Featured Contributor - Music
Shay Nichols
shaynichols.com
Instagram: @shaynicholsmusic
Hear more of Shay’s music
A message from Shay Nichols
Singing is how I pray, how I celebrate being alive, how I express the depths of my love for the earth and all beings. I love exploring the infinite tones of the emotional landscape. I love the voice in all its forms, its intimacy, its nakedness, its wild versatility and unpredictability. For me, listening to someone’s voice is listening to their soul.
I took on vocal improvisation as a spiritual practice 15 years ago, and have developed my own style of voice work based on the principles of sound healing, nature singing, and vocal improvisation. I love this wild form of singing because it teaches people how to drop into their bodies, their truth, their hearts, and connect from that place and create beautiful music together. We nurture each other with sound– the body and spirit soak it up. It is a balm in these word heavy times, when people are exhausted by polarization, the news, and a general lack of listening. It teaches us to be generous, to provide support for someone to soar and express their truth. It teaches us to drop into a deeper intelligence, to listen to where the music wants to go.
