13 Keys to Vocal Alchemy

1 • Cultivate Silence

In the absence of sound, we draw our attention within. It is within ourselves, that we discern our ability to listen to what is inspired to be expressed. It is from the stillness of silence, that we discover the purity of what wants to be expressed through our voice, without our mind getting in the way.

2 • Intention

Vocal Alchemy is a powerful way to activate our intentions. When using our voice in conjunction with clear intentions and giving total focus to them, we can deliver a stronger field of energy around our intentions; surrounding them with the wave of energy emerging from our voice – bringing intentions more fully into the manifest world. But this first requires cultivating the silence and dropping into listening to what our intentions are. Bring your awareness to your intentions and make them clear and precise.

3 • Make An Offering

Essential in the art of invocation of Vocal Alchemy is making an offering. Songs, Prayers, Chocolates, Flowers, Incense, Tobacco, Sage or Cedar or Copal. Gifting an offering to the Earth or to the Spirits who work through the Vocal Alchemy is a crucial way to unify the energy field between our mundane selves and Spirit through ritual. Expressing our gratitude and infusing focused intention into our offerings through using Song is a powerful way to begin the practice.

4 • Breathwork

Use the Breath to cultivate Embodied Awareness; drop your mental attention into the Body. We gain inner listening of our body; whether or not we are comfortable, or uncomfortable, how deep our breath is, how relaxed we are, how fully present we are. Squeeze your Perineum as you Inhale, Relax your Perineum as you Exhale. Focus on Pulling your Perineum and Energy vertically Up as you inhale, allowing your lungs to expand deeply and slowly. Relax your Perineum as you exhale, allowing your attention to slowly descend back down to your seat and your Perineum. The goal is to breathe circularly, pulling energy up your spinal column as you inhale, letting it fall back down like a waterfall over your torso as you exhale. Perineum Breathwork helps us build and cultivate our internal flow of Creative Life Force Energy; that which we will be a conduit of when we open our voices.

5 • Let The Voice Relax

Let Yourself Drop Into your Body and Relax. Begin by making a relaxed sigh on your out-breath. Slightly activate your vocal cords as you exhale, but gently. Take another deep breath in, doing Perineum Breathing, and bring more strength in through your vocal cords as you tone and exhale. Do a series of Deep Breathing and Exhaling / Toning. Following the relaxed, circular flow of the Breath, Squeezing the Perineum as you Inhale, Letting your Voice and Perineum Relax as you Exhale.

6 • Observe Your Thoughts

Observe with Mindful, yet detached Awareness, the thoughts that are coming up in your mind, as you prepare to use your Voice. What are they saying? Are there Self-Limiting Belief Systems, Negative Thoughts, Fears, Doubts, Anxieties popping up in your mind? Are there Egotistical, Self-Centered thoughts emerging as you begin to use your voice? Allow yourself to Notice and Pay Attention to what thoughts, fears, or ego strategies are emerging, and then – direct your attention back towards the felt vibrations and sounds emerging from your voice, feel that in your body, and let the thoughts relax. You are safe to explore your voice; nobody is going to judge you.

7 • Activate Vocal Power

In the African American community, there is something known as ‘SOUL’. It’s a Feeling, a Groove, a Juice, a Funk that comes from the depth of your Soul, and it is the source of the POWER that emerges when you use your Voice. It IS *The* Alchemy that activates the higher centers in your being and activates the energy that makes your voice compelling. It is undefinable, yet visceral. Decidedly non-linear, non-rational; it requires you get out of your head and into your heart and sing with gumption! Feel it so deep in your body and soul that you feel like you’re gonna explode. Don’t be afraid. It feels GOOD.

8 • Internal Life Force Energy Column

As you use your voice, bring your attention to the central channel of your being; your spine, the vertical column of Life Force Energy that resides within you. Your Inner Column of Life Force Energy has been called many things: the Inner Flute, Universal Chi, Sexual Energy, Power, Kundalini, Sushumna. Try to keep your attention simultaneously focused on your Internal Energy Column, while also staying attentive to the sounds emerging from you, your breath, and the sounds around you that you are resonating with. Be perfectly present and listen to all inner and outer vibrations.

9 • Listen to Harmonies and Resonance

Keep your inner ear focused on the internal energy field, and simultaneously – keep the external ear focused on listening to the sounds you hear around you. Listen to the sounds of others; feel them, melt into them, allow your voice to merge with theirs. Find the space where your voice and their voice blends and becomes one. See whose voice you feel drawn to. Surrender to the myriad Vibrations in the space, and find what voice you are Magnetized towards, play with harmonies and resonance. And remember, always PLAY!

10 • Play » Have Fun

Using your voice is a way to PLAY. If you’re not Having FUN, you could be doing something different, because using the voice is meant to elicit joy and an elevated state of Play. Use Non-Verbal / Non-Linguistic sounds to LET GO and express whatever energies or feelings are authentic in the moment, staying intuitive and playful!

11 • Building Inner Heat (Ecstasy)

Feeling an intensity of energy building within your abdomen, it feels like an orgasmic crescendo, except it’s not genitally related or even sexually related.. But it’s that feeling of intensity that is building and building as your breath and your voice expand beyond their normal range. Feel the inner heat, the inner fire, and allow it to keep building, keep building, keep building. If you ever feel that you are about to explode or feel completely overwhelmed, let yourself relax back down and breathe deeply. Let the intensity drop down a few notches until you feel re-stabilized, and then build that intensity and inner heat back up. Play with that threshold, and that level of fire within your abdomen, building and subsiding as long as you can.

12 • Intuition: Listen to Your Heart

Always, Always, Always listen to your own inner wisdom, your own inner voice: Your Intuition. Discern what your intuition is telling you, by listening to your body and feeling your way through it, rather than trying to think your way through it. Feel what impulses are emerging within you, in the moment. Listen to your body! Let your body move and groove as your body expresses the energy that your voice is feeling, authentically in the moment. Your body is the embodiment of your intuition and your inner wisdom; feel the energy moving through your body and make choices in the moment based upon what your body is intuitively telling you, and allow the sounds and vibrations to emerge through your voice as an expression of your body’s intuitive wisdom.

13 • Return to Silence

In the end, after all is said and done, drop back down to silence, and go back within to the stillness and the breath. Relax. Melt. Observe what you Feel. Silence is the phase of resting, recuperating, and meditation. Breathe deeply, and Send your Gratitude to the Universe for the Journey you’ve just been through!