A New Opening

A bell hanging in the breezeway sounds with the wind – a deep, metallic tone like a harbor bell rocking in the waves. The wind curls

around the house, swooshing through the screens. Birds call across the field. Deborah, a voice student, and I stand in my living room with our eyes closed – listening, breathing, letting our breath loosen our joints. Then, we exhale with an audible sigh, adding our own vibrations to the soundscape. Deborah and I then toned through the following 15-20 minute exercise. When we finished, she said, “In the silence after we finished, I realized for the first time that I made an agreement when I was 3 that I could not be a solo singer. I could feel that agreement and how it has limited me my whole life.”

She paused. We both felt teary with the profound truth of that new awareness. Deborah continued, “Tomorrow I turn 60 and I can feel a new opening.”

The goal of this exercise is to open up the inner channels and energy centers so that the entire system can open to new possibilities. The exercise opened me up, too. In the afternoon, after our lesson, I felt energized, alive and eager to do what I needed to do – not weighed down by tasks, as I often am, but happy, eager, even excited about what I was doing. What is clear to me is that I need to teach voice as much as my students need to take lessons. The time vibrating and exploring together opens us both.

This is a powerful exercise. You can do all three parts at once or break them up. You can read it one part at a time, do that part, and then go on to the next part. Or you can record the directions and do it without having to read. There is no wrong way to do this. Just enjoy the vibrations, the expansive energy, and the opening of doors in your body, mind, and spirit.

 

Part I. Cleansing Breath

1- Standing or sitting, inhale from the earth up the legs and torso to the crown of the head. Exhale back down to the earth, letting the breath take everything that wants to let go – thoughts, stiffness, fatigue, tension. Inhale up to the crown and back to the earth 3 times. (3x)

2- Now switch. Inhale from the air (universe) through the crown down to the feet and exhale back up and out to the air. Let the breath take any stuck energy out of the body. Do this 3x.

3- Now do both at the same time. A bit trickier, the complexity gives the mind something to do. Inhale simultaneously up from the earth and down through the crown. Watch the energy streams pass somewhere mid-body. Do this 3x.

Doing it “right” is not the goal. The purpose is to flush the body with oxygen, clear the system of stuck energy, and connect the vibrations of the physical body to the vibrations of the larger system of which we are all a part.

 

Part II. Chakra Weave

In this part we expand the breath focus into a chakra weave. Turn your visual imagination on high. Watch the film of the following directions roll through your body and mind.

1- Inhale up the legs from the earth.

Exhale red energy out the tailbone or first chakra.

Watch the red energy curve up toward the low belly and change to orange.

2- Inhale orange front to back through the second chakra, (1-2″ below the belly button. Watch the orange energy curl up the spine turning yellow.

3- Exhale yellow from back to front through the third chakra, at the solar plexus. Watch the yellow energy curl up to the heart turning green.

4- Inhale green through the heart front to back. Watch the green energy curl up the back to the neck and turn blue.

5- Exhale blue out the front of the throat. Watch the blue energy curl up to the third eye and turn violet.

6- Inhale violet through the third eye, the point between and just above the eyebrows. Watch the violet energy flow into the head and turn white.

7- Exhale white light out the crown of the head and fountain down around the body back to the earth.

8- Take one normal breath in and out. Repeat from step one two more times.

 

Part III Chakra Toning

Continue by sounding each chakra 3x, starting with a low note in your range and moving up a pitch for each higher chakra. Do not worry about the specific notes. Just let each note be higher than the one before. Here is the sequence.

1- First or Root Chakra (tailbone) – Visualize red and tone a low note in your range on a groan-like vowel [uhn] 3x.

2- Second Chakra, the Sacral Center (1-2″ below the belly button) – Visualize orange. Sound a note slightly above the first note on the vowel [ooh] 3x.

3- Third Chakra, the Solar Plexus – Visualize yellow. Tone a note above the last note on the vowel [oh] 3x.

4- Heart Chakra – Visualize green or pink, whichever resonates for you. Sound a note slightly higher than the last on the vowel [ah] 3x.

5- Throat Chakra – Visualize blue. Sound a slightly higher note on the vowel [I] (as in me, myself and I) 3x. You will notice that [I] is comprised of two vowel sounds – [ah] and [ee]. Roll through both vowels in a way that feels good to you.

6- Third Eye (slightly above and between the eyebrows) – Visualize violet. Tone a note above the last note on the vowel [ay] 3x.

7- Crown Chakra (visualize the top of your head opening) – Visualize white. Sound a note higher than the last one on the vowel [ee] 3x.

8- Now sit or stand still, breathe normally, and notice the quality of the energy in your body. Revel in the wonder.