Body and Voice as Doorway to Authenticity and Liberation
Do you inhabit your body, heeding its messages, flowing with its language,
Or do you override the messages sent from soul via body
In favor of production, muscling through, and outcome?
We find ourselves, here on Earth, in a historical moment where we have increasing options to outsource decision-making to AI, authentic expression to financial profit and trends ripe with short-lasting dopamine-hits, and sense of self to corporate agendas. In other words, the technological and economical moment we are in makes it easier and comfier to forego the vulnerability of choice, authenticity, and spiritual and soul-level growth. The popularity of the word “vulnerability” might betray the depth of what I am talking about here – for personal choice, true authenticity, and growth on the more subtle yet essential planes of spirit and soul risk ostracization, ego-death, comfort, and life as we have known it.
A mindless scroll through social media might sound pretty tempting right about now.
(And, caveat: that mindless scroll also can be a fantastic tool for self-regulation in certain moments – don’t underestimate the power of distraction, yet don’t let it be the only tool in your toolbelt… use it wisely.)
Thus, disconnection from our bodies – sensations, instincts and impulses, movement, images produced from the body, and VOICE – leaves us susceptible to being controlled, manipulated, and voiceless, as well as disconnecting us from sense of purpose. Oppression strangles the breath. One way we liberate ourselves is through embodiment, freeing the breath, and freeing our own natural and unique voices.
Liberation happens in co-occurring planes that all weave into one another, like the knit of a sweater. Opening connection to your authentic decision-making, voice, and impulses is a thread in the sweater that affects the threads of more macro-level systems, too, such as relationships and communities.
One of the arenas in which the intricacy and inextricability of body, voice, relationship, community, history, society, and policy is perhaps most tangible is live theatre. The other night, I had a dream-come-true opportunity to see Shakespeare’s Othello onstage (this is one of my favorite plays). While there were lovely moments, I was surprised as to why I did not feel moved.
One of the glaring factors for this lack of impact — this lost communication — was that many of the actors’ voices were not coming from deep in their bodies. There was a sense of muscling through, performing, and pushing the voice. Our bodies, nervous systems, and souls know when a voice is coming from deep in the body – when the deep well of self is being accessed and communicated.
This issue could have been resolved through practice, training, and awareness. Instead of focusing on the show of it, or ticket sales, or whatever other focus might have taken precedence, there additionally could have been a reverence for the essential connection with body and voice that enables self to be expressed. And this expression is what connects, impacts, and reverberates. Then theatre exhibits its full potential of shifting consciousness and communities.
Then you can express your full potential of shifting consciousness and communities.
Having choice can feel overwhelming. Simultaneously, freedom of choice is a cornerstone of health, liberation, and humanization. There is a doorway waiting for you – in your body, breath, and voice – that whispers requests for you to look inward, dive deeper, and to live in your birthright of authenticity. These days, it is oh so tempting not to even look in the direction of that powerful doorway. However, not only will choosing to go through this door serve in your own freedom, but also it will allow true connection and communication. In this historical moment, I choose to go through this door. How about you?