In this episode, vocal coach, author, song writer, and heart whisperer Cytel Shults shares her gifts of music and compassion. Cytel talks about being a heart whisperer through her company, Enjoying My Voice. She also talks about how she helps people express what they’re feeling and what they’re experiencing, and how to be more aware of their feelings through the medium of music. Learn some tips and tricks to being open and expressing yourself to fast track yourself to a promotion.
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Enjoying My Voice With Cytel Shults
My guest is Cytel Shults. Cytel, welcome.
Thank you for having me.
Cytel is a vocal coach, author, songwriter, and heart whisperer. I had the chance to meet her and experienced her amazing personality. I’m curious about the heart whisperer. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
I tend to connect with people’s hearts easily. I’m able to pick up on things that they’re feeling and emotions that they’re experiencing. I also am able to help them express more clearly what they’re feeling, what they’re experiencing and be more aware of that. That’s been a fun part of my experience.
You’re using music as the medium. I was impressed. I was expecting you had advanced degrees because you are gifted musically. As I talk to you, I find out that there’s not much of a formal music training you have had. It’s your gift and your openness to learn. Tell us more about that.
I look back on it and think, “Had I known what I know now that I’d be doing what I’d be doing?” I for sure would have studied music in college. I had a few months of lessons from my mom for the piano when I was eight, then took off and taught myself. If I had questions any theory questions, I’d go back to her and ask her. I started singing when I was about fifteen. I took a few lessons in college and I sang on my own from there because I love it. I had the opportunity not that long ago to take some vocal lessons from an opera singer. She allowed me the space to open up my operatic sound which I had no idea at times that I had. It’s incredible. I’m able to allow the full sound of my voice to come out and be there. It’s been a humbling experience to come without all of the accolades that come with having a music degree and such. It’s also allowed me to address the movement that music brings from an authentic place because I haven’t had all of the technical training. I’ve been able to explore what music means emotionally from more of a raw place.
I can see the advantage of that. You haven’t been hampered by the technical side of, “You must do it this way.” You’ve been allowed to express yourself freely. Now, you’re in a great position to help other people to express themselves. I love the way that you gratefully accept it as a gift from God and you are open to His inspiration.
That’s definitely a journey. It’s easy for us to see our lack and to focus on what we don’t have. Even if we don’t have the right accolades or we don’t have enough accolades. It was definitely a journey to be able to claim, declare, proclaim and get my voice out there to help people because I didn’t have those things. I searched to see the importance of the way my journey has been and how that specific journey can help specific people.
I can see how you are blessing many lives because you’re willing to do that. You started the company Enjoying My Voice. What is your mission?
My mission is to help people sing and speak their hearts. It’s a vulnerable thing to do. One of the things that I love to say is the saying, “Our eyes are the window to our soul.” I firmly believe that our voice is at the door. Oftentimes, we keep that door shut because our heart space is vulnerable. My desire is to help people unlock that door and then throw the doors wide open. When they sing or when they speak, people can feel and see their hearts because when we do that, we create deep connections with other people. Also, our relationships improve, our lives improve and we’re able to live our mission and fulfill our purposes on a much grander scale.
If we want a big change, we need to do something small. It’s the small and simple things that make the biggest difference in our lives. Share on XThis is something that applies not only to personal relationships, family relationships, how you can be a better husband, wife, son, daughter, or parent but also how it could help you in business. How many salespeople are hampered from succeeding because their doors are shut?
This might be my personal experience, but I would prefer to purchase from a salesperson that I have connected with on a level versus someone I walked in and they’re like, “Can I sell you this car? Do you want this pair of shoes?” If I connect with someone, then I’m more likely to buy from that person. This is another reason why they say in all these business classes and in marketing things relationships are number one.
You’re not the exception. Everyone would rather buy from someone who’s genuine and also who believes in their product which is converted to it. You’re offering a service that could benefit individuals, family members, business people and employees. Isn’t that the fast track to a promotion is being open and expressing yourself? This is for everyone. You mentioned that you have some tips that readers can take right now and begin to implement. Let’s go through those.
The first tip and I’m sure one that people have heard often, take a deep breath. It’s free. One of the things that I’ve learned in doing vocal training with people through the emotional window and through music is oftentimes we don’t take a deep breath. Because what we’re breathing in are our current life and our current situation. Why would we want to breathe that in if we’re struggling in any way? Because we’re breathing in all the struggles. Tip number one is to focus on breathing in light. Whatever that means to you, whether that’s religious or spiritual, if that means focusing on breathing in the sea air like the smell of the ocean or nature. Focus on breathing in the light and good because that will help your entire body to relax because we express with our whole being and we don’t express with our voice. When we’re breathing in that light on a regular basis, it helps. I would highly recommend setting a timer multiple times a day or once in the morning and once before you go to bed to breathe in even three deep breaths. Be clear in focusing on breathing in the light and breathing in the relaxation.
It’s not just taking a deep breath; it’s breathing in the light. Focus on the light and the positive. What’s next?
The second step is our foundations. Make sure we have a firm foundation. Our firm foundation for a lot of people and for me, it is connecting with a higher power or a higher source, whether that’s the universe, God, Christ or even your higher self, whether that’s nature or something like that. Getting grounded in what you believe in and your source is your higher power because in our regular day-to-day lives, we tend not to know what to do next. When we seek that higher power whether that’s our higher selves or nature or God, we receive inspiration and we are able to connect with who we are on a deeper level. It’s more quickly when we are grounded and when our foundation is firm.
That is true of any effort you’re making on self-improvement. I know it’s a vital part of AA or any recovery program. Anytime you want to improve any area of your life, you need that higher source. I totally agree with that one.
The third tip that I want to give is safety. Safety is huge when we are learning to share our voices and to share our hearts. If we don’t feel safe, then we won’t do it at all. The first key is becoming safe within yourself. If you’re safe with you, then it doesn’t matter what situation you’re in. You will always know that regardless of how other people react to what you’re saying, this is about you. Their reaction is about them. It also allows you to space to open up and speak because if you don’t feel safe within yourself and if everyone else is providing that safety for you, you’re still not going to feel safe. An amazing way that I’ve discovered to begin experiencing safety is to identify your emotions.
Allow them to be whatever they are without any judgment. A lot of times we have a judgment on our anger, our shame or all of those other things. We tend to should on ourselves a little bit like, “I shouldn’t feel that way. I shouldn’t be angry. I shouldn’t be this mad about it. I shouldn’t be hurt about it.” When we don’t do that and we allow ourselves to be in that feeling that we’re in and we accept it, it creates more safety for within ourselves and for us to not only feel but to share how we are feeling about those things.
This also sounds like trust yourself and believe in yourself. I loved what you said about emotions. Anger isn’t right or wrong. Anger freed the slaves. Anger that’s channeled correctly has corrected a lot of evil in our history and in our society. It’s using your emotions rather than allowing your emotions to use you.
The first step in order to do that is to allow them to be, to accept that they’re there and be unconditionally loving of what you’re feeling.
Don’t judge yourself. I love your comment but don’t crap on yourself. I love all of these tips. The last one is?
The last tip is knowing who you are. A lot of times and you’ll hear, too when people speak or when they sing and they’re not sure. Their voices will be quiet or they’ll be shaky. They’ll be a little bit pitchier in there singing. When someone is firm in who they are in the message that they’re sharing, their voice comes across with confidence. It comes sure, firm, loving and all of those things. One of the steps that I would highly recommend is to sit down and write three things that you know who you are. These aren’t necessarily like, “I would define myself as a good singer.” That’s what you do. The difference is who you are, “I am compassion. I am joy. I am fun,” those types of things. Connect with those and focus on those three things for however long you need. A minimum of a week, I would say, to get those deep into your system before you start adding more things to your list of who you are and gaining that foundation of who you are.
You’re not talking about your roles or what you do. It’s your values and the values that you live like integrity.
Exactly. Integrity, compassion, and connection. Those are innate in us and we all have certain values that are the most important things to us. When we connect with those and we are sure of those, then we’re able to do our dues better. It helps me be a better singer when I’m connected to my connection and my compassion.
I believe it. All of these tips are things we can start on right today. We can start breathing in light, connecting with our higher power, knowing who we are and trusting and believing in ourselves. A lot of times we focused on our mistakes and our lack. Take time to write down. You may even go through your whole life and all of the accomplishments you have made that you haven’t even celebrated or acknowledged yourself for. You’ll probably find that you’ve done a lot more than you realized.
Yes. The celebration is huge because we see progress. In those celebrations, we see what we value most and we see who we are.
This is true. I love your mission. What services do you offer?
I have a class that I’m doing. It’s a group vocal lesson class. It’s called the Courage Course. One of the funniest things that I love to do is to use music to help create lots of movement in our lives. I take a specific song that’s about breaking up with fear, which is awesome. It’s sassy and fun. A lot of times fear heavy. It weighs us down and it stops us from being able to make the choices that we want to make. This course is about connecting with our fun, light and sassy sides. It’s looking fear in the face and saying, “Fear, you don’t own me.” Moving forward and doing those things that we truly want to do.
Your heart is your health. We can be brain dead and still be alive because our heart is pumping. Share on XI have the opportunity to participate in that and I thoroughly connected with that song. It wasn’t even a style of music that I particularly listen to, but the message is powerful. I loved combining that with movement and your enthusiasm and passion were contagious. I know that it is going to be worthwhile. Fear stops us from doing many things. It may stop us from offering to help a stranger, from applying for a promotion, from following a passion, and fear of singing in public. If you have people there, they’ll go, “You are a miracle worker. You are a true heart whisperer.” That class sounds worthwhile and what else?
I also offer one-on-one sessions. I offer them in packages because we can’t fix everything about your voice in one session. I recommend at least four to eight weeks or six and eight on my packages. I also have a heart song program, which is absolutely fun. It’s hard because I want to say it’s my favorite but then it’s like choosing from my children who are my favorite child. With things that I offer, which is my favorite? This one is exciting though. It’s where I help people connect with the expression and all sides of their expressions. We open up their hearts and I write their hearts song for them. I received the words and the melody of their heart and that is special to me.
It also sounds like discovering their life mission and learning about themselves the heart song. You think about what that means the song of your heart. To me, that does sound like a life mission.
It does and the connection that you have to your higher power and within yourself, and with other people. Those are the three key things that I’ve noticed that have been in every song that I’ve written and in every heart song program that I’ve done. It always mentions the connections with their higher power. It always mentions the connection with themselves. It always talks about connecting with other people through everything that they’ve learned.
Isn’t that what life is about? Those connections are valuable. If anyone wants to progress in any area of their life, this is like setting goals. This freezes you to set lofty goals and reach them.
In my opinion, everything that we do is an expression of where our heart is at whether we are choosing not to do something or we’re choosing to do something. It’s an expression. I want to help people express what they truly want and who they truly are.
How do people contact you?
I can be reached at EnjoyingMyVoice@gmail.com.
They can email you and take it from there. Do you have any offers for our readers?
When they email me, I can add them to a subscriber list and I am sending out specific tips for seven days. These are tips on how they can sing better and speak better with singing and speaking their hearts.
You’ve offered four general tips, but these are more specific.
These will be specific and easy. We tend to think, “I want a big change and I need to do something big.” If we want a big change, we need to do something small. It’s the small and simple things that make the biggest difference in our lives.
I have seen that. For example, in health. Making a few changes in your lifestyle makes a vast difference in your health. It’s the same with your heart.
Your heart is your health. As I was reading this book once, it hit me. We can be brain dead and still be alive because our heart is pumping. You can’t be hard dead and still have our brain function. Without our heart, our body will not function at all.
The connections with our higher power, with ourselves and with others, that’s the quality of our life, whether it’s one filled with joyous relationships and meaning or going through the motions.
It’s the difference between surviving and thriving.
Thank you for joining us. I love what you’re doing. It’s awesome. Thank you for the offer for our readers and I hope they take advantage of that.
Thank you for having me on. This has been fun.
Cytel, you have a great day.
Important Links:
- Enjoying My Voice – Facebook
- EnjoyingMyVoice@gmail.com