by Rosie Bason, Mullumbimby, NSW
I attended a workshop with Chris James yesterday. Chris James is an amazing musician and a student of Universal Medicine. In his workshop “Discovering your true natural voice” I learned so much, I felt so much and I cried – which is great, as I do not find it easy to cry. I would like to share my experience with you.
I learned to feel what it feels like in my body when I speak – I could even feel it when I whispered.
I felt the difference when in a group we practised communicating from our body. When we would go back into our minds and disconnect from our body, by habit, it would feel different, almost empty, but when another spoke from their heart and stayed with their breath, I could feel it coming from their whole body. To describe that feeling; it was like a wave of vibrations coming from their whole body, not just a sound coming out of their mouth. To be able to feel this, I did have to learn how to listen.
I learned how beautiful it is to be with someone and fully listen: to listen without commenting, to listen and be there for someone whilst being fully with me was just such an awesome experience. It exposed how often when I am with someone, but because I am not in my body, because I am not with my breath, that I am often thinking about other things, or thinking about what I should say next, so that I am hardly listening at all. But when I choose to be with me, to breathe gently and to not worry about what to say or control the conversation, and just allow another to speak, it is just simply beautiful. It felt so good and the old habit of thinking, controlling and not being present was completely gone. And when I was listened to, in that same way, I just felt so supported and safe to just express whatever was needed to express.
One of my most revealing moments was when Chris brought awareness of how I talk when not opening my mouth very much, how I am in control and that my jaw is very tight. Whoa! This really hit home. I have always been in control and I can feel that in my upper arms, but I had not felt it in my face. I was not aware at all. I am now learning to open my mouth more, speak with more clarity, and allow my face to relax. I am learning to not try to work out and control everything in my mind before I speak because I felt how awful it feels to listen when someone is not speaking from their heart. I will practise being with me so that I speak from my heart and therefore not have that control and that vibration affecting not only me, but those that I am in contact with.
I also became aware of how fast I speak. This can be an anxiety thing or just because I am speaking from my mind: I can now feel that it’s not a very nice feeling in my body when I speak from my mind. I found it easier to feel it from someone else speaking at first, but then I could easily recognise that same feeling within. When I slowed down, when I checked in with my breath, my whole voice changed – and when I really did not think about what to say before speaking, I felt so much lighter and open and relaxed. It is a clear marker in my body, so that if I catch myself speaking like that, I can just take a moment to reconnect with me and my breath.
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Chris is a Master at opening our heart and lungs so we can feel and express the Love that is equal in all of us, and thus understanding what we feel through another’s voice and our own.
Everyone feels more beautiful when we speak from our heart, ‘when I really did not think about what to say before speaking, I felt so much lighter and open and relaxed.’
Speaking from the body we are aware of the truth of what we are saying.
Amazing to bring awareness about how much control we bring in when communicating with another, instead of simply being open and surrendered to receive and to express whatever is there to be received and expressed. There is a very different way of communication when we can accept ourselves as a vehicle of expression and there is absolutely nothing personal about what comes out of anyone’s mouth, everything is for everyone.
We don’t always consider listening an essential part of the way we communicate, but so much is communicated by the way we listen which can affect the speaker in many ways.
‘I learned to feel what it feels like in my body when I speak – I could even feel it when I whispered.’ How stunning. What I felt when I read this was how you were deepening your relationship with you. Sounds like an awesome workshop, we definitely need to learn and discuss more about expression and how true expression comes from our body and heart. I appreciate you sharing all that you felt and as I was reading was becoming more aware of a tension in my body that was to do with control and a tightness in my jaw both of which I could let go of.
Deepening our relationship with ourself is such a wise choice.
Thank you Rosie, how much we can feel with our body is amazing and when you start to feel what our voices can bring or deliver it opens a whole new world of understanding of how our connection to our essences or inner-heart works so we can express from our True voices.
Being able to feel the vibrations of our voices is awesome, ‘it was like a wave of vibrations coming from their whole body, not just a sound coming out of their mouth. To be able to feel this, I did have to learn how to listen.’
Absoulutely Lorraine, being a great observer is paramount to being able to feel the vibrational energy around us and thus being able to discern the truth from lies.
The way we speak is very telling of how we are in other areas, how freely we express – not just in movements but in everything that we do – the way we perform our job is a form of expression, the way we keep our home is expression, the way we walk is expression, we express in ways which we don’t even think about and our contraction or relaxation in those is a teller of how much we are willing to be ourselves.
It’s been a bit of theme today for me in my life to examine how we are best supported in a crisis or difficulty. One of the experiences that really stood out and was very healing was being listened to in complete acceptance, no expectations for me to change or that I shouldn’t be feeling that way, no attempts to fix me, but allowed to be with all I felt, yet with the listener also seeing the essence of who I am underneath.
A beautiful reminder of how everything is revealed within our body, and the more willing we are to connect and feel our body how much more is exposed for us to see.
Absoultely Sally feeling what our body is sharing and has always shared if only we were listening to it has been such a revelation.
It is great to be reminded of all the little tell-tale signs of running with anxiousness, trying to control and using our mind to do that. Crazy how familiar these are, since when I am connected to my breath and my heart, I actually have a sense of much bigger overview and my expression is much more all-embracing, non-imposing and powerful.
I have found that when we speak from our heart we need far fewer words than we do when speak from our mind.
Speaking from our heart also helps to keep what we are expressing simple.
As I was reading your blog Rosie I could feel how tight my jaw is feeling right now which is something I was not aware of until you shared your own realisation….
Thank you Suse as much can be learnt and released through what others have so lovingly shared when we are open to our own healing.
Lovely to read this again Rosie and feel how calm and centred I am when I am connected to my whole body. When my mind is off distracted it can pull me into raciness and anxiousness – not nice to experience. It’s a really beautiful settled feeling to be connected to and feeling my whole body. It’s such a simple blog but it always inspires me, communicating and listening is something we do everyday so why not take it to the next level?
It is a lovely blog to read, and very inspiring too.
“and to not worry about what to say or control the conversation”. Great to expose this one as we all do it, and I would say all of the time (even if it is slightly). It is great to be aware of this and see how it truly feels in the body when we do that and then when we don’t. A great marker as you say.
There is nothing more gorgeous than feeling someone speaking from their body. It is the most unimposing, deeply settling, humble and honest experiences yet so few (including myself at times) choose it because it also means we cannot be irresponsible.
Listening with our body is very different to listening with our mind. The mind tends to wander and have its own agenda and misses out on the full conversation, which can cause confusion and misunderstanding. I have noticed when I am not fully present with my body I try to control the conversation so that it doesn’t expose that I am not fully connecting with the other person.
When listening with the body it really is like a whole body experience, every cell is listening, our eyes are in full contact with the other person and we hear not only the words but the energy behind the words and there is little if no interference with the mind trying to take me off track.
Thank you Alison for sharing your experience, it was really lovely to read how being with your whole body feels when listening to others. It strikes me as being another level of love we can offer to others.
Being with our body as we speak does feel lovely, ‘ I will practise being with me so that I speak from my heart and therefore not have that control and that vibration affecting not only me, but those that I am in contact with.’
Isn’t that amazing and such a freeing thing to not have to think what to say but just be with someone and feel what is there to be said. It feels like what is then said is said for a purpose instead of just saying something to uphold a conversation.
Talking in disconnection to the heart and the body is easy and may prove very convincing to others. Yet, the moment you clock it and clock how that feels in the body you do not wish to keep going that way as it feels truly yucky.
Expression with our voice, our body, our movements, and our eyes… it is all of great value and the more we share of ourselves, the more we can connect with the world and others.
I have been singing a lot lately after having a few sessions of writing a song and just having fun. But what I realised when I was singing was that I could feel how much I open my mouth, and the focus I had which perhaps I don’t do while speaking… the art of speaking from our bodies, perhaps is the art of surrender into our beingness or innermost.
Our voice and how we speak, the tone, the pace reveal so much to us. If we are aware, we can feel when we are talking from our heads or from our bodies, because there is a marked difference in quality.
Thank you for sharing about not opening the mouth very much while talking – this is something I became aware of recently, and it too makes much sense to me that it is to do with being in control. Everything you share here brings me back to the body, and how it is my connection and surrender to the body first, that pretty much determine the depth of connection that could be explored through my expression.
Thank you Rosie, great to read this today because I have been noticing how much I am not with myself when I listen, and how simple and lovely it can be from reading about your experiences. Very interesting too about how communication from the whole body feels, like a wave of vibrations instead of just sound when it comes from the mind alone.
As Rosie shares, it can simply take a short space to come back to ourselves, ‘I can just take a moment to reconnect with me and my breath.’
As a dear friend said, ‘The body is the marker of all Truth’ and Chris James is a master in enabling you to feel this in your own body and to become aware of truths you did not acknowledge before.
I remember that listening exercise. It is so very different to listen like an observer rather than with a mind full of ‘what will I say next?’ And being listened to in this way is truly supportive too.
It is very beautiful to fully listen to another, and for someone to fully listen to us, ‘I learned how beautiful it is to be with someone and fully listen’.
Thank you Rosie, for sharing just how potent it is for us to bring our presence to our everyday. As, be it listening or expressing, when we are connected to our body and being the quality of reflection we hold and offer is one that honors and represents the vibration of who we are, love.
Very cool to have all those things pointed out to you. A credit to Chris who is able to present in a way that does not have people get their back up, but rather are able to see it as supportive feedback for us all to learn from.
I too have experienced that feeling of my whole body vibrating when I speak or sing from my body. It’s like that particular vibration gently breaks apart any tensions I may have in my body. I feel much looser, lighter and joyfull in my and with myself. It’s like a massage from the inside out.
Thanks Leigh, this is great feedback and very inspiring to read.
Such simple adjustments with our body from our ever deepening awareness have profound effects for our quality of life…
There is no limit to the depths of connect and level of presence we can have with our body in everything we do. It’s a matter of changing our perspective to see and feel the detail of our expression – both physically and energetically.
I have attended Chris’s workshops and they are very powerful and revealing , I realised my quiet voice was really me holding me back, I could feel my body expand when I stayed with my breath and just sang feeling the vibration of my voice throughout my body.
Who knew there was so much to speaking and listening as many of us would say we are great at both. But these two aren’t just things to do and while on the outside we can say we do both this article takes us inside to check in with the quality. I must admit even while reading this article, which to me is a form of listening, I brushed over sections because I was talking to myself and so had to re-read them. It is amazing to stop and listen to the conversation that goes on inside our head no matter what is going on outside. More often then not the conversation is leading to one point, for you to come back again to the same point. In other words, if you aren’t aware the conversation we normally are having with ourselves is one that puts or drags us down. To simply appreciate the feelings you have and appreciate yourself no matter what you are facing is always a choice and a point for us to build from rather than tear down.
Thank you Ray. Appreciation is huge and this is just what I have been lacking recently, I have felt a bit down and this is because I am not appreciating myself and honouring my feelings around a certain situation. Everything changes when we allow ourselves to really appreciate, we really do begin to build from that.
Ray I had to laugh reading your comment as I also had to re-read one paragraph a few times because my mind was off distracted and thinking a million useless thoughts. I appreciated your point too that reading is like listening and requires full body connection, I already feel more settled as a result of reconnecting to myself.
The changes in our tone of voice are a great indicatory of whether we are speaking from our heart or mind.
There is a huge difference when we communicate with body awareness than when we communicate from the mind, the first one creates a flow and simplicity in life and the latter one creates issues and complexities that are not of truth and serve as an impediment in our own evolution.
I have not had the privilege of attending any of Chris Jame’s workshop and cannot wait to attend one day.
But claiming my voice has been another biggie for me and recently I received confirmation from Natalie Benhayon (Universal Medicine Practitioner) that my voice had altered and was asked if I had made any dietary changes. Before this I was drinking soy chai latte and since letting go of it, my voice no longer sounded damp.
As much as it made sense, it didn’t make sense until I really heard it in another. My own partners voice had altered after he decided to give up dairy of his own accord, I suddenly realised his voice / sound didn’t sound so nasely anymore. A whole new factor I hadn’t considered before.
That is amazing Shushila, everything has a quality including our voice, and our diet can impact on how we sound. Everything we express, voice, movement, etc reflects the care we have or have not taken. I have never realised we can sound damp! I’ve definitely heard racy and dull voices so damp makes sense!
There is true beauty when we express love from our bodies. This purity in expression can be felt completely from the one expressing and equally the one receiving…
“I did have to learn how to listen.” We hear so much but how often to we truly listen to what we are hearing?
‘When I slowed down, when I checked in with my breath, my whole voice changed – and when I really did not think about what to say before speaking, I felt so much lighter and open and relaxed.’ I know this is true for me too and as today i have been a bit speedy it is great to be reminded and allow myself more space.