The Healing Power of Our Voice

Our cells respond to sound. The sound of your voice and the power of vibration married with intention can produce an immediate effect on your being. Even if you don’t enjoy or have access to the sound of your voice, you can learn how to source the medicinal effects of toning, tapping, humming, chanting, and affirming. You do not need to think of yourself as a singer to practice sound healing.

The sound of your voice and the energy of your presence are as personal as your fingerprint and carry a vibrational frequency that uniquely belongs to you. The shape of your mouth, the placement and size of your vocal cords, tongue, larynx, the capacity of your lungs, how many languages you use: There are many things that make your voice yours. The voice also carries inherent awareness and evidence of lineage. Many of us do not know our ancestors, but as with blood, there is power inside of your sound and a connection to those in your lineage who have come before you.

Consider How You Feel About Your Voice

Take a moment now to consider the following. How do you feel about your voice? What is your relationship to the sound that carries the words you choose? Think of times when you are most comfortable bringing your voice into a room and times when you don’t feel safe or find it difficult to speak.

Grace tells me that our relationship to our voice begins with the first cry. Did someone pick us up, hold us close, and tend to our needs? Was our cry answered? As we grew, were we listened to, encouraged to share and tell? Did our no or yes matter? Were we told to shut up, be quiet, be seen but not heard? Or greeted with curiosity and “say more about that?” All these possibilities create our connection to our sound and how we use and don’t use the power of our voice.

As you recall the happenings that shaped your feelings about your voice, try not to get caught in memory. The story, your story, is profoundly important and has a place. For our work, we want to bring this information about how your relationship to your voice was shaped without getting caught in any stories of harm. If you have difficulty with this invitation to stay in the present moment as you are looking to the past, please pause and turn your attention to this conscious breath practice to gather yourself:

Inhale deeply through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth. Cycle this breath five times. Consider your body and the space you occupy. Orient yourself by noticing light, colors, temperature; take in your surroundings. When you are ready, return to the ritual.

Our sound is a gift. The evidence of this is everywhere present. If we can be fooled into thinking our voice does not matter, we will not speak against injustice. We will not cast, conjure, or declare our right to love and be loved where we stand, how we choose, and in all the ways we need to thrive. Let the sound guide us to the word and the word guide us on the path, as we learn to speak our deliverance from oppression and tyranny using our sound in service to love whenever and wherever we can.

An adapted excerpt from The Vibration of Grace: Sound Healing Rituals for Liberation by gina Breedlove. Learn more about the book.