159. Heal Through Your Voice
Did you know there are different sounds you can make to release different emotions?
Did you know the sound of your voice can heal your body on a cellular level?
It is my absolute pleasure to have Joanne Makas on the podcast today. Joanne is a sound healer, a graduate of my Speak from your Soul program.
And in this episode, number 159, you’ll learn all about how you can heal through your voice.
TranscrIPT
Hello. Welcome back to That Voice Podcast. This episode will blow your mind. Did you know there are different sounds you can make to release different emotions? Did you know the sound of your voice can heal your body on a cellular level? It is my absolute pleasure to have Joanne Makas on the podcast today. Joanne is a sound healer, a graduate of my Speak From Your Soul program, and in this episode number 159, you'll learn all about how you can heal through your voice. I had so many wow moments in this conversation, and I'm sure you will, too. So please share this episode and tag us @thatvoicepodcast on Instagram. Let's melt into this beautiful episode.
Sally:
Joanne Makas, it is so wonderful to have you on That Voice Podcast. Welcome.
Joanne:
Thank you. It's great to be here.
Sally:
So tell us what got you into sound healing?
Joanne:
Funnily enough, ice cold plunges got me into sound healing about five years ago. I started investigating the Wim Hoff method through breath work and ice cold plunges. And the first time I entered a plunge, I had a vivid flashback to a childhood memory, which was quite traumatic for me. And funnily enough, I went to sound healing after that episode or that experience, and I found it a very safe place for me to go deep within and explore what was happening and why these flashbacks was starting to come back. And that's how my healing journey in sound started.
Sally:
That's so interesting. And so having those flashbacks, did that enable you to go back to that time and then understand the impacts that it might have had on your life?
Joanne:
Definitely, definitely. When I went back to it and I was going back to myself as a child, I had numerous operations and I was in and out of hospital. And through the sound healing, I realized that as a child, I was actually using my voice in the post-operating theater to soothe myself.
Sally:
Wow. How so?
Joanne:
Well, when I would wake up out of an operation, I would be in shock and I'd feel very scared I'd be by myself. I was a little seven year-old girl and I would start shaking my body would, and obviously it would be some, some of it would be the effects of the drugs and my nervous system in shock. And I just intuitively knew what I needed to do to serve myself. And I would start humming to myself and I would feel the vibrations just going through my body. I would close my eyes and feel the vibrations through my body and calm myself back down again. And through the sound healing, I remembered how I was also doing that as a child.
Sally:
Oh, wow. And so for people listening who might be new to sound healing, what is it?
Joanne:
It's a, a non-invasive form of vibrational therapy and it is using a range of different instruments and your voice as well. And it's been used for thousands of years. It's not new. It's very ancient. And it utilizes sound to assist in strengthening and harmonizing all aspects of your being, whether that's your physical, your emotional, mental spiritual.
Sally:
Yeah. And something I've always found fascinating with sound healing is there are different sounds, different vibrations that correspond with different energetic centers in the body with different chakras. Tell us some more about that. It's like, is it the size of the bowl that makes the difference? And how did somebody discover that different sounds resonate with these different energetic centers?
Joanne:
It's a, it's such a complex system. It's the size of the bowl, but it's also the note that the bowl is in. There's so many variables and it depends on where in your chakra system your energy is in excess or whether it's depleted. And also the energy assessment, the biofield, like how, if it's in your emotional, your physical, mental, spiritual body that the energy is in accessories in, is depleted as well. And whether it's on your feminine side or your masculine side. So there's a lot of data that I will pull together through an energy assessment at the beginning of the session with a client, and then from there decide which bowls and, and what to use and how to use them to help bring harmony and balance to the nervous system and give the client that beautiful deep cellular massage of vibration.
Sally:
Yeah, it's like it's a sound bath, isn't it? I love sound healings. You just lie there and all of the sounds, it's like you don't need to do anything and the vibrations will go where they need to go and clear what they need to clear.
Joanne:
Definitely. And you feel it. It's, it's that whole idea that you feel sound.
Sally:
Yeah. And something that really fascinates me, you were telling me this in another course we were doing together around how different sounds correspond with different emotions.
Joanne:
If you are feeling really hyper and you wanna bring yourself down and just relax, humming is a great hum. Humming is a great one. And ah, repeating the vowel, ah, over and over again will actually bring you into a nice slow rhythm. Ah, and also bringing out a sigh with that as well.
Sally:
Ah, and were there different sounds that corresponded to different emotions? So if you wanted to release anger for example, what could you say?
Joanne:
Shhh. And it also promotes kindness and generosity. So it's about healing anger and promoting kindness and generosity. So Shhh. Whereas if I say Ssssss that promotes courage and heals grief.
Sally:
So interesting. So Ssss like, is s releasing the grief and then Shhhh which is like the s, h sound, that's the one for anger. That's incredible. Is there any other ones, any other sounds that correspond with different emotions?
Joanne:
Yes. If you would like to heal fear Chooo is the sound you would make, and that would be a sound Chooo, a sound healing as well.
Sally:
Chooo, oh my gosh, how handy is this going to be? Especially before public speaking, if you're feeling that fear coming in new exercise, I've, I've always talked about the humming, but adding in Chooo, chooo, releasing that fear.
Joanne:
Releasing the fear. Yes. And in a sound healing, if I feel that the fear in the, in the energy assessment, if I have picked up that the fear is around say the solar plexus, I will then focus my intention and my healing energy and the instruments with the sound Choo in that area. And then I may pick it up in the mental body in the biofield where the mental body is and direct the intention there as well. And that's how the healing is promoted even further.
Sally:
It is absolutely incredible. So is this how you use your voice to heal as part of the sound healing process?
Joanne:
Yes. That's how I use my voice and to, to support people. But it's, but they're healing themselves. I'm not doing any healing. They are healing and all I'm doing is just giving them the tools and the equipment so that their body can do what, what it knows to do. Our body is very wise and so when it's listening and hearing and absorbing these sounds, it knows exactly what to do with them and where to take them and what and how to heal.
Sally:
That is such an important distinction, isn't it? There's no one that does healing. We heal ourselves. I say this with voice, you know, I can't give you a good voice. I can help you release your own. It's really facilitating our own bodies to tap into the ancient wisdom that we each have inside of us. This is so fascinating, Joanne. So you've talked about anger and fear and sadness. Was there any other ones?
Joanne:
Yes. Worry is Whooh, Whooh. And it promotes balance. So if you're feeling out of balance and you are in the monkey mind overthinking, worrying about everything, Whooh is a wonderful sound just to bring you back and gr and help ground yourself and come back into your center and feel okay.
Sally:
Yeah. And does the pitch of the voice matter?
Joanne:
It does matter if when you are if you're feeling it in a particular part of your body, if you're feeling that imbalance in your heart or in your throat chakra, depending where in your body. So definitely the pitch would make a difference. And that's something you know a lot about.
Sally:
Yeah. So I guess if the worry was sitting, you know, right down in your sacral belly area, then Whooh, you know, you could be bringing it from there. Yet, if the worry was more in your heart, maybe then Whoooh? And if it's even up higher, Whooh so you could, you could match the, the sound with the position in the body.
Joanne:
Definitely. And that's something I'm learning from you as well in, in learning how to use my voice in those different ways and, and how the pictures correspond to the chakras. You've introduced me to that even further.
Sally:
Yeah. Cuz it's not really the pitch of the voice, it's the position it comes from. And so you can speak from the different chakras. If your sacral could talk, what would it sound like if you are a third eye could, what would it sound like? Yes, I love that.
Sally:
I know this episode is good and so are my pep talks in your pocket. These short audio tracks tell you exactly what you need to hear before speaking. So there's one to calm your nerves, one to warm up your voice, get your breathing under control and ditch the self doubt that can creep in. So many of my clients have said, Sal, I so wish I had you in my ear before speaking. Well now you can. It's like the ultimate hype girl right when you need it. And these are 100% free to download and keep forever. So you can have them handy before your next speech presentation meeting or hitting record on the video. The link is in the show notes or head to my website sallyprosser.com.au and you'll see the link. Okay, back to the episode.
Sally:
So what are some practical exercises people can do? So we've talked about the particular sounds with the emotions. So what else can people do? The humming was one.
Joanne:
Humming is a favorite one of mine. I hum in the car a lot when I'm trying to find parking and I'm in traffic.
Sally:
Stay calm, stay calm.
Joanne:
And I find that that's one that really helps me stay calm and not get, become agitated. Sighing is another great one, huh? I love to sigh, but sometimes people think that, Oh, my husband will think, what are you annoyed about?
Sally:
Oh my gosh, Patrick does this as well. He goes, that was a big sigh. I'm like, I just, I it's part of my day.
Joanne:
Yeah. And it actually gives your lungs more air and sometimes we're, you know, the sigh we're holding our breath. So that nice deep sigh and the relaxing of the shoulders that just letting it all out. Is there another wonderful exercise that I love doing throughout the day?
Sally:
Yeah, well, you know, if we are feeling pressure in any way, then the way to alleviate that is to decompress. And a beautiful big sigh, I feel is the ultimate way to decompress the body. But sound healing really gets to the root cause of so many other things in your life. Because if you are feeling stress, that is going to have an impact on everything, on your work, on your relationships, by alleviating stress at the top, the benefits just flow right down to every area of your life.
Joanne:
Totally, totally. It just releases all the tensions and blockages in the body. We hold so much trauma, emotion thoughts, ideas, difficulties. Our body just holds it all. And sound healing is a way of releasing that and, and letting it out. And that whole experience thought that I had where I had suppressed my memories, but they were still alive in my body and sound healing actually helped me release them. And in a very gentle way. And I think that's the important distinction for me is that I also practice breath work and sometimes breath work can be very intense, cathartic release, whereas I have found and, and sound healings at times can be, but generally it's a very gentle nurturing, loving release.
Sally:
Oh, so beautiful. I've been to one of your sound healings just online and it was absolutely just nourishing for the soul. Joanne, have you ever done a sound bath while in an ice bath?
Joanne:
I listened to sound when I'm in the ice bath. I actually listened to the bird singing. And that's another wonderful exercise actually listening, just being silent and listening without judgment to the sounds that are around you. And just noticing, there's the lawnmower, people are talking, the birds are singing.
Sally:
Yeah. When I first got into meditation, which would've been when I was a young girl, about eight or nine in speech and drama lessons, my speech and drama teacher would begin our session with us lying on the floor. And at the time, I didn't know it was meditation, but looking back now, I thought, Oh, what a, what a joy to be able to have this as a child. And we'd lie on the carpet and she would ask us to tune into the nearest sound and the furthest away sound. And we used to have to count the sounds that we could hear. And that noticing, as you said, that tuning in is so powerful to bring us back into the present moment.
Joanne:
Definitely. And noticing how it affects your body, how your body responds to that noise, because then you are more aware of what triggers you, what doesn't, what you find pleasant and soothing and calming and going back to those noises that can be soothing and calming for you.
Sally:
Mm-Hmm. Yes, I'm very auditory and I'm one of those people that if I hear somebody chewing loudly like it, I really have to get away. It triggers something in me. So yeah. I don't know. Have you experienced something like that where a noise has just really triggered something and you haven't been able to be near it?
Joanne:
Oh, definitely. It's the same. Chewing, chewing drives me crazy. I can't stand the sound of chewing, but I actually like the sound of the washing machine.
Sally:
Hmm. Yeah, me too means I'm feeling like I've got things organized around the house. Oh, Joanne, this has been such an interesting conversation. If people would like to find out more about working with you, where can they go?
Joanne:
My business is the embodied approach, and you can find me on Instagram and Facebook. I have a good vibrations ritual that you'll be able to download and it will be bringing together an affirmation or an intention with the the vowel of the love and gratitude vowel of ah, ah. So I'll have a little ritual that you can go through to bring together your intention and open up your heart to love and gratitude.
Sally:
Oh, how beautiful. And I'll make sure to put that link into our show notes. Joanne Makas, thank you so much for coming on That Voice Podcast.
Joanne:
Thank you so much, Sally. It was wonderful. I really enjoyed this.