In my early years post college, meditation and mindfulness was all the rage. Being a self-improvement junkie, I immediately hopped on to the meditation train…but ran into some hiccups…

1.The first way I was exposed to meditation…was by staying still. Having sat in school against my will for decades, sitting, and more specifically, staying still,  felt like yet another prison. 

2.It seemed to require discipline and controlling your attention. I was quite disciplined already…to a fault, where I forgot to have fun, I forgot to savor the moment…and the way I controlled my attention was through tension, by inhibiting my movement. 

3.My body was starving for movement and my heart was starving for fun and play. It wasn’t until many years later, that I ran into other ways of developing mindfulness that match up to how humans build awareness in general: through movement and through play. 

How do you think little babies understand their own bodies in space? How do they learn to walk, how do they eventually learn how to walk without running into other objects, or people? 

They move. They find more awareness through movement. They absolutely do not sit still…and they do not work…which usually means play (although it can also mean getting needs met, like hunger, thirst, etc.). 

Does that mean I’m against the stereotypical way of meditating? Absolutely not! When I’ve been hiking all day, sitting down and meditating actually sounds quite lovely! 

It does mean that mindfulness came into my life through singing and movement…and still remains a central access point to mindfulness for me, because it is actually fun to explore mindfulness through singing, playing piano and movement and it is the antidote to all the “staying still” that I have to do as a part of life…but here’s the secret benefit: I can actually stay still more easily, because my needs for movement and play are well met. 

Just like a child who can focus better after having played, you can find more self-awareness, self-trust and therefore self-confidence in singing, by exploring awareness through the movements of singing. 

So if you dread the idea of meditation, but love the idea exploring your voice and running into mindfulness along the way, the Feel Better Sing Better Class is for you. 

The FBSB Class emphasizes self-awareness, but the goal is to improve your singing and your ability to really play with your voice and really enjoy singing in a way that builds confidence. 

To be clear, as someone who came to singing with an overwhelming desire to get better (not necessarily to get more mindful, or enjoy myself, or have fun) developing awareness in singing is actually the smartest way to make real progress. So if all you care about is getting the high notes, this is still the most effective way to get there. 

Here’s an example…imagine you are driving with your eyes closed, and you are trying out different “techniques” with the brake and the accelerator and the steering wheel, hoping you’ll get to your destination. This is similar to most vocal techniques out there. 

Now imagine, you slowly open your eyes, and write out a map of what you see, where you want to go and whether what you’re currently doing is moving you towards that point. This is developing self-awareness through singing. It works mucho better-o. 

So if you want to develop more self-confidence, self-trust, real progress and joy in singing, this class is for you. Oh, and you might get more mindful without having to sit still.  Yay! 

"The FBSB class was helpful for me as someone who doesn't have any music background, getting the mindful body awareness and blending it into singing was SUPER cool!!!"

-Megan P.