Transform your health with Voice and the Healing Breath

'It's a question of being willing to take responsibility for one's own words and have consideration for one's audience.'

Seen and not heard?

Whether you want to master public speaking, learn to sing or simply want to feel happier speaking up for yourself, Patricia Perry's unique voice coaching sessions can be a transformative experience as Davina Dewar and friends discover…..

Before I met the remarkable 'holistic' voice and performance coach, Patricia Perry, 

I might have ignorantly poo-pooed the notion that working with your voice could affect your entire being - physically, emotionally, even spiritually. OK, it's uplifting gaining the confidence to speak well in public - but can voice coaching really go further than that? Well, after just one session I was left eating my words with a vengeance!

Patricia is an effortlessly charming woman with natural presence and an immediate ability to put one at one's ease - a gift indeed when she's made a career out of helping people overcome self consciousness. However, one of her favourite phrases is 'You always end up teaching the things you need to learn'. She's overcome huge hurdles in getting her own voice 'heard' and thus brings real empathy as well as professional skill to her work.

Educated in Australia, Patricia's career in fashion, compere and commentary work took her around the world. Arriving in London with, as she puts it, a 'good Aussie twang', at the time when only Received Pronunciation was deemed appropriate, she got to work on her voice, discovering in the process the painful blocks her own mother's refusal to 'hear' her had created. Through years in drama school, work in theatre, film, television and radio and teaching she mastered her demons, extending her studies into fields such a yoga, Feldenkrais, meditation and relaxation techniques. This eclectic background has led her to create a unique and highly powerful voice production technique that has been tried and tested by people across all walks of life, from actors, singers and barristers to students, sales directors, non-English speakers and weight-lifters amazed to discover that they could sing!

Patricia prefers to work in small groups so I rounded up an eclectic selection of interested friends including a trained actress, an adept but shy complementary practitioner and a male journalist colleague who referred to himself as "the nervous bloke participant". Not knowing what to expect, we all convened somewhat edgily in Patricia's cosy group training room in Barnes.

Within minutes, Patricia had us all loosening up with remarkably effective relaxation exercises as she explained that inspiration - literal and metaphorical - is the key. 'It's all down to the power of the breath: how we use it and how we don't. The breath supports the thought - and, for the thought to be expressed freely, the voice must be liberated.' On the subject of inarticulacy she pulls no punches: 'It's a question of being willing to take responsibility for one's own words and have consideration for one's audience. Are you resisting being heard and understood?' Deep stuff, gradually I began to see where the holistic element comes in.

Self-consciousness and much giggling ensued as we struggled our way through a series of seemingly daft lip and tongue exercises. But Patricia's reasons for favouring the group dynamic soon became clear: it forces participants to overcome shyness and a sense of camaraderie develops, with group members often more able to spot the difference in the clarity and richness of the speaker's voice than the speaker themselves. Not just the voice, either, I could see my companion's bodies and faces palpably relaxing. According to Patricia: 'You don't need a face lift after doing this work - it'll make your eyes look bigger, improve your complexion, even improve your sex life! Sign up!

Clearly, Patricia's fun, multi-faceted exercises generate fascinating emotional responses and she 'reads' these almost intuitively, judging from the way she zoomed in on each of our key issues. She may not be a psychotherapist - believing 'it's best not to delve into such stuff formally but just let the work do its job uninterrupted - but I can well see how healing insights could arise: 'I've seen breakthroughs so many times - I call it breaking the sound barrier!' Manifestly, changes can be powerful and profound - perhaps not surprising when you consider that Patricia's working with the essence of the human need to communicate.

In discussion afterwards, it was fascinating to hear everyone's highly personal reactions. For our nervous bloke participant, the idea of the session had 'sounded intimidating - and it was!' But he was converted: 'Patricia has a lovely, natural way of making you feel at ease - she's happy to 'make a fool' of herself with the exercises as well! And you need other people around you to hear the difference in your voice, because sometimes you don't hear it yourself. I could certainly hear the difference in others. Plus it was fascinating how she diagnosed different problems in different people and came up with solutions.'

Our trained actress was equally impressed: 'it made me reflect on how our voice is the product of our environment but also of our own personality and frailties and strengths; and what I think is interesting is that Patricia doesn't approach things on a purely mechanical level but seems to tap into the emotional energy of the person. Almost as an acupuncturist taps into the energy circuits and releases the blocks, so she endeavours to unblock emotional issues that affect the tuning of the vocal instrument - that's the holistic element, I feel.'

Our third participant was the most deeply struck: 'Having our session with Patricia absolutely blew me away. Her insights into how I could speak forced me to see myself as I really am, rather than how I perceive myself to be. But I've booked some lessons - I may be apprehensive about what comes up but have a strong sense that I must work on this side of me because it's holding me back. Watch this space!'

Though the title of Patricia's course - 'Find Your Voice and Use It' - is deceptively simple, the challenges and rewards of her unique work are clearly profound. For anyone struggling to be heard, a visit to Barnes' holistic voice coach could be just what you need to break through your own personal sound barrier - for good.

Reference - Westside Magazine, London. September 2005  - p 22 Health and Fitness