165. How to Deepen Your Voice

Do you want a deeper voice?

Studies show people with deeper voices are considered to be more intelligent, more trustworthy and healthier.

The crux of it, is when you can access the heights AND DEPTHS of your voice you sound more like YOU and can connect with your audience in a deeper way!

In this episode I guide you through three steps - with practical exercises - you need to take to deepen your voice.

1. FEEL your body.

2. BREATHE deep.

3. VIBRATE low.

Transcript

Hello hello welcome back to That Voice Podcast.

This episode, number 165 is all about how to deepen your voice.

This is one of the most commonly asked questions – Sal how do I speak lower or deepen my voice?

There is research to suggest that deeper voices are more attractive.

Many studies show women are more attracted to men with deep voices. They sound more masculine and protective and dominant and powerful.

And look, what can I say I do like a deep voice in men.

It’s why way back when I was online dating I did always like to the phone test just so I could hear what I was dealing with.

And for both men and women research has shown that if they have a deep voice they’re perceived as more intelligent, more trustworthy, more likable and healthier.

Get this one, people prefer voting for politicians with deep voices, especially during times of conflict. Margaret Thatcher famously had voice coaching to lower her voice significantly and commentators say this was a big reason for her win.

So yes there’s a lot of evidence to support why you would want to deepen your voice.

If you’re wanting to get heard around a meeting table a little pip squeak voice is probably not going to cut it.

If you’re wanting to stop the scroll on social media videos, a nice deep strong voice is going to help.

If you want to be heard while speaking in a large hall or outside, a deeper voice is going to carry much better – and if being louder is your goal, go and listen to episode 163 about How to Project your voice.

There are so many reasons for you to be able to deepen your voice.

And the biggest reason is so you can connect to YOUR vocal power and truly sound like you.

And when you sound like YOU you create genuine connection and whether you’re selling a service, a product or an idea THIS is how you resonate with your audience.

This episode is important because when it comes to deepening your voice, there’s a right way to go about it and a wrong way to go about it.

The WRONG way, and you might have heard this, is when people think Oh I have to sound serious and important and deepen my voice and the way they do it is by pushing the sound back.

So it’s almost like you’re swallowing your words rather than sending them out.

And when the sound is back in the throat, it sounds fake.

The air is hiding back in the throat giving the listener the impression YOU are hiding something, most of all hiding who you truly are.

SO they way to deepen your voice is not by pushing the sound back, rather sending the sound down and out.

Remember that, the only thing in your life you want to be down and out are your vocal vibrations.

And we’re talking about sending the sound down and out through the heart space, the walls of the chest.

Focus less on the pitch of your voice and more on the position of your voice.

Position over pitch.

So what I’m hearing a lot of are voices starting from the throat and popping out the head. There’s the overthinking and overworrying and as the burnout builds the voice gets higher and before you know it you’re speaking in a pitch only dogs can hear!

I believe being cut off at the shoulders on ZOOM screens is pushing the voice higher. Bringing a phone to your ear encourages your voice into your head. Start noticing what you do with your voice? Is your pitch higher when you bring the phone to your ear to answer? Is it lower when you hit speaker phone on the table and tilt down to talk?

When does your voice naturally go lower? Perhaps it’s when you’re on holidays. There’s not too many high pitched voices ordering pina coladas in swim up bars? Is your voice lower while gardening? Is it higher when you’re stressed? Start noticing your pattern.

And what you’ll find is that the more you get in your head the more the pitch of your voice rises and the more you get in your body the more your voice deepens.

And this is what I mean by position over pitch.

I want you to imagine and channel running all the way from your yoni up to the crown of your head. If you’re a guy joining me today imagine that channel runs from your groin all the way up to the crown of your head, and you can access your voice anywhere along this vertical channel.

And anywhere along this channel sounds like YOU and the more places you access the more colour and depth there is in your voice and your audience gets a fuller, truer picture of who you are.

If you imagine a monotone voice, always coming from the same place that’s like the audience watching you in black and white – a boring black and white film.

If you speak from all different positions – depending on the meaning you’re wanting to convey, the audience sees you in technicolour.

The lower the access point, the deeper the voice.

So you see if your voice is stuck up high and you want to make it lower.

You need to get into your body and start feeling these lower access points.

I’m going to take you through three steps to do it, and I’d encourage you to do this with me now and save this episode as a daily practice – or download my pep talks in your pocket, the free audio tracks, there is a track that takes you through a similar exercise.

So step one is FEEL your body.

If you want your voice to be lower to be deeper, you need to feel the lower parts of your body.

Wiggle your toes, flex your ankles and a great one is rub the top of your thighs with your hands, then you’re going to twist through the middle, stand up and circle and stir the hips like you’re hula hooping. Poke your tummy. Get out of your head and wake up your body.

Step two is direct the breath down low.

If you want your voice to be deeper, the air needs to flow deeper.

Remember oxygen fuels your voice.

So now imagine your belly is a beautiful pond and as you inhale the air is dropping like water down into that pond. Breathe into your buttocks (not out, that’s something different), visualise your air going down and as the air flows in the tummy expands out.

This is so important to practice, if you’re a high shallow breather – like your shoulders rise when you breathe in, then sorry your voice is going to stay high, lets breathe down and bring the voice down.

If you’re not getting this, or you want me to hear and see what you’re doing. Then join my community of Soul Speakers. We have live calls every month, where you can work on your voice skills, I can listen to where you’re at and give you personalised feedback. If you’re a professional or a business owner or a student and you want people to listen to what you have to say, Soul Speakers is the community you need to be in, the class you want to take. I know I sound quite serious at the moment, it’s not all super serious of course, we have a good time. And actually not taking yourself too seriously will help release tension, which will help the breath go deeper and your voice go down.

Ok so you’re physically feeling your body.

You’re directing the air down low.

And now for the piece de resistance – you want to feel the vibrations of the voice come from lower in the body, lower down that channel I talked about.

Let’s start at the heart.

Put your hand on your chest and feel the vibrations as you speak.

Imagine your heart has a little mouth and that’s where the sound is coming from.

If your content is heart-centred. Is the emotion behind your words love or passion or deep care.

Say – My voice comes from my heart.

And you can think about this in terms of the chakras – there’s a call in Soul Speakers where I guide you through how to access your voice at each one of the chakras – I also have a meditation that takes you through the chakras – and if you DM me on Instagram @sallyprosservoice or @thatvoicepodcast DM the word – CHAKRA – I will send you that meditation for free.

Ok can we go even lower – let’s speak from the solar plexus, the gut, imagine your tummy has a little mouth and say “I’m motivated, I’m strong, I’m here.”

Are you hearing your voice like you’ve never heard it before?

Wild hey, and as long as you keep the visualising forward in the body remember down and out it will sound clear and like YOU.

And that my friends is how you deepen your voice.

Give it a go at work, with clients, online and see how differently your words are received.

When you produce your voice at the access point that corresponds with the meaning behind your words your voice will not be just heard it will be felt.

And as mentioned if you’d like to go through the entire channel, all your energetic centres, your chakras. Come on into Soul Speakers there’s a brilliant handout and video guiding you through.

Chances are you are accessing just a tiny part of your voice, probably up in the head somewhere, imagine the impact you can have once you access the full potential of your voice.