To be heard is to be healed

One of our deepest needs is to be heard. When we are heard, we relax and let go…tension leaves our body…our heart opens up.

Think about when you’re angry at someone. If you tell them about it and they get defensive, telling you how wrong you are to feel the way you do or how right they are, doesn’t your anger just get more intense? But, if the person you’re mad at hears you, if they say something like “I understand why you’re angry at me. What I did was insensitive”, doesn’t the anger just melt away?

Or, if you tell a friend who knows how to really listen to you about your struggles, don’t you feel better and lighter afterwards? More able to face whatever is troubling you?

One of the discoveries I’ve made in working with vocal sound is that is can allow us to hear our own body and emotions on a whole different level than when words are used. Giving a sound to sensations and feelings can get to the heart of what needs to be heard, and as soon as it is heard, there is a shift…a letting go. The lovely thing about this way of healing is that it’s so organic. There’s no forcing, no making it happen. It’s like allowing a flower to open on its own, which it will.

Listening to whatever is expressed is the key. Not just expressing feelings and sensations, but really listening to whatever is expressed allows for the release of physical and emotional pain, and of unsatisfying emotional patterns. Listening opens the heart to whatever needs to be heard so it can be gently let go of.

In the Sounding Heart, I use the healing power of listening through vocal sound in my individual sessions and groups. I also work with couples to guide them in listening to one another to deepen their loving connection.