SomaSong®
Mind. Body. Breath. Voice.
SomaSong is a practice that lives at the meeting place of voice and the nervous system. The two are more connected than most people realize — voice shapes nervous system state, and nervous system state shapes voice — and SomaSong works with that connection in both directions.
It's for people who want to use their voice more freely and have run into something in the body that won't let them, and equally for people who want to use the voice itself as a path to regulation and somatic care.
Sessions combine voice work (singing, humming, vocal toning) with somatic practices and nervous system regulation. The method is grounded in my clinical training as a licensed therapist and somatic practitioner, and shaped by my own experiences as a singer, songwriter, and performer.
How it Works
SomaSong can be taught as a group class or private lesson. Either way, a typical session starts with a check-in and a body scan — noticing what's happening in your body today, where tension is sitting, what your nervous system is asking for.
From there we move into somatic practices to release that tension and regulate the nervous system before we ever sing a note.
Then we work with the voice. Sirens and "vocal scans"to feel your range. Exercises to free the breath. Humming, toning, and simple melodies — and, when you're ready, songs.
Throughout, we keep noticing what comes up in the body and using somatic tools to meet it. The voice is never asked to push through tension. It's invited to emerge as the tension softens.
The underlying philosophy is simple: most vocal tightness, shame, and fear aren't technique problems. They're somatic and nervous-system problems. When we set up the body for ease, the voice tends to follow — often more freely than years of technique-drilling could produce.
The approach draws on what we know about the autonomic nervous system, somatic awareness, and the bidirectional relationship between voice and physiology — the way the state of the body shapes the voice, and the way the voice can regulate the body in return.
Sessions are 30 or 60 minutes, virtual, and held in a non-performance space. You won't be evaluated. You won't be pushed past what your body's ready for. The point is the experience, not the outcome — though most people find that the outcome (a freer, more confident, more present voice) tends to follow.
Who is it for?
SomaSong is for people who want to sing — or speak, or be heard — and have run into something in the body that won't let them. It's also for people who want to learn to use their voice as a tool for wellbeing.
That includes:
— People who have always wanted to sing but were scared to. Hobbyists. Closet singers. People who were told they couldn't or shouldn't. People who've never sung in front of anyone and want a safe space to start.
— People with anxiety, tightness, or fear around their voice. Singers who freeze. Speakers whose throats close. People whose body says "no" the moment they try to express something.
— People with histories that have shaped how their voice shows up. Old experiences with critical teachers, family silencing, performance pressure, or other moments that taught the voice to stay small. Or perhaps a more recent negative experience that is impacting your relationship with your voice.
— People interested in voice as a nervous-system tool. You don't need to want to be a "better singer" to benefit from SomaSong. Many clients use it as somatic practice with voice as the medium — closer to yoga than to voice lessons.
— Performers and singers at any level — working with tension, stage fright, vocal tension. Or people with the desire to make their practice more sustainable and embodied, to discover their most authentic voice, and to feel more connected and vocally free. Whether you're singing in a community choir or on a professional stage, this work can meet you where you are.
Important: What this is (and isn't)
SomaSong is somatic voice practice. It is not psychotherapy, and it is not a substitute for mental health treatment. While the work can be calming, supportive, and helpful for people whose voices are affected by anxiety or difficult experiences, it does not include therapeutic processing, diagnosis, or treatment of mental health conditions. If you're working through significant trauma or mental health concerns, I'm happy to recommend appropriate therapeutic support alongside (or instead of) this work.
SomaSong is also not classical voice training, vocal pedagogy in the traditional sense, or a substitute for medical care. If you're working with a medical vocal condition, SomaSong can complement care from an ENT or voice specialist, but doesn't replace it.
Why I Created This
SomaSong came out of my own struggle. I've been singing and performing since I was five years old. I write and perform my own songs and have spent much of my life on stages — as a singer-songwriter, theatre performer, and musician. The voice is one of my deepest loves and longest practices.
And for years, my own singing was held back by significant tension and tightness — eventually diagnosed as muscle tension dysphonia — that no amount of technique could fix. I'd been trained well. I had good technique on paper. But sometimes my body wouldn't cooperate, and more drilling wasn't going to solve what was actually a nervous-system problem.
I started experimenting with somatic tools, and the voice started to free. I also noticed something else: when I was singing regularly, my heart rate variability — a key marker of nervous system health — was significantly better. The voice wasn't just being affected by my nervous system. It was regulating my nervous system in return.
SomaSong is the practice I built from that bidirectional insight. Somatic tools for the singer who can't break through tension. Voice as a regulation tool for the person who needs more than breathwork. A practice that works in both directions, for whichever direction you most need.
There are other practitioners doing related work, drawing on overlapping somatic and embodied-voice lineages — and the field is richer for it. SomaSong is my own contribution to that conversation, built from my specific path: clinical training, somatic therapy, yoga, decades of singing and performing, and my own slow journey through vocal tension toward freedom.
Work with me
Free consultation (15 minutes, virtual). The first step in your SomaSong journey-- a short video call to talk about what's bringing you to SomaSong and whether the work feels like a fit. No pressure to book. → Contact me to request a consultation.
Single sessions. 30 or 60 minutes, virtual. $150 / 60 minutes $75 / 30 minutes
Six-session packages. Recommended for getting into the actual depth of the work. 30 or 60 minutes per session, virtual. $875 / six 60-minute sessions $435 / six 30-minute sessions
In-person sessions (Lawrence, KS). Available by inquiry, with limited availability.
Group Sessions. Small group sessions are a great cost-effective way to experience SomaSong at a significantly lower rate per-person than private lessons. Contact me to get on an interest list.
In-person group classes. SomaSong classes are like a yoga class for your voice. We use somatic tools and song circle-style meditation songs to leave participants feeling more grounded and connected. Interested in bringing SomaSong to your studio or organization? Please reach out!
Speaking, Consulting, Retreats, Event, and Training. Interested in bringing SomaSong to your organization, academic institution, performance company, or retreat center? Contact me for rates and availability.
A note from Abby
If you've quit voice lessons because they triggered shutdown, panic, or shame — you're not broken, and there isn't something wrong with you. Your nervous system was protecting you from something it perceived as unsafe, and you needed a different door in. That door is what I built.