What You Need to Know about Eliminating Tension or Fear When You Sing
You get up to sing and your face and palms start to heat up almost immediately.
Your heart rate doubles in seconds.
You notice the microphone shaking because your hand has begun to tremble.
You open your mouth and feel like you're squeezing the sound out like toothpaste.
And if you're anything like my younger self, you PANIC.
Up until now, have you believed that your body should feel calm when you sing?
That your throat should be completely relaxed at all times in order to express yourself?
This belief, while seemingly helpful, actually does the opposite for most singers.
Of course, easy, relaxed and unrestricted is where we want to end up, but it’s very rare that we start there.
And demonising every sensation that creeps into your body creates resistance and amplifies stress (physically and emotionally).
I remember belting out rock tunes under hot spotlights, praying that the tension in my throat would go away.
Raking myself over the coals with thought after thought.
“You shouldn’t be feeling this. You’re obviously not a good singer if you have this tightness. Your voice is going to disappear and it’s all your fault.”
Which of course, added more tension and robbed me of both my joy and my ability to authentically express the songs I was singing.
You don’t need to get rid of the sensations in your body in order to express yourself. Even the tense ones.
Take a deep breath and exhale as you read that again: You don’t need to get rid of the sensations in your body in order to express yourself.
I know I know, your brain will be screaming,
“What? Isn’t that the whole point? Learning more efficient techniques in order to sing more freely?”
Yes.
And I promise you that creating a story of panic will only make it harder to get to that end game you long for.
I created this post because one of the beautiful singers in one of my group programs messaged me saying that the sentence above was MAGIC.
We were talking about how much resistance and ADDED tension is caused when you notice a sensation in your body (heat, shaking, tightness, sweating etc) and you label it as BAD. Unwanted. Something to get rid of.
And so you wrestle with it. Resist it.
Adding more tension into the equation.
You panic because “you’re not meant to be feeling this’ - elevating your heart rate more and amplifying most of the sensations you were condemning in the first place.
What the singers who were in this live class noticed is that as they ACCEPTED the sensations, as they felt safer to allow those in their body, the sensations began to subside.
Now this only works is you don’t NEED them to disappear, right?
That’s the challenge.
So no matter the sensations you experience when you sing (which are usually amplified when you sing in front of others or in what you label as a high pressure situation), can you begin to practice allowance?
When you experience sensations in your body, can you help yourself to feel safe to MEET them? Feel them? Let them move through you?
For many people this is new. Experiencing sensation in their bodies hasn’t felt safe for a long time.
It takes time, patience and a lot of compassion.
But the impact it will have on not only your singing but your ability to move through your life will be monumental.