The Naked Voice

Courses

• Introductory Workshops
• Residential Weekends
• 5 Day Residentials
• 2009 Naked Voice Training
• Consultancy Work
• Facilitator Trainings
• Reviews
• Online Booking

Three Year Facilitator Trainings

Masashi Minagawa

Chloë Goodchild

Nicholas Twilley

The Naked Voice - An Overview

There is a wisdom inside you, older and deeper than the polarity of all conflict. Your naked voice opens up a way to it. We can lose sight of this wisdom in early childhood, due to cultural, socio-political or religious conditioning. Your naked voice is the vibration and resonance of your true nature, prior to the personality or social voice. The primary aim of The Naked Voice work is to provide the deep listening and communication skills that restore a direct connection with this naked voice inside you - through meditative, vocal and movement practices, energising your body, heart and soul to sing its unique song of life.

Since I began exploring East-West voice and sound as a metaphor for living, a music of love, and a language of spirit, some 20 years ago, voice and sound workshops of all kinds have become increasingly popular. They cover a range of approaches and styles, each one exploring a dimension of the healing power of sound: contemplative, therapeutic, performance and ritual, etc. Medical, environmental and cymatic scientists bring their understanding to this field through their focus on sound resonance.

The Naked Voice is the vibration in your soul that inhabits and inspires all experiential research into the transforming power of sound.

The Naked Voice Training is a part-time, modular, residential training (Module One: 2 x 5-days, Module Two: 1 x 7-days, Module Three: 1 x 7-days), with courses available in Ireland, Europe, North America, Canada and the UK. It introduces you to the essential music philosophy, voice and sound practices to facilitate an in-depth & direct dialogue with your own naked voice, and apply this self-knowledge in everyday life at home and work. The result is the establishment of a strong ‘wisdom body and voice’ that integrates the 3 wisdoms -your instinct, intuition and insight - into a 4th wisdom of love that enables you to mine the deepest elements of the creative life with effortless energy, sound awareness, and compassionate action.

Chloë Goodchild

Module One - Instinctual Wisdom

The Witness Consciousness & The Eternal Present

5 Day Residential Retreats:
Dunderry Park, Co Meath, Ireland: 14 (eve) - 19 March 2008, Hollyhock, British Columbia, Canada: 28 Sept - 3 Oct 2008,

Download application form for 2008 (Ireland only, 14-19 March)

“The Witness Consciousness is central to classical Indian Yoga. This is a state of unitary awareness, an even, undifferentiated continuum of choice-less witnessing which remains constant and unchanging through all levels of mental emotional intensity, in waking, dreaming and dreamless sleep, in ‘bhava’, in Samadhi (bliss), during meditative movement (eg.shintaido=newbodyway*), meditation and ecstatic musical expression. The Witness Consciousness is both the fruit of yoga and prior to it, for it exists in the Eternal Present.” (Ananda Mayi Ma)

The ‘witness’ is a faculty of attention that is able to simultaneously observe the play of the ‘actor-singer’ and the ‘audience’ without judgment.

This self-observing intelligence traverses the conditional and unconditional reality of life at the same time.

“Keep your thinking on a level where praise and blame, filth and sandal paste become alike. Nothing in the world should be repulsive to you. Look into your own heart and become repelled by repulsion”(Ananda Mayi Ma)

Essential Sound Awareness Practices -

• Breath and the activation of the life force
• The contemplative voice
• Aum
• 7 petalled lotus ladder mantra
• One breath one voice
• The 7 seven sounds of love
• Focus: sa (root), re (sacrum), ga (belly)
• The heart sutra mantra
• *Tenshingoso - the cycle of life - energy movement www.shintaido.com

 

From these practices arise a direct understanding of the Witness Consciousness, leading to a deeper intention to engage with the light and dark realms of the soul, with the intention of activating the capacity to love - oneself and others - from a depth of listening and a receptivity of expression hat is spontaneous, generous, non-judgmental and self-nourishing. Such love awakens a self-awareness that enables us to begin tracking and observing our instinctual, intuitive and insightful wisdom with oneself and with others, without being consumed by, or addicted to, our stories anymore.

Module One can be undertaken either as a complete, stand-alone course, or as the first part of the Naked Voice Facilitator Training.

Module Two - Intuitive Wisdom

Integrating The Witness & The Loyal Friend

7 Day Residential Retreats:

Dunderry Park, Co, Meath, Ireland: 21 - 28 May 2008

Download application form for 2008

We will approach our beloved MA in the centre of the chest, with deepest reverence, from above, below, and in ways we cannot yet imagine. For she is beyond imagination. Yet through the imagination of your unique soul sound, you will catch glimpses of Her. She is the One who has been loving you all your life. Once the door of MA’s love has opened inside you, nothing is ever quite the same again. She awakens your intuitive heart, & you find yourself moving from a ‘me-centred’ reality, driven by the moods and passions of the belly; driven by: SA (root) – RE (sacrum)- GA (solar plexus), to a ‘being-centred’ reality, inspired by the alchemical dance between GA (navel) - MA (heart) - PA (throat). With this arises a new depth of self-acceptance, and a sound awareness that penetrates the heart with a new light, opening up immensities in your soul, and a devotional voice and sound that transports you and your listeners beyond the limitations and fears of the rational mind. In MODULE 2 you move from an I-ME, US-THEM exclusive or possessive relationship with the world, to an I-THOU inclusive relationship, with yourself and the world. In Module 2 you move beyond the obsessions of survival and security issues, integrating your earthy aliveness, your instinctual passions and creative desires with the erotic aliveness and intuitive caring of your compassionate heart. Your Intuitive Wisdom strengthens the imaginative genius of your own Loyal Friend, anchored ever-more deeply in the Witness Consciousness.

In Module 2 you develop a musicianship of love inspired by the subtleties of the human heart (MA), and informed by the transformative support and guidance of the musical modes.

Essential Sound Practices

Module One practices: The AUM - Mandukya Upanishad (learnt by heart);
The Gayatri Mantra (in-depth); The Seven Sounds of Love - informed by the musical modes; Focus on SA-RE-GA-MA-PA; The 6 Musical Modes:
Ionian (C), Dorian (D), Phrygian (E), Lydian (F), Mixolydian (G), Aeolian (A);

Sound Indian Vocal practices (Maya Malava Gowla Raga); the creation and recording of a small repertoire of personal songs; simple improvisation using the “saptak” (the seven steps);The Singing Field Process; an Introductory NV Workshop; rhythm and poetry,a s well as:
Energy Movement:
Taimyo - Part 1 - 2 -3 with Masashi Minagawa - www.shintaido.com

 

Preparation for Module 2

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS: 1 or 2 of the 5-Day Module One Trainings (subject to Chloë’s approval), a knowledge of the 6 musical modes (as featured in the ‘Awakening Through Sound’ CD/DVD), a 2 – 5 day silent retreat, preferably with your allies; a minimum of 2 Voicelines with Chloe in the months prior to Module 2; a CD or taped demo, songs, chants, improvisations in SA RE GA scale and/or 1 - 3 of the musical modes. Further detailed requirements will be given on receipt of deposit.

BOOKING AND PAYMENT: To Book a place, complete the form, attached, and send either a £100 (non-refundable, non-transferable) deposit, or the ‘early bird’ payment.

If not taking the early bird offer, the £100 deposit is payable to secure your place with the balance due prior to the commencement of the training.

If you have any further enquiries do not hesitate to contact us.

We will be in touch nearer the time of the Training, in response to your written and recorded material. If you wish to contact our other Facilitator students to gain more insight into the work, let us know, and we will put you in touch.

Module Three - Insightful Wisdom

Your Naked Voice - Insight Wisdom

7 Day Residential Retreat:

Croydon Hall, Somerset, UK: 22 - 29 November, 2008

Download application form for 2008

The Metaphor, Musicianship and Metaphysics of Your Naked Voice

The focus of Module Three is the whole octave of consciousness from the root SA through RE (pelvis), GA (solar plexus), MA (heart), PA (throat), DHA (diamond eye), NI (head), to heavenly SA (crown) and all the musical intervals in between.

Module Three offers students a context to deepen and to integrate their vocal, energetic, spiritual, and philosophical understanding into a comprehensive set of facilitator skills that enable them to access a deeper sound intelligence that has the capacity to generate a voice, that integrates the instinctive, intuitive and insightful voices of the soul, and enables them to facilitate themselves and others on a journey with the voice, informed by the Musical Modes, Energy Movement, and World Rhythms.

In Module Three students demonstrate an embodied awareness of the transformative power of their naked voice and sound, from a depth of listening, communication skills, and a unique musicianship of their own. Module Three provides the context in which students come together to integrate, collaborate and expand specific voice and sound projects - general voice groups, therapeutic or educational work, or performance pieces - that they have already been researching, developing and piloting in the world, or local communities.

Students will be invited to demonstrate their understanding and full expression of the naked voice, both in its free and improvised form; as well as in its more structured and disciplined expression, for example - with a song cycle, music theatre piece, or video presentation.

Following Module Three, students will take the fruits of their understanding and expression back into the world to practice once again, for at least one year, with individuals and groups in the world. Students receive The Naked Voice Facilitator Certificate of Graduation, at a special ceremony, no sooner than one year later, to celebrate the success of their naked voice and sound work in the world.

Application Requirements: Successfully completed Module One and Two Trainings, a 4-5 Day silent retreat with your allies; a portfolio of voice and sound work to present at Module Three, demonstrating your insights of the Naked Voice as Metaphor, Metaphysics and Musicianship of Love.

Love and blessings

Chloë Goodchild