This blog first appeared in the summer of 2015. It has just as much relevance today than it did in 2015. When you think about your days and the people you interact with – how would you describe the tone of voice of people you have communicated with this week?
Have you noticed that stress levels in people (or maybe yourself) have been even more elevated over the past year or so, even after coming out of a global pandemic. Nervous systems in so many people are way out of harmony. And all of this shows up in the voice, especially in tone of voice and how we communicate with each other.
Are you aware of how the tone of your voice affects you and the other people around you?
Did you ever hear this when you were growing up? “Don’t you use that tone of voice with me!”
It’s not about the words – it’s about the TONE of the voice. What got me started in the field of sound therapy were (so-called) innocent experiments in stage fright. We imagined a colour while performing to distract the critical voice of the mind.
What we found out was that people in the audience got the colour!?! Consistently!
The question that captured my attention is, “What is it about sound that makes it a carrier wave for thought and emotion?”
And that includes the sound of your voice. Here are some tidbits about sound and your voice that few people know about:
- Sound travels through the tissues of your body 4.5 times FASTER than it goes through the air.
- Sound travels through your bones 12 times FASTER than it goes through the air.
- The sound of your voice is created INSIDE your body which means –
- The sound of your voice resonates or travels through every cell of your body BEFORE the sound even reaches the person you are talking to. (I call this a cellular sonic massage.)
- The sound of your voice affects every cell of your body with every sound that you make!
So. I ask you to contemplate: What is the nature of the tone or sound of your voice as you go through your day?
If you are angry or frustrated, how do you express it? When you speak angrily to a child or a dog, the cringe you may observe is more from the tone of your voice than from the words. They receive this energy. So does every cell of your body.
And sometimes it gets stuck there. In the child, the dog or your body.
If this brought up something for you – acknowledge it. Then sigh a gentle and nurturing ahhhh from your heart to feed your body with that sound.
We do need to express our emotions. However, we also need to become more conscious of the actual, measureable, physiological effect that the sound of our voice has on us– positive and negative. And the effect it has on those around us.
I challenge you to become more aware of the TONE of your voice and how you are expressing with it.