Meditation.

Many of us struggle with "finding our voice."

The voice we know is in there- the unique one that belongs only to us, but we have trouble connecting to.

How can we allow our feelings, our emotions to reveal themselves truthfully?

How can we tap into the light that is deep within to bring it forth to be shared?

How can we navigate through the different voices in our brains and connect to the one that is your most authentic?

The answer is meditation, a powerful practice that can transform your life and your instrument.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a practice, a practice of sitting quietly with yourself. Through this practice, we can curb our mind wandering to be in the present moment.

It’s the practice of intentionally turning our attention away from distracting thoughts and turning our attention towards something specific, like your breath, sensations in your body, gratitude, compassion.... something specific.

It becomes a time of observation. Observing yourself, observing the thoughts when they arise. You become a witness and you witness yourself without judging your thoughts OR the fact that they keep arising.

When we create awareness around our thoughts, we create a little space around them. And that space is where magic happens. That’s where what Elizabeth Gilbert calls the magic elves- the creative goblins- can enter and give us inspiration as performers, singers, artists.

There is a ton of research that shows that meditation can have a number of positive benefits, including making you happier, help with focus, decrease stress levels, help you to feel more connected with people and can even make you smarter. And it can do all this in just a couple of weeks.

Benefits For Singing
-A time to get centered (really important before performing).
-A time to get connected with our bodies which is very helpful since our bodies are our instruments.
-A time to connect with our breath. We will feel more connected to our breath because when we land in our bodies and become a witness, our breathing slows down and naturally becomes deeper. We need to connect with the deep, diaphragmatic breath for making bigger sounds and supporting long phrases.
-It helps us to connect with inspiration. (the creative goblins!)
-It’s an opportunity to set an intention.

How do I do this?
It’s important to think about this ahead of time and plan it.

Where could you meditate?

Where is a quiet spot in your home where you won’t be disturbed while you’re meditating?

What are possible obstacles that might get in your way from actually doing it? (Maybe technology. Devices should be silenced and put to the side, or maybe family members should be instructed that you are not to be disturbed for those 5 minutes.)

Ask for that support if you need it. It’s just 5 minutes. This is a gift to yourself.

Maybe another obstacle is feeling inner resistance to it. Plan that ahead of time. Commit to it ahead of time.

If you are new to meditation, try a guided one. Insight timer is a great app that I use to time myself- I like the little bell that dings- but they also have lots of guided ones to choose from on a host of topics.

Right now I'm giving away a FREE Joyful Singing Starter Kit which includes a FREE Guided centering exercise. GET IT HERE.

If you are not using a guided meditation, it might be helpful to focus on one thing- like your breath- giving your full attention to the in and out breath, or scanning your body.

If you catch your mind wandering it’s ok. In fact it will happen. The practice is about creating awareness around the mind wandering so you simply catch it and return your focus to the thing you want to focus on.

There is NO PERFECT WAY TO DO THIS. If you get discouraged, I encourage you to stick with it and see if it allows you to feel a bit calmer over the course of the week.

GIVE IT A TRY
For the next week, see if you can find short intervals of time to meditate throughout your day, even if it's for only a minute or two.

Let me know how it goes! Send me message on instagram or through my contact page! I'd love to hear from you!