a variety of different ways to help you to heal and rebalance your energy. You can use mantras, affirmations, bija mantras, or specific sacred chants to Gods, Goddesses and Deities.
When you chant, it is helpful to focus on moving your mind into a sound meditation during your chanting practice. Meditation in itself has a variety of benefits from enhancing memory and improving attention span to improving mood and emotional regulation.⁴
5. Affirmations
Affirmations are another great way to use your voice for healing and empowerment. You can choose specific affirmations that you need to hear at the moment.
In different seasons of your life your needs change, and affirmations are a really versatile and flexible way to support your growth through your healing journey.
If you’d like to learn more about the different seasons of the menstrual cycle and how this can affect your monthly rhythms then you can check out my article on the benefits of cycle syncing with your inner seasons and menstruation here.
6. Vocal Toning
Vocal toning is the practice of using your voice to create different sounds, grunts, cries, and groans to facilitate healing.
Deep humming during vocal toning, in particular, can help to activate the vagus nerve which helps to put your body into a state of calm, which encourages relaxation and restoration.
And a clinical study by the Journal of Music Therapy notes that participants reported feeling calm, relaxed, and meditative when practising vocal toning.⁵
7. Vocal Exercises
Vocal exercises often involve many of the same vocalised sounds as vocal toning so there is some overlap between the two. However, vocal exercises also hold the benefit of strengthening your pitch and range which can increase your vocal confidence.
Your voice is controlled by muscles, and much like any other muscle, the more you use it the stronger it becomes and the more confident you are in using it.
Vocal exercises can help you to deepen your relationship with your voice so that you become confident in using it for singing, speaking, and communicating. This can really help to support your healing journey so that you can communicate your choices, boundaries, desires, and needs.
Conclusion
Using your voice is a great way to bring harmony into your body, mind, and soul. There’s a variety of different techniques for beginners all the way to experienced singers.
Which one of these do you think you’ll try? Let me know in the comments!
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