A New Way for a Writer to Find Her True Voice

by Ulrike Selleck

When I was five years old, I drowned.

While my friend and her mom desperately tried to fish my lifeless body out of the water, I actually had the most amazing, beautiful, light-filled, and cozy experience.

I experienced where I lived, who I really was, had been, and always will be: Divine. Nothing to be afraid of, change, or yearn for. I was home.

This set the stage for a lifelong quest for inner fulfillment at a very early age, making me a true introvert.

You Have to Learn to Express Yourself

At age 20, I found Transcendental Meditation and immediately experienced and recognized that same level of Being I had been shown in my childhood. I was home again.

My outer life, however, was pretty much inward as well: lots of meditating, serving, and learning, with no way of expressing myself.

Twenty-five years ago, at age 32, my body had grown thyroid cancer. Standing in Deepak Chopra’s office, as if through a fog, I heard him say, “Ulrike, this imbalance is in your throat chakra, the center of self-expression. If you want to heal, you have to learn to sing, speak up and express yourself.”

I did, and I haven’t stopped talking, performing, singing, and teaching ever since.

I’m super passionate about telling the world about opening up this missing element—our voice—for all our health and well-being. For too long we’ve been shutting ourselves up, reserving singing only for singers, as if walking, running, dancing, and exercising was reserved only for athletes. It’s crazy!

We’ve all been given a voice. I want to make sure every human being on earth finally learns the quick, effective, powerful, and fun way to fully use it! It’s time.

It Was Impossible Not to Write About My Experience

Why did I choose to write about my experience? Oh, you mean, other than if I didn’t write, my head and chest might literally explode? Oh not much.

Seriously though. It was impossible NOT to write.

After what I went through, and what my experience was and is, I was teaching what I know one-on-one to hundreds of students and clients. Clearly, I had to find a better way to get it “out there” ASAP, in the most efficient, inexpensive, and comprehensive way possible. And fast. Just in case I die.

Ta-da. The book was born.

After all, I want to reach millions—and yes, also through video and speeches. But first I had to write it all down, in case for whatever reason it was time for me to die.

I would be furious at myself if I hadn’t put this out there, and suddenly found myself merged again with the Absolute, without a body to communicate all this. FURIOUS.

Singing Myself Through Writer’s Block

I had literally (teen talk, but appropriate) accumulated hundreds of documents (blog posts, notes to myself, collected research, etc.) SOMEWHERE on my computer in a gazillion, nebulously named Word docs. Order of the day, or better, year, was now to find them (not a task for the feeble-hearted), sift through them, and consolidate them into a cohesive whole.

Now, for anyone not a writer by trade, this would prove somewhat of an organizing challenge, or even nightmare. There were times my head felt as if it was in an unyielding vice, eyes bulging, mind numb, brick walls closing in on me from all sides. And those were the good days.

After a few months, however, I got the hang of this strange feeling of writer’s block. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t know what to write. Ever. I just didn’t know what NOT to write.

I learned to recognize that pattern, and to remove myself when it became a dead-end energy. It was as if I was standing in front of a solid, concrete or brick wall facing a steel door, with, oh, about 99 locks.

I needed to step away from it, and expand my inner and outer physical horizons.

Singing, or at least using my full body, voice, and breath “a la opera singer” for a few seconds, was almost always the order of the day. My own inner teacher’s orders.

And voila, often times I’d see that there was, in fact, more to that brick wall than I had previously been able to see. There often emerged, in fact, a little tunnel on my left, or a ladder to my right to get over or through that wall. There were even times when a whole huge boulevard would open up, lined with bright lights, neon signs, open shops, ice cream stands and laughing children. I kid you not.

“Boyfriend Pressure” Encouraged Me to Keep Going

As an introvert, I pretty much talk to no one, and spend my days mostly alone with my cats out in the countryside. My mother and brother via Skype, my best friend, as well as students and clients were of course very happy I was writing it all down finally, yes.

But the only real “encouragement”—if you can call it that—came from my boyfriend of seven years. As he was both loving me and carrying me financially to some extent, I felt—and feel— a huge responsibility to contribute and take the burden off him.

I felt immense time pressure, with him threatening to break up every couple of months if I didn’t finish soon and made some money. That encouraged the heck out of me. After my 23-year marriage fell apart ten years ago, I feel lucky to have found him late in my life, as he is the one I’ve been waiting for ever since I was eight years old. So to say that I was highly motivated, is an understatement!

Had it not been for this incredible pressure, I may not have believed I could do this. At some point the pressure became too much though and my back broke twice from it. After two surgeries back-to-back (pun not intended) I vowed to take better care of myself. Still waiting for that to happen.

The one thing I noticed, as I got closer to publishing my work, was the relief. With every key my finger touched, with every point I expressed, every sentence completed, and chapter figured out, it was as if energetic shackles around my throat, heart, and power chakras fell off, one by one.

Transforming Myself into the Empowered Woman I Always Felt I Was

Remember when, maybe as a child or teen, you were watching that TV show or movie, and desperately wished for and envisioned stepping into the screen to be her, or him? That one.

Doing what I’m doing—and writing the book was the first step, now creating the online course, then the TED talks, and more—feels like I’m finally becoming the person I wanted to be, ever since incarnating.

That shy, quiet, terribly insecure, bullied, abused, terrified girl is finally turning a corner and—a bit later in life than usual, maybe—transforming herself into the empowered, free-feeling, compassionate, playful, and wise woman I always felt was in there, somewhere.

Just that.

We Must Allow Ourselves the Right to Use Our Full Voice

I feel this knowledge of the power of our own voice has, for whatever reason, been kept secret from us. Education, government, religion, medical establishment, no one really had much of an interest in the voice of the people, did they? Not profitable for them.

It’s very timely now with everything going on especially in American politics, but also the world’s energy field and evolution of consciousness, that we allow ourselves the privilege—no, the right—to use our full voice, and therefore change our and everyone’s life for the better.

Advice for a Young Writer: Tune Into Your Heart

Be it. Do it. Write it out. Speak it out. Sing it out. It’s time.

Tune into your heart, your own center, and pour it into the world. We are each unique, like the proverbial snow flake. No one can substitute for anyone else. Not possible. Not in the design.

Tune into yourself, trust your instincts, refine your intuition, get into your own power, and be that. Live that. Write about that.

Even right now, as you read this. Stop, close your eyes, feel what is bubbling up inside you. Open your eyes, and start flowing that into the world.

If you get stuck, follow what I outlined above. Either rest, or get up, walk around, lungs inflated, using your full voice to enliven all the frequencies in your entire body. Become that world famous opera singer or diva even for just seven seconds. For the heck of it. For the playfulness of it. For the life-giving properties of it.

Then you’ll be even more in your center, and off you go again. So important. The world needs you. Sounds like a cliché, and it is. It’s the only cliché that’s actually true!

You May Never Shut Up Again

What I’d love for readers to do is:

1. Realize you need more than the “normal” 20% of your voice and breath for true wellness, and you want your missing 80%, now.
2. Head on over to SingYourselfWell.com and grab your 3 free intro videos, so you can experience greater health, energy, and happiness right away.
3. Learn the vital seven steps in both the book and the accompanying video training to use your full voice and breath, maybe for the first time in your life. Then feel the difference in your body, mind, heart, and spirit!

Seriously though:

If at 10,000 feet you look out the window of the plane you’re sitting in, see the wing’s on fire and you’re rapidly losing altitude, would you

1. grab that candy bar,
2. check your hair in the mirror, or
3. READ THE MANUAL THAT EXPLAINS HOW TO PUT ON, FASTEN, AND OPERATE YOUR PARACHUTE?

I rest my case.

Well, not really. As I said before, I will never, ever, shut up about this. As much as people sometimes beg me to. It’s too important, and timely.

Why? So that you may never ever shut up again, either.

* * *

Ulrike Selleck, author of Sing Yourself Well in 7 Seconds, is a Healing Voice Expert with 25 years experience, a 4th-generation musician and classical singer, voice teacher, performer, entrepreneur, mother, and intuitive healer. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from MIU and is a Universal Life Minister, as well as a Transcendental Meditation teacher.

When experiencing a traumatic health crisis at age 32, Ulrike was told by Dr. Deepak Chopra to sing and speak up. Since then she’s been singing, studying, teaching, healing, and performing for thousands, and is passionate about showing everyone everywhere how to use the power of their voice.

Ulrike’s loving, spontaneous, and exuberant nature integrates a fun, spiritual approach with a practical, easy to understand teaching style. Even though a quintessential introvert, Ulrike loves performing, arranging, and recording classical arias with percussion, jazz and tap, as in her original arrangement and rendition of Handel’s “Rejoice!”

For more information about Ulrike and her work, please see her website, check out her “Sing Yourself Well” e-course, and/or connect with her on Facebook.

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Sing Yourself Well in 7 Seconds: Did you know that we use only 20% of our total voice and lung capacity in daily life? No wonder we’re often tired, depressed, sick, have low energy, and a weak immune system.

In Sing Yourself Well, healing voice expert and classical singer Ulrike Selleck shows you how to boost your immune system and improve your health, feel new energy and vitality, and get that confidence up presto, all in 7 seconds. This wellness book is like no other.

To follow the easy, quick system you don’t need to be a singer, or even be able to carry a tune. Sing Yourself Well, happier, healthier, freer, more centered, and confident in seconds.

Available at Amazon.