We all know the planet is three-quarters water. The body is just about the same.
Water represents the emotions. A calm smooth mirror lake is very different from a hurricane fueled onslaught of huge waves crashing ashore. So, too, can we be calm and serene or raging with fury.
Water molecules like each other and stick to each other well. Water seeks its own level. It is very heavy (a gallon weighs 8 pounds) but we can walk on it only when it is frozen. When it gets really hot, it’s dangerous and it disappears into steam. Water, if inhaled, can kill you. Without it, however, we die in a very short time. Think of all these different aspects in just one thing.
The voice is like water in some ways. It has many aspects and can be used in many ways. It can be calming, it can be agitating. We can keep it contained, cool and stiff or we can let it go until it is passionate and steamy. It is affected by air, just like water, and it needs water (hydration) in order to stay in good shape, if, however you become ill and are drowning in mucus, it needs to dry out in order to be healthy. Your voice, coming from your larynx, can be silenced and you can still live, but if your larynx is damaged, you could die. Your vocal folds help to keep you from choking, help you lift heavy things, and allow you to prepare for anything that frightens you by helping you hold your breath. If any of these things doesn’t happen as it should, you could, again, die.
When we use the voice and use it with conscious intention it is the most powerful tool of emotional communication we have. If we all allowed ourselves to fully experience all that the voice is capable of, we would find that it serves as a joyful, powerful, satisfying, clear and personal tool that fills us with life energy. There are times when the voice needs to be full of fury and times when it needs to be mirror calm. There are ways in which the voice can be warm and soothing and other ways when it is deliberately loud and urgent. We all need to encounter ourselves as voice in this way. We need to feel the emotion of water as sound running through us like a river falling toward the sea. We need to know who we are as sound makers so that we better know who we are as human beings.
Let the water be your teacher. Let it teach you about your voice. Be a lake, a river, an ocean. Be a force of nature. Let the sound flow out and the air flow in. You are your sound. Live it and let it live in your world.