E021 - Tapping for Blocked Voices (Heal Your Voice)

Welcome to the tapping for blocked voices tapping meditation. Vocal blocks are experienced not just in the mind, but in the body too. If you pay attention, you might feel a closing of your throat. Or you could have a lot of intensity in your solar plexus below your ribs, or a clenching stomach. Some describe pressure on the chest, or all of these symptoms and more.

Tapping helps us integrate the mind and body, and when used more deeply can help us release long-held trauma.

Enjoy the Tapping video or read the blog below.

Blocked voices become this way because at some point when we were little, children discover it’s not safe to speak. They may also discover that it’s not safe to express their feelings or make a noise, and many find that being in front of crowds is very scary.

Tapping on these issues helps us be really present with the reactions that come up in mind and body, giving us an opportunity to create new possibilities. It even helps us create new neural pathways using our brain’s amazing neuro-plasticity.

So I’d like you to connect with a situation in which you experience vocal blocks. Imagine yourself there, and feel it in your body. Try and really access the feeling. Notice where the feelings show up in your body—maybe in your solar plexus, throat, stomach, chest, head, or anywhere else. 

On a scale from zero to 10, how intense is the feeling? Please make a mental note of that number before we begin. 

Begin by taking a long, conscious, loving breath in, and then let it out. In this process we start by focusing on the block, contraction, or negative feeling, and we honor the truth of how we feel.

We’ll work on the intensity of that feeling with tapping to see if you can feel safer and more accepting.

1. Tap on the side of your hand at the karate point. Repeat after me, either in your mind, or out loud: "Even though my voice is feeling blocked, I honor how I feel and I give my body permission to relax. Even though I feel this constriction in my body, I honor how I feel and I am open to letting go. Even though I feel this tension in my body, I accept how I feel and I relax more with every tap."
2. Eyebrow. "All these vocal blocks."
3. Side of the eye. "I notice how it feels in my body."
4. Under the eye. "I notice the emotions."
5. Under the nose. "All this constriction, I notice where it is in my body."
6. Above the chin. "It's hard to let my voice be free."
7. Collarbone. "It’s hard to trust my voice."
8. Under the arm. "And sometimes I get overwhelmed."
9. Top of the head. "And I feel it in my body."
10. Tap on your eyebrow point. Think about a scenario where your voice lets you down. I'll guide you through the tapping points. You don't need to repeat what I say now. At the eyebrow point, remember a situation in which your voice gets blocked. 
11. Now move to the side of the eye. Notice that you are safe wherever you are right now, in this moment. Ground into your body. Remember the situation that makes your voice close up.
12. Under the eye, ask yourself, what is this shutting down all about? Where else does this happen? Keep tapping under the eye and see if anything comes up. There’s no pressure, just trust yourself, you’re doing great. Maybe it's just in one area of your life, maybe in many. All you have to do here is keep breathing, tapping, and being present with your feelings as your body continues to relax. 
13. Under your nose. Really let yourself be present, here and now. Feel your feet and lower body too as you tap, and allow any feelings to arise.
14. Above the chin. Feeling the tension or blocks, you can now begin to let them go.  Breathing deeply, let the tension patterns go.
15. Collarbone. Remember what causes these blocks… speaking or singing, groups of people or specific people… And you can see that you can remember the blocks, feel the tension, but you can also bring relaxation into your body.
16. Under the arm. See what else is arising about these blocks. Just let it happen and trust your body, you’re really doing great.
17. Move to the top of the head. Now imagine the same situation without the blocks. Imagine being confident and secure. Imagine your voice sounding clear, purposeful, and beautiful. Imagine how your body would feel. Imagine how your breath would feel.
18. Move back to the eyebrow point. Repeat after me: "It's safe for me to love my voice. It’s safe for me to trust my voice. It’s safe for me to release these vocal blocks."
19. Side of the eye. "It is safe for me to speak. It is safe for me to sing."
20. Under the eye. "I love my voice. I am safe."
21. Under the nose. "I don’t have to be perfect."
22. Under the mouth. "Even as I am, I allow this change."
23. Collarbone. "Little by little I release these blocks."
24. Under the arm. "I accept my humanity."
25. Top of the head. "I choose to have a voice in the world."
26. Eyebrow. "I step into my power."
27. Side of the eye. "I can do this in lots of safe little steps."
28. Under the eye. "I trust my body and I am patient with myself."
29. Under the nose. "I allow my voice to heal."
30. Under the mouth. "I release the tension in my throat."
31. Collarbone. "It is safe for me to express myself."
32. Under the arm. "I'm here, grounded in my body."
33. Top of the head.  "I'm here, present in this moment. I am grateful."
34. Pause for a moment. Take a long, deep breath. Notice how you feel inside. Remember our intensity scale from zero to 10? Rate the intensity of your vocal block now from zero to 10. Make a note of that. 

You tapped just for a short time here, but I hope you began to feel some letting go. The process of freeing your voice is made up of lots of little steps just like this.

Any shift toward vocal freedom is to be celebrated and is part of the process of rewiring your brain into confidence. Your nervous system is built to learn new ways of being. The more you do this process, the deeper it goes. And as you use it more, think of all the scenarios in which your voice shuts down or lets you down.

Keep tapping, and be kind to yourself.