- [Speaker With Clear Tone] Make sure that we're grounding ourselves as we begin this practice.

- Well sounding is, you know, part of our humanity.

I mean, we were born with a voice (laughs happily) and the practice of sounding allows us to find our voice.

(gentle music) I'm Pat Halper, this is Art and Soul Studios in Nashville, and this is our sounding practice.

- [Speaker With Loud And Strong Tone] Oh, wow!

- I think for many of us, our voice gets shut down for a variety of reasons, and it hinders us in our lives and our ability to, you know, step out and be who we fully are.

So when we do a sounding circle, they are in this circle, this safe and secure circle where they are also, they're sounding, but they're also being witnessed, they're also being heard.

When we are doing the practice, it gives us the opportunity to not only use our voice, but to feel our voice, to feel the vibration through our body.

It's a release.

It can be, it might just be sound, it might turn into some sort of a song.

It's different for everybody, and it gets expressed all kinds of different ways.

It can be tender, it can be soft, it can be, you know, sometimes people will get emotional.

We really do ask, the sounder to do is to really stay in their body and to focus on their breath.

If the sound is coming through that release of my breath, then I am fully-grounded.

This is not just making noise.

It's allowing our voice to come through us in a particular way.

(making a deep sound) It's also very much about community and creating a community with the other people here that allows us to be together in a way that is different and really beautiful.

It can be meditative, curative, joyful, impactful, just by allowing and listening and being willing to explore.

(making loud sound) (gentle music) - [Narrator] This NPT Arts Break is made possible by the generous support of The Martha Rivers Ingram Advised Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.