Voices

“The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play.”  ─ Richard Strauss

Since I first began teaching yoga in 2009, I’ve listened to online yoga classes to help me fine-tune my verbal instruction. I do this while cooking, driving, or anything else that doesn’t require my undivided attention. I hear echoes of the instructors’ voices as I continue to explore my own voice as a teacher and yogi.

Exploring one’s voice came up in a recent Wiser Than Me interview between podcast host Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her guest Julie Andrews. Andrews talked about the damage to her vocal cords in 1997 and how she’s been unable to sing ever since. It had been a heartbreaking loss, she said, and had led to a bout with depression. The depression was its own kind of voice.

The upside of the conversation was, as hard as this loss has been to Andrews (who’s now 88), she’s maintained the drive to express herself and has found different ways to use her voice for the greater good, which are to write children’s books with her daughter and to support new voices in the performing arts.

The interview made me think about my own voice: the voice I use when teaching, when writing, when making love, when having an argument. It made me think about the voices from my past that have informed who I am today. It made me think about the voices inside my head and the voices inside my heart when I become still enough to listen.

I’m writing this the day after the first presidential debate, knowing that President Biden’s current voice sounds different from his past voice, and that his current voice just might be the deciding factor in this crucial election.

Voices matter. They’re difficult instruments to play. May you hear echoes of your own beautiful voice as you continue to explore when to spread your arms and sing, and when to become still and listen.