In this episode I'm sharing with you some of my ideas for creative rituals for the winter solstice. I also wanted to make sure this one was properly grounded in our voices and how we feel about them so I offer: Working with the pause between the in breath and the out breath. Writing a Shadow Inventory. Writing a letter from the self you are ready to become. Making a collage. Singing the things from your shadow inventory as you release them into flames. Scanning your body for the holding and stories that are hiding there. I also invited you to join my mailing list which you can do here to be the first to know about #7 which is the new resource I'm creating for the new year about releasing ancestral blocks. Take care of yourself in these cold months, give yourself up to the darkness for a moment to relax and listen to what your body is telling you. You'll be glad you did. And lets make 2026 the year you fully Free Your Voice! Happy Holidays! Julia Messy transcript [00:00:00] If you would like to give yourself the gift of a free voice in 2026, I am accepting a few, coaching students for the new year, so reach out to me. That could be for singing or public speaking confidence. My real area of expertise is about overcoming performance anxiety and stage fright, but also stepping into your whole voice. Through the process of individuation, which is a Jungian approach to becoming your full self. I've been a registered voice movement therapy practitioner for over 25 years. I've been a folk singer, a jazz singer. I have an award-winning lullaby album, and I'm an award-winning voice actor, so I know a few things. I don't know all the things, but I know a few things, and if you like my vibe and you think we could work together, I would love to help you on your journey to a free voice. Reach out to yourfreevoice.com and contact. See you then. Hello and welcome to [00:01:00] your Free Voice with me, your host, Julia Norton. This podcast is for people who use their voice professionally or for fun, and they want to understand how it works a bit better, or to get over old stories that might be holding them back. Whatever level you're playing at right now, my goal is to bring you lots of actionable stuff from the technical to the creative, to the deeply woo, to help you free your voice. Hello, hello, and welcome to episode 56. In this episode, we are coming right up on the solstice from where I'm recording this. The solstice begins really at dusk tomorrow till dawn on Sunday. This is a little late getting out to you, but I hope that it's helpful anyway, and just you can really just use it at this time of year when it's dark [00:02:00] and everything is drawing in, and I thought that. And when we are thinking about what we want to let go of, what hasn't been working for us this year, or that we've just had enough of and doesn't suit us anymore, and what we want to open into next year, and this is a very kind of quickie episode because of course, you know all the things are happening, but. I wanted to take some solstice rituals that I love and really put them into a voice user perspective. You know, for somebody that has their voice as their primary, either way of making a living or tool for communication in terms of the creativity and performance, all that kind of thing. So, if that's you, why don't you walk along with me here and try these practices. So if you want to, you could get yourself, uh, ready with a notebook. And a cup of tea, and we can just imagine that we are sitting next to a cozy fire together, and we're gonna jot these things down. You can [00:03:00] go into them in more depth by pausing the recording or just coming back and listening to this another time. Okay, so let's start. First of all, take a lovely quiet breath through the soles of your feet into your belly and releasing, feeling yourself connecting to the chair. Or maybe you're lying on the floor, but just reconnecting with your breath and your body. You don't need to change how you're breathing. You just need to notice that you're breathing. When we are talking about the solstice, the winter solstice in particular, there's a pause between the letting go. And they're taking in the new, it's that dark space where we're waiting for the transformation to happen. So let's just try a breathing exercise, first of all. So let's say, let's take the solstice in breath and [00:04:00] let's do the breathing for four. Hold for five and then out for seven, which is again, a lovely nervous reset, uh, when you're around. Uh, family, just overstimulated, all that kind of thing. So let's do this breathing practice together. Breathe in for four. 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold for five. Relax your body. Five and out for 7, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Let's do it one more time. So exhale, breathe in for four. 1, 2, 3. Four, hold for five. 1, 2, 3, 4, [00:05:00] 5. And exhale for seven. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Okay, so first action is coming into your breath. Second action is to write a shadow inventory. I want you just on a piece of paper in your journal anywhere, I want you to just in your journal or on a piece of paper, write down anything that no longer serves you. Old identities, limiting beliefs, relationships that have run their course patterns. You've outgrown ways of thinking about your voice that just aren't working anymore. Limiting ideas about your voice, about what you can do with your voice. Write it all down. Anything to do with your self expression and your sense of self. Okay, [00:06:00] pause the tape and come back to it when you're ready. Okay, so the first one is finding the pause and the breath. The second one is the shadow inventory, and this third one, I really like this one. Can you write a letter? From the self that you are wanting to step into this, this more authentic, more aligned sense of self, write a letter from that person that you are becoming to the person you are now offering guidance on what to release and what to cultivate. Okay? This is a creative ritual that you could do Number four. Is create a collage of death and rebirth. So a two part visual representation with on one, with one side showing what's ending, right? Any kind of, uh, self-image stuff, what people have said, uh, [00:07:00] ways of behaving, ways that you treat yourself and your voice, and then the new way that you are welcoming in. More the positive side that you're inviting in. So do that as a collage. That's a great activity to do by candlelight. Number five is to look at the shadow inventory that you created, the things that you're letting go and actually give voice to that. So I'm releasing whatever it is I am releasing, feeling self-conscious, in public, or it could be wild and crazy or just on one note, however, but somehow you're singing it, whatever you are releasing, and if you have a drum or a saucepan you can bash or something, you can make a noise at the end of it, which I won't do in your headphones, but you could do, I'm already saying bang. Right. That would be really, really great. [00:08:00] Burn the things that no longer serve you. All that journaling, that paper that you wrote, you can put 'em in single strips or you can burn it all together and you can sing, letting go, releasing anything that feels great for that. Number six, scan your body. Check where you are holding. See what images come from that part of your body that has tension. What are the stories that pop up when you get quiet? Our bodies want to tell us so much and so much of the time we're just not listening. So taking this period of time, sitting in the quiet, sitting in the dark, maybe just with a candle scanning your body and asking your body to tell you what each of the places of holding are actually communicating to you. And number [00:09:00] seven, I'm actually going to create something for you in the new year, a new visualization for you to communicate with your ancestors and release ancestral blocks. If you'd like to know about that resource in the new year, then uh, jump on my mailing list and you'll be the first to know about it. Okay. This is such a beautiful time of year to let go of what's not working and to embrace the self. That's kind of, you've been all along. It's just been hidden. It's not about, you are not good enough as you are. It's actually, you are so good. Let's just let some of the layers of persona peel away so we can get more You. I really appreciate you being with me this year. I have good feelings about 2026. I realize that the world feels like it's in chaos right now, [00:10:00] but I. I don't know. I've got some serious hope. So if you wanna stay on the hope train with me, keep journeying through shadow, keep releasing your voice and keep stepping into more of who you really are, then stay in touch. Okay? Have a glorious solstice and festive season and I'll see you in the new year. Okay, bye.
