SACRED VOICE Archives • Allison Mondel

How to make beautiful sound

by Allison Mondel | December 15, 2021 | HEARTCENTERED, SACRED VOICE

How to make beautiful sound

W R I T T E N B Y Allison Mondel

Last night I was scurrying home from the grocery store, and pulled into my driveway just after dusk. As I was gathering my bags from the trunk, I turned to look up at the chilly sky. (I always look up whenever I am outside.)

I spied three planets (Jupiter -> Saturn -> Venus) in perfectly spaced alignment, just above the horizon, in the wake of sunset. They practically shouted at me from their ecliptic: we are just here, reflecting sunlight, hurtling through space, sharing the solar system with you, being beautiful… glad you noticed!

And, oh yes, reminding you that you, too, are just here, reflecting sunlight, hurtling through space, sharing the solar system with us, being beautiful. Glad you noticed.

They were SO glittery, so magnificent, so perfect, so planet-y, and this moment of presence was so simple and full, I just stood there holding my bags and started weeping in the driveway. I completely lost myself in their beauty.

Or rather, I surrendered to the whole moment of encountering that beauty that is all around me.

How could I not? It was so insanely beautiful, even in contrast to the utterly mundane activity of coming home from Trader Joe’s at rush hour.

Thank goodness for beauty. For art and music and theater and dance and food and wine and children and birds and nature and stars and planets. The constant reminder, if we are present enough to notice, that life is infused with beauty.

You know, my first major in college was astronomy. I love space, and all space-related things. And as a young person, all I really wanted to do was commune with heavenly beauty.

But the scientific pursuit of the stars only lasted a few years, when I realized that there was physics involved. Beauty became scrambled in the numbers, frustratingly taught in concepts that never harmonized for me. And why am I looking at a piece of paper when I could be looking up at the sky??

Numbers are not my kind of beauty.

So I turned to music. Is there anything more beautiful? I will next pursue the beauty of music (which also makes me spontaneously weep). Which is the stuff of life, pouring through me, ready to fill the cup of the world. I will study Music. I will be a Singer. I will study Singing.

But you know what sometimes happens when you study singing? You become obsessed with beauty.

I have to make sure that this is beautiful. Or ELSE.

Which means that we obviously are missing the point. We become overly absorbed in assessing the quality of the sound we make, rather than surrendering to our innate capacity to be beautiful.

Venus shines. She is achingly, heart-splittingly beautiful.

Could, perhaps, you shine, too? Could it be that you, too, contain the potential of aching, heart-splitting beauty?

Of course.

But you will not find that if you obsess over whether or not your voice is beautiful. Or if this sound is beautiful. And if it is not, well, then you must have a serious problem.

My friend, you will miss the whole damn point.

Beauty is not scientific. It is not worth-based. It is not skill-based. It is inherent.

How do you tap into and express your sacred, innate, heart-splitting beauty?

You become present and learn how to shine, rather than squirm and question and evaluate and obsess over your brightness.

Yes, it’s that simple. I have seen it happen. I have been split open by the sounds of my students who, if even for a moment, drop the beauty hang-up and enter into pure being.

There is the sound that breaches the hard candy-coating of life’s scientific mundanity and has, indeed, made me cry like a baby who won the beauty lottery.

Take a moment. Enter your heart. Breathe. Can you sense the quiet there?

Here is where beauty emanates. Here is where you shine, reflecting gorgeous, divine light. Like a freaking planet.

Now, please… go fill the cup of the world.

Hugs,

allison

IMAGE: Venus, from NASA/JPL-Caltech

Naked singing

by Allison Mondel | November 3, 2021 | FEAR!, HEARTCENTERED, SACRED VOICE

Naked singing

W R I T T E N B Y Allison Mondel

No, no, no. Not what you think. Not really, anyway.

But why does singing sometimes feel so naked?

Especially when you are going solo. Just you and your voice. You and your sound. You and your thoughts. (Oh, the thoughts!) You and your fears.

Of being heard and seen… by them. Others.

Others who may have something to think about you and your voice. Others who may attack, or deny, or reject, or criticize, or abandon, or betray, or be upset, or disallow.

Others. Them. Outside of you. Outside of your skin. Outside of your control. Others with arrows who may, or may not, use them to hurt us and our naked singing selves as we risk exposure to being heard and seen.

Which leaves you with two different options on how to proceed with this singing business.

Option #1
Don’t ever be naked. Build your suit of armor. Stay safe, blend in. No risk, no attack.

Option #2
Shine from within. Build strength from self-love and trust. Try new things, step forward. Take a risk, weather any storm.

I know the answer is obvious. I also know how insanely difficult that feels and IS. Human beings are not hard-wired to take risks, but rather to stay safe at all costs. Our life literally depends on it.

To bring forth your unique voice into the world can feel like one of the biggest leaps you could take. So naked!

But this does not have to be so insanely difficult. It helps to understand what you are feeling, and how you are unconsciously responding to your fear of being exposed. Because when you understand, you can manage all of this swirling, chaotic fear and move through it anyway.

So, as Ariadne led Theseus through the labyrinth, let’s walk through this…

Remember: when you use your sacred voice and deliver a message with sacred intent, you are unleashing a surge of power. You may not be used to it, because it is not something we typically practice in our everyday lives. But when it’s time to show up and make a holy sound, things heat up.

So I want you to consider your energy management.

When you take that risk, when you step forward, be prepared for that surge. It’s going to look like nerves and feeling like you are a floating head without a body. It’s going to make you think about anything and everything that could be more pressing than what is actually happening in the present moment. It’s an Ego Takeover.

(For singers, this is typically expressed as either an obsession with either the notes or the quality of your sound.)

That energy surge is going to make you feel ungrounded. But like a lightning rod, you need to be anchored. You learn how to secure yourself in two places: within and without.

Within, you anchor into the heart.
Here is the present moment, the source, the whole.

Without, you anchor into the body.
Here is the physical, the instrument, the vessel.

Not a willful pressing, but rather allowing the intention of your energy to be connected, firm, and dare I say… safe.

Safe within yourself to stand your ground, connect to your higher power, and unfurl your sacred flag.

The arrows may or may not come. You cannot control the reactions of others.

But I believe the entire point of coming to this planet in the first place is so that you can contribute in some way to the betterment of humanity. That may involve having to show yourself!

You can start right now. Begin to feel into that yearning of sharing your voice. Move that feeling into the heart, and listen to the inner guidance you receive.

The important thing is that you respond to it. But you know you are not going to like it, because it means you have to get a little naked. (On the inside, that is.)

So be wise to yourself: when you choose to be heard, you are going to react in fear.

This makes you 100% normal.

But the test is to remove your song-armor and move through the fear, knowing that you are ever-safe in the heart.

It’s a practice. And a prescription. For art, and for life.

Hugs,

allison

IMAGE: Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

That time I sang for President Obama

by Allison Mondel | October 13, 2021 | FEAR!, SACRED VOICE, VOICE HEALING

That time I sang for President Obama

W R I T T E N B Y Allison Mondel

I remember that time like it was yesterday: it was a frigidly cold January day, and I was equal parts Ready-To-Kill-It and Scared-To-Freaking-Death.

For years I had taught singing at Washington National Cathedral, occasionally singing here and there as needed. I had been asked by my boss to contribute some chant by Hildegard von Bingen (my muse) as part of the National Prayer Service, an event held the day after the Presidential Inauguration here in the U.S.

Um, of course?

So there I was, after a lifetime of waiting in anticipation, ready to begin the service, managing the Secret Service checkpoints (which made trips to the ladies room a nightmare 😭), the freezing cold conditions, the feeling that my cassock/ hairstyle/ relative height made me feel like a small, little girl, and this nagging terror that using my tuning fork to get my first pitch could possibly be construed as some kind of weapon by the Secret Service Agent to my immediate left.

At last, I finally step up to the podium to deliver my message. Unaccompanied. Tuning fork anxiety. Naked voice. Regrettable choice of hair clip. Awkward church clothing. People watching. Don’t look nervous, keep your head up. Dear GOD do not wet yourself right now because you actually could.

My inner world was utter chaos.

So thank goodness, then, when I heard this inner voice, clear as day:

Just. Breathe.

I gripped the sides of my podium stand, and let a gush of air rush into my body, then felt myself surge with in-the-momentness and then, well, I let ‘er rip.

Here is what I sang:

Nunc gaudeant materna viscera Ecclesie,
quia in superna simphonia filii eius
in sinum suum collocati sunt.

(Now let the maternal heart of the Church rejoice,
for in celestial harmony her children
are gathered into her bosom.)

In hindsight, I know why this experience was so overwhelming: it was a power surge like none I had ever experienced before. It was truly a moment in which I recognized the presence and power of the divine, sacred feminine moving through me.

And the lesson is clear: you must surrender to the power of your very own voice.

Your voice is married to a source of great power and divinity. My friend, that is a Big Deal. It means that if you are not clear or sure or wise to it, you can feel completely overwhelmed and underwater.

In that moment of power, standing on a podium, for (literally) the world and the most “important” person in the world to hear, I became the channel of an incantation of a divine, healing, feminine prayer to gather us back into whole and right relationship with ourselves and the planet.

We are in the midst of an awakening to the sacred feminine, and I see this directly in the way we use our voice. Indeed, it is my ardent prayer that we, as singers, relieve ourselves of the suffering wrought upon us by subscribing the outdated paradigm of vocal technique that cultivates a perfectionistic ideal of the voice.

Let’s evolve.

More than any skill or technique I exercised on that podium was the power of the act of surrender of my own ego so that my voice could be a conduit of the prayer. This is not boastful, this is fact.

The power is the thing.

If you notice any resistance to your own voice, know what that is. There is a resistance to your very own freaking power. Say this prayer:

I release the resistance to my own power, and allow my voice to flow through me with ease and grace. I embrace the message that moves through me for my own healing, and the healing of the world.

Let us envision a way forward with our voice that is free from strife, grief, longing, and worry. Let us step into a way that is supportive, nurturing, healing, freeing, soulful, and, oh yes… POWERFUL. 🔥

Hugs,

allison

IMAGE: Brian Erickson on Unsplash

How do you (actually) use your sacred voice?

by Allison Mondel | October 3, 2021 | HEARTCENTERED, SACRED VOICE, SACRED VOICE PILLAR

How do you (actually) use your sacred voice?

W R I T T E N B Y Allison Mondel

The purpose of the voice is to communicate. The purpose of the sacred voice is to send love into the world. That’s right… love.

You inhabit an instrument of love.

To activate and use our voice in this love-centered way is a process that I learn about every day, making mental notes on a process that is anything but mental.

The process in which you use your voice, that is, how you make sound, can be analyzed and documented to the kilohertz, and manipulated to create whatever results you desire for your sound.

But that’s not why I am here, and I am pretty sure that is not why you are here?

You want to find a way to express the gorgeous loveliness that is the content of your being through your voice, unhindered and unbound from physical and mental tension begot by fear, overwhelm, and lack of clarity.

How?

Well, according to my mental notes, and documented experience, and referencing every singer I have ever worked with in this new paradigm, it is actually pretty simple.

Here’s the gist…

First, a definition:

The sacred voice is your Self activated by breath and intention and manifested into sound. It is commonly obscured over time by our experiences of rejection, shame, and unworthiness around our voice, singing, and creativity in general (but in other ways, too).

The sacred voice is an aspect of your being, part of your humanness, if you will. It will never leave or betray you, but rather lie in wait for when you are ready.

There is a three-fold process in which to activate and access the sacred voice. I call this the Sacred Voice Framework, borne of a vision and rendered into three simple concepts. Here it is:

Pillar One: Heartcenteredness

The heart center is the source of our sacred voice. It is the nexus from which we connect all aspects of our being (body, mind, spirit, emotions, energy), as well as our connection with Source and all other beings.

Pillar Two: Flow State

As we use our voice and activate sound vibration, we sustain the flow of breath energy at all times. This is achieved by sustaining our awareness of our breath (which is easily interrupted by the mind). Being in the Flow State sustains presence in the moment.

Pillar Three: Intentionality

We create our experience of our singing by using our intention. This means that we craft a desired outcome for whatever aim we choose, and allow our voice to follow, trusting our body’s sound mechanism in its inherent wisdom and functionality.

Here is how to start:

To intentionally use your sacred voice is as simple as using your intention: “I call forth my sacred voice.”

Next, use your intention to:

1) Bring awareness to your heart space, resting your mind and easing your ego (even if that seems as remote as the Himalayas!). When you drift away, you return to this centered awareness, over and over again.

2) Become aware of your breath moving through you, now activated in your physical body, and make this your focus.

3) Direct your intention to what you choose to create next, in that moment. This is where things get creative and interesting. Intention could range from “I am going to make one sound and see if I don’t completely shrivel up” to “I will sustain my breath energy over the top note of this phrase until I take my next inhale.” Or anything under the sun, really.

Now the trickiest bit…

You have to trust that this process is unfolding.

You have to trust that you are co-creating your voice, rather than making or forcing your voice do something for you, and then blame it for not meeting the mark, malfunctioning, or abandoning you.

This framework is a way to re-envision how you use your voice. It promotes the notion that you are a precious, divine being capable of enriching the world with love in the complex form of sound energy without exception.

It is one of the most sacred acts you can offer: to bring forth love through your voice.

Try it out sometime?

Hugs,

allison

IMAGE: Photo by Jeffrey Hamilton on Unsplash

Your one and only voice

by Allison Mondel | September 15, 2021 | FEAR!, SACRED VOICE, VOICE JOURNEY

Your one and only voice

W R I T T E N B Y Allison Mondel

When I began graduate school I became instant friends with a talented singer who entered at the same time. One afternoon we were leaving class and walking across Harvard Square, headed to our favorite tea café. As we were walking, she stated nonchalantly (in a thick New Zealand accent), “don’t you sometimes just LOVE the sound of your voice?”

I made some attempt to half-smile, and did not answer, head down. What I was thinking was, “Um, no? Who thinks that?”

It took a long time to acknowledge and accept that my voice was… my voice. The end. No tradesies, no opting out. This is my voice, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer. So I best figure out how to make peace with the one and only voice that I’ve got.

It took steady affirmations and much inner work to get this current place. It took a lot of falling down, and getting back up. It took quite a great deal of nurturing and reassuring. And it is a constant work in progress.

And right now, I will most certainly assure you that yes, sometimes I just LOVE the sound of my voice. But way more importantly, I just love my voice for who she is. And guess what? She is so much more than mere sound.

When we have this kind of soul-level acceptance, past the barriers of ego and self-doubt, your voice begins to change. There is something exciting that begins to brew. You have an access to greater flexibility, greater confidence, and greater flow, but amazingly: you have access to a new dimension.

This a sacred dimension. It is the place from which the sacred voice is sourced. But it is more easily defined as an inner peace that flows from within, and explodes in the form of possibility.

Have you felt that before? Or does that sound crazy to you right now? I would understand if it did. I would understand if this experience of sacredness made you feel resentful or sullen. It would have for me, just as I felt when walking to TeaLuxe with my über-confident friend. I certainly do not intend to do so.

But I want you to set aside any resistance to this state of being. Instead, allow yourself the space to hold this question: how will I use my one and only voice?

Please refrain from saying “I don’t know.” Your ego does not know, because it’s a new and intimidating question. Just hold space for your inner self to answer, because that is where the answer lies.

I ask myself this question every day. Perhaps I am never satisfied with the answer. You know why? Because using your voice, in its truest form, is challenging. I have do hard things every damn day.

This unfolding process of discovering and actualizing the voice is a life’s journey. It is also one of the most enriching and important journeys I could have hoped for in this lifetime.

Your voice, and the pathway you walk with your voice, has the potential to transform your entire life. That is certainly what has unfolded for me.

The work and the practice is to persevere in your efforts to grow more in love and acceptance with your voice. The byproduct is the expansion of your current reality, and your expanding access to a dimension of creative potential more than you thought was possible.

Please do not let the new and intimidating nature of this journey to shut you down. I have bad news: growing bigger will always feel new and intimidating. There is simply no help for it.

But you are in good company: we all desire a true connection with our voice. We are all scared, too. But we move ahead anyway, because that is what seekers do, despite the relative discomfort of change and growth and expansion.

So knowing that the road is bumpy (unavoidable), and knowing that you have work to do (inevitable), and knowing that the result could be more gorgeous that you ever thought possible (insanely absolutely)…

How will you use your one and only voice today?

Hugs,

allison

IMAGE: 五玄土 ORIENTO on Unsplash

Sensitivity is double-sided

by Allison Mondel | August 4, 2021 | SACRED VOICE, VOICE JOURNEY

Sensitivity is double-sided

W R I T T E N B Y Allison Mondel

“You are too sensitive.”

“Stop being so sensitive.”

“I am too sensitive.”

I have heard and said these statements my entire life. And for good reason: I am insanely positively heroically epically sensitive.

It takes a lifetime to understand that being sensitive is not a flaw or failing to overcome. It is a trait to be integrated healthfully into your experience.

This realization took a long time for me to understand, as I understood my sensitivity to be of the utmost inconvenience in just about every life situation. Early school experiences were particularly grim, as the little girl constantly crying in every class was perhaps a little frustrating?

“Allison is TOO sensitive.”

Well, cue adulthood (and music career), and learning how to fruitfully grow into the authentic, loving person and artist you were born to be, in spite of all the personal and societal conditioning that reminds you that you are faulty and you should definitely toughen up.

And by my estimation, being sensitive actually is a hindrance if past experiences have triggered a defensive response to, well, life.

Why?

Because being sensitive means you feel a lot when you take it all in. It means you have extra receptivity capabilities, and it means that you process the world around you in a way that is amplified emotionally.

Is that a problem? Of course not.

But when we are not taught how to manage this superpower (which we are not), it can lead to an automated response of over-reactivity.

Let’s put this in the context of our musical life and using our voice.

Can you imagine an experience when you were singing, and someone stopped to correct or criticize what you were doing?

Of course you can, there are a million.

But I bet there was one or two that particularly stung. What was your reaction?

Did that overcome you? Did that make you reel? Did that shut you down?

I would understand perfectly if it did. But why did that happen? What was it about whatever someone else said or did or thought that had such brute force to initiate such a response?

You were in a state of open and delightful vulnerability, following your heart’s desire and delight.

You were singing. You were open. You were brave. You were happy. You were you.

And then BOOM. Shut it down. Close the curtain. Turn off the lights.

Because if you are sensitive, any kind of perceived criticism is amplified to the nth degree. Unless we are taught how to emotionally manage or prepare for this kind of arbitrary feedback, we experience a blow to our system. And subsequently construct a defensive mechanism for our selves that allows for protection against future criticism.

Or perhaps even protection from ourselves.

Ah. I feel that. I also know many people who long to follow their heart’s desire and delight but it it just. too. painful. Are they too sensitive?

NO. If this is you, I am going to tell you that you are not “too” sensitive. But you are, in fact, sensitive. It is not a failing. It is a trait. It is best accepted as soon as possible, and waste no more time in wondering why you are not tougher.

That is not worth your time.

I invite you to conceive of sensitivity as one of your greatest strengths. What was once an absolutely crushing personality quirk is one of my greatest gifts: to feel.

To feel is not a sin. The work is to re-learn How to Feel when you step into any given situation, especially when you sing.

But hear me on this: you must set the parameters for yourself.

Otherwise, you are going to be awash in a sea of your own reactivity to external stimuli, even of the most benign variety. Your egoic fears and past conditioning will dictate how that is going to look and feel.

And we all know how THAT is going to go.

If you are committed to discovering your inner voice, and allowing that part of yourself to show up, and to thrive, I have some… not great news.

You are going to meet those previous reactions to criticism. You are going to encounter a version of yourself that conceives of this heightened reactivity as a problem. You are going to feel things. Not easy things. But manageable, nonetheless.

The things that you have encountered along your journey of singing are the very things I want you to reconsider as the most important reminders of why you love to sing.

Singing, using your voice, communicating through music, creative endeavors… these are the ways in which we access the deepest and most authentic aspects of our being.

Being sensitive is normal. Early responses to criticism are normal. Heightened reactivity to criticism is normal. Not knowing how to manage emotions is normal.

Until you realize that you want more and you want to feel better. Then the soul kicks in.

You learn how to accept your sensitive nature. You guide others who are sensitive. And when you have the capacity to understand how your experiences – no matter what they might be – shape who you are, you choose who you want to become.

Here is to your squishy, loving, gloriously feeling and sensitive self. (Thank God!)

Hugs,

allison

IMAGE: Andreas Haslinger on Unsplash

How to make beautiful sound

allison

further reading

Naked singing

allison

further reading

That time I sang for President Obama

Just. Breathe.

And the lesson is clear: you must surrender to the power of your very own voice.

allison

further reading

How do you (actually) use your sacred voice?

First, a definition:

Pillar One: Heartcenteredness

Pillar Two: Flow State

Pillar Three: Intentionality

Here is how to start:

allison

further reading

Your one and only voice

allison

further reading

Sensitivity is double-sided

allison

further reading

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