Awareness of Voice
Consistently, I see surprise in my clients’ eyes when they first bring awareness to their habitual holding patterns in their upper and lower jaws, masseter muscles, and tongue. It is a true wake-up moment for them.
I had the honor of working with an apprentice of Kristin Linklater, the woman who globally changed how we approach sound and our relationship to sound production in the body.
My voice changed so completely after practicing Kristin Linklater's work during my conservatory years. When I first arrived, the space I produced sound from was narrow. My register was high and held, and when I was asked to do something as simple as “say your own name,” I felt intense discomfort and wanted to cry.
The sound and feeling of my voice held my entire life—the trauma I hadn’t unpacked, the desire to be seen, the young ego that had something to prove.
A newborn baby’s voice carries more freedom than any other. It is an instrument without an ounce of tension.
Your life experiences have shaped—and continue to shape—your sound in real time. We don’t pay attention to the sound and sensations produced by our own voice. But it is a well of information and a catalyst for somatic release.
Today, I use my voice as a way in—an incredibly accurate guide to my mental and emotional states. I’d like to share that learned ability with you.
View of jaw hinge and c shaped space where the masseter muscle is held.
Let’s begin:
Standing with a small micro-bend behind the knees or seated rooting down through the sitz bones.
Bring awareness to your tongue. Is it gripping the hard palate at the top of your mouth? Allow the tongue (which is a surprisingly large muscle) to rest heavy in the bottom of the mouth.
Invite a small space (about one fingertip's distance) between the top and bottom lips.
Take a few cycles of breath, allowing the breath to wash in and out.
Maintain the part in the lips, heavy tongue, and flowing breath.
Bring awareness to your cervical spine (vertebrae in your neck and head) and ensure that you are not craning forward or pulling back in space.
Soften the shoulders.
Imagine your head (although it weighs about eight pounds) is as light as a balloon.
Imagine a string pulling you up from the center of your skull to the sky.
Bring your pointer and middle fingers together on each hand.
Find the C-shaped space where your jaw hinge connects top jaw (maxilla) to bottom jaw (mandible).
Slowly make circles with your fingers by massaging this C-shaped space. Please note that this is a moment where the breath tends to hold, and the cervical spine alignment may want to return to its habitual holding pattern.
Maintain the position of your fingers. Keeping the lips parted, tongue heavy, and breath soft, begin to press into the space behind your earlobes, smoothing down the back of the jaw.
Create a heart shape with your hands.
Place your chin in the center.
Massage the tongue muscle by using the pads of your thumbs to press up and then pull down. Repeat.
Bring attention to the muscles around your eyes and your forehead. Soften this space by closing your eyes and gently tapping your forehead and around your eyes.
If one of these cues was lost in the process of adding on additional adjustments, this is somatic information for you to become aware of. It is not good, it is not bad—it just is. These are your habitual movement patterns revealing themselves.
There are so many instances in my daily life when I use these simple yet effective tools for somatic release. I tune in to the sound and feeling of my body as a way to check in with myself. This helps keep me emotionally regulated, calm, and grounded in stressful situations—being in a car surrounded by traffic and aggressive drivers, feeling overstimulated from loud voices at home, feeling claustrophobic in a grocery store, or impatient in a long checkout line.
I do this as an alternative to checking a screen. When I feel a trigger, these somatic tools allow me to journey inward and create opportunities for positive change within my body and mind.
Lisa Zipken 2/22/25
