How to Sing With Your Mind
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00:00 Welcome to the Big Five Virtual Voice Summit
00:17 Meet Rush Dorsett: Singer, Voice Coach, and Spiritual Explorer
01:21 The Journey of a Voice Coach: From Psychology to Vocal Pedagogy
03:19 Exploring the Spiritual and Vibrational Aspects of Singing
05:32 Inside-Out Approach: The Yoga Voice Method
10:27 Technique and Emotion: The Synergy of Singing
26:20 Addressing the Skeptics: A Logical Take on Chakras and Singing
33:31 Practical Exercises and the Power of Emotional Connection
40:59 Closing Remarks and Upcoming Sessions
Welcome to the Big Five Virtual Voice Summit
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Philippe Hall: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the big five virtual voice summit. Martin, our next speaker is Rush Dorsett, and I'm so happy she could join us today. Hi, Rush. How are you today?
Rush Dorsett: Hi, I am so excited to be here. Amazing event.
Meet Rush Dorsett: A Journey in Music and Voice Coaching
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Philippe Hall: Tell us a little bit for those of, of, uh, those listeners who may be tuning in or watching later.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. I have the advantage to know a little bit, but. Who are you, Rush? What do you do? Why are you here?
Rush Dorsett: Who am I? Oh my gosh, such a big question. It's something I'm continuously trying to figure out. Um, I make a spirituality joke right there, but Actually, though, you know, for this summit, just like the other speakers, I'm a singer, I'm a voice coach, and I love, love the field that we're in.
I think it's such an amazing privilege to be able to do this work and help people open up their voices and their self expression, uh, because I think that's what we're here to do is express ourselves and feel confident in doing so. And so that's why I just love these tools and practices that we're all sharing.
I'll share a little bit more about me and my story. I'll keep it short for the listeners, but just to give you some context about where I'm coming from. Um, I'm originally from North Carolina. I was singing my whole life, honestly, didn't think all that much about it. Other than I just knew that I loved it.
And, uh, but I was studying psychology in my undergrad and thinking about going into music. Counseling and different things like that. However, singing always just kept coming back Um, it really found me I could say and I decided after trying several different Types of careers. I was an editor for a little while.
I did all kinds of things Uh traveling and I decided you know what? I love singing the most This is what I want to do. This is what I want to dedicate to. And so that's when I decided to study more intensely. So that's when I went to New England conservatory and, um, studied vocal pedagogy. I fell in love with teaching.
I didn't know that I would love teaching so much, but I do. And, um, it was pretty soon after my master's program that I decided to create my own voice studio. And, uh, now I've, I've. I've been teaching ever since and also singing. So I freelance and I record and kinds of singing projects as well. So that's a bit about me.
Philippe Hall: Wow. It sounds very inspiring. I'm inspired.
Rush Dorsett: I'm inspired by you. You've had an incredible career and each of the speakers.
Philippe Hall: Thank you. Thank you. Um, yeah, we do have a wonderful team of teachers. I just like the fact that you can just hear in, in your story that. You've constantly been learning and exploring and also been open to a lot of different things.
And they've, there's been a synergy effect that has just led you to what you do now. And, and that's you deciding to work with singers and, and coach singers and having But having sung your entire life, it's, it's part of who you are, the love for music and the boys. And I specifically asked you to be involved in this because of, of your diverse background, but also this unique synergy and bringing together the spiritual element.
And if people can't relate to the word spiritual, and you can think of it, your, your communication, your personal communicating, your energy, communicating your message, your, it's an emotional communication. It's vibrational. That's just a fact. You know, singing is vibrational, it's sending out frequencies and vibrations, and we either resonate with that.
We like it, we identify with it, or we don't. And the people, the music we like to listen to, it's vibrational. And it's like, bing, we're getting in harmony there. So.
The Inside-Out Approach to Singing
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Philippe Hall: A lot of, a lot of the focus in, um, in singing, teaching and coaching can tend to get very logical, very physical coordinations, but I think it's very important.
It's one of the first things I say to clients when I do an interview with them is, is before you can change anything about your singing, you have to change the way you think about your singing. And so that's my segue is, is we, I just came up with this little catchy name, you know, singing, you know, from your mind, how, how in your experience you you're taking this specific angle, right?
You're taking more of an in to out angle, and it works, and I know it works. It, it frees up a lot of the logical and mechanical for things to work better together. So, what's your experience been like over the last, uh, year or two where you've been very focused on, on this approach?
Rush Dorsett: Oh, wow. Thank you for setting that context.
Uh, yes, just like you said, I was, uh, you know, you can't approach the voice from a mechanical perspective and that's actually really, that was my schooling and that's my background when it comes to pedagogy is understanding what are the mechanics and that's, you know, we're talking about the big five, uh, coordinations of singing.
And so mechanics are very important. It's, it's an important thing to understand and to know about. That said, the last two years, just like you were asking, I have been approaching my own singing and my teaching others from an inside out perspective. And I just personally really love that approach. I find it creates wonderful results for people.
And maybe it's not the method for everyone, but it certainly does work for a lot of people.
Exploring the Yoga Voice Method
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Rush Dorsett: And the basic approach, it actually comes from a methodology called the yoga voice method. So this was, I did not create this method. I learned it. from my mentor, Mark Moliterno, the creator of that method. But since then, I've taken my own spin on it after applying it for years now.
And in that method, what we're essentially doing to boil it down to the essence is we are taking yoga, anatomy, and energetic alignment. So I'm talking about, yes, the physical body, but also the chakra. Subtle body is very important to understand how we use that for singing as well. Because like you said, energy, energy is everything.
It's the vibration that we are emitting. And why are we singing in the first place? I believe that we're singing to communicate a message. And so it's energy that we're, that is important to really understand and harness and hone. And so yoga is a technology. It's an ancient technology that does allow us to do that.
It allows us to hone our awareness of our subtle body and then to be able to transmit that. And the very cool thing about this method is that by understanding the chakras, you're able to correspond to very specific aspects of the voice. We call them vocal correspondences. So these big five that we were talking about here and in the intensive this summer, a lot of that you can relate back to the chakras.
You can think of the chakras as like an energy source for where those aspects of the voice really come from. So, uh, that's the method I've been loving because it really gets us out of our head. Uh, what tends to happen for people when you're approaching things from a really mechanical perspective is there are so many things to think about when it comes to singing.
I mean, how can a singer possibly keep all the things in their head at the same time? Um, and actually transmit a powerful message and move somebody's heart, you know, so it helps us just get out of all of that noise and into flow state, which is actually what we want as singers and people who are expressing themselves.
We want to be in flow. That's what makes it joyful. That's what makes it effective. Uh, so again, that's another reason why I love this method.
Philippe Hall: Uh, that's great. Thank you so much for that. Very clear.
Balancing Mechanics and Emotion in Singing
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Philippe Hall: Description and it's, and I think it's important that we line things up like the last, um, presentation, Matt Edwards was here and he's talking about the phases of learning, you know, going into from moving on through the mechanical to the automated and that automated is, is your flow state, right?
As long as, as, you know, You're connected. Um, so, different, and Matt also mentioned that. He said that's one of the most valuable points of this type, this kind of an intensive, is you're going to get the same information from different points of view, and that will help you connect things in, in a different way.
This is a funny story. This is a real story. I, I had a professor who, um, Was a very, very famous singer. And, and I personally, from an old school pedagogy, let's just leave it at that. But one thing that he would say that was so uncomfortable for me in the beginning, he would say, vibrate me. And I'm like, you are so weird.
This is so uncomfortable. Um, but, but he said, yeah, when you sing, he would make everybody in the classroom, just close their eyes. And they would ask. Did Mr. Hall vibrate you? ?
Rush Dorsett: Oh my goodness. .
Philippe Hall: But I, I understand what he was trying to say. Yeah. But it was just such an awkward way to say it way. Are you feeling the energy of, of a communication in that sound?
Rush Dorsett: Yeah.
Philippe Hall: Uh, is it there or is it just mechanics? You know, I think it's gonna, I mean, there's a lot of technology developments. ai, you know, they can, AI can do crazy things with sound that may make. Make me sound like you, you know, but the technology is not there yet And probably never will be to actually send the layering of the emotional message that we all intuitively Pick up on
Rush Dorsett: now the
Philippe Hall: whole course on that emotional layering and I Experienced also for myself that just working from that angle.
You can get the mechanics to respond almost instantaneously
Rush Dorsett: Yes, oh, thank you for that distinction because absolutely that's what I find too Is that this inside out approach this connecting with the inner? Energy and the emotional layering. I know you have deep work on that Absolutely, it translates into your technique It's actually what allows those mechanisms to coordinate with one another in a seamless way
Philippe Hall: Yeah, you put that so well that it's synergy, right?
And I know we're talking about the big five, but I like to say look it's one hand those five fingers You know that we're not we're not going to ever be able to separate the fingers, you know, they need to work together It's one system and we can't forget that even though these are coordinations They're all thought controlled.
Rush Dorsett: Right.
Philippe Hall: I think that's so important to, to think about as a singer. Singing is a thought controlled action. I mean, you could say every action is thought controlled, but you don't get to see it. You only get to feel it and hear it, right?
Harnessing Emotional and Energetic Communication
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Philippe Hall: And if that's not vibrational and energetic, then I don't know what is, you know, because you are, so you've got to think the right thoughts and sometimes And more often than not, even Matt said that in the last hour as well.
Once you get to that state of more, uh, physical proficiency, where these coordination, your coordination level is really high, and now you're combining them, if you forget the individual artistry, which is basically, what are you trying to say here? What story are you telling? What message are you sending?
Then it, it's going to be empty. Have you ever, um, heard a singer that was really good, but was not communicating anything?
Rush Dorsett: Yes, I'm sure many can relate to that. Even speakers. Maybe you've been and seen a speaker on stage or a singer and, uh, you're wondering, huh, the voice itself is beautiful. The technique is flawless.
Why don't I feel anything? And why is this so boring? And that actually is because it's lacking that energy connection.
Philippe Hall: You want to hear, you want to hear a painful, real story? This is a real painful, personal story. At, when I first started singing, um, when I was a kid, I couldn't move and I couldn't about my, I had a very clear tone coming out, but I could not move physically.
When I got to the university, people would call me the technician, And it hurt me so much because they're basically saying, you sing so well, but it's just boring. And I, I was very cerebral. I was just trying to do everything right. And I didn't have any experience. You know communicating emotional. I had a lot of you know, I was very shy Nobody thinks i'm shy now when I tell my wife, you know that I used to be very shy.
She just laughs at me She's like you're the least shy person. I know
Rush Dorsett: It
Philippe Hall: was a real issue. I was shy. I could not like
Rush Dorsett: you can that you can improve this skill. It's pretty cool Yeah,
Philippe Hall: that's so that's kind of also what I wanted to talk to you about So I it was painful me. I was I was the technician and my call people at at school were basically You That I was studying with were saying, yeah, he's a, he's an amazing singer, but it's boring.
And it was very painful to me. So I did learn how to do that. And that's kind of what I want to communicate, but also, you know, give you an opportunity to communicate that the process that somebody goes through, it's also not a, you know, An immediate awakening, right?
Rush Dorsett: Right. Yeah, absolutely. And I love what you're saying about it's a, singing is thought in action.
Is that the phrase that you used? Yeah, and I love that because, We're thinking about, okay, what are the conditions of the mind that allow us to have that connection that you did cultivate, you know, you cultivated the emotional connection as well as the mechanisms being lined up for healthy technique.
And so really having the synergy of Both is what is important and what we're after. But how do we actually create that in the mind? Because there's a lot of research that shows that the mind literally can only focus on a couple of things at once, the conscious mind that is. And so how do we do this?
Well, you know, I like to think of it as what are some reference points and some anchors that we can use to allow our mind to focus on so that our mind isn't going in a thousand directions at once, but we are able to. Be in that flow state and to sing effectively. So that's the way that I like to approach things.
Philippe Hall: So cool. Uh, when you say flow state, it reminds me. Of the, the moments, I mean, the absolute flow state, I think is like the end goal. You know, if you get to absolute flow state, you just kind of transcend and beam off to another planet, right? Because it's not this, it's not the status quo. It's not like you're always in that state, but it does remind me of moments in performing and singing where.
It, I was just so in that state, I, I could improvise, I could sing any note I wanted to, however I want, it just worked. And I had new inspiration, new thoughts, and went new directions with no fear, and did things I couldn't reproduce. just an hour later.
Rush Dorsett: Right, and I think that's an amazing distinction, the reproducing of that state, because I think that a lot of listeners here probably have also had experiences of maybe you were just literally singing in the shower or in your car or something and you had the most amazing singing voice.
incredible. That should have been recorded. However, it was lost to the ethers. And how do we get back to that place? How do you sing well all the time? Is that possible? And absolutely it is. It's a skill like any other skill. It's something that you can actively practice. And, uh, you know, there's a quote.
One of my teachers used to say is that we're working on getting your B game. To sound really good. So we're not expecting your a game to be on all the time, but when you know that your B game is really, really good because you've practiced and put in the time and the effort, then that's where confidence really comes from as a singer.
And we can, uh, we can practice these skills.
Philippe Hall: That's, that's great. Um, yeah, a lot of, a lot of things line up. I like to hear it, and I like to keep an open mind. If one thing that, um, I, I guess I was born with is just an open mind, it just feels like I'm able to connect different thoughts to the same And, and that getting your B again, this really funny.
So I'm just a lot of personal stories today, but as a performer, the better you get, the more pressure you're under because nobody has, everybody expects you to be amazing. I cannot go sing anywhere now without the pressure of being flawless. If I have a performance and it's not flawless, I feel bad, like I'm letting people down and that's, that's, it's not a great thing.
And when I perform on stage, you know, we have rehearsed and it's, you want to give your best. There's also always some nervous energy happening, you know, stage fright or nerves, whatever you want to call it. But one of the things that I would use to comfort myself. And just kind of joke with myself. It was just like, huh, come on, Philippe.
You've been, you've been practicing this for months. You've rehearsed it. Has it ever really gone wrong?
It's been, there's been some A game days, but your B game is where it's going to be. And it could be your worst B game, or it can be your best A game, but it's never going to drop off the charts. Right. So it was just so comforting to me to, to know and have the confidence and comfort that yeah, I'm going to be within my range of ability, wherever that is.
And I try to tell singers that you're not going to miraculously suddenly transcend and sing better at your performance than your best practice day. And you're also not going to drop off the chart to somewhere where you'd be humiliated and embarrassed. No, you're going to be in that, in that range. And that's the range that you want to keep.
up in your B game.
Rush Dorsett: Yes, absolutely. That's so amazing. It's that the whole range starts to improve as we continue to progress.
Philippe Hall: Cool. They have a question here from Alexandria wondering if, um, if the Stanislavski method has anything to do with what you're talking about.
Rush Dorsett: I'm vaguely familiar with the Stanislavski method.
I, uh, I do recall it from my acting classes, but it's not top of mind. Um, however, that said, it does relate to acting technique when it comes to connecting in with the depth of the emotional content that you want to convey. Connect with so I'll how about I just give some tangible examples that might help people.
Yeah Like understand how does this method actually works? I do see another question as well
Philippe Hall: Comment there and share about how to access chakras. It might be in the same thing Maybe it's a different. Uh
Rush Dorsett: huh. Uh huh. How do you access them without it becoming another mental thought process? That's a great question.
Yeah, wonderful questions. So, Okay, so I'll try to answer both of those. So basically when it comes to Connecting with the emotional and energetic message that you want to share. The chakras can help us do that because they become these anchors that are really easy for our mind body system to connect with.
It's like mapping on your body. So as a tangible example, let's think about solar plexus chakra. So solar plexus, it's, you know, it's very intuitive. It's right here on your solar plexus. It's basically if you have your hand on your diaphragm, we trace it there diaphragm and You know with singing there's a lot of connection to the diaphragm and so in yoga as well We do methods like breath of fire.
We do twisting postures. There are Visualizations, there are specific tones and mantras all of these different tools in yoga. We use to educate So what we want to do is we want to take access awareness of that energy center and balance it because for some people, it's overactive and for some people, it's under active.
So we're actually wanting to balance it specific for that person and what they need in that moment. And you get really good at like once you know these tools, you can do this yourself, you become your own coach in a sense. And so when you can say, okay, I need more solar plexus because what I want to do in this space.
song is communicate something fiery, something passionate, right? We're working with the fire element with the solar plexus chakra. Um, another aspect is maybe you want to sing those runs and to have agility and, and that kind of flow in your voice. Maybe you want to bring more vibrancy and power and conviction in your speech.
All of that you can access through solar plexus. So to answer one person's question here is, How do you do this without it becoming another thought form that distracts you? Well, it actually becomes something that you feel. in your own being. And so nobody can actually describe that feeling for you. Every person's mind body system does connect with this a little differently.
And that's the beauty of it is that it's just something you know how to tune into it. Um, and it can happen in a split second while you're singing a song, you can say, Ooh, I want to access more of this energy. And you start to bring that in. And you can do that because you've likely gone through a longer practice.
For example, a yoga voice practice or something like that, that helps you attune to what that is for you. And then once you access it, it's like, it's there it's in a bottle and you've got it and you can use it. Um, likewise, Each of the chakras has several different correspondences. So we can all think about what would heart chakra be?
That one's pretty intuitive, right? We're working with love. We're working with generosity, um, in terms of some primal vocal sounds. We're working with, uh, we could think of it, emoting like a joy or like grief or anywhere in between on that emotional spectrum. And we're also working with dynamics like crescendo and decrescendo.
Those are the dynamic aspects musically that actually hit a listener in a specific way and communicate energetic information. And so when you're accessing that, think about this. If you are trying to access dynamics like crescendo and decrescendo to emote something, what if you, if you come from your mind and you think that, is that going to be different than actually feeling it literally in your heart and bringing that in through the sound?
That's an embodied experience of singing. Um, and so it becomes really visceral and very powerful once you practice that. So I hope that some of that makes sense and makes it a little bit more tangible. It really is less about thinking something, uh, versus finding how it feels for you and using that as an anchor that you can turn to when you want to communicate something very specific.
Philippe Hall: Yeah, that's great. That's great. I talk, um, I've got, uh, another question here, I'll blend in in a minute, uh, but that's a big part of the emotional layering course. There's a lot of science behind it, um, is that you cannot, you cannot send emotion if you're not experiencing emotion. But then there's that with that question, well, how do you, you can get so cramped up on trying to experience the emotion that you're not going to experience the emotion.
You're just going to be blocking yourself. So there's a whole, there's a process of, of, uh, using Stanislavski and some other Um, methods that I use in that course to, to guide, but it's more, you got to guide your thought process. If you guide the thought process, you will, you will experience the emotion and there's some other physical markers.
That people see that have 40 years of science behind them like the, the, um, facial expressions, the seven universal facial expressions that every people, the people use, human beings use around the world in the remotest jungle in the deepest cities. So just seeing that, what they found out is if another human being sees that expression, they not only understand it, but it activates the emotion inside their brain.
And also, you cannot make the expression without activating the emotion inside. inside your brain. And so there's, there's the outside in approach and inside out approach to basically get into the zone where you're actually experiencing an emotion. Um, so we've got, uh, a question that a lot of, a lot of great questions here.
Um, but also let's say we've got somebody that's a little bit more logical. It's just bringing up the point. Hey, not everybody believes in chakras or whatever these energies are. And don't be sensitive, you know, about that. If you do believe in chakras, it's just not everybody does. So it's a valid question.
Um, so how, how can using this kind of approach potentially help somebody that. Maybe it doesn't believe in it at all. Um, find these physical anchor points. And, and help, help them in their thing.
Rush Dorsett: Yes, I love that question. I love our logical friends. Thank you. Um, and I think this is a really important thing to, uh, you know, dispel any kind of myths around, you know, energy.
There's, there's just a lot out there that can be, uh, not evidence based. So, basically, um, Anybody can tune into mapping their mind body system in a useful way that creates very tangible results for the voice. And we have a lot of evidence to show for this. So for example, let's say if I'm talking about the root chakra.
Okay. So for some people, That terminology makes total sense to them. They're able to access whatever their root chakra means to them. Um, for some people that term is just doesn't apply. So another way that you can actually access the same things in your body and in your voice is just to tune into where this chakra is meant to be, which is the pelvic floor region of the body.
Okay. So physical anatomy, we all pelvic floor. When you tune into that. area of your body and you're able to make, we have very specific sounds, very specific vocal exercises that correspond to each of these parts of the body or chakras as well, um, that creates a very specific sound that is. Reliably done by many, many people.
And so what that, what, what it creates is a lowering of the larynx and that creates a warming in the sound, a depth in the tone, the school part of the sound when we're talking about bel canto singing, for example, and it allows. the breath to deepen. And, uh, and also this is a very important point is that it supports onset of phonation.
And so onset of phonation is very important. Many, most singers and teachers know this is that the very beginning of your sound, we want it to be accessible, we want it to be a clean onset for, I'm doing this with my fingers to, um, think about like, what are, what's happening in the vocal folds themselves.
We want the vocal folds to have the ability to come together in full closure and oscillate on one another in a healthy, way. And we do this, I think Philippe would say, because of the big five coordinations of singing, which those are actually inadvertently going to help the root chakra. But another pathway for people to think about is also just singing.
accessing root chakra or accessing pelvic floor awareness and pairing that awareness with the voice, which creates a healthy subglottal pressure, which creates a healthy phonation. So all I'm saying is that we're going for the same thing. We can measure The vocal correspondences that we desire to have as singers.
These are the expressive qualities in the voice. These are signs of healthy phonation. This all comes from systematic vocal technique and our understanding of that. The pathway to get there can vary. And for some people, chakras, oh my gosh, it just frees your mind and you can just get into your body and it gives you this new information.
It's a helpful tool for others. They might prefer a different technique. Method and that's totally okay.
Philippe Hall: Yeah. No, I appreciate you talking about that. So, um, Um, we did a, um, got a meditation on, on the podcast, um, just a few weeks ago and a lot of people that, and they worked with, uh, singers in my private community afterwards.
And I, I saw that happening quite, quite quickly. Um, my cousin likes to say worth where thoughts goes, energy flows. So sometimes it's just focusing your mind on a certain area of your body. Like the pelvic floor, I talked about you can't inhale without release. You can't inhale without releasing your ab abdominal muscles because if they're tight, the diaphragm won't lower.
So just focusing on that pelvic region and letting it relax and get get more supple and sending thoughts there. Guess what? It's relaxing. Diaphragm's gonna lower. So it just there's different angles and you talk about the I find it very fascinating. What I find fascinating is that Even though you have the different chakras and yoga and these practices are thousands of years old, arguably, if we look at the modern vocal approach and where the big five coordinations of singing actually work, they, they are the same physical points.
So that's super fascinating because you've got the throat chakra, right? Then we're talking about your laryngeal coordination and vocal fold coordination up into the pharynx and then there you have this What is this one up here? What's this one? Third eye. And don't you have one right here in the face as well?
Rush Dorsett: Well, in this method, we just use the seven major chakras, but there are chakras everywhere. So you've
Philippe Hall: got the third eye, which would be for me, that's when you target, when you activate your higher resonance frequencies, they're all vibrating up here.
Rush Dorsett: And if
Philippe Hall: You have a lower chest, your mix, you're going to have more here.
And if you have, you know, and then if it's connected, it goes down. So I find, just find it fascinating how they, Overlap and I love exploring different approaches. So this is a really good question by, by Frank.
Practical Tips for Managing Emotions While Singing
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Philippe Hall: Um, how can a singer avoid or reduce the possibility of being overwhelmed by emotional emotions?
And then, uh, Jack, uh, said, yeah, that's what, you know, it's difficult sometimes to sing at a funeral or a loved one that's passed on. This is really important. Um, and let's, I'll let you answer the question, but for me, I just want to say. There are situations where, you know, who cares if you get overwhelmed by the emotions and it's in a safe environment, you know, with family, friends, it's, it's an experience you're sharing, big deal, doesn't have to be perfect.
If you're on stage, you know, if, if I were going to get overwhelmed with emotions, singing it at a very large theater, which I've done in the past, um, if, if I allow my emotions, if they get out of control, they're going to shut me down. So you do have to find. Activation without Maybe, uh, becoming a victim of your own emotions.
Rush Dorsett: Yes. Oh, it's such a balance. And I've been on both sides of that spectrum. I've been, uh, not having enough emotional connection. And then I've been on the other side where, you know, crying and that's a normal thing to do at somebody's funeral. You know, I've, I've sung at funerals and it's very emotional and very challenging to do that.
Um, So that said, how do we, for the most part, not allow emotions to overtake us, um, but still keep them alive. So we want to find that balance point and some things for me, again, I talk about anchors a lot and I talk about reference points because I find them helpful for our mind because we sing from our mind.
So bringing it all back is keep it simple. Keep the thoughts that you're having very simple for when you're singing. So. I'll give you a tangible example. What happens when we start to cry or feel the overwhelming sense of an emotion moving through us? Well, a lot of times the larynx starts to rise, you get that lump in your throat, your breathing gets a little bit more shallow, right?
So we, we start to feel the well of an, of an emotion coming up and oftentimes that will cut off our airflow and the space that we need in the pharynx to actually resonate this beautiful song that we're wanting to sing and share. So a way to overcome that, something that I like to do is just think about space.
When I breathe, I just say the word space and I just open up that space in the throat and I'm going to bring it back to chakras because that's the angle that we're talking about specifically today and just how it can be a helpful tool. So another reason I like working with chakras is because yes, they correspond to the physical anatomical parts of our bodies.
That's helpful. And they also have a lot of other correspondences that can also be helpful information. So for example, the throat chakra, again, this is coming from ancient lineages of yoga that yogis, you know, they founded over time. The throat chakra corresponds to the element of space. So space, and that's what we're talking about all the time in singing, is how do we access.
throat so that we can resonate sound. And a lot of this is connected to formants and all kinds of ways we can talk about this. But when you just think space in your throat or you do a throat chakra, um, type of practice, you're going to discover, Oh, that is space in my throat. That's how my mind body system actually experiences that opening.
And some people have challenges with that. that's one of the big five coordinations is tongue and pharynx, um, and how are we coordinating that and how do we let them be free but dynamic and moving, um, all at the same time. So throat chakra types of practices, and there are specific yoga postures, there are specific mantras, again these are just the tools in the toolbox, um, that can help you actually Find that space that you're looking for.
And so then when you go and you're about to sing a song and you're feeling the emotion, you can think, okay, I feel this emotion, but I'm not going to let it cut off my space that I need. That's just one example.
Philippe Hall: Uh, it's a great example because just related to that is the, you know, what we want to bring into, um, the, the big five coordinations of singing and art and our training.
is to have different angles for people to experience different things and find out, hey, you know, this one's working great for me. So that's, that's the name of the game people. When you find something that's working great for you, explore it. And if you, if you just can't identify with a concept, it's all right.
Yeah. It's just fine. Like when emotion overpowers you, most people are going to feel like their throat closes, right? And so. So, um, in, in the, in our terminology for this discussion, your, your chakra is closing off.
Rush Dorsett: Yes.
Philippe Hall: Right. So if you can keep it open or, yeah, I don't know if that's the right word, but if you keep it open and on in a way you're, you're not going to, it's not going to shut you down.
Rush Dorsett: Right. Yeah. That's a beautiful way to put it.
Philippe Hall: Thinking about, so when we, during the intensive training, um, what are some things, cause I like the idea of exploring some of these things that you mentioned. Do you have some things in mind that you'll be doing with the group?
Rush Dorsett: Totally. Yes.
Integrating Yoga Practices into Singing
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Rush Dorsett: I can show you a little practice right now if you want.
Um, so we're talking about singing with the mind specifically today. And so what that says to me is, okay, the mind, well, that's Ajna, third eye chakra. How can that help us in, in, focusing our mind, being, being in a flow state and coordinating all of these things that we're wanting to coordinate as singers.
Well, a practice that's really helpful for that is actually doing a yoga type of voice practice, yoga inspired voice practice that specifically accesses the proprioceptive system in the body. And how do we do that? Well, balancing postures are really powerful for that. So for example, we might come into tree pose where you're literally balancing on one foot.
You have your both sides of your body come together with your hands at your heart, as an example. Um, and what that is doing is also accessing both hemispheres of the brain and bringing them into more synchronicity with one another, which helps balance the body. focus the mind. So that kind of practice, let's say that you are, um, feeling as a singer, you're, um, maybe experiencing performance anxiety or you're singing and you start that your brain starts racing and you think about, Oh, I hope I get that next note.
Or, oh, focus on your breath, but also focus on your tongue and, oh, focus on your embouchure and, ah, right? Like the things, the things that singers go through, I certainly have. So how do we calm some of that? Well, we can do that through accessing this proprioceptive, um, system by balancing. Another, um, practice that's really nice is literally walking around in your space, like walking backwards.
walking backwards, doing stuff like that, which distracts your mind. And I mean, there are all kinds of tools that, um, teachers use intuitively, but that's actually what it's doing is it's helping to let, it's helping the mind to let go and come into focus. Um, and another tool that we would use, let's say in the, in the intensive, um, while you're doing a balancing practice, what happens if you do a little mantra, like, Um, or Ah, Um, and we're going to be
Philippe Hall: phonating in different physical positions that are going to be challenging the mind and, and, uh, in different ways.
I, I'm really excited for this. I'm excited to do some of the, to apply some of the yoga. See, I did a lot of dancing on stage, so I had to move and dance. And in the beginning, I felt it much easier to dance and sing. Than I did to stand and sing. So I've I've experienced this from a different discipline.
Conclusion and Upcoming Events
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Philippe Hall: So I'm really anxious to um, Combine these things and really looking forward to it Uh, we've got to take a little break and then we'll be back with lisa popil But thanks so much for being here today.
And I'm looking forward to, uh, to working with, with you on these things. And I know a lot of people are going to benefit from exploring, getting out, getting out of your box.
Rush Dorsett: Yeah. Just a new way. Why not try it out? Uh, and I'm also excited for everything that the other teachers are sharing as well. And, and, and you, so thank you so much for, uh, creating this platform.
And thank you all listeners for being here as well.
Philippe Hall: Thank you. Rush. Remember if you guys are looking forward to the big five airflow, vocal folks, intensive training event, where we're going to work specifically in all of these coordinations and maybe even some. Through some different angles that you've never considered before to help you unhook blocked Pathways and reconnect new neurological pathways then join us description is in the chat And thanks once again rush.
We'll be back here in just a few minutes with Lisa Papil
