In my 20 years of voice coaching, over 60% of my clients tell me,  "I hate my voice when I hear it on the voice mail."  “Why?” I ask. "I don’t know!" they say! "Ah! Could it be that it is not your voice?"

I go on to tell them that unless either a school speech pathologist or a medical doctor has said there is a problem with your speaking skills, you most likely have taken your speech/voice for granted and are not aware that “speaking like a master” is a powerful tool that will help you get what you want out of life.

Perhaps during a rehearsal for the high school play or in a speech course or foreign language course you may have heard the following statements directed to you.  “Speak Up.” “Quit Mumbling.” Your Talking to Fast.” “I Can’t Understand Your Accent”.

And right there on the spot you are expected to just change your voice and change your life!  I have also heard this same feedback given by corporate trainers, HR people, and performance review people.  

We all have a voice pattern that comes from imitating the sound of our parents and the accent of the region of the country in which we were born.  Men usually imitate their fathers and women their mothers unless they are not present in the household.  

And if a child is continually, verbally abused, the effects are heard in the child’s voice pattern.  For example, if a child has been verbally abused quite a bit, he/she most often will become timid and soft-spoken in order to discourage further conflict. Children talk softly because they think that it is their fault that they are being abused and so the voice pattern and the self-esteem both become low. With out voice training or speech coaching, this voice pattern will follow you into adulthood.

When a trainer, a teacher, a parent, tells you to speak up, they need to give you the voice and speaking skills know-how to do this.  It doesn’t just come naturally to change your speaking style.

Just as people have different bodies they also have different voices.  You have a finger-print and also a voice print that are totally individual and it is up to you how you want to use your voice. Until you become aware of this you haven’t really laid claim your own voice! And so you say that you hate the way you sound.   

Professional voice coaching helps you to become aware of your own voice. As you practice our easy to learn voice techniques, you begin to realize that you can sound any way you would like. It is Your Voice to use in whatever way you would like. Your Voice is a Powerful Gift.

Voice coaching gives you vocal power, clear and articulate diction, and an expressive and exciting delivery style.  In a short amount of practice, many people can make the shift to their new, own voice quite easily.  And I hear clients saying,  “Wow!” “I Never Thought I could Sound Like This.”  “People Now Listen to Me!” “I’m Taking My Space in the World.” “I Can Make a Difference.”

Most of us want to take our space/place in the world and make it a better place for all of us to live as awakened, self-realized human beings who care about the prosperity of our planet and all living beings.

However, I have found that some of my voice clients, in one way or another, and many times without being consciously aware of it, have been intimidated into believing they do not have the right to speak or worse yet that they do not have anything to say.

It is for this reason, that I have asked Cyndi Scullin to be an associate to Voice Power Studios On-line University.  

Cyndi Scullin, C.Ht. is a nationally certified clinical hypnotherapist who is also a Fellow in the International registry of Medical Support Hypnotherapists. Having been a CEO of a radio-broadcasting corporation in Boston, and with a background in vocal performance and theater, she has a deep familiarity and respect for the power of voice to change worlds. Her work centers on awakening you to the incredible personal power you have to speak and to create.

Having seen the results of hypnotherapy in my personal life, I know how powerful these hypnotherapy techniques are. How they can help you change old beliefs that are holding you back from taking charge of your voice and reinforcing the new voice path you are creating.

Cyndi and her work will be a welcomed addition to our voice coaching clients. Cyndi will be my guest on our Sept. VPS Free Voice Tele-Clinic and her MP3’s “Powering Up You Voice with Hypnotherapy” will soon be available on our website.  Please join us by clicking on www.asksandramcknight.com and registering for our Sept. 2nd Free Voice Tele-Clinic. You can list your question in advance, for either Cyndi or me.