3 Tips To Unlock Your Voice & Unleash Your Self-Expression ( & why it’s important for women)

Written By Emma Zeck

there is NOTHING more magnetic than a woman connected to her voice.

look at Beyonce. Madonna. Oprah. Taylor Swift.

some of the most powerful, if not THE most powerful women in the world.

what connects them all?

the relationship they have to their voice.

it is not news that as women, our voices are powerful enough to completely transform and heal society for the better.

but… they get blocked because we have been programmed to believe that it’s not safe to be who we are.

that’s why for so long, there has been a battle to disempower and belittle women into silence, shyness, timidity, and insecurity.

if the powers at be can keep us silent, insecure about our skin or hair or clothes or status or worth, unsure of ourselves and incessantly comparing ourselves to other women, you bet your ass that somewhere, some large corporation is making a killer profit.

coming from someone who has lived it — i’ve experienced massive positive transformation through unlocking my voice and in fact, doing so quite literally saved my life and healed the trauma that for so long dulled my magic.

unblocking my throat chakra and reclaiming my self-expression revolutionized my entire existence, allowing me to embody my true self and attain unprecedented power and confidence.

this is possible for you, too.

as women, our voice is where our power comes from.

think about this. if you hear a person speak or sing, and their voice sounds mousy, weak, brittle, or waaay too quiet…what does your subconscious mind think? well, probably something along the lines of — they may be insecure, afraid, timid, shy.

(btw, this is not about aesthetics or appearance — this is about embodiment and how the way we carry ourselves communicates messages to our internal and external environments)

now, think of Beyonce, or Oprah or Taylor. when they speak or sing, what does their vocal tone translate to your subconscious?

well, their voices are embodied, strong, and resonant. expressive, but not overbearing or aggressive. they are centered. assured of who the fck they are. grounded and rooted.

all of which translates to…

confidence & power.

women doing voice work is important because it helps us understand where the TRUE root of our power comes from—within us.

not from our appearance or financial or relationship status or the clothes we wear. not from having a man's attention, not from being desired sexually. 

 but from WITHIN.

thus, we are able to move about the world with a sense of self trust, confidence & self assertiveness rather than timidity & fear.

moving through the world unsure of ourselves is the root of most, if not all, of our suffering.

in unlocking our voices, we learn that it is safe to be who we are. this creates the kind of internal solid foundation that undoubtedly transforms our lives for the better, forever.

reclaiming & unlocking our voices as women is important all the time, but is especially VITAL during this moment in history.

with the world increasingly more chaotic and divided and uncertain than ever, we need women whose voices are no longer balled up in fear and past traumas, women who no longer have lumps in their throat that incessantly silence them.

we need women who feel safe to express openly and freely, with power and assurance. we need women who know who the fck they are and do. not. bend.

our voices have the ability to change the future of humanity for the better. and a woman’s unlocked voice is a force of nature that no one dares to mess with.

take it from Queen Bey…your power, your liberation, and your feminine radiance lies in your vocal cords.

here are my top 3 tips on Unlocking Your Voice & Reclaiming Your Self - Expression.

  1. CURATE YOUR ENVIRONMENT — IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE SHIT, IT’S GOTTA GO BABE

    I am a firm believer that our gifts stay locked up inside of us until they feel safe to come out. Having a resonant, embodied voice stems from having a resilient and flexible nervous system that feels safe on a regular basis and is able to process & handle stressors. If our environment makes us feel like we are walking on eggshells or that we must be something other than who we are in order to be accepted, this will undoubtedly have a negative impact on our voice.

    If you are being abused, disrespected, or subtly torn down in ANY way…if your opinions or emotions or reality feel denied or oppressed…if you feel belittled and not supported…and you have a hard time having the internal fortitude to set boundaries and stand up for yourself and who you are…your voice will be impacted. Unleashing your self-expression starts with building safety in your internal and external environment. If you aren’t actively practicing safety in your body, your voice will stay locked up inside of you. So curate your environment. What needs to leave? What boundaries need to be set? What is subtly or overtly demanding your silence? How is this impacting your self-expression? This is the main, most important pillar of unlocking your voice: a foundation of safety. It cannot be bypassed. I recommend finding a community of safe women to relate with on a regular basis. Healing our sisterhood wound is invaluable in voice work.

    2. YOUR POWER IS FOUND THROUGH MOURNING

    Emotions are energy. If we don’t feel them, they get lodged inside of us and block the flow of our voice. Think of your vocal cavity (where your voice comes from) like a hose. If there is loads of unprocessed and unfelt shit in the hose, it will totally block the sound.

    This is why no longer stuffing down your emotions is absolutely vital to unlocking your voice.

    Feeling your emotions also communicates safety to your body. When you are resisting sensations, you’re telling your body that something is wrong, thus your body goes on the defense and tenses up. When you allow your emotions to flow freely, you communicate that feeling is a natural part of life. Your body can then process the emotion and move on.

    Specifically for women, our power is found through grieving. For me personally, my actual singing voice seriously came online when I allowed myself to deeply grieve for things and people I had lost in my life. The more I wailed and cried, the stronger and more resonant my voice became.

Grieving is important because as women we are creators of life itself. To wield this power means we must also be bearers of death. It’s paradoxical but when we are willing to accept the reality of death and face it head on, our life force grows stronger.

3. GIVE FULL CONSENT TO EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE

My work in voice reclamation is rooted in anatomy, somatic (body) embodiment, science, mindset, and philosophy. My 3rd tip is a philosophy of mine that completely revolutionized the way I see women’s voices.

It is the idea that no matter what is happening within or around us, as long as we are alive…we must always * CONSCIOUSLY * say yes to life.

Sounds simple enough, right? Of course you’re saying “yes” to life…after all you’re a human, breathing, sitting here reading this, aren’t you?

What does that even mean?

Well, yes. Of course, your soul and your physiology is saying yes to life on an unconscious level. Your heart is beating, your lungs are breathing and blood is flowing through your veins without you having to think about it.

But I would venture to guess that there is something in your life, or some reality about life, that you are in total resistance to...that you are subtly withdrawing from.

Maybe it’s death and the fact that one day this will all end. Maybe it’s the fact that your heart has been broken by someone you thought was your soulmate. Maybe it’s the way that you look. Your skin color or the texture of your hair. Maybe you hate the family you were born into or the way your father treated you when you were little. Maybe you hate having to pay taxes or the fact that in this society we have to have money in order to survive.

Resistance to life is a resistance to the creative life force within us all.

Now of course there may be parts of life that you don’t like, sure. We all have preferences. I’m talking on a more existential, philosophical level.

Because the truth is, resistance and denial are the opposite of creative expression.

So instead of using your energy resisting the parts of life you don’t like and wish were different… may as well dig deep within yourself and find the irrational, wildly loving spark of creation within you that absolutely adores simply being alive, even when it hurts, and says yes to ALL of what being a human means…not just the “good” stuff.

The part of you that says an equal “YES!” to death and taxes as it does to puppies and falling in love. The part that says an equal “YES!” to one day your skin shriveling into a raisin and the potential of failure in chasing your dreams as it does to youth and abundance.

Remember, just as in resisting your emotions blocks the flow to your voice, so does being in resistance to life.

Why? Well, in order to have a strong, resonant voice and unleashed self-expression, we need all of your energy online, inhabiting your body.

If you’re on the front lines of a battlefield, and you are subtly retreating and withdrawing, your power and energy will be compromised.

So if you are wasting the limited energy you do have complaining about things in your life, dwelling in resistance, and subtly withdrawing, then you are draining your power, thus weakening your voice and the potential for your creative expression.

Emma Zeck
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