Hi lovlies,
So I know the title of this blog post may have thrown you a little and you maybe expecting a review or chat about The Voice singing show but I have something much more exciting to share with you. I want to talk today about our voices! Our relationship with our voice, our relationship with others voices and how losing your sight can impact these.
I have recently trained to be a facilitator for Sister Stories a company that trains and provides space for women to share their stories in a safe and supported circle. This is another blog post as I would like to share more. The reason I bring it up now is that this is where I started to think more about the relationship I have with my voice. I also got to thinking, how do I hear others? How do I interpret verbal information? How do I react to voices and manifest emotions in this reaction.
During the training I took part in a workshop focused around the relationship with the voice. I was very excited about this as it was mainly about sound which I have noticed a deeper connection forming and it has become a good friend to me since losing my sight completely. As the course was online and was taught and practiced through zoom calls and videos it was nice not to have a visual element and not to feel left out. In the workshop we shared a story about our voice, we performed some vocal exercises which were surprisingly quite physical and then took part in speaking an affirmation. This affirmation was “I am my voice, my voice is me, hear me in my entirety” I thought this holds so much power, especially as I am becoming more aware of my voice and the power it holds. For instance as a disabled person our voice is a power for change, as a blind person our voice is a tool for navigation, communication of needs and an alert. We need to have an awareness of these meanings and become aware of the relationship we hold with our voice.
So as well as me looking into my own relationship with my voice I asked my fellow V I peeps for there views. The feedback was fab! Some people knew straight away what I was asking, where as others
were a little confused but once I explain they were intrigued. One lady said “I was born blind so voices are a huge part of my life, I do recognise people by their voice, their tone plays a huge role in how I interpret what is said” This lady was very interested in the question and until then I don’t think she realised the connection with her voice and hearing others as it was something she had naturally done all of her life. With being born blind she only knew this and how to interpret through voice others reactions, emotions and communications. Some of the other people that were kind enough to share their experiences were a gentleman called Marcus, he slowly lost his sight over time and therefore didn’t have or notice this relationship straight away. As he lost more of his sight his dad used to say to him you have voice recognition. This was liked by some of the other members as it was quite comical I think, just like the technology we rely so much on we have a natural built in feature. Another lady Pamela said to me “you loose one sensed another jumps” This has never been more apparent, though we have not become super heroes and have super sonic hearing, taste, touch or smell, we are just more aware of them and our relationship with them.
The relationship with my voice has defiantly improved. I have a new found respect for it. I understand that if I want to be more comfortable in my being and hold my place and power in society. I have to work on my acceptance and authenticity of me and my senses. I look forward to working on sharing my journey through verbal and written word, with this in mind I would love to start a podcast but that is something I am nervous about. I hope though with the work I am doing I will grow in confidence and be able to speak out for more of the support out there. Now I am a trained facilitator of sister stories circles and once I have more experience under my belt I hope this will develop and guide my path. I truly believe sharing is the most powerful, natural and heeling thing we can do as humans.
Through my never ending journey of self discovery and acceptance. How can I fairly expect people to help and listen to me if I can’t help and listen to myself. So I continue talking, learning and sharing and hopefully this helps others to stop for a minute and think about what they may need for themselves in order for others to help them and them help others. We can all do this together as a community helping each other.
Try the affirmation “I am my voice, my voice is me, hear me in my entirety” a few times a day and see what it brings up for you!
Take care everyone, stay in communication and connection
Sending love
Nina xx
Leave a Reply