“As a SINGER, I am feeling better in every way,

every moment of every day.”

Voice affirmations autosuggest, or, Af FIRM,  to your inner self, what you really want, what is really important to you, how you really want to BE

Writing them out for yourself and reading or saying them often throughout your day can be tremendously empowering

The affirmation can be “As a writer…”, “As an artist…”, “As a musician…”, “As a songwriter…”, “As an actor…”, etc., with appropriate adjustments thereafter, for your highest good — which is also for the highest good of ALL because, when you are in better alignment and balance with yourself, you share more balanced vibes or vibrations with all of creation…

Singingly, VOICING YOU!

Sheryl Rak
www.RakVocal.com
773/283-8349
www.facebook.com/RakVocalpage

Often singers are copying or ‘covering’ a favorite singer without having any idea of how that revered singer is producing their own sound, the muscle production usage, thoughts, feelings, and mental imagery that singer is engaging as they sing and perform and record, the emotional connection that singer has with the words and music and context of the song, and how they contour and texturize their own sounds, phrasing, and delivery.

Many times, the copying singer does not even pay attention to when and how (and WHY) the favored singer breathes and creates the song phrasings and flow.  How does the singer sing such emotive, intense, deep or powerful music with great feeling, helping the audience really experience and feel the intensity of the song, without becoming overwrought or over-emotional onstage and unable to sing healthfully or sustainably themselves…

(These issues are common with guitar students who want their teachers to just ‘teach the riffs’, without paying attention to all these fine points of integrating and delivering the playing as an artistic emotional performance…)

A singer needs to know and understand that their own body, mind, and voice are built differently than anyone else is built, and that it is not in the singer’s best interest to try to copy how someone else sounds in their singing.  It is important that a singer learns how healthy, balanced vocal production actually feels in their own body and voice, and how it sounds on recordings so they know how their audience actually hears them.  If they feel it is important for them to copy or cover other singers, for their career plans or voice-over work, etc., then it is best to develop an excellent, dependable, healthy vocal production technique which they can then fashion in multiple ways to attain the variety of sounds and colorings they desire.

The singing teacher has to work with verbal concepts, mental imagery, and physical anatomy and physiology information to help the singer begin to acknowledge these issues and seek to understand the depth and breadth of opening and attuning themselves to healthy, balanced vocal production technique and creative artistry in singing and performing.

We want our voices to be stronger, clearer, healthier, more dependable, more powerful, more expressive, more charismatic….  We want to improve our ability to perform and record our singing more effectively and with more excitement, self-assurance, and trust.  We want to find ways to make money and success from our work in music for the stability of our lives and families.  We want…  We hope…  We wish…  We envision…  We invest…  We CHOOSE…

Here is an affirmation to help you, inside and out, inner mind and outer consciousness, mentally and physically, align yourself and your vibrations, in the direction you are wanting to go and in the direction of how you want to BE.

An affirmation helps you affirm — or, make FIRM within you — what you really want, and how you want to be.  It helps you draw towards yourself the resources and beliefs and opportunities you are wanting, and in stronger ways than you have been already experiencing.

Read the affirmation clearly, slowly, breathing in each concept and phrase, and allow yourself and your mind to taste and feel the vibrations of what you are wanting in every syllable and phrase.  When there is a list, read each item slowly, pausing to think about what it would be like to have or achieve it in your very own life and experience.  Luxuriate in the feelings and beliefs of what is possible for you.  Invest in yourself as you affirm your achievement.  Choose what is important to you.  Allow it.  Expect it!  Intend it.  Commit yourself. BE.

ACHIEVING    MY    QUEST

I move through human mind thinking and align myself with Infinite Divine Mind.    All things are possible.

All the  time   and   resources   and   healing abilities   are mine to fulfill all that I need and want to do.

I now choose   and   accept  the resolution to long-standing challenges and concerns such as   health,   talent,   money,   emotions,   motivation,   trust,   belief,   and    the  time  to follow my inner quest full-time.

I now focus my attention on the answers that I    know    are being revealed to me.

Here and now,    all  is  well.

I   AM   SUCCESSFUL   IN   MY   QUEST.

Rak Success Affirmation
www.RakVocal.com
773/283-8349

1.    Affirm them – make them into wonderful positive affirmations         for you

2.  Write them out and carry them with you in your pocket, purse, wallet, glove compartment, gig bag, …
Put them on your mirror(s), on your file cabinets, on your fridge, on your practice mic stand, on your CD player, at your desk…

3.  EFT them  — write them out and use them in EFT rounds, both in the negative forms and then in positive forms, for balancing your energy meridians and inner systems from which you operate in life and in your singing

A.  My voice is relaxed, toned, resilient, balanced

B.  My voice is expressive and emotive

C.  My voice expresses me from my core

D.  My voice shares me wonderfully

E.  My voice is balanced and expressive

F.  My throat and voice are open and toned and balanced

G.  My voice is the wonderful expression of me

H.  My voice expresses everything in my soul

I.  My high notes are effortless and ringing

J.  My low notes are effortless and resonant

K.  I use my airflow with ease and balance through all of my range

L.  My voice comes through with easy, resilient, balanced use of my airflow

M.  My voice and I are working together in balance as a great team, everyday

N.  I release and balance my use of my vocal muscles and nerves to enjoy my singing and voice use

O.  I allow myself to sing spherically in balance with all my parts and feelings

P.  I love my singing and allow myself to shine onstage

Q.  I love performing and sharing myself and my feelings with others

R.  The sound of my voice is not my worth as a person – it’s just expressive air…

S.  I deserve to enjoy my voice, my singing, and my performing

T.  I welcome my opportunities to share myself through my voice and my singing

U.  I choose to enjoy myself singing and performing

V.  I know I am good enough

W.  I know my voice shares wonderful things about me

X.  I can become my best supporter, my best fan, now

Y.  I can choose to love myself and my voice and my performing

Z.  I choose to value myself and my voice and my singing, now

AA.  I choose to believe in myself as a good singer and performer

BB.  I choose to share myself creatively with others through my expressive voice and singing

CC.  I choose to feel and be expressive with others as I sing and perform

DD.  I choose to express myself through my full range of emotions and feelings

EE.  I choose to show myself openly through my voice — speaking and singing

FF.  I choose to be profoundly appreciative of what I am learning through my work with myself, my voice, and my singing

GG.  I choose to build strength and power in my singing through resilient, balanced muscles and body

HH.  I choose to trust in my body, mind, and voice for my great singing

II.  Caring for myself – body, mind, and voice – is now feeling good and loving

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1.)  Even though people around me have complained about my voice, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

2.)  Even though adults around me who loved me, made fun of my voice when I was young, I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself, and I Choose to love myself and my voice

3.)  Even though I sound like a little child, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I choose for my voice to share me wonderfully

4.)  Even though my voice makes me sound ‘too old’/’too young’, I deeply and completely love and accept myself as I am, and I choose to express myself as I am

5.)  Even though I might sound ‘bad’, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I choose to know my voice is improving and expressing me

6.)  Even though I might be loud, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I choose to know I am evolving as the singer of my soul

7.)  Even though someone might hear me, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and my singing

8.)  Even though I don’t sing every note perfectly, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my singing

9.)  Even though once in awhile I might sound ‘bad’, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, my voice, and my singing

10.)  Even though, as a performer, I may have memory blanks and stop and start and ‘make a fool of myself’, I totally and utterly love, appreciate, and accept myself and my performing

11.)  Even though my performance may be disappointing, I like myself

12.)  Even though I stuff up and crack notes, I still rock!

13.)  Even though I fear being judged by others, I deeply and profoundly love and accept myself

14.)  Even though I fear letting myself down, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

15.)  Even though I fear making mistakes, I deeply and completely love and accept myself in all ways

16.)  Even though I feel this need to be perfect, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself in all ways, always

17.)  Even though I fear making a mistake and then ‘losing it’, I deeply and completely love, accept, and trust myself in all ways, always

18.)  Even though I worry about this hard bar of music, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself and my performing

19.)  Even though this part makes me nervous, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself and my performing

20.)  Even though I ‘want to get this part right’, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself, my voice, and my performing

21.)  Even though I am afraid of not being good enough and that others will judge me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

22.)  Even though I am afraid of disappointing myself, and I’m the one who thinks I’m not good enough, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself, my voice, and my performance

23.)  Even though I am projecting my self-judgment onto others, thinking they are judging me, I deeply and completely love and accept myself

24.)  Even though I am afraid of disappointing myself because I am not good enough, I utterly and profoundly love, trust, and accept myself and my performing

25.)  Even though my mother [or someone else…] was jealous of me when I would sing and express myself, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my creative expression

26.)  Even though I felt like I was doing something wrong and was going to be ‘put down’ for it, I utterly and profoundly love, trust, and accept myself

27.)  Even though I shouldn’t have that much fun and just feel so good, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my creative expression

28.)  Even though I really liked to sing and perform and my mother [or someone else…] didn’t like it, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my performing

29.)  Even though I may be taking myself too seriously and feeling ‘significant’ or important about myself and my voice, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself, my voice, and my singing

30.)  Even though I am getting nervous and that takes all the fun out of singing and performing, I utterly and profoundly love, trust, and accept myself and my singing

31.)  Even though I’m afraid I can’t just get up there and have a good time, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I CHOOSE to feel good about my performing NOW

32.)  Even though a part of me thinks I have to apologize for performing and pretend that I don’t know I’m a good singer, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and the good performer I know myself to be

33.)  Even though a part of me thinks I don’t deserve to have a good time singing and performing, I deeply love and accept myself, and I CHOOSE to believe in myself as a good performer

34.)  Even though I might not know who I am if I totally enjoy myself while performing, I deeply and completely love and accept myself and my singing

35.)  Even though I am so angry that I felt I needed to repress myself and my voice, I now deeply love and completely accept myself and my voice

36.)  Even though I am so angry and sad that I felt so restricted, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and I choose to feel released and free in myself and my voice

37.)  Even though I felt I wasn’t allowed to be myself and show my full range, and that makes me so angry, I know that I am lovable the way I am

38.)  Even though I am so sad that I restricted myself and my voice in order to be accepted, I choose to forgive myself and anyone who might have contributed to this restriction

39.)  Even though I am so sad that I have been hiding a huge part of myself to be loved and it still shows in my voice, I choose to forgive myself and anyone who contributed to this hiding

40.)  Even though I am so sad, so frustrated, that I didn’t trust that they would accept me if I show the full range of who I am, I now choose to let go of this hiding as I deeply and completely love and accept myself

41.)  Even though I am blowing too much air with a lot of excessive effort when singing, especially in my [higher or lower] range, I deeply love and accept myself, my voice, and my body the way it is

42.)  Even though I feel I need so much effort to get my voice to come out and be heard, I love, accept, and trust my voice — speaking and singing

43.)  Even though I feel I need this effort to express myself when I sing, my voice and I are working together better every day

44.)  Even though I feel intimidated to sing in front of others, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and my singing

45.)  Even though I don’t forgive myself for not sounding the way I would like to, I deeply and completely love and accept myself now, and CHOOSE to forgive and trust myself and my way

46.)  Even though I have not allowed myself to shine onstage, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and CHOOSE to sing and shine now

47.)  Even though I have overpressured and misused my voice production muscles, I deeply and completely love, trust, and accept myself and my voice, now and forever

48.)  Even though I have not allowed myself to feel confident in my vocal production, I deeply and completely love and accept myself, and choose to trust my inner self to know how to lead me through my healthy and balanced voice use

49.)  Even though I have not always felt free to address my emotional and vocal issues, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself, and CHOOSE to balance myself and my voice from now on

50.)  Even though I have often thought I needed to force my voice and my body for loud, powerful singing, I choose to know that my body, mind, and voice know how to work in balance for my best, most expressive singing

51.)  Even though I am afraid of having to miss things I love in my life in order to healthfully care for myself and my voice, I now choose to love what is good and balanced for me and for my body, mind, and voice

52.)  Even though I didn’t realize I have to ‘act’ to be a good, expressive singer onstage, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and I CHOOSE to be able to act and share the feeling and meaning in my songs and performing

53.)  Even though practicing may sound silly or strange, I utterly and profoundly love and accept myself and my voice as I progress through the stages to becoming the singer I love

Contact me for vocal information or more information about using Affirmations and EFT easily and wondrously in your life and singing!   www.RakVocal.com 

Phrases assembled by Sheryl Rak~~

I work with adult singers and songwriters to develop, enhance, and/or heal their voices and their presentation of themselves through their voices in their daily lives and in performance and recording situations.

As a Vocal Therapist, I work with the whole person and how they care for and relate to and through their own voice. As a Vocal Therapist, I work with adults who have misused, abused, and/or damaged their voice.  I help them through preventive, supportive, and restorative care of their body, mind, emotions, voice, and spirit.

I have been using EFT with all my clients since the late 1990’s.  I trained in EFT with Paul Cutright through his Center for Enlightened Partnership in 1999.  His wife, Layne Cutright, is a singer, and is the co-founder of their Center.

At RakVocal, each singer reads/affirms a self-balancing affirmation aloud, with meaning, feeling, and intention, at the beginning of their session, and I do surrogate EFT tapping for and with them while they are affirming.

Every client receives an intense folder of vital materials to help them in our concentrated work together that includes a selection of EFT instructions, information, and articles to inform and assist them in using EFT in their lives and in their vocal development.

Whenever a client arrives at the Studio with a cold or headache or body pain(s) or an upset stomach, etc., EFT is one of our first collaborations.  Many are feeling fine within 5-30 minutes.  One gal who, in our EFT work together, explored a disturbing childhood memory about having a cold, cleared a very serious cold in our session together, and has never had another cold in the years since.  I also do EFT phone consultations with them when they are preparing for important rehearsals, shows, and recording sessions.

My clients who work seriously with their self-healing materials and resources learn how to tap into their own ability to heal and balance themselves and their lives – and often find they no longer get sick as their families, friends, and colleagues do all around them.

After experiencing constant respiratory and digestive ailments and illness throughout my first three decades of life, I have spent the last 25 years clear of annual pneumonia, bronchitis infections. flu, and have cleared my systems of allergies, asthma, IBS, ulcers, headaches, and colds.  It is wonderful feeling easily clear and healthy, while all around me is so much advertising of medical care and medications galore.

It is so rewarding to teach my clientele such remarkable self-care, preventive care, and self-healing information that allows them to take wonderful charge of themselves and their health.

www.EFTUniverse.com

The Backrest can be done anytime of day:  if, in the morning or daytime, your intention will be to become Relaxed, Alert, while if done before bedtime, your intention will be to become Relaxed, Drowsy….

The Limbering can be done anytime of day, as well as just before and after any singing — rehearsing, performing, recording, etc.  Also, before/after working out, doing anything strenuous, or anything fine-tuned, important, etc.  You would do the Limbering always in order from the floor, upwards, whenever doing it before singing, or something important.  You also may do parts of it out of order anytime you wish to when not doing it before singing…

They each – Limbering and Backrest —  can be done before or after each other.  However, I imagine the Limbering would deepen the experience of the Backrest when done first….  Doing the Backrest would also deepen the experience of the Limbering Routine, as well!

I recommend doing the Backrest with the recording for at least the first 3 or 4 days in a row, before doing it just from the written instructions or from memory for a day or two, then doing again with the recording for another couple days, and then from memory, etc.  Seek to do it often from the recording, especially in the first couple months or so — the effects are cumulative and deeply beneficial in ways not always sensed….  I recommend the Backrest be done at least 6 out of 7 days weekly…, especially in the first few months to a year….

The effects from doing the Limbering Routine in order, regularly, are also cumulative and body-muscle-nerve-memory beneficial in great ways not always sensed by many….

Doing the Limbering and Backrest regularly helps all your layers/levels of yourself — body, mind, emotions,voice, creativity, social interaction, performing, metaphysical, and spiritual — work together better as a balanced team and improves your ability to learn and function more easily, more smoothly….

The Rak Limbering Routine (9 exercises) is available on the SHOP page at www.RakVocal.com in the Rak Vocal Care 3-CD-Set.  Or, you may email me to attach the detailed written instructions transcription in an email back to you, at RakVocal@aol.com

The BackRest Body Balance Process is available to you on the SHOP page at www.RakVocal.com.  The recording shares an easier way to experience the BackRest, and leaves you with a very much deeper, more thorough experience for you than your doing it from just the written instructions.

An affirmation, such as “My respiratory system is always clear and balanced.  I am singing easily and healthfully.”  can be said several times a day, before bed, upon arising…, even written and carried, which can be amazingly helpful.  The body, mind, and voice only do what the brain tells them to — re-program your brain, and your experience changes as well.

Drinking 8-12 full 8-oz glasses of plain water daily, some with lemon or lime in it, is helpful for hydrating the body and all its tissues and passages.  I recommend singers drink some water every hour they are awake, and have water by the bedside.

Sleeping on a newer, hypoallergenic pillow is helpful so they are not breathing in allergens and congesting particulates during sleep.

Telling the story to yourself and to others that you are healthy and breathing clearly is better for you than talking a lot about all the congestion problems bothering you –> your brain believes you!

A throat/nasal spray called Entertainer’s Secret Throat Relief (available online) can be used several times a day and helps keep the mucous membranes moist and eventually more healthy over time.

Using a neti pot daily (about $15 at drugstore) with light saltwater to cleanse the nostrils, nasal passages, and back of throat area (over a sink or in shower!) can be very helpful.

A breathing exercise called Alternate Nostril Breathing (about one minute) opens the passages more evenly — if done once or twice daily, within three weeks to three months.

Drinking drying beverages (pop, coffee, regular tea, alcohol, some medications…) can leave mouth and mucous tissues dry, so the secretions get sticky and difficult to clear out, and the vocal cords become resistant to the fast vibrating they must do, making them easily irritated or strained.

I do not recommend decongestants or antihistamines — they are too drying and have NO healing effects.  The measures I have outlined here are so much more effective and balancing for your body and voice.

Enjoy speaking and singing with your more lubricated and smooth-flowing voice!

You cannot be focused on what you do not want, and get what you do want.  So, make a choice.  You can think briefly on what you don’t want just to acknowledge that and discover how you do want to feel or what it is that you do want.  Then, turn all your thoughts, all your attention, on this issue, in the direction you are wanting – choose your thoughts, your feelings, your words, and your actions to be about what you do want.

Your brain fixates on the object of your sentences.

The singer says “I can’t get sick — I’ve got a show this weekend.”  His brain listens to him and, focusing on the object of his statement which is “get sick”, knows everything about how he gets sick, and works diligently to bring that about.

When Bobby is told by his teacher to write on the board 100 times:  “I will not hit Becky”, his brain has just focused 100 times on “hit Becky”.  No other activity is in his awareness but the thought of hitting Becky.

When children are told “Don’t run – you’ll fall”, their ability to trust in their bodies and in their own awareness of themselves is thwarted.

When the singer thinks “I am so afraid of that high section – I hope I don’t crack on that note.  I just know I’m going to have a problem there.  I always have trouble there.  My voice just isn’t feeling right today.” — she has set herself up to fail and to suffer.

So, let’s think and talk about how we want to be.  The singer can say:  “I am feeling healthy and strong.  I just know I’m going to sing a great show this weekend.”

The teacher can tell Bobby that Becky has something important to say and suggest that he listen to her calmly, and perhaps, he’ll like what she says.

Telling children to enjoy themselves as they play opens them to being able to remain aware of the physical choices they make with their bodies.

The singer can check in with herself and think:  “I just love how my voice is feeling.  I am looking forward to singing that song and sharing its meaning with my rapt audience.  My singing is becoming easier and more fulfilling all the time.  My practice sessions have been excellent, and I am well-prepared.  This is going to be great.”

I am going to think about how I want to be, and how I want to feel.  I am going to be more solution-oriented.  I am going to look in the direction of what feels better.  As I do this regularly, I will find myself shaping my mood, my outlook, and my experiences more and more positively.

How do I want to be?    I want to feel good.    I am successful.

My voice and I are a  GREAT  TEAM!

I am understanding myself and my voice

better every day.

I am understanding how to develop

and  use  my voice well,

in all  the ways I use it,

throughout every day.

I   CHOOSE   for my voice to be  liberated*.

  I   CHOOSE   to speak and sing  freely.

My voice and singing

are  developing  wonderfully.

 * Note:   think about your voice becoming liberated and freed from misconceptions, worries, inhibitions, weakness, malfunctioning parts, irritation, emotional repressions, inappropriate technique and usage, straight out wrong information & advice, injury, and, any other ways your voice hasn’t been allowed to sing  YOU  healthfully, easily, freely,  fully, expressively, creatively, passionately, powerfully, from your core and being                                CHOOSE!!

 Read this affirmation for yourself,  

write or print it out for yourself, and work with it every day… 

 See for yourself,   hear  for yourself

what you can do with your voice and your singing!

Voice Affirmation by Sheryl Rak

Singing as a Spiritual Practice

by  Jon Arterton