"The Song of the Heart"

 Songs are an integral part of all cultures. Songs express anger and suffering, joy and sadness, our cares and concerns. Music and song constitute one of those rare domains in which the exploration of the entire range of emotions is publicly approved and fully accepted, even in our culture where the tendency is to repress true emotions and replace them with pale imitations or simulations.

   When you think about it, you realise that we depend on singers in the sense that they provide us with an almost constant supply of emotional energy. While the art of the singer lies in showing us how to explore the range of our emotions, you can release these emotions by discovering the "singer that lies dormant within you".

   Singing is a simple and immediate way of releasing the flow of your emotions and allowing them to flow day after day. It is not a case of becoming a professional singer but simply a human being functioning to their full potential.

EXERCISES

   Initially, you can do this easily by singing along with the singers you like and with whom you identify. Find songs and music which bring you into contact with fear, anger, sadness, joy and compassion.

   Sing as often as you can: at home, in the shower, doing the housework, odd jobs, at the wheel of you car, etc.

   If you are afraid to sing, or of singing out of tune, hum freely and deeply allowing the sound to rise from the pit of your stomach. Feel it vibrating throughout your body. Hum from your chest, from your heart. Finally hum the highest notes, allowing the sound to vibrate in your head.

   Then you can let the humming become a tune. Allow yourself to be carried along by  your singing, follow it into the depths of your heart and you will feel your soul "tremble". Sometimes, words will come, sometimes not. This doesn’t matter. All you have to do is let the sound rise from your stomach and vibrate throughout your entire body.

 

           This sound is the “song of your heart”.

  

   By doing this, you will allow old "negative" emotions to be dispersed, emotions whose energy was trapped in your body and was unable to go anywhere.

   Let it all out, the energy that flows within you now as well as the old suppressed energy.

   This is an easy, very reassuring and personal way to discover and express your basic – but nonetheless extremely powerful – emotions. If you feel like it, you can combine the singing with movements of your body, spontaneous dance movements that follow the inspiration of the moment.