Speaking louder

[sleep]

Ever since I was little I've had difficulty in social situations because my voice is too hard to hear. I'm sure some of this has to do with social anxiety and mental blockages like that, but my voice is also just quiet. I'm learning to project my voice right now through youtube videos, but i'd be thankful if people with experience tackling this problem could share some useful information with me. Exercises or breathing tips, anyone know stuff like that?

[JonasVE12]

If you could go outside and scream super loudly without hurting your voice, and then doing that everyday for a month, that will naturally release a lot of this tension around your throat area which will result in more effortless projection of your voice. What also helped me was doing Osho's dynamic meditations outside because that released a ton of shame and fear around being seen expressing through movement, voice and emotion. That needs to be a consistent practice as well. I think 90% of projecting your voice is about releasing physical, energetic and psychological barriers that let you feel small, shameful and fearful.

And you have to make sure that when you talk to someone, that you are really present in your body, you talk into them, and not unconsciously tightening the throat, heart, legs and stomach. You mentioned mental blockages and social anxiety, and so naturally when you have those, that builds up tension inside your body, contracts your muscles, and eventually you don't even notice all the micro-tightness you have in your body. It's very unconscious. Some deep tissue massages will definitely help. Doing some social challenges outside your comfort zone are also a nice way to build more confidence and naturally become more expansive with your energy. Really 90% of your voice is energy. If you feel small, your voice will reflect this. If you feel powerful and confident, that will change your voice instantly. 

I know people with a more soft naturally quiet voice, but internally they are peaceful and confident that when they speak, it's with full presence and clarity. They are not tightening the body and the voice flows from their lower body where it generates it's power. Especially if the stomach is contracted, your voice will sound weak. 

Learning technique comes on top of this in my opinion. I find that if you focus too much on thinking about techniques, trying to do everything with right technique and all of that, you're really missing what it's about. Though if you can integrate those and eventually let the thinking about the technique go, that's cool and will definitely be helpful to your voice. But yeah, it's also an issue if you're just thinking about techniques instead of doing the deeper work. I would suggest the social anxiety and mental blockages are a bigger issue, no? The voice is really just a symptom of the mental stuff. Not saying you don't have a naturally quiet voice but that doesn't mean you can't use it powerfully.

[sleep]

@JonasVE12 I generally agree with your messages and yeah, mental factors might be playing a role but knowing myself I genuinely think a bigger part of it might be just the volume of my voice. I know that most of the times when my voice sounds low I'm not speaking with shame or anything like that. Ill watch the tightness in my body though, thanks for the tip. 

Oh also about the energy, I'm not sure using more energy when speaking will help. A lot of times when I'm speaking too loudly (for my own standards) for too long my voice will become coarse and tired and I'll have to stop speaking for a bit. You probably meant energy in some other way but I thought that might be an important point regarding my voice. 

I'm not sure my problem is so abstract as using my voice with power or confidence, I think it's more of a simple matter of actually speaking loudly enough for other people to hear me.

Edited May 14, 2022 by sleep

[JonasVE12]

@sleep Yeah, I understand. If it does not resonate, just discard it

I mean something slightly different though. It's very subtle and also difficult to explain through writing. 

If you want you can post a voice message here or send it to me in PM and I can kind of feel what's going on inside you, and I can locate energy blockages / tightness through your voice. So if you want, feel free. 

[sleep]

@JonasVE12 lol the fact that I'm reluctant to send you a voice message makes me think your previous messages was right

[michaelcycle00]

2 hours ago, JonasVE12 said:

I can locate energy blockages / tightness through your voice. So if you want, feel free. 

Lol. Are you serious?

[JonasVE12]

@sleep How would you feel screaming as loud as you can in public? Do you shrink and become tight? Does your body even allow it or do you feel an intense contraction?

@michaelcycle00 That's just one of lots of my spiritual powers. I've got many more . Just kidding, it's not as spectacular as it sounds. It's just intuitively feeling someone else's emotions through their voice. You can feel from which parts of their body they are communicating, from where their energy is flowing, and where it is stuck. Every kind of blockage has a different feeling to it. For example, have you ever noticed someone speaking when they are depressed and apathetic, and then in contrast, have you ever noticed someone talking with a lot of excitement? Almost anyone can feel the difference between those 2. Yet, there is a lot more emotions than you can feel that are a lot more subtle. 

 

 

[sleep]

@JonasVE12 No, I dont think I could scream in public.

[Leo Gura]

The best thing is to go out to loud clubs and practice projecting your voice loud over the music.

You have to really push air through it. Really push it.

Your voice will get significantly louder and deeper. Your vocal chords will hurt for about a week and then they will grow rougher and tougher. Like training a muscle.

[ZzzleepingBear]

By one of those megaphones:-)

[somegirl]

@sleep

I can relate to you as I also have weak, airy voice and not strong volume. My voice is weird and not girly at all. I have love/hate relationship with it lol. People sometimes have trouble hearing me the first time I say something.

I have been to clubs and parties with loud music and all... I was speaking very loudly, and I can manage to get people to hear me, but it takes such an effort man. My throat... ?

Though I know I'm able to have loud voice because I was screaming as an teenager all the time arguing with everything and everyone. Thought that would help me "train my voice" to become stronger but it didn't. I think it might have became weaker. 

So I don't know will it always be this way for us.

For example I can think of people like Miley Cyrus and her strong, vibrating voice. I bet she can whisper and still be heard very clearly. She always had strong voice but her voice became significantly deeper when she started smoking weed. So... I guess there's that. 

[Bando]

@Benton Good video