by Ulrike Selleck
Have you ever considered yourself a cosmic writer-creator?
I certainly hadn’t! Most of us think of ourselves as localized identities, beings with ups and downs. Lack of inspiration. Fatigue or burn out. Low energy, or even depression. Writer’s block. Self doubt. Perfectionism. Insecurity, and lack of self-confidence. Fear of failure. The list goes on.
But here’s a thought: What if this whole creative thing isn’t about us, about our small individual egos?
What if we’re here for the greater good of all? What if we’re the perfect instruments in the symphony of the Universe, contributing exactly what we’re supposed to at any given moment?
And what if, like all instruments, we just need three things to be in tune and play our instruments to perfection?
- Design our instruments
- Create space and resonance
- Tune
You see, the whole Universe is made of frequencies, and we all have within us the world’s oldest instrument, a healing instrument that is capable of creating healing sound frequencies: the body and voice.
Most of us think of the voice as a communication tool first and foremost. Second, maybe as a performance tool, to please others or be judged by others.
But how many of us grew up thinking of our voices as tools for self-healing?
I know I didn’t. I had no idea until age 32 when I developed a health problem and stood in Deepak Chopra’s office, where he told me: If you want to heal, you have to learn to sing, speak up, and express yourself.
Here are three steps to help you do just that.
1) Design your instrument.
Your body is the natural antenna between the Divine and the Earth. So build your instrument straight, symmetrical and self-referral!
Check in with yourself right now: What position is your body in? Are you leaning back? Hunching forward? Sitting straight?
When you lean forward or hunch, your spine curves and your head hangs forward. The body leans down, and the message your brain gets is that you’re literally feeling “down.”
What does the ever-helpful brain do? It gives you actual reasons to feel down, and will offer up all kinds of thoughts and emotions that make you feel even worse!
Even if you were feeling pretty good before, the mere fact that you’re hunching or leaning forward is often enough to cause down-spiraling emotions and thoughts.
On the other hand, when you lean back, as in “relaxing,” you can sometimes feel as if you don’t care, are bored, tired, or ready to give up, all because you’re leaning backwards. Plus your neck will be crooked trying to balance the backwards-leaning position. Again, not good!
In both cases you’re literally and figuratively “off your center.”
The cure? Straighten up!
Our human bodies are the vertical connection between Heaven and Earth. Unlike animal bodies—which are mostly horizontally oriented, closer to the earth, and more instinctual—our human bodies are like antennas connecting the Divine with the Earth.
When you stand, feel as if lifted from the top of the back of your head to the Heavens, like a marionette, with the chin slightly tucked. Stay in that space, even when interacting or talking with someone a different height than yours.
If you’re sitting, have a right angle between your torso and thighs as if you’re sitting on a deck or a dock, legs dangling. In that centered, aligned space you’re connected with your Highest Guidance. In that space is where all the potential of your unique creativity and self-expression lies.
You can feel it, can’t you? And it’s always there. But if you’re busy being mopey, hunched forward, leaning backwards, or otherwise “in your story,” you literally can’t “hear” this Divine Guidance!
2) Create space and resonance.
You are Infinite. So build your instrument huge, and breathe in the Infinity you actually already are.
Maybe you’ve been meditating for a while now and have some experience of your own Infinity, pure consciousness, bliss, or whatever wonderful state you’ve experienced as being your own self. But then, what do you do?
You go back into activity and forget all about it! You say things like: “Oh I can’t do that, I’m always like this, I’ve always done that, I can never do this…”
The solution? Train the muscle memory in your body to manifest that ultimate truth of you being Infinity.
Have you ever seen or even played a guitar, bass, violin, or cello? They’re curved like a human body, with two major areas of space and resonance.
Likewise, in your body there are two areas you’re able to expand and create space in, from the inside out:
- your lungs/ribs, and
- your throat.
Here’s how to create space in your instrument.
Create space in your lungs/ribs:
Take a normal breath through your nose, breathing in your Infinity and Divine Light, and allow your lungs to inflate all around like an inner tube.
Pay special attention to your ribcage, which you want to keep OFF your lungs as much as humanly possible.
You see, when we were kids, our lungs had so much more freedom, space, and room to expand. We played, screamed, sang, pretended, and generally gave our lungs a pretty good work out on a daily basis.
But then with a variety of life experiences, the passage of time, and the dubious pleasure of the force of gravity, more often than not the ribcage falls back down on top of the lungs with every exhale.
By lifting your ribcage off your lungs, you’ll allow your lungs to inflate more, which results in greater lung capacity over time, boosts the immune system, and creates a more playful feeling in your body.
Even right now it can give you a feeling of freedom, space, and power.
To get a feeling for this sensation, simply pretend you’re a body builder. Stick out your ribcage and strut around the room, puffing yourself up to be all self-important. Do this on the inhale, AND during the exhale.
Create space and freedom in your throat:
What do you do when we’re tired, hungry, or need oxygen?
Right. You yawn. Yawning is a great way to create space in your throat chakra, the center of self-expression.
As kids many of us remember feeling much freer than we do now. But soon we were told: “Shut up, be quiet, not so loud, keep your voice down, you can’t sing, you sing off key.”
So what did we do? We shut up. We constricted our energy to conform and feel loved.
The throat is the vital center of self-expression, and the connection between heart and mind. When we’re blocked there—and many of us are—the energy cannot flow, which in turn may create health problems down the line, as was the case in my life.
So please, do yourself a favor, and open up and yawn!
By the way, it’s the beginning of the yawn you want to imitate and commit to muscle memory. In the beginning of the yawn there’s the most stretch; ergo space and freedom. The uvula is up, your apple cheeks go up, and your larynx is down. That is the space you want to create.
Breathing in now you inflate your lungs, lift your ribcage off your lungs, and lift your apple cheeks and yawn—all in one breath. Then pause before you exhale, ideally while keeping your rib cage off your lungs a bit longer.
This is what creates this sensation of power, invincibility, space, and freedom from which you can create.
Now you have built your instrument straight and aligned, as well as open, and full of space and your own Infinity.
3) Tune and play your instrument!
What do we naturally do when we yawn, and no one is around to judge us for it? Right. We make a sound! We put a sound into the space we created, usually from high to low. It feels great, and is so relaxing.
All we have to do is to optimize this natural tendency.
You see, in daily life most of us use only about five or six notes of our vocal vocabulary in our speaking voice. Most of us, however, have 25 notes (or 3+ octaves) available in our body/instrument. So all we’re using most of the time is one fifth of our capacity! Isn’t that astounding?
Here’s the thing: Every note in our range has a certain frequency. Every frequency resonates in a certain part of the body, enlivening that part. Imagine only ever enlivening one part of your body. That would be like stretching only your arms, never your legs or back.
Using our full range even a few seconds a day enlivens, connects and therefore heals the whole body.
The high notes resonate towards the top of the head with our connection to the Divine, intuition, intellect, and mind. The middle notes resonate in the upper torso area, in the chakra of self-expression in the throat, and in the heart. The lower notes resonate towards the lower parts of the torso, the power chakra, center of creativity, and our vital connection with Earth.
You can see how frictionless communication between all the different parts of your body could come in handy when creating every moment of your life, and especially when creating your next masterpiece.
How to accomplish this?
It’s simple: Be aligned and in your center, inflate your lungs, lift your cheeks and have that smirky pre-yawning feeling of expansion, and then pause for a second.
Keeping “all” the air in your body, pretend not to exhale at all, but stay filled with breath, which I equate with Being. Then gently hum in the front of your face from high to low. From as high as you can go to as low as you can go, in one fell swoop. (Of course you want to feel comfortable, so use your common sense, and please do breathe when you need to!)
I liken it to climbing a steep hill (breathing in and lifting both cheeks, uvula, and rib cage off your lungs), and then sledding down that snowy mountain.
All while you ARE the mountain, never getting smaller just because you sled down.
This is how you enliven as many frequencies and flavors of the Universe as possible in your body, with your own voice.
In this aligned, expanded, and attuned state, you can now feel Divine Guidance. You got out of your own way, and were able to be a celestial instrument to play the music of the Divine on Earth, through your unique nervous system, karma, dharma, joy, skill, and finally, your pen.
An Exercise to Help You Gain Clarity
In a moment of confusion, use these simple three steps to gain clarity.
Align, expand, and tune, so your whole body is enlivened, and then ask yourself whatever you need for clarity. For example: “Is this ___ in my Highest Good?”
If, in this state, your body leans forward, gets warm, feels light and open, as if going towards your option, then this is a YES for you.
If, on the other hand, your body moves backward a bit, closes down, feels cold and heavy, then whatever you asked is a NO for you.
In moments when you start to strain, feel desperate, or feel lost as to what and how to write and create, align yourself with Heaven and Earth, expand your instrument to “Infinity,” and then play your instrument in your whole range, from high to low, enlivening all the vocal and therefore emotional vocabulary so unique to you, for the full expression of who you are.
The world is waiting for your creation.
* * *
Healing Voice Expert Ulrike Selleck is the Author of Sing Yourself Well, a classical singer, healing voice yoga teacher, and intuitive, energetic healing facilitator.
For the full 7 steps please refer to Sing Yourself Well in 7 Seconds on Amazon, or the Sing Yourself Well online course.
Find out more about Ulrike in her other post on Writing and Wellness, A New Way for a Writer to Find Her True Voice“.”
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.