This article is mainly esoteric in nature, and was created to potentially connect you very deeply to your voice, your authenticity, and a powerful performance :-).
Firstly, it feels important to quantify this information somewhat – I’m well aware that to many people it could be construed as pretty much “out there”… so if a more spiritual outlook on things is not for you, then the Level 1 videos, manual and articles, plus Level 2 videos, will probably work better for you.
I came to this because I’d taught for around 10 years using the Level 1 techniques, but found I couldn’t help students with stage fright and how to truly connect with their emotions, for explaining something is very different from experiencing it oneself. In other words, trying to explain things wasn’t helping, it needed to be their experience. So I needed to go deeper. I knew I needed something more but didn’t know what that was.
Then a dear friend of mine re-introduced me to the idea of the chakras and from there, the work of Cyndi Dale (book list and related articles below). Here was the answer I’d been looking for!:)
I found myself using her knowledge in my lessons, and, intuitively, Level 2 came about. Eventually I spoke with Cyndi and she was on board with me using her knowledge to help with singing/dealing with stage fright and doing a deeper dive into the emotional aspects of singing.
And, to be clear, the following information just brushes the surface of the Cyndi Dale books, but for our purposes a working understanding is all that’s necessary, I feel, singing being primarily an experiential thing. In that a deep esoteric understanding of the nature of things isn’t essential in this instance, just what is needed to help you connect with your vocal power:)
For understanding the pathways of energy and how to use them, can make all the difference to singing. Connecting you with yourself in a deep way, potentially opening pathways within, opening up to truly expressing the emotions of a song, and thus, the authentic you.
The four pathways
As in Cyndi’s book (see below “Advanced Chakra Healing”), let’s take the idea there are four pathways of being and healing which we are all subject to:
1.The Elemental pathway – the dimension of material reality, for example the physical body. Everything that is tangible around us.
2. The Power pathway – growing our own power and achieving power spiritually within ourselves and in the world. Saying what we mean, meaning what we say.
3. The Imagination pathway – which works with the other three paths, helping or hindering us in our goals. The anti-world is the home of the imagination pathway, our imagination, and is situated behind the chakras; the 7 in-body chakras we use to sing (Cyndi Dales’ has a 12 chakra system, 7 in the body, 5 in and around the body) running up the spine, and in the center and crown of the head.
4. The Divine pathway – surrendering to the ineffable mystery of a divine path, and the idea ‘thy will, not mine’. One can take this on the level of finding and developing one’s own personal humility, and/or surrendering to source energy, the divine energy from which everything is made.
All the pathways intersect and if we heal on one pathway, it impacts all of the others. Likewise with singing, when we connect truly on one pathway, we also connect on all of the other pathways. In fact, when we’re singing and being truly authentic, connecting with ourselves, our voice and a song, we’re balanced on all four pathways – which is why it feels so good:)
And a powerful way to consciously connect with the emotions, the story of a song and your authentic self, is through the imagination pathway, or “anti-world”.
The anti–world
One can view the imagination pathway as being the “river of energy” that I mention in the Level 2 videos. It runs up and down the back, and is the home of our imagination, aka our “Imaginationland”.
The antiworld is a place of mystery and magic, energy that we can draw upon for power and guidance. Since in a physical sense it’s made of nothing and so doesn’t exist, it can go anywhere, do anything.
And as with everything in this dualistic world, it can work for us, or against us. We’ve all experienced this – especially our worst fears being manifest – and with singing there is no difference.
For example, taking a breath to go for that high note knowing you’re not going to get it and, hey presto, that’s exactly what happens. The imagination pathway at work (and, of course, if we mix that with the elemental and power pathways, we can change the negative to a positive and visa versa. For example, physically practicing the high note before we perform a song, so we get it absolutely right, will always help 🙂 The power and elemental pathways combined.
Any doubt about our performance will always be manifest physically in some way, but the start of the imbalance is always the imagination pathway.
Conversely, putting the attention in the center of the heart (the heart chakra being the center of our true self), and a place of peace, then simply observing our fears, from neutrality, can make a huge difference. We come into balance with the anti-world and let our intuition guide us to the place or space we need to go/be. When we do that, we’re working with the divine pathway:) (And, FYI , this is why the meditations came to be. One can’t think oneself into this kind of space, it needs to be felt, so the emotion memory has a reference to draw upon).
We can give the imagination pathway a home by visualizing it centered behind the spine, in the chakras centered in the spine, and the space between the spine and the center of the body (see diagram). The energy of the chakras are then also reflected in the center of the body, and we can access them from either the back, or the center of the body.
The anti-world is the area between the center of your body and the space behind the chakras.
Here is an exercise to connect you with the imagination pathway:
1. Imagine a glowing rod in the center of your body that connects the heart and the solar plexus.
2. Breathe through your back into this rod.
3. With your attention in this rod, now reach out to the imagination pathway. See it as a glowing river of energy running from your tailbone to the crown of your head.
4. Sing a note to “aah”, traveling from the tailbone to the top of the head, note in the center of the body (let the note be smooth, as in the siren sound exercise). Imagine that your note is being supported by the glowing river of the imagination pathway as you sing.
5. Now do the same thing, note centered in the spine.
6. Now sing the note visualizing it behind the spine.
Did you hear the difference in the notes? The note behind the spine sounds richer and fuller. Plus, visualizing the note as a glowing river of energy can help with smoothly transitioning up the scale.
7. Now sing the note 3 times again, center spine and behind the spine, and as you sing from the root chakra to the crown chakra, at the same time imagine the note starting in the crown chakra and descending to the root chakra. So you visualize the note going down as it also goes up, like a pulley system, and as in the Level 1 videos. This stops the note from sounding thin as you ascend the scale.
8. Now sing all three notes again, this time going up and down (as in the siren sound exercises).
Take your time, stop if it’s not sounding right and go back to the beginning. You’re programming in a new technique, using the imagination/anti-world pathway. Once you feel you have this technique in place, your emotion memory will remember it. It will help you access the high notes and connect with the “flute” idea of your vocal range, helping to make your voice much more agile:)
It will also program in remembering to breathe into your back as you breathe in, and how to transition from root to head voice, for example, especially in a song that calls for a lot of vocal range.
The chakras
The chakras are seen as the power houses of the body. They have an alchemical center, an inner and outer ring, and each one has a particular property and function within the body (see diagram, and below for an article on the chakras).
When we connect with the river of energy (and thus the imagination pathway), we then connect with these energetic power houses. This makes it much easier to express a songs’ emotions. The emotion memory will remember the feeling of connection because we’ve already practiced it, and by doing this, felt it.
Chakra Connection to
Root Stability
Sacral Creativity
Solar Plexus Emotions
Heart Love
Throat Speaking truth
3rd Eye Our mystical self
Crown The Higher self
The front of the chakras is where we look to the future, our desires and goals. The back of the chakras are where we hold on to or remember the past and the home of our unconscious self. The sides of the chakra lead us to the here and now and the balance of yin/yang.
It goes deeper than this though. The front of a chakra is the opposite of the back, the conscious vs. the unconscious. The back of a chakra is also the “anti-world”, our imagination land. We can make this a place of tension and blockage, or a place of magic.
For the auspices of this program, though, we’re imagining the whole of the space – from behind the back to the center of the body – as being our imagination playground. Because singing is so all encompassing this brings all pathways together to create a cohesive, authentic, powerful performance.
Imagination Pathway Exercises
This exercise connects you to all of your chakras by breathing into your back (imagine you’re breathing into all 7 chakras at the same time, energy centered in the heart):
- First, simply breathe in. As you do so, imagine you’re breathing in:
Confidence /power/whatever your instinct tells you. Breathe this in from behind your spine, through the anti-world to the center of your body, energy centered in the heart. Then breathe your fears back out, through the anti-world and back out to behind your spine, through all of your chakras. Consciously let the energy go as you breathe out. This can be a great release. Also a great exercise to do just before stepping onto a stage :-).
Then breathe again:
2. Through your back and the anti-world, energy centered at the solar plexus chakra as you breathe in, then focus on whichever chakra your instinct tells you needs to sing with (heart – am I expressing love? Is it angst? – solar plexus, and so on).
3. Try doing this before singing a song. Speak the lyrics like a poem, noticing the feeling of the song, feeling instinctively where the emotion is coming from, then make a mental note to draw on the energy of that part of your body when singing the song. Read the lyrics again, consciously connecting with the emotions of the song. Your pathway is then set, the emotion memory of your body will travel up and down your imagination pathway as you sing to help you find it again as you sing the song. This can be transformational.
(You can also use the imagination pathway to heal the body and let go of stress. Say your diaphragm is really tight and uncomfortable. Imagine breathing healing energy into the heart and diaphragm, then breathing out the tension into the anti-world as above, energy always starts at the heart then moves to the affected area).
As seen above, when singing, the anti-world has many uses. It connects us to our imagination, the energy of the chakras up and down the back, and connects us to our creative energy.
Breathe into the back
Breathe through the back into the diaphragm. Know that the chakras centered in the spine are also reflected in the center of your body.
The area between the spine and the center of your body is your imagination pathway playground. You’re free to go anywhere with your imagination, feel whatever you want to feel.
Magic
My personal feeling is that we tend to think we’re hapless, bouncing around life‘s vicissitudes (posh prose), when in reality we have a lot more power than we realize:)
Singing brings all of this up, which is why it can be so challenging. Many deep issues can arise. Train yourself to think ‘As I’m breathing in I’m connecting with my imagination pathway. This is a mystical thing. Me and not me. It is my friend. It can take me anywhere.’ Learn to give your singing experience to IT, and see where it takes you :-). When you truly let go, this can be a magical experience. You’ll reach the end of the song and go ‘how did I do that!’ It doesn’t matter. You did it. You don’t need to know 🙂
In this way, the anti-world is the doorway to incredible possibilities.
From Cyndi Dale’s “The Complete Book of Chakra Healing”: “If we can heal the physical, emotional or spiritual issues hidden in or caused by our unconscious, our conscious reality will respond accordingly…the front side of each chakra connects to concrete reality, which is regulated by the everyday world, whereas the back side of each chakra links us to dimensions and energies that stretch far beyond the day-to-day world.”
In this way, the anti-world, the home of the imagination pathway, is a place of magic.
As mentioned earlier, since each of the first five in body chakras extends out behind the back a small amount, so the energy of the anti-world also runs up and down the back.
As with the exercise above, when we breathe into the back to sing, we’re breathing in the anti-world, and our imagination. When we breathe this energy into the heart, the center of our chakra system, it has a lot more power than if we do so with our attention in the head.
As demonstrated above, can also use heart anti-world energy to connect us with any of the other chakras and subtle bodies within and around us.
Quote from “Advanced Chakra Healing”: “Essence energy works two ways. It exists in a balled-up form within the center of each chakra and is strongest within the heart energy center, ready and waiting to be energized.
This inner self, the one I usually call the spirit or essence, is imprinted with information about our essential purpose, essential needs, and essential personality. We could say that our real selves are walled up within our hearts, waiting to break free. Our real selves are waiting for the day that our body, mind, and soul start working together instead of separately”.
In other words, when all four pathways are working together as one, we find mastery.
When singing, keeping the attention in the heart and consciously breathing in imagination pathway essence can take us to great intuitive heights.
And helps us release that balled up essence energy mentioned above. And stop us from tensing up, not trusting our breath or intuition.
Connecting with the anti-world
You connect with the anti-world directly when you sing. Imagine yourself expanding, like the big bang, as you breathe in, like you have huge wings. Enjoy your breath and connect with your diaphragm, feeling light and free.
Let the diaphragm and heart communicate, like there’s a rod of energy connecting them together. Let your imagination take you where you want to go – let it be your instinctual guide.
Breathing Sideways
When we breathe into the back and breathe sideways, it connects us directly to the here and now. We’re not worried about the note we’re about to sing, or have just sung, and learn to enjoy the experience of letting sound reverberate through the body and the chakras.
The left sides of the chakras are feminine in quality, and the right side male. When we breathe sideways, we’re also breathing into our primal physical essence, while also balancing our primal energies. Back is the past, front forward, and sideways here and now. Here and now is where the magic is at :-).
Breathe antiworld energy in from the back, then let the energy expand sideways. Feel the infinite energy of breathing in sideways, and how it connects you to your infinite self.
The Chakras and the Antiworld
Once we’ve breathed into the chakras and experienced the infinite energy of a sideways breath, we can then use their energy to express a song.
Take a line that you know how to sing well and feel confident in singing. Breathe in, then sing the line from the center of the heart chakra. Express the emotions honestly and authentically. See how that feels. Then do the same thing from the back of the heart chakra (from the anti-world).
See how that feels. Then do the same thing from the front of the chakra (an inch or so in front of the spine). See how that feels.
You can do the same thing with any of the chakras. Once you’ve breathed in to the heart, let anti-world instinct take you to which ever chakra you feel best expresses the emotions of the lyric. Is it heart emotion? (Heart chakra), forcefully powerful (root) etc.
The Inner Anti-world
To activate more of the anti-world, you can also do the same thing with the area inside the body.
Breathe into the area between the spine and the center of the body. Breathe antiworld energy into the body, and imagine that this space then becomes the antiworld.
Once you’ve breathed the energy of the anti-world into the body and felt your sideways energy, then let go and use this energy to travel up and down your “river of energy” (as in the Level 2 videos) connecting with the feeling of the song and the truth of your emotions. Let your imagination pathway take you where you need to go.
Your diaphragm, body and emotion memory know how to sing. Let them do it and be the observer, marveling at the journey you’re being taken on ;-).
Connecting with the heavens and the earth
One last imagination pathway exercise. Having established that the back of the chakras are where the imagination pathway is housed (and that they all connect behind the back, running from the tailbone up into the head and crown chakra, the back of each chakra including the head and crown – see diagram), let’s take this further. It might be easier to try this seated, initially. In a straight back chair, bare foot, feet on the floor equidistant to the knees and hips.
Hopefully you’ve now also cleansed the chakras by breathing into the back and center of the body, and breathing out again. There might still feel like some “holding on” going on, but by simply doing this you’ll prepare yourself for this particular exercise:) Also, by singing the siren exercise through all parts of the imagination pathway (center of the body, center of the spine/chakras, behind the chakras) you’ve found the different pathways of the note.
Before trying this next exercise, listen to the “father, mother, child” meditation. This will place you into the vibration of energy coming from above through your body and down to the center of the earth; then up from the center of the earth through your body and back up to the heavens.
After the meditation, keep your attention in your heart and sing a song you love and feel you sing to the best of your ability. If it needs work, then all well and good :-). Consciously give the note to the rod connecting the diaphragm and heart by humming to “mmm”. Let it vibrate with the sound. At the same time, give the song to the diaphragm. It knows how to sing. Let it do your emoting for you.
Now sing the song from the imagination pathway behind your back. Let it take you where you need to go, steered by the diaphragm and heart. Let go and surrender. Enjoy the experience and if you mess up, try not to judge. On to the next note and phrase. Until you get the feeling of this dialed in, let this technique become part of your practice. You will take this vibration into your performance. It will make it bigger and more resonant.
Related articles:
The four pathways
What is a chakra?
The bubble.
Why meditate?
Father, mother, child meditation.
Cyndi Dales’s books:
Advanced Chakra Healing: Four pathways to Energetic Wellness and Transformation
Illuminating the Afterlife
The Complete Book of Chakra Healing