The Voice As A Self-Care Tool - Ancient Wisdom

There is ancient wisdom carried within your voice. If you approach your voice with compassion, acceptance, and awareness you can take the first steps in allowing it to flow.

Follow Maria Wood on this simple exploration of your voice which is suitable for explorers who do not identify as singers and also for experienced vocal voyagers. We will explore the breath, sound and learn and sing a simple song together. Chris Wood plays guitar and wrote the music for this song.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Maria Wood and I love thinking about the fact that our voices are the most ancient instruments on earth.

It is an instrument that has been handed down to us from our most ancient ancestors and it is a precious resource that allows us to convey quickly and clearly to others and ourselves what our current state of being is and what our intentions are to our fellow humans.

Before there was even music we would have used our voices to warn others of danger that we had noticed.

We would have used it to soothe infants,

To let them know where safety was.

We would have used it to connect across terrain where visibility was limited.

Understood by all,

Our voices were about building trust,

Building community resilience and ensuring your place within it.

In an instant we convey an abundance of information to the people we care about or the people or other animals we wish to keep at a distance.

That instrument of knowledge still lives within us.

Today we are going to bring some awareness to our breath.

We're going to bring some awareness to the sounds that we can make.

We're going to learn a song and sing it and this song is called Ancient Wisdom.

I wrote this song while I was hanging out with our horses Hazel and Bianca and we were down in a beautiful field where there is this really old hawthorn tree.

A hawthorn tree that has been blown by the wind over years and years and I often sit beside this tree and just chat to it and one of the things that occurred to me while sitting beside this ancient tree was that we all have ancient wisdom in us and I wrote this song while sitting beside the tree.

I'll sing this song once through now so you can hear it and then we'll come back and learn it and sing it together at the end of this session.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us There is knowledge within our hearts And we know what we need and we know what is right In this moment let's trust ourselves So before we start to sing we always bring awareness to our breath.

This is the fuel for your voice.

It's what's going to carry the sound out of you and out into the world.

So for a moment why don't you imagine sitting in a clearing with your community of people you love,

Whether they are real or imagined people.

Sit for a few moments and notice your breath.

Notice it as it is now without changing.

What is it telling you about yourself?

Are you tense in any place?

Do you feel free?

What's moving?

Your breath is always there to keep you healthy and it's also there to help you create community by using your voice.

Your breath is the foundation of your voice and therefore it's the foundation of community.

And now if we use that breath to create some sound so that our feelings can go further out into the world,

Out into that clearing and perhaps meet with a few people's ears.

What are you going to send out?

So here we go.

Try and resist sending out a sound that you think you should send out.

Try and resist sending out a good sound.

Send out a sound that brings you with it,

That tells people something of you.

And use as little effort as possible.

As you let out that sound can you feel any vibration?

Can you feel any resonance in your voice?

Where do you feel your voice?

You might feel it in your throat,

You might feel it in your chest,

You may feel it even behind your nose,

Your cheeks,

Your ears,

The back of your head.

Any answer is correct for you and this is part of listening to your voice and listening to the wisdom that it already has.

You're not trying to perform,

You're just noticing and this will in itself help your body to relax because it's not bracing,

It's not feeling bad for not being perfect.

It realizes,

Oh,

You want to hear this information that I have.

One more time.

And you can imagine that the other people in the community are calmly watching you and listening to the tone of your voice and thinking,

Oh,

That's how she feels today.

Oh,

Right,

I'm glad you told us.

Always try and use the least amount of effort possible.

And in that way you'll be able to uncover hidden mysteries in your voice,

Hidden pieces of information.

If you try and use too much force,

You're just going to ride over those little subtleties and nuances that carry wisdom from your body.

And see if you can create one long string of sounds as opposed to several chopped up sounds.

Just see if your breath can willingly carry out those sounds in one beautiful long string.

So now I'm going to teach you the words of the song.

And we'll just take our time.

I'm going to sing each line three times.

If you find it a little bit difficult to learn lyrics or to pick up melodies,

That's fine.

You can just listen to this again.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

One more time.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

And the next line.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

Third time.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

And we know what we need and we know what is right.

And we know what we need and we know what is right.

One more time.

And we know what we need and we know what is right.

And the last line.

In this moment let's trust ourselves.

In this moment let's trust ourselves.

One more time.

In this moment let's trust ourselves.

So this song is asking you to trust yourself for one moment.

Not for all the moments in the future or all the moments in the past.

Just for this one moment.

And trusting your voice really just means feeling it,

Letting it be free.

You may not be able to logically understand what the wisdom of your own voice carries but it does carry wisdom.

Now I'd like you to think about the hawthorn tree that inspired this song and think about the roots of this hawthorn tree going right down into the ground,

Exploring down through the soil and the rocks,

The ancient structure of the fields that it grows in.

And I'd like to imagine that you are connecting to those roots as well.

The roots from your feet are going right down into the ground and connecting to this tree.

So let's sing through that twice.

Here we go.

And I'll give you our note.

There is,

Here we go.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

And we know what we need and we know what is right in this moment.

Let's trust ourselves.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

And we know what we need and we know what is right in this moment.

Let's trust ourselves.

If I really allow myself to take in the full meaning of this song I feel like I can stand a bit taller if I think yeah there is ancient wisdom in me.

I feel I'm a bit broader.

Sometimes I even imagine myself with a big cloak and a staff.

It just seems to come to mind as I sing this song.

And that gives me a sense of confidence.

It gives me a sense of belief in myself.

So perhaps the next time we sing it you can imagine yourself in your most magical,

Your most powerful,

Your most calm,

Your strongest self and sing this song and really believe it even for one moment.

There is ancient wisdom within you.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

And we know what we need and we know what is right in this moment.

Let's trust ourselves.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

And we know what we need and we know what is right in this moment.

Let's trust ourselves.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

And we know what we need and we know what is right in this moment.

Let's trust ourselves.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

And we know what we need and we know what is right in this moment.

Let's trust ourselves.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

And we know what we need and we know what is right in this moment.

Let's trust ourselves.

There is ancient wisdom in all of us.

There is knowledge within our hearts.

And we know what we need and we know what is right in this moment.

Let's trust ourselves.

There is knowledge in our bodies that we carry,

That we've carried throughout the generations that we may not know logically,

We may not be able to bring to our conscious minds,

But it doesn't mean that the wisdom isn't there.

It just means it's in our bodies.

So as you go through your day,

Maybe make some simple sounds and ask yourself,

What is this telling me about myself?

What would this tell someone else if I was to utter this sound?

What would they understand?

Am I telling them what is true for me in this moment?

If you have no idea about what is true for you in this moment,

You can make a sound coming from that place,

That place of confusion or uncertainty,

Because that's what's true for you.

One amazing thing about the voice is that this understanding,

This deep knowledge can be transmitted across to different species,

Not just humans.

When I go out and see our horses in the mornings or in the afternoons,

They often make the most beautiful,

Warm,

Welcoming sound.

Something like,

I'm not very good at doing it,

But it goes right into my heart and makes me feel,

They really love me.

And I sing to them and they relax.

We don't share the same voice.

We share the understanding of what's carried on the voice.

We know certain sounds are comforting sounds.

Certain sounds are stressful sounds.

For example,

If we hear a blackbird making an alarm call,

Everybody looks up,

The cats,

The dog,

The horses,

Other birds,

People.

Everybody understands the voices of all the animals,

The basic information that's carried within them.

So your voice is a way of connecting not just to yourself,

To other humans,

But to all of nature.

All of nature understands voice,

Sound.

Thank you for going on this journey through this song,

Ancient Wisdom.

I invite you to keep exploring this song and seeing what new layers you can find in it and seeing what new layers you can find in your own voice.

Have a wonderful day.

Reviews

Beautiful and profound, just what I needed as I start writing a new song. Many thanks Maria 🙏🏻😊🎶💗

Lovely way to listen to voice. Thank Yiu

Thank you Maria for this beautiful track on exploring our voices and what we can convey with them. Such wisdom in what you say and teach here. 🌸

Wonderful! Will certainly listen and practice again! Your songs are so soothing! 💞🙏

This was really beautiful and I was soothed and calmed by the care you conveyed within your voice. Your invitation to listen to my own voice touched me deeply, even though I didn't utter a sound because it's the early hours here! I'd love to revisit your beautiful offering. Thank you.

You're absolutely blowing my mind. Yes, the ancient wisdom has always been there. Yes, the knowledge is there in my heart, even when I don't see it. Thank you for lighting the way back to where the Universe stores the answers. <3

So relaxing and calming finding my own voice. Thank you, Maria, for your expert guidance.

Thank you for your kindness in sharing this. I'm a stressed out carer who used to go to a local Natural Voice Network group. But the pandemic closed it. I've not sung (well, croak would be a better description!) since. It feels good to try again. Bless you