In our increasingly fast-paced, “go, go, go” world, many of us have become closely acquainted with stress and anxiety. They’ve become those toxic relationships we can’t seem to shake, and instead, we allow them to live rent-free in our psyches to wreak havoc on our well-being.
In fact, 1 in every 5 adults in the United States suffers from anxiety, which makes it one of our most prevalent mental health conditions, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 2024 poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association points to stress as a common culprit for our worrying and general unease.
It’s clear that this “bond” is one that needs to be broken — and according to internationally recognized Vocal Transformation facilitator and DailyOM course creator Maryn Azoff, one of the most powerful ways to break up with the stress and anxiety of modern life is by harnessing the age-old power of the voice and the breath.
“Over my last decade-plus of teaching, I have seen people overcome all sorts of illnesses and life blocks through the voice,” Azoff tells us. “Voicework is a simple reconnection of the soul, the spirit, and the body — and when they’re functioning together, we can begin to alleviate so much of our worry, stress, and feelings of helplessness.”
Through simple (and free!) practices like humming, chanting, and diaphragmatic breathing, you can move from a state of anxiousness to calm, often in a matter of minutes.
Interested in learning more? Check out The Healing Voice: Breath, Humming, and Chanting to Balance Your Nervous System.
At the age of five, Azoff was chosen to sing “God Bless America” at a local pageant. “At that time, something was happening at home to me that I was keeping a secret, and something in my soul knew that my voice was going to be an important way to manage my nervous system,” she shares.
After a successful performance, she received voice instruction and eventually became a performer, which helped her to relieve tension and express herself … to a point. “I learned to put my best face forward and keep inside what is less pleasing, and it wasn’t until I turned 19 and had my first taste of a record contract that I realized I was miserable in the quest for stardom and decided to stop singing completely,” Azoff reflects.
For the next seven years, Azoff traveled the world in an attempt to discover how and why the human voice can be a potent tool for healing and manifestation. “When I began chanting mantras in an ashram, I felt a vibrational shift occur within my being, my health improved, my emotions balanced, and I experienced the deepening of my insight,” she recalls. “In 2009, I experienced my first shamanic journey, and ‘The Creator’ told me that my life’s purpose was to help liberate humanity through the voice. What I now call ‘Vocal Transformation’ was born.”
Our whole life begins with a breath, Azoff points out, and as infants we know just what to do with that breath. “After the vast majority of babies take their first breath, they will let out a big scream,” she says. “This is primary intelligence. Our voice is our tool for release and for creation.”
This idea that the voice is so much more than a means of communication isn’t anything new, Azoff tells us. “Every single ancient culture has some voice practice that was used as a way of connecting to their ancestors (the unseen realm) and raising spirit,” she explains. “Science is now proving that the songs and chants of these ancients were truly medicine of the soul that helped them with their survival. It [purportedly] extended their life spans.”
In modern times, many of us have forgotten how to properly use our breath to support our voice, Azoff says. “The majority of humans do not breathe deeply, with the diaphragm, although this is the way we were born breathing,” she explains. “Once the mind begins developing and our ego construct comes on board, our head hijacks this breath, which is why most of us are in a state of anxiety or stress the majority of the time.”
When you move your diaphragm down through proper diaphragmatic breathing, you are telling your body that it is safe, she adds. “Any sound you might make — whether it be humming, talking, chanting, or singing — requires this breath to be fully supported. When the diaphragm moves down and we begin to make sound, we send vibrational power through the entire instrument. When the voice is engaged correctly and moves through the whole body, we harmonize all three of our brains (instinctual intelligence, emotional intelligence, and cognitive intelligence), which balances our entire system and brings any dis-ease into harmony.”
Often, we think we have to go to great lengths to release our stress and anxiety — but Azoff says the power to feel well and balanced has always been inside of us. “It’s so unbelievably difficult for us to believe that we have always had the medicine that we need,” she says. “We’ve been taught to seek all of our healing outside, and that other people with more education and more experience know better than we do.”
Moreover, she adds, “It is very rare for a young child to be nurtured in a way that allows them to fully follow their own innate intelligence. In the area of the voice, we are told to be quiet, more than we are nurtured in our expression. This process completely separates us from our body, which is the highest level of intelligence on Earth. Our bodies are telling us all the time what they need, but our heads have taken so much of our focus that we ignore ourselves until what we need is undeniable. This is really why voicework is of the utmost importance for all of us right now.”
Through the simple practice of diaphragmatic breathing, coupled with humming and chanting, we can reset our nervous system and access our natural, feel-good healing state, almost instantaneously.
In just a handful of minutes per day, you can engage the power of your breath and voice to enhance every aspect of your health and well-being. Here’s how your body, mind, and spirit will benefit from this age-old practice.
When we take a mindful, diaphragmatic breath, we’re able to stop our mental chatter and allow ourselves to be pulled inward — into our being, Azoff tells us.
For example, “when somebody is having a panic attack, we always say: ‘Take a deep, diaphragmatic breath,’” she says. “When we breathe downward, we have to be in the body — and we take the energy that the head wants to use to run through every worst-case scenario and bring it into the gut, so we can feel our body and be here now.”
Here’s how it works, per Azoff: “A simple humming practice creates a vibration at the vocal cords, which is right at the top of the vagus nerve. This vibration will stimulate the vagus nerve and send it into a relaxation response. We can shift from fight-or-flight to rest-and-repair quite quickly this way.”
For background: The vagus nerve is a crucial component of the autonomic nervous system. It acts as a communication pathway between the brain and vital organs, playing a critical role in regulating involuntary functions like heart rate, breathing, and digestion, according to research. And when the vagus nerve is stimulated, it triggers a rest-and-repair response, which helps mitigate and lower stress.
Interestingly, research backs up the relationship between voicework, breathwork, and vagus nerve stimulation. One study showed that just 12 minutes of chanting yogic meditation helped to reduce the stress levels of those who care for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. Moreover, a research review linked diaphragmatic breathing to reduced stress.
On the outside of our vagus nerve, there is a fatty, insulating layer called the myelin sheath, which Azoff says protects the body from the amount of energy that moves down the nerve through the brain stem. “Depending on how thick or thin the sheath is, we will either be more anxious or more resilient,” she says.
“The first attachment of the vagus nerve from the brain is at the vocal cords,” Azoff adds. “The voice is a way to thicken the myelin sheath. So, we can move the body from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system by using our voice.”
This means that over time, we end up creating a more resilient system, preventing unnecessary movement into the sympathetic nervous system.
“When we use our voice equilaterally through our whole body, we align the three brains: gut, heart, and head,” says Azoff. “When we achieve harmonic conversation between these three areas of intelligence, we live more confidently, in alignment with our truth, and are empowered to create our life and our world from that place.”
Additionally, one study linked chanting practices with experiencing altered states and cognitive benefits that contributed to a perceived enhanced overall quality of life.
Your own voice may actually give you more energy, Azoff tells us. “We call breathing respiration ‘re-spiriting the body,’” she explains. “When we do not breathe all the way into the body, we only activate certain centers. But when we breathe all the way down, we pull our spirit into the vessel and activate its sources of energy. When every breath you take is a deliberate pulling of your spirit into the body, and every sound you make from that place is a deliberate expression of your life force energy, you become a generator of incredible life force. Your vitality skyrockets.”
According to research, diaphragmatic breathing alone can improve cognitive performance and reduce the consequences of stress in healthy adults.
“A daily practice of stabilizing the mind and becoming sound frequency begins to deeply connect your small self with your higher self,” Azoff says.
By recruiting the appropriate muscles to breathe fully, and pairing that breath with the sound of your voice, you may cultivate mindfulness and create a natural avenue for inner listening. (Consider this a big bonus in a world that constantly demands our attention to shift outward.)
“Voice practices open you up to your own unique frequency and to the deeper knowings of your soul,” she adds.
“Any area of your life that feels out of balance, out of alignment, or out of reach can easily be attained when you begin to understand and master the faculty of your own voice,” Azoff says.
When you engage in simple voice practices, you can begin to unlock vitality in the body, mind, and spirit. And you don’t need to be chanting or humming for hours to reduce your anxiety load and find inner calm. Just a few minutes a day of intentional work will do the trick.
Remember: Your inner wisdom is always accessible. And as you allow yourself to return to the power of your own voice and breath, you may begin to notice transformations in your wellness, sense of peace, and your life as a whole.
