I can sing high! but not low....

When I took my certification test to be an Introductory Iyengar yoga teacher, a written comment from my committee stopped me in my tracks.  It said:   “Your voice is stressed.  Fix it.”

I thought and thought about what I could do to change my voice. I did not know how.  I needed a ‘voice teacher.’

Desperate, I called and asked if she could teach a non-singer.    She said to come to a lesson prepared to sing something, anything would do.  I was terrified! I really couldn’t sing, I “knew” that.  I always hid in the back of the Alto section in any children’s choir.  I pretended to sing, but I “knew” I was there on false pretenses and did not belong. It turned out what I thought I “knew” was both right and wrong.

At my first voice lesson I sang a song from one of those summer camp choirs.    “All things shall perish from under the sky.  Music alone shall live, never to die.”   The teacher was encouraging.  She asked me to sing it again and again each time starting on a higher note.  I was partly right:  I am a non-singer in a low voice.  That day I learned I was also wrong:  I can sing high!

Now I did not want to sing high.   High voices cannot hide--everyone hears them.  But I didn’t want to learn to sing in public.  I was more afraid of my yoga teachers than my voice teacher, so I went on.  I learned to relax my tongue and jaw.  I learned to relax my throat.  I practiced.   I learned to sing higher and higher!

I am never going to be a an opera singer, but in the past 20 years I have greatly enjoyed choral singing including Handel’s Hallelulah Chorus and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy with orchestra!  WOW!  What I can do was so much better than I could ever have imagined.

At the end of my first month of study at RIMYI with Mr. Iyengar, gave a talk.  “Now, go home and take the light of yoga with you.  And do not let it …. (“Go out,” I thought, “no problem”) ...flicker,” he said. 

Oh my! that’s a tall order.  It was.  It still is.  I am never going to be a great yoga master.  But, I can study.  I can practice.  I can learn.  And the joy I can have is much, much greater than I could ever imagine.

Ahimsa or nonviolence is one of the Yamas or first of the eight parts of yoga.  Svadhyaya or self-study is one of the Niyamas or individual practices which are the second. Asana (the yoga poses) practice is the third.  But the parts are not steps on a ladder.  Mr. Iyengar describes them as like the petals on a flower.  You can start anywhere.  For most people the easiest place to start is Asana.  You might just surprise yourself!

By Sally Rutzky

Each week one of the teachers at the Yoga Space shares her thoughts and experiences in this blog. Sally Rutzky is a certified beginning Iyengar yoga teacher, who teaches classes directed to people 50 and older on Saturday mornings at both beginning and intermediate levels.  (All are welcome to come who wish to learn from the slower paced classes.)  The Yoga Space is a studio just east of Dexter serving Dexter, Saline, Chelsea, Manchester and Ann Arbor.  We have been helping people with their flexibility, strength, focus and stress management for over 14 years. We offer a free class the last Friday of each month from 6-7 pm. 180 Little Lake Dr #1 Ann Arbor, MI, 48103. 734-622-9600 

http://yogaspaceannarbor.com/