Focus
How we use our energy is everything when it comes to singing.
Over the years I have experimented with ways to help people to de-focus and soften their energy, or, to focus their energy more intently.
I use the analogy of a wide-angle lens on a camera that widens the view, or a tele-photo lens that narrows and helps to focus the view.
The sound of our voice reflects the mind and our focus, so in understanding how to use our focus to connect with energy is key to discovering our authentic voice.
As well as cultivating a voice that holds meaning as well as spaciousness.
Like the wide-angle lens of a camera we can move our awareness outwards to hold a wider energy field or inwards to focus in on a narrower part of the energy field.
This wide-angle lens of awareness gives us a wider view of ourselves and our environment that we are in and the tele-photo lens moves us closer to our physical body or to whatever is right in front of us.
We need both lens of awareness to balance the focus for a voice to be clear as well as warm hearted.
Over the years I have I have found that my students are split into two groups; people that are very focused, or over-focused, and people that are under-focused.
A voice that is over-focused can sound controlled, thin and rigid. This voice is caught is a tele-photo lens of awareness without the vision of the wide-angle lens.
A voice that is under-focused can sound unclear and without intent or meaning. This voice is caught in a wide-angle lens of awareness with no access to the point of focus straight in front of them.
In this moment while you are reading this try becoming aware of what is right in front of you and narrow your field of vision.
You might be able to feel how the energy focuses, narrows and solidifies. I sometimes invite people to ‘hold a flickering candle still with your focus' in order to feel how we can affect and change our energy.
Now move your focus outwards to the peripheral vision, your wide-angle lens of awareness and feel how the energy widens.
These movement with your focus or your awareness will also change the sound of your voice.
Overtime you may be able to feel the energy within you either become more dense and contained, or, expand and become wider.
The wide-angle lens awareness brings a spaciousness to energy and spreads out the energy-in-motion, the emotions. Like the phrase ‘holding space‘, your awareness is doing this for your energy.
You might think of this wide-angle lens like a big body of water, a lake, or an ocean, and the tele-photo lens of awareness the rapidly moving waters that run from that lake. These rapids become focussed water which helps the singing voice become focussed.
The problem arises when both lens’ separate from each other. The wide-angle space awareness is cut off from the narrow focus of the tele-photo lens, and visa versa.
Moving the focus back and forth to wide-angle and tele-photo helps to strengthen a sort of vibrational membrane that promotes a flexibility within your energy body.
This develops a stronger sense of the present moment which of course is reflected in the voice, the bones and the flesh within you and the space you are aware of singing in.
When we move back and forth with our awareness we begin to awaken sleepy parts of our body one part at a time until there is a tipping point whereby the parts of our body connect and light each other up. Like puzzle pieces coming together to show the whole puzzle.
The whole body is the sum of the parts but first we must separate and then unite. This unification of the being occurs as the light grows, as the vibrational membrane strengthens it just naturally lights up the whole of us, piece by piece.
Then the sound of our voice can light up more of our field of awareness. It’s like letting go of control. We are allowing our light to penetrate through us and outwards.
It is important to note that as we move closer to ourselves, to our earthly bones and fleshy bodies, we will meet more and more emotion that has been held out of our awareness. And alternatively as we move outwards we will meet more of our beautiful expansion and grow out and up, which has its own set of challenges.
As we move into different areas where your body has been holding some emotion, freezing and trauma, the vibration can work to dislodge the grip your mind has on protecting you from feeling whatever was has not been felt through.
When we are able to touch and penetrate ourselves with our voice the defences soften us towards feeling. Then we can be present with what shows up and let it do what it needs to do if we stay present with the energy.
Sometimes being present is enough, and sometimes we need to allow for a deeper release through crying or feeling anger, fear or sadness.
As the poet Rumi says, “This joy, this sadness, these dark thoughts and this shame, welcome them in.”
So what is the goal of all of this? To experience the wholeness of who you are as you sing or even in one note.
The sound of being in the present moment and having this ripple outwards creating more and more light, love and presence in our lives.
Use the sound of your voice to become aware of your body’s field, or your body of water, and then focus your voice through intending what sound you wish to create.
Experiment with pitch, colour and intensity with every note you sing.
The eyes and focus hold the direction of the sound and control the amount of space you are aware of through the tele-photo and wide angle lens of awareness.