Good Vibrations for a Healthy, Youthful Voice

We get to choose what we do with our voice every moment. And what we do with our voices affects our consciousness and our reality, past, present and future.

As a vocal coach, shamanic sound meditation educator and musical performer, I resonate with voice as the number one instrument of choice for healing and connecting with Supreme Reality within. This divine gift is our personal signature of authentic creative expression, musical and otherwise. It has healed me and directed me spiritually throughout my lifetime.

Many of my students as well as clients find immediate improvement in their vocal quality, listening comprehension, mental clarity and overall health by just becoming more aware of their voice. We have the ability to become more in tune with how we sound. Only when we tune in and listen and feel from within do we even begin to experience how our vocals and other speaking voices affect our body, emotions, mind and spirit. My listening exercises alone will change your relationship with the sound of your voice—as well as others— and encourage better care and health choices for its physical and spiritual function.

Our voice is a vibrational pattern of sound waves that projects a picture of how we are more than who we say we are. The who part, or vocal identification, merely projects out a superficial picture. The how we are of our vocal patterns, pitch and tone, reveals our physical energy, emotional, mental and spiritual quality of our Be-ing.

When we make our voice a health and spiritual priority we have the opportunity to experience the healing sound of our very essence: authentic, original pure energy Be-ing! From this original vibrational place, we are once again in connection with Source and attune ourselves as well as our world through the frequency of LOVE.

Well-loved and cared for voices attended to with your listening awareness, will resonate out that self- love and self-care to your listening audience. That’s sound healing in action.

Here is a list I share with my vocal students of the many ways to love your voice, reduce vocal trauma and restore youth and health:

• Warm-up your vocal chords before your musical performance or speaking engagement by warming up with The Swoop* [ I have included this practice at the end of this article] and practice your scales daily using a chromatic tuner or keyboard.
• Silence is golden. Pause before and while speaking, especially when delivering lengthy content. Listen to the quality and tone of your voice as you speak and/or sing. This is a perfect way to be present.
• Avoid talking all day at work and then heading out for an evening of talking over loud music or over noise-filled arenas. 
• ‘Tone it down!’ If you have been told to lower your voice because you speak too loud in general, consider the root of your volume delivery. Oftentimes, overly loud voices may be a conditioned pattern response due to past emotional/mental triggers. If this is not the case, then consider having your hearing checked by an ENT physician.
• Resist making loud, exaggerated sounds to get attention or make a point. Coughing, snorting or clearing your throat as a vocal underline or hand wave are usually old conditioned vocal inflections and devices. They can be a chronic vocal habit that can be difficult to identify and /or break—so listen to what sound devices you make and pause to consider the reason.
• Warm-up your vocal chords if you “do” character impressions or cartoon voices. Many cartoon voices are “funny” because their pitches are unusually high or low in comparison to our normal range while their vocalized sounds can be out of our normal pattern of speech. So, unless your voice is naturally attuned or trained to a cartoon character sounding voice, take care to warm up before the show begins.
• Snoring can irritate the throat and dry out vocal tissues. Also many medications, especially for allergies, sinus and cold congestion, have drying effects. If your medication is drying you out, stay hydrated: drink plenty of pure water in your daily 8 glasses.
• Avoid drinking from plastic bottles. If you have to buy water or other drinks in plastic, look for water in BPA-free phthalates-free and PVC-free plastic.
  Otherwise drinking liquids from glass, ceramic or stainless steel containers is best for your overall health. Water should be pure and chlorine-free. Do not drink from garden hoses, plastic bottles that have been in the sun or from styrofoam cups.
• Abstain from drinking alcohol before a performance to ‘loosen up your vocal cords! This is a myth. Alcohol may loosen up your nerve to get up and speak or sing but actually constricts and dries out delicate vocal tissues, affecting your vocal quality over time.
• Fresh, clean air in your breathing environment is best for the vocal and respiratory system. Avoid Inhaling irritants. Here are a few common examples: nail polish and paint, solvents (such as nail polish remover), petrol fumes, synthetic perfumes, synthetic cleaning products, litter boxes, exhaust, air pollution, and all smoke in general. Most air-born irritants have long-lasting harmful effects on respiratory system as well as vocal tissues and may lead to serious physical damage if we are exposed over a lengthy period of time.
• Avoid lengthy conversations on the phone or in noise-filled places. Rest your voice for 10 minutes for every 2 hours of talking. Under use can also affect your voice so if you are in silence a lot, warm up your voice and sing or read aloud at least 30 mins a day.
• Speak at a moderate volume or practice speaking at a slightly lower volume than you currently do now. To accomplish this you need to minimize background noise if possible (i.e. television, radio, party noise, traffic, airplanes, restaurants) .
• Shouting, screaming, growling, clenching and/or raising voice volume to make a point strains vocal chords. These examples of emotionally driven vocal patterns traumatize the vocal cords as well as your listening audience!
• Smoking is very hard on your voice causing chronic irritation and dehydration. Avoid smoking and/or speaking or performing in smoke-filled venues.
• When you have a sore or hoarse throat, spare your speaking and singing voice. Practice becoming a good listener instead.
• When you have to speak or perform in person to large groups or outdoors, use a sound system to avoid straining your voice.

If you are interested in improving your speaking or singing voice consider taking vocal lessons with me or seek out a speech pathologist or medical professional for more physical related issues. For a free online voice evaluation, please contact me at

Linda@Linda-Go.com.

Linda Go is a professional singer, multi-instrumentalist composer and voice coach as well as a clair-audient sound shaman. Linda Go offers online and in person classes and workshops in Finding your Authentic Voice, Sanskrit 101, Mantra workshops and Sound of the Chakras vocal meditations. Listen to her music at  https://lindago.bandcamp.com/music

For a free voice evaluation and classes, contact me at Linda@Linda-Go.com