#125. The Voice as an Energetic Instrument with YogaVoice Part 2

JOIN THE COMMUNITY

Episode Transcription

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  00:00

Hi it’s Marissa Lee here, and I’m so excited to be sharing today’s interview round episode with you. In these episodes, our brilliant lineup of guests will include healthcare practitioners, voice educators, and other professionals who will share their stories, knowledge and experiences within their specialized fields to empower you to live your best life. Whether you’re a member of the voice, community, or beyond your voice is your unique gift. It’s time now to share your gift with others develop a positive mindset and become the best and most authentic version of yourself to create greater impact. Ultimately, you can take charge, it’s time for you to live your best life. It’s time now for a voice and beyond. So without further ado, let’s go to today’s episode.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  01:15

This week on a voice and beyond, we welcome back to the show, Kristin Roney and Mark Moliterno for part two of their two part interview. Both Mark and Kristin are highly trained classical singers with very successful performance careers. And together they form YogaVoice®. This is a unique pedagogical program that combined several traditions of yoga philosophy and practice with systematic voice technique to develop authenticity and wellness in the art of singing and personal communication. Kristin and Mark believe that the voice is an energetic instrument that manifests through a physical mechanism and yogavoice is a gateway to functional efficiency in the voice irrespective of style. Their approaches help singers access what is already there within them and within their own voices. They explain that your body tells you the truth, and you just have to know what to listen for. In this episode, Mark and Kristin further describe the benefits of yogavoice, how this work can be applied in the voice studio. Their teaching philosophies balancing science and yoga and the importance of student centered learning. And there is much much more. Once again, this is such a brilliant interview with Kristin Roney and Mark Moliterno. And I encourage all voice teachers to listen with a healthy balance of being receptive to learning about different modalities so that our students can be the beneficiaries of our open mindedness. I am sure you will love the information yogavoice has on offer. And remember, this is part two of my interview with yogavoice. And you can find part one in last week’s episode number 124. So without further ado, let’s go to today’s episode.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  03:45

Well, bringing it back to this work, okay, so you you listen, you observe, you do what did you call that toning?

Mark Moliterno  03:55

Elemental,

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  03:56

elemental, toning. So let’s do a little bit of a roleplay here. I come in. And you can see that I have problems with breath. Like there’s a breath flow issue. I may be hypo functional. What do you do with me? What are some of the things potentially you would do with me to help me with the the yogavoice method?

Kristin Roney  04:23

Well, what is your definition of hyper functional?

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  04:26

Well, you know, okay, so the onset is a little breathy. And that continues on through through the singing where maybe the vocal folds aren’t closing efficiently. So there’s air leaking, or I may just come off my breath from time to time there’s not even flow. So there’s onset and offset but in between that breathing is not well connected. So it’s almost like a breath holding. Can we say that it’s almost by breath holding, breath holding. Okay, let’s use that one.

Kristin Roney  05:04

Well, we would start with breathing first. Because I mean, Mark said that earlier, but I would my first thing is I would ask you what you like about your voice? And then I would want to know, what is it. . . Like, what is your intention for yourself? What do you want to receive from our session? And then I would let your answer guide me. So if that was you, what would you want to receive from a lesson together?

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  05:34

Okay, so right now, all right, let’s just make this and you know what, I’m going to be vulnerable, I’m going to be open and vulnerable here. Because otherwise, and then I get a free session this way. So what do I want to receive? I want to be able to sing in a free manner without judgment of my own singing. Because I am being at present, I’m highly judgmental of my singing. And I know where that comes from. And I feel that I am manipulating I am tensing, that I’m holding back. When I’m singing, and not allowing, how’s that?

Mark Moliterno  06:30

You just gave us all the information

Kristin Roney  06:32

Yeah. I’m, like, so excited. I’m like, can we stop right now and just have a lesson instead? cuz, cuz I’m like, oh, let’s go. So. So what’s so funny is that I, I personally feel that I would not need to hear you saying, I would just need to hear you tell me that to go. Like, I already have lots of ideas, and I would know where I’d want to start. And then we would switch directions based off of that, based off of practices go. Personally, I’d be very interested. And like, if you saying something, like 30 seconds or something, then I’d have you sit down. And we would breathe. And we would do specific practices, focus breathing, alternate nostril, some Capella bati with a twist, perhaps just to like, unlock your midline a little bit. And then we would give it a second pass and see what happens. And then from there, I would be very interested in what some goddess would look like Goddess flow.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  07:40

Goddess flow. What is Goddess Flow?

Kristin Roney  07:43

Oh, well, it’s Goddess Pose, which is a, we use it first, second chakra and our vocal vinyasa, which is our signature practice that we teach. So the sacral chakra.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  07:56

Yeah. Aha. Interesting, because I’ve identified that there’s a problem there to my own diagnosis. I see people I am a little woowoo. Just a little bit. I do. Look, I look, I approach things with an open mind. I am open minded.

Mark Moliterno  08:18

But it’s not woowoo. It’s not woowoo. Because your body is telling the truth. It does it your body tells the truth. You have

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  08:25

to listen to it, though. The body will give you all the answers. But we have to be listening to receive that information.

Mark Moliterno  08:35

And you have to know what to listen for. Yes. And Kristin, I love that she calls this work both a door and a window, a window and a door. Because it gives you a window in to see what the problem is. And then it immediately gives you the doorway thrown. But can I can I continue with that? Yeah. So. So what’s interesting to me about what you told us is the whole idea of self judgment. Yes. Right. And so just to be very practical, because I know this is what you’re asking. We associate the third chakra the the epic Astria solar plexus area with identity, we call that the identity center. Yes. And when and when you talk about locking your breath. And, and being so critical, those two things go together because this identity center is where the breath has got to be fluid. You’ve got to be flexible and pliable in here, right? Otherwise the breath will lock. We also know that when people are in a highly aroused state as in the sympathetic nervous response, that the diaphragm tends to brace and lock, right so that we’re preparing ourselves for fight, flight, or freeze, right and so the diaphragm doesn’t release. So the fact that you are self-critical, and the fact that third Chakra is imbalanced go together. So we would start to work on third chakra. And then probably we’ve also know from our work that where there’s where one thing is appearing as a symptom in the body mind, it’s almost always something below that that is also coming offline. So it would make sense that you think second chakra needs some attention. Yeah. So we would do some practices around third chakra to start, as Kristin said, and what’s so great about this is that by working on your voice through third chakra, you will begin to resolve your self criticism.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  10:37

Wow, I’m having a session with you guys, I want to session I want to cry sorry. This is I feel like you know, this is kind of like, sorry, I am having a moment here. I feel like this is almost a metaphor for life, how so it’s not just the voice, it’s life, isn’t it to how many people like the stuff that they’re discovering about their own voices, they’re starting to discover about their own identities, and about themselves and where they’re situated in their lives in that moment, in the world that they live in.

Kristin Roney  11:21

Well, that I, I agree with you, like, with every fiber of my being, because we believe that your voice is you. And it’s an energetic representation of an entire person. So and you know, this, like when you listen to someone speak or sing, based off of what you hear, you can hear what is going on with that person.

11:47

100%, right, we’ve

Kristin Roney  11:49

all experienced that individuals come to our studio, and you can hear that they haven’t slept, or you can hear that emotionally. They’re very upset. Just as an example, right. And there are other things too, and, and that’s why our phrases, you know, like we talked about, transform your life. Like if you step into your power, your vocal power, and it’s not about like being bigger, I mean, powerful, it’s about being connected with your core self and who you are. And that your voice is a manifestation of your personal truths and your dharma your best work in this life. And that your voice is a tool and your ally, for manifesting what you are meant to do, then, then that is transformational. And that’s what I experienced, like I don’t perform any more unless I want to. Yeah, and that is so freeing, because it wasn’t pleasurable anymore to perform. And now performing is pleasurable when because it’s my choice that I want to do it, or it’s serving a higher performing I choose now in my serves a higher good now, in my opinion, because I feel like I was helping enough people. And now I do it for things that help other people. But yeah, but yeah, sorry, I feel very passionately about this. But go ahead, Mark.

Mark Moliterno  13:30

Yeah, so and this is where I think our work is really getting exciting for us because we started this this as as a kind of a training for singers, right, and training for teachers. But what we’ve realized is exactly what you just articulated. And that is that it touches all aspects of your life. And then, so we’re not psychologists, we’re not psychotherapists, but we recognize how things life patterns show up in your body. We are yoga therapists. And so we understand how life patterns show up in the body mind. And, you know, to make this point, I once was working with a young lady who was a high soprano who was trying to sing queen of the night, and she could do it. She was very capable. But she whenever she got in front of people to do achieve blanked out, and she couldn’t, she couldn’t sing, or she would crack the notes. And she was very unsteady on her feet. And she was rocking side to side when she was trying to sing. And so she went through it. And I said to her, you know, at the end, I said, Okay, great. What What was that like? And she goes, I’m terrified. And I said, Well, that makes a lot of sense to me because you don’t really have a stable base. And we know that one of the elements of an unstable base is fear. In in the chakra system, say so. So she was fearful. And I said, Well, what do you know where the fear comes from? And she said, Oh, yes. She said, when I was eight years old, my parents put me on a roller coaster. Very fast, one high flying and I was sure that I was never going to touch the earth again. And I didn’t want to go. But she goes, and I’ve been afraid all my life since then she was in her like mid 20s. Oh, my God, I said, Okay, what happens if we get you in your body and get your feet on the ground, and stabilize. So we just did a little bit of work, we did a couple of first chakra postures, we did some elemental toning. And then she started singing again, and all of a sudden, everything was perfect. You know, it just worked. And it’s not that it’s not that we had any secret for her. We didn’t flip a switch and unlock anything for her. But what we did is we showed her how to access her power. And we, and we helped her and then she wasn’t fearful anymore. So, so even life experiences when you talk about it being a metaphor for life, even life experiences show up in your singing,

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  15:51

Oh, 100% 100%. So I’m getting here that you have specific set of poses for all the different issues that that a singer comes in with or a client. And you talked about that people come in with traumatic experiences, from their lives that are holding them back in terms of their voices. And you’re not therapists. And as such, you don’t you’re not licensed us, psychotherapist. So what are your professional boundaries? And how do you deal with with someone who comes in then and start spewing all their problems? Because I’m sure that starts to happen for you as well. Well, that happens

Mark Moliterno  16:39

to a lot of voice teachers doesn’t have to.

Kristin Roney  16:41

Yeah, I think I think just as a human being when someone starts sharing things that are very vulnerable, or are private, or just just spewing all their stuff, I practice holding space, and regulating myself, and regulating my own nervous system.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  17:03

Amazing. You just answered something I was going to ask you. Because a lot of that starts with self as the teacher or as the practitioner, you have to work on your own self before you can hold space and create a safe space for the people that you work with.

Mark Moliterno  17:25

That’s that just parenthetically and I don’t want to interrupt but parenthetically, that’s why we train our teachers. As with their for themselves first, we always say, this is for you first.

Kristin Roney  17:37

Oh, yeah. Because people come to our training, and we go, why do you want to do this? And they go, Oh, well, for my students. But and then by the end, they’re like, oh, no, actually, I came from me. And it’s like, yes, you came for, you know, it’s all about? Yes. So I think that’s, for me personally, that that’s what I am endeavoring to do is regulate my own nervous system and hold space. Because, you know, people say lots of different things in voice lessons. And in the. . . Yes.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  18:12

I’ve heard lots of things, too.

Kristin Roney  18:15

Yeah, I mean, I mean, there’s a wide range of things that I’ve heard stuff. But what I like about YogaVoice is that it, it helps give people the opportunity to use a YogaVoice session as a safe container. And often we’re not talking about traumatic events. But people will remember things or go, oh, that’s why, like, Mark, use the roller coaster story, for example, or, for example, excuse me, and what we like is that our practice partners with the practice of talk therapists, so counselors, psychologists, SLPs pediatricians, because what our work does is it helps people get into their bodies, and figure out, helps them get to the root, the root thing, like what’s the thing that is driving whatever narrative they got going on at that time. And then we’ve had people who’ve come up with like, had these you know, cognitively remembered these traumatic things as a result of getting into their body more like have had these things come up. And then that work is the work that you take to the preferred licensed professional to work through at that point,

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  19:45

Right. Okay. So you get to a point where you feel that you need to refer out at times, not with everyone

Mark Moliterno  19:53

at times, and it’s not everybody, no, it’s Yeah, but it is at times if if we feel we’re at that point, then we absolutely are For and, and that’s one of the principles of yoga therapy to is that, you know, we, we work with medical professionals as a as another line of care. But we are not doctors and we don’t presume to be and so we we do recommend if we see feel someone needs to see a professional, we will, we will refer out and make that recommendation. But that actually doesn’t happen all that often. No, it’s more like people just begin to see themselves. Yes. And and that’s really our process is to hold the space. So they can, so they can find it for themselves. Yeah. And I think that’s what makes it feel safe. I think that’s what makes it we’re not telling them anything what to do. We’re not, you know, we’re we’re giving them options, and we have no investment in being right. We are our objective is to, to offer information that they can then find for themselves, because we believe it’s already within them. So you’re a guide. We’re more like guides.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  21:08

And what are the most common issues that you see within singers? If you had to say, oh, there’s, you know, this, I see a lot of singers at the moment. It seems to be a thing, that there’s a lot of singers coming in with this problem. Are you seeing one specific thing over another? More? So do you think

Kristin Roney  21:30

I work with a wide range of ages, but I work a lot with teenage girls. And there’s a lot of identity stuff just around that age especially. And I see it in my singers who are in their 20s too. A lot around identity, people are really trying to figure out who they are. And in trying to figure that out. It can manifest in many different ways. Things that they perceive as issues and scarcity mindset. Accompanies that, and impostor syndrome. So lots of things around that. I endeavor to meet with compassion and generosity and tools to help them leverage what they are doing well. And with and using that to nourish the parts of them that need a bit more support. Hmm,

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  22:35

yes, Mark, are you seeing anything specifically coming through at the moment? That is? Well, there seems to be a few more of this type of problem coming through that I wasn’t seeing a couple of years ago.

Mark Moliterno  22:49

That’s that’s a really Yes, I do. I I think in the, in the years that I’ve been thinking this way and voice work. I’ve noticed that, that there’s been a steady disconnect from the lower three chakras. So our sense of groundedness and rootedness presence, or a sense of creativity, and our sense of identity. And those three things, I think it’s cultural. I think we live in a very top heavy culture where we’re thinking from here to here a lot. I think we sit a lot, and I think we are very disconnected from Earth tended to be so when I you know, when I, when I said earlier that I’d been outdoors all day today, that was kind of my practice. Because I know that being close and working with dirt in my hands is part of my first chakra practice. Yes, but I do think that a lot of I do think culturally, especially in our western context, I do think we’re pretty disconnected from the lower three chakras. And I think that shows up in singing as a lot of manipulation intention from the chest awkward.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  23:55

That is so interesting, because I was going to ask you a question. Now, this may be a little controversial. And please, I asked questions because I’m curious. And I’m not right. And I don’t prescribe to anything other than going to anything and everything with an open mind. Okay, so at the moment, there seems to be a real poll and a real like, people planting flags in our singing voice community around acoustics and around science and around evidence based that this is the way that you teach singing. And what you just said, I just went, isn’t that most of that focusing on the top three chakras? Acoustics What are you looking at? You’re looking at the larynx Then the vocal folds and what what’s going on there? All that science based acoustics does not address the bottom three chakras, from what I understand. So does that make sense then that you’re seeing these singers coming in, who are probably coming from a lot of that teaching, and that part of the body has been forgotten about, or it’s not being addressed, the whole singer is not being addressed it all of a sudden about, we have to have evidence we have to be able to see, we we must be able to hear.

Mark Moliterno  25:39

Yeah, that’s an interesting idea. I would frame it this way. I would say that, because people are disconnected. They view singing in a certain way, but not necessarily because they were only taught that way. I think and I think that I do think that there’s a place for research and understanding the stuff. If there’s a lot of research in yoga. Yes, that’s substantiating the things that we’re talking about? Yes. So I think there’s a way to find, again, I think yoga is is I love that you said planting the flag. Because, you know, we say that you’re always looking for the both and rather than the either or, you don’t want to try and take sides in yoga, right? And and people that do take sides in their yoga practice tend to be tend to lock themselves into one way of doing things and can. And that often leads to injury, let’s say it can lead to physical injury, it can lead to like mental manifestations and stuff like that. You always want to be looking, in our opinion, you always want to be looking for the both. And remember yoga means to yoke things. So what are both sides that you want to see? You know, it’s important we talk about acoustic, we talk about different placements in the vocal tract where vowels tend to resonate, because we built that idea on on the Sanskrit language. Because Sanskrit is an energetic language and talks about five different points of, of articulation in the vocal tract, it makes perfect sense. So it’s good to have some information about acoustics. And but it’s not only that, and it’s not only it’s not only yoga, it’s not only holism, it’s a combination of things.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  27:31

Yes. And I think that’s, ultimately, that’s what angers me, or I don’t like this idea of there only being one way of doing things, I like the idea that there are many ways to achieve the same result or the desired result. And our students come to us with a variety of issues. And not one tool is going to fix everything, you have to have a toolbox, where this one doesn’t work, throw that one out. There’s nothing wrong with the student, it’s not the student, that’s the problem here, it’s the tool. So don’t keep trying to hammer that, that that nail into the wall, when that wall is porous, or that wall is not made of a substance, it’s going to receive that nail.

Mark Moliterno  28:26

Yeah, and I think when you talk about vulnerability, and we talk about the voice as being if it’s if the voice is you, it’s very vulnerable. I think teaching is very vulnerable. And I think it’s very, it’s very, I think it takes your own personal development and your own commitment to developing yourself as a human being if you want to teach, because you’re always confronted with your vulnerability when you’re in front of other people, and trying to lead them in a process. Yes, so So that’s personally and maybe Kristin you can speak to this too. I that’s personally why I love this work so much because it it makes me work at it, it makes me face my vulnerability and, and be, you know, be the best version of myself.

Kristin Roney  29:11

Yeah, I was going to say also, that, you know, something that is really important that I think is often left, left out of the conversation is someone’s like an individual, a client or students perceptions of and how they process sensation in their body and perceive sensation because how you feel what your soft palate lifting in your body feels like may not feel the same as the person next to you. So really educating, helping educate someone in ways in which they can perceive sensation in their body mind and how that works for them. is, I think, necessary. A and I think that’s left out of the equation in terms of, like, this is the way to do it. And it’s like, well, but actually hold on.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  30:09

Yeah, yeah. So I was gonna say, when I teach a voice lesson, and I’m not saying I’m right, I don’t ever sound right. And this is not necessarily always the way because sometimes when I, when a student walks in, I know that there’s something wrong with them, I can tell straight away either by their body language, the way they speak, the way they hold themselves, the words that they’re using all of the above, because I do the work on myself that I am open to receiving what is coming into the room. So I get out of my own way to allow space for the student. And I can intuitively start to feel that, okay, there’s something up with this person. And I know at that point, that no amount of sitting at the piano is going to fix what’s going on. So what I do is I conduct the lesson very differently to someone who comes in and I know that they’re, they’re fine. So but I always allow, then that student who comes in and is in a position to sing, they’re warmed up, they can I let them sing through a whole song. And I always ask them, What did they think? They did really well.

Kristin Roney  31:33

I’m laughing because this is how the lesson went right before we got on. And I was like, what feel like what you did really well, not yet

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  31:43

that it’s important to start from that place where they can give themselves a pat on the back and go, You know what I smashed this. And sometimes if a student says, What did you think I did? Well, I’ll go, it’s not about me. This is about you. This is your voice. It’s your story here. How did you think you went? And what did you think you did really well, then? Okay, what did you feel you were most challenged by? And let’s start there. So it’s about the person in front of you, and not about you. And I call that student centered and being student focused. And I’m going right off on a tangent here. I don’t even know why.

Kristin Roney  32:32

Do you care about it? Could you care?

Mark Moliterno  32:35

And we’re in total agreement that way. I mean, I think that, you know, when when we teach master classes, it’s, it’s not to make anybody better at anything. It’s not work. Our objective is not to improve someone’s singing. In fact, I always say to people, your voice is never gonna get better. Your voice is your voice. What you can get better at is understanding how it manifests, yes, and where it comes from in your body, and where these different elements come from in your body. And I always end the lesson. What’s the takeaway? What is it that you understand about yourself from this moment, from this few minutes that we’ve had together, that you can take away and because that you can experience in your body that you can feel it? So what is it? What is it like for you? What can you observe?

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  33:22

That’s what where I was going with all of this was, I asked them? Okay, if they had to do that same thing again, and get that achieve that same result, again, that they were most happiest with? What did they feel? Or what were they thinking in that moment in time, so they can repeat that at that same thing and get to that same desired result? And whatever they describe it as, is the language then that I will use, I don’t try to impose my knowledge and make it about look, I’m so smart, because actually, it was, you know, you did this, this and this and this. I go, Okay. Well, you know, do think that if you did that, again, that you can sound like that again. So it’s once again talking, speaking in their language, speaking in what they think they felt, because I’m not in their bodies. And if they think that’s what it was, and it works, let them think that is what I think and people are probably going to want to hang me for saying that. But you know that that’s that’s how it is. So we’re going to start wrapping this up because otherwise I think we would talk for hours on end. So teachers you work with teachers alongside of a lot of professionals in different industries, boys, teachers, how can they They come to do this work if they wanted to start incorporating yoga voice in their studios with their students. How do they go about that?

Kristin Roney  35:11

Well, like we said, if you’re interested in working with other people using these practices, you first use them yourself. So you’re welcome to come to community class. We have community class every month. That online. Yes, it’s online. And it and all of the proceeds go to sing for hope. And that’s a nonprofit that works on putting pianos in underserved communities and make it more accessible.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  35:46

Wow. That’s amazing. Yeah. And we Yeah, well done to you guys.

Kristin Roney  35:52

So that, and then we do have, for example, we have a retreat in a few weeks that’s going to be in the Finger Lakes. And we’re very excited about that. That’s in Geneva, July 27th. Through the 30th.

Mark Moliterno  36:04

Geneva, New York. Yes.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  36:07

Not Geneva, Switzerland.

Kristin Roney  36:11

I wish I wish next year now, okay? No, but you can expect Daily Yoga voice practices. And we’re our focus this summer is all about loving your voice. So our retreat is about love your voice and how can you nourish yourself with your voice and nourish your voice through your senses. So we’re going to be exploring different practices to nourish your senses in your voice, and the intersection of those things. And our intention is that people leave the retreat with their cups full. That’s what we want for people.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  36:48

Just what I need, I would go to that, but I can’t I’ve just come back from Philadelphia. But well, I had a look at that. Oh, before I came online, I looked at that retreat. And I thought, that is just what I need right now. Oh,

Kristin Roney  37:06

yeah. Well, we hope you can come next year, because we plan to do too. Yeah, yeah, we’ve been so so pleased with everything that’s gone on with the planning of it. So you know, we’re already like, okay, next year, let’s do it again. So that’s going to be great. And then we also have a free consultation, on our website, that if someone wants to have a chat about teacher training, or what it is that we do, or how we could partner to serve a community or meet their personal needs, we would love to talk to you. So please, just

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  37:43

Okay, and we’ll put, we’ll share those all those links in the show notes. Okay, so people want to find you, they want that free consult that online monthly community, you said that, when is that? When’s the next

Kristin Roney  37:59

one? The next one was July is it July 17,

Mark Moliterno  38:02

July 17, at 7:30pm Eastern Time, US time, but we do record it. And so And because it’s a donation, we donation based class, we do require that you register for the class, it’s just a $10 donation, within all that money gets sent to sing for hope. And then if you do register, then you get a recording for two weeks of the of the of the class, even if you can’t attend, so so you can attend, you can do a great cause giving the money for a great cause and then have the recording for two weeks. So that’s the community class and then or retreat. And then we have this teacher training, which is is a six month, six month plan course in which we go through all the elements of vocal of, of yoga voice and its sort of most basic form, but it also in the form that develops your own practice. So we’re not trying to load you with information. We’re trying to give you the tools for your own practice and then to share it with one on one clients in a yoga studio and in a voice studio or in voice lessons. So we go through our primary practice, we work on breathing, we work on some meditative techniques, we do the elemental toning. So these are all the tools that a yoga voice teacher would need for a solo fortnight solo, but one on one work. And then we have a level two training for the next level, which is to go deeper with some of the practices and some of the philosophies, but also prepare you to teach groups. Okay? So that’s, that’s, that’s sort of where people end up that are interested in teaching. Okay,

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  39:37

that sounds brilliant. What advice would you like to give to our singing voice community for you had to share? So I’d like both of you to offer a piece of advice and what we can do better, perhaps to serve our students or about keeping an open mind anything that you would like to share, Mark?

Mark Moliterno  39:58

Okay, the first thing Because to my mind, and you didn’t prompt us that in advance for this, so I didn’t have an idea.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  40:03

No, that’s right. You can take a moment.

Mark Moliterno  40:06

Yeah. So I think my advice would be, have courage to be vulnerable. And know that vulnerability is part of the equation in your voice, and, and begin to have the courage to discover what is in you already, we keep coming back to that, but have the courage to, to, to explore, to have fun, and to find out what is actually there.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  40:39

Beautiful. Love it. Kristin, what would you like to say,

Mark Moliterno  40:46

I hope that wasn’t what you were gonna say.

Kristin Roney  40:53

Actually, I’m coming off of a week of having a three and a half year old who had his tonsils removed, and no one has slept in my house for a week. And what’s popping up in my head is, I think that teachers naturally are people that want to help. And so we often help to the point of depletion. And I would say, you know, partake of practices and things that make you feel curious and creative, and nourish your own, your own learning. And that you’re excited about, because if you’re not curious and excited about something, having you know, then it’s really hard to do your best work. And I know that teachers want to do their best work. And so how can you do that by filling your own cup, and then nourishing your curiosity. Like, what are you what are you curious about? And then like, pull on that thread. I think that’s, that’s a good way to start. Yeah,

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  42:04

I love that. Stop being judgmental?

Kristin Roney  42:08

Is that yours?

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  42:10

Yes, stop being judgmental, but not only of others, but of self. Start with self first, I think a lot of judgment begins with self first. So how can you be kind to others? If you’re not being kind to self? How can you stop judging others? If you’re not, you don’t stop judging self? How can you be open to receiving if you’re not giving to yourself? And I do believe Kristin, everyone is doing their best. And our best is different. And our best is different, uniquely to ourselves, but also uniquely to that day. And in that moment in time, based on what’s going on in our lives. You’ve just had your three year old with the tonsils. So your best at the moment is a little bit depleted compared to how it was pre the surgery. So I think yes, yes. Right. So I think be kind.

Kristin Roney  43:17

Yeah, yeah, be kind. That’s always and invest

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  43:20

in self, so you can invest in others, is my advice. I wasn’t gonna give advice. But then I was inspired to after listening to you guys, I had to jump on the bandwagon. I feel that we gave really good advice there. And that’s been kind and not judgmental of self and others. Right there.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  43:45

Look, I want to thank you both. I have loved spending time with you. And I hope that once again, people receive this information with grace, and with open mindedness and with an open heart, and maybe just think of this as another gateway for their students. There are different modalities that are appearing at the moment, I think, because we need to start exploring these modalities. I think COVID has taught us that we can’t always predict the future. And we need to be in a place where we need to have the tools to prepare for whatever the future holds for us and for our students. And there’s more than one way to achieve that preparedness. So thank you so much for everything that you’ve shared with us today. And I am going to go and book a session with you people.

Mark Moliterno  44:51

Oh, we will. Oh,

Kristin Roney  44:54

I’m so excited. I want to work.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  44:58

Yep. Because I’m At a point in my life, where I know that I need to do this work for myself, okay? Yeah, I can we’re gonna leave it at that. Okay. Too much information people. But thank you. And yes, everyone go and check out the show notes the link so you can find Mark and Kristin, who are yoga voice and thank you and look forward to connecting soon. Thank you

Kristin Roney  45:29

Thank you for having us.

Dr Marisa Lee Naismith  45:34

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of a voice and beyond. I hope you enjoyed it as now is an important time for you to invest in your own self care, personal growth and education. Use every day as an opportunity to learn and to grow so you can show up feeling empowered and ready to live your best life. If you know someone who will also be inspired by this episode, please be sure to copy and paste the link and share it with them. Or share it on social media and use the hashtag a voice and beyond. I promise you I am committed to bringing you more inspiration and conversations just like this one every week. And if you would like to help me please rate and review this podcast and cheer me on by clicking the subscribe button on Apple podcast right now. I would also love to know what it is that you most enjoyed about this episode and what was your biggest takeaway? Please take care and I look forward to your company next time on the next episode have a voice and beyond