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Aligning Your Voice Of Power To The World · Mindful You

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Alan Carroll: Welcome, fellow travelers down the mindfulness
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path. Today, we have a great opportunity to interview and
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speak with a Grammy nominated opera singer who is on stage in
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front of large audiences, and all the things that go together
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to be successful in that arena. Especially accessing to a
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mindful sense of consciousness. And she has the ability to allow
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people to get in touch with that mindful quality within. And so
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when they project out the sounds that they sing, the sounds come
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from a deeper level of consciousness and mindfulness.
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And therefore the quality of the formulation of the note is just
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wonderful. So it's with a joy in my heart to welcome Monique
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McDonald to the mindful you podcast. Well, welcome to the
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mindful mindful you podcast money.
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Monique McDonald: Thank you very much.
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Alan Carroll: I am, I am in prime impressed with singing.
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And I read a little bit about your singing and your singing
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career, just the ability to sing. And then the ability to
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want to be heard, which means voting up and down is already a
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breakthrough in confidence. And I also noticed that you, you
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talk you talk about, well, where do you sing? Well, you sing on a
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stage, don't you? Oh, yes, I do. And, and I would imagine that
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leads into stage presence. And that's, that's a very important
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concept, because a lot of my listeners are professional
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speakers who want to get better at the game of professional
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speaking. And so having someone like yourself, who is a
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professional speaker on stage singing is act like one step
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above professional speaker. And so that's like, I can't wait to,
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to to have you share some of your wisdom, of experiences and
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stories, and mindfulness and presence and, and to be to be in
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the moment in front of the audience. And how do you get in
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the moment in front of audiences. So that would be the
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ballpark of my first question, and you can enter into it any
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way you want to?
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Monique McDonald: Well, I'm super excited to be here,
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because awareness is one of the most important first steps to
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being on any stage, whether you're singing or speaking, I
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find that speakers in particular, and singers as well,
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don't spend enough time priming their energy to be seen and
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heard. So they just walk out into onto the stage or in our
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case, for example, on with a microphone and just start
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talking. And they haven't prepared so that they're not
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coming from their most powerful or most centered place within
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one of the reasons why I call myself the magnetic voice
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mentor, is because I help speakers and singers learn how
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to tap in to that presence and passion within and the line
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their voice to it. So that that energy is unleashed into the
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room. Before you even say a word you have prepared by one of my
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little tricks is I send love into the room before I even get
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there. I imagine all of the faces of the people that are
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going to be receiving my message or my song so that I'm already
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connected both within and without, before I walk into the
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room.
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Alan Carroll: Oh, boy, oh boy, aren't they sweet words? That's
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very, very nice. Very, very, very nice. To be to visualize
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the love going into the room, the the being present and aware
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is very mindful. And I know from my experiences that that often
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people don't realize and you you can you you're the you're the
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professional here that that when you speak it's a form of singing
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and And when you sing, it's singing. And in there is a space
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between the sounds, and are the notes that I believe is that
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that sorts of power that allows you to become present and
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energized, the note that follows the empty space, which accesses
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mindfulness and that infinite space of I'll call it
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consciousness? Are we? Are we on the same page here?
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Monique McDonald: Alan, I couldn't have said it better
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myself. That's exactly right. And, and in my studio, we were
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taught that singing is just elongated speech. So what we're,
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what we're literally doing is connecting to that source of all
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there is that every one of us, you bet, and literally tuning
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ourselves to that power or energy. So that what ever we say
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is imbued with that. So we don't have to worry so much about what
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we're saying. Because when you're tuned in like that, you
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can make mistakes, forget your place, you can be as powerful as
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you can be, you can be your most authentic self. And it is more
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than enough. Because you are connected to everyone within the
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sound of your voice.
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Alan Carroll: All right. It's, you touch a space, then you're
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speaking, which touches a space in me. That space of, of
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emptiness, of ego free judgment free zone. Yes. And, and that's
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the definition of mindfulness. Mindfulness is to be able to be
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24/7 and a judgment free zone. And so there's no thoughts
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there. There's no judgments there is just pure forgiveness.
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And, and I hear you talk about forgiveness. And letting go is a
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is a deep mindfulness journey. Because that's that's to to to
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relinquish the grip, somehow that ego has on your actions, is
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a tremendous source of freedom. And Lily Allen,
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Monique McDonald: and that particular grip translates into
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the body and the breath, so that your voice literally becomes
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blocked. It's almost like you're driving your car with the brake
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on.
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Alan Carroll: One analogy, that's great,
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Monique McDonald: right? It doesn't flow. And we all know
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people that speak that way. And we don't, the thing is, we're
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not trained, our ears aren't trained to understand what's
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going on, physically, it within the voice itself, but our bodies
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understand the energy and feel the block. So we don't know why.
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But some people we aligned to immediately and some people,
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there's a little bit of distance that's necessary. And that's
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what I help speakers do. I help Pete speakers, release that
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grip, reclaim those moments where they gave up their voice.
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And trauma happened, or because trauma happened, they gave up
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their voice, and they're always remnants of emotional and mental
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debris left over, no matter how much work we do on it. And I'm
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one of 12 coaches that practice this particular healing
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modality, of reclaiming your voice in those moments. It's a
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very powerful thing. And it's, it's, it's I'm so grateful that
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I get to do it. And what I call it is I helped clear the
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instrument so that it can flow in the way that we were talking
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about because true connection can only happen if we're
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breathing in our bodies fully present fully present.
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Alan Carroll: The the term that I like from the boot This
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tradition is if you follow your thoughts, it's a disembodied.
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And if you tune into your body, it's embodied. And so the dance
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is between the creation of the sound, which is a disembodied,
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and then the creation of the embodied experience requires you
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to be able to one foot here, one foot there, boom, boom, though,
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when you when you listen to lovely, sweetheart, come on
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baby. I love to sing, I loved I loved I sing all the time, I
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just, and I make up the words, excuse me. I love it, I make up
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the words because I don't know the words, but I just, I just
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start just to sing. And part of the of the speaking is the
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creation of the silence that allows you to think about the
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next note. So the note comes from a thought that you have
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about the what's the quality of this of the thought form.
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Absolutely, I want to create right here and this.
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Monique McDonald: Absolutely. And the voice works. In waves.
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Sound works in waves. So there's the flow, the ebb and flow, the
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time when the the voice is making sound and the silence.
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It's as our breath, we inhale, inspiration, the divine
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connection, and we exhale, my voice teacher used to tell me
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when God is in charge, we are in charge of the inhale. And God is
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in charge of the exhale. And what that meant to me was, we
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prepare through our inhalation for what we are about to say.
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But the actual saying of it, we must release and trust that it
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will go out into the world as it's meant to be because we are
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truly connected and aware.
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Alan Carroll: So many things, Say that one again, the inhale
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and the exhale, one.
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Monique McDonald: We are in charge of the inhale. And God is
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in charge of the exhale. So we inhale, what it is that we want
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to be. And we release the exhale, trusting that God is at
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work within whatever we're saying, or speaking. God, the
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source of all there is whatever word you'd like to put there
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that you're comfortable with. But what I know is, there is an
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invisible force that breathes us that beats are heart that
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connects us all. And our voice and our breath that supports our
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voice is the most ancient way to connect to that force.
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Alan Carroll: It's beautiful, um, it's like it is like you're
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singing a song and I'm listening to the song and letting it
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vibrate in my body. Another word has come up a few times. Last
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year, we're talking as the word harmony. And when you watch
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someone speak, or someone's saying, Is it Is there a
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fluidity or a harmony of flowing into that that ebb and the flow
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the ebb and the flow? Is the ebb long enough for the flow that
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just happened is the RS the flow too long for the ebb and as you
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become more present you how long you hold the sound? And how long
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you hold the silence becomes natural and and then then you
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have a balance or harmony? Does that make sense?
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Monique McDonald: I love the way you've put it Alan, it's a it's
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a really beautiful thing. In in, in our voice class and I and I
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do with speakers as well when we're working in person where I
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have them say the same words into each other's mouths.
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Obviously when COVID happened that stopped but there are when
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you're singing to sing the same notes. What what happens is
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without realizing it, and with very little effort, we tune
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ourselves to the other because It is a natural desire, it is a
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natural desire to unite a natural desire to be in harmony
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with each other. Because of many things about the way the world
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is right now, most people are using their voice to disturb
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that harmony, to break it up to interrupt it, because their
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intention is to control. But natural power that comes from
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the source within, that affects each and every one of our
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voices. And each and every one of our souls doesn't need to
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control it just is. And when I help see a singers and speakers
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connect and speak from that place, they they are always the
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favorite speaker, wherever they go. And I am on a mission, Alan
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to M power 10,000 voices. For that, yes, because we are living
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in a time where the world needs authentic, connected voices,
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speaking the truth, more than ever, creating that harmony,
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vibrating the world with their voice. I have a gift for your
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listeners with that wonderful
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Alan Carroll: gift. And also, how can my listeners connect
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with you?
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Monique McDonald: Well, they can go to the magnetic voice.com.
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And they can sign up for a discover your magnetic voice
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session. And we can have a chat. And or they can go to this link
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that I'm putting in the chat right now.
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Alan Carroll: And we'll also include all this in the show
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notes money.
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Monique McDonald: That's right. The magnetic voice.com/v O P,
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which stands for voice of power. And this is one of my favorite
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things that I get to do. i It's a live assessment, I'm going to
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meet you and we're going to talk about your voice. And what is
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your voice of power? What does that sound like? And how do you
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you want to align your voice of power with your blessing good
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message to the world that is only yours. The Native Americans
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believe that we each one of us have medicine for the world. And
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I believe that medicine flows through our voice into the
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hearts of humanity. So please remember, your voice matters.
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And what would you say, if you truly understood that your voice
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can vibrate the world
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Alan Carroll: it's just so sweet. The sweet things that you
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say it's being a cheerleader for more for God. And I'm a believer
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and a follower of the Course of Miracles and is full of stories
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and one of the sayings is, God cannot do for you what God
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cannot do through you. And so when you speak you're speaking
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for God and you speak for yourself you're speaking for
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God, you speak for the being energy that that that space of
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the of the infinite and full of compassion, grace and
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forgiveness. Whereas the ego speak for attacking and if you
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can catch that too, and go in that direction of the harmony
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for God is like wonderful and you speak for you. You speak for
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a greater vision and you have the gift of articulation and
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you're able to articulate the the infinite in a way that's
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very, very sweet. And I really it's a pleasure talking to you
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and I'll be signing up for that that session with you.
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Monique McDonald: Fantastic. Really beautiful so much Alan
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for having me. On your show, I feel so grateful and blessed
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that I get to help singers and speakers speak from that divine
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place, so that their message is always heard. Thank you for your
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time. Thank you for your voice, Alan, for reminding us how
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important awareness is.
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Alan Carroll: Thank you. Thank you very much. It's been a it's
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been a blessing to be with you. Thank you. Good luck on your
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talk. I'll be watching. You're talking about five or 10
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minutes. All right, thanks a million. All right. Bye Bye,
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buddy. Bye