Your voice can be a doorway to understanding your nervous system. In response to anxiety or despair, your vagus nerve changes both your nervous system and your voice.
When you feel fearful the pitch of your voice may become higher, and you may speak faster or feel the need to fill every silence. Maybe your mouth becomes dry, and your throat constricts or sounds croaky.
Hearing your voice like this can amplify anxiety.
You may feel afraid to say what you need to say, feel vulnerable in taking up space, or hesitant to be seen and heard. How does the pitch and tone of your voice change when you are feeling anxious? Does the voice speed up or slow down?
Speaking well requires freedom and balance in the muscles around the larynx and jaw and a flexible free posture for the breath.
Your vocalisations can be a portal to accessing what's known as the Social Engagement System of your vagus nerve.
This is the state that primes you for communication and connection. You feel calm, connected, and safe. Your voice will have variation in rhythm and pitch, your body will feel comfortable, your breath full and your posture relaxed.
Personal Reflection
The below exercises can help you to reflect on your own voice and posture. You can also download the exercises as a free worksheet here.
1. Bring to mind a recent time when you felt anxious. What do you notice about the posture your body takes on?
2. How does the pitch and tone of your voice change when you are experiencing this emotion? Does the voice speed up or slow down?
3. When we feel anxious our head can sometimes move downwards, collapsing the spine. This makes it difficult for us to express ourselves with confidence and control.
Notice what happens when you change your posture into a taller position, focusing on creating length in the back of the neck, perhaps tucking your chin. How does your breath and voice change? Do your emotions change?
If you’d like to learn more, you can join our regular publication “Education=Regulation”. It’s designed to educate and inspire you to take the driver's seat when it comes to your health. Learning how your nervous system functions can help to empower you to improve your wellbeing.