Dialects, Diversity & Directing Intimacy with Rachel Finley
Release Date: 07/28/2023
045 Is Goal setting Just Annoying?
Your Free Voice
In this episode I'm pondering ...maybe goal setting is just annoying? But seriously, why aren’t we achieving our goals? Some of my thoughts include: Because they were unrealistic in size or amount of time given to them. Because we didn’t really want them enough, or because they were 'shoulds' instead of things we really wanted. Because our unconscious conditioning said "hell no!". Because we picked too many things ... and none of them brought us joy! Because we’re framing our goals by telling ourselves off - “don’t eat so many sweets” is different from "eat...
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044_Winter Solstice Reflections
Your Free Voice
In this short episode, I share what the Winter Solstice means to me and invite you to try my reflection and dreaming practice. I do love this time of year and it's so important for us to take time for ourselves to reflect and dream, to feel the sorrow or loss, but also to find joy in the darkness. If you would like to develop a stronger connection to your voice next year, make sure you're on my mailing list to be the first to know about my workshops and private coaching offers. Here's Thank you for listening! Have a wonderful festive season and I'll be back in the New Year! Julia xox ...
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043 - Gratitude practices ❤️
Your Free Voice
This episode is about Gratitude practices that I enjoy, and thought you might too. Robin Wall Kimmerer's 'Gratitude Inventory' inspired by our connection to nature. • Step outside • Take in your surroundings • Send gratitude to a few things you see or smell or hear. • Remember how connected you are to this abundance in nature and send some gratitude back to yourself. Here's her book - indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants. Here's the Start by finding a quiet place to relax with your eyes closed for...
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042 Community Choirs & Circle Singing with Chris MacLean
Your Free Voice
In this conversation with my friend and colleague Chris MacLean, we talk about her life and career as a singer/songwriter, community choir leader, retreat host, circle singer and so much more. We talk about the logistics of running a choir, fear of death, how to make a living and how we both believe it is everyone’s birthright to sing. Here is how you can find out more about Chris, her recordings, retreats, performances and her choir. Here is how you can find out about . Here is how you can find out more about the end of life singing know as And for my final in person event of...
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041_How to Set Boundaries
Your Free Voice
In this quick solo episode, I'm exploring boundaries and how to speak up and set yours. Q. Do you feel like you can stand up for yourself? Q. Can you speak up to defend others? Here are a few ways that I'm suggesting that you might check your boundaries. How does your body feel in the moment? Hot? Clenched stomach? Are you making a fist? How is your breath? Give yourself a moment to feel into it and try to get clear on what has made you feel uncomfortable? Take a few slow breaths, let your system get regulated again. Take your time, you don't have to respond in the moment. ...
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Resilience and Recovery using The Voice Straw with celebrity voice coach Mindy Pack
Your Free Voice
On this episode of Your Free Voice, I’m delighted to bring back into the studio celebrity voice coach and founder of The Voice Straw, Mindy Pack! You may have listened to where I talked to Mindy about her experience being a celebrity voice coach, well we ran out of time to talk about straws so I had to get her back again. We’re going pretty deep into how to use the straw for rehabilitation after a cold or injury and how to prevent injury doing video game call outs and efforts prepping with the straw! I met Mindy about 5 years ago when she was co-hosting a...
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039 Mindfulness, Performance Anxiety and the Breath with Ruth Phillips
Your Free Voice
My interview with my friend and colleague Ruth Phillips. Ruth Phillips is a modern and baroque cellist, a mindfulness coach, founder of The Breathing Bow and co-founder of InsideOut Musician and a writer. Alongside her rich and diverse career as a concert cellist and teacher. Ruth is internationally sought after as a performance coach and meditation teacher, helping people who suffer from tension, stage fright or lack of focus overcome the physical and mental strains of the music profession. Ruth primarily works with instrumentalists, but her insights into the source of suffering...
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038 Rush Dorsett's interview with Me!
Your Free Voice
This episode is a bit of a first, because I am the one being interviewed! Rush Dorsett reached out to me to be part of her Awaken Your Voice Summit in October 2023. It was a great series where she interviewed 10 different thought leaders around the singing voice over 10 days. There were some really great interviews with people I've admired for a very long time (Chloe Goodchild anyone?). I honestly felt very lucky to be part of this event. We talked about many things including ... • What got me into the Mind, Body and Spirit of the voice approach in the first place. • Alfred Wolfsohn,...
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#037 How 'Aligned' is your 'New Years Goals' list?
Your Free Voice
Join me in this episode for my personal reflections on 2023 and also some suggestions for how to have a more aligned, intentional focus for the year ahead. It doesn't actually matter when you listen to this episode, the exercises are relevant whenever you need to recalibrate and stop yourself from getting overwhelmed. If you joined me in my Goal Setting Workshop in December, use this as another chance to make sure you haven't snuck sneaky 'shoulds' onto your list! If you weren't able to join me, but would like to listen to the audio of the main body of the workshop and play along (which...
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#036 My interview with 'Trash' musician and singer ❤️ Chris Portka
Your Free Voice
This episode is not only long awaited … apologies again for the long break, but also a break from the usual. Instead of waxing lyrical by myself or interviewing an industry expert in voice or physical freedom, I’m interviewing a former Voice Movement Therapy client of mine, Chris Portka. Chris came to me a number of years ago hating his job, not really loving life and generally feeling “What’s the point?” about everything. His ‘musician self’ was fully in shadow and he was riddled with anxiety at the prospect of revealing him. What’s more he could no longer stand the status...
info_outlineRachel Finlay is a prolific performer, director, voice & speech coach, conference presenter and faculty member at Arizona State University. We met on a hot day in Sonoma County looking for lunch and immediately bonded over great food, cold drinks and all the voice things & being a person things that we shared in common. I knew I had to entice her onto the show!
Join me in this extended conversation and learn about Rachel's detour from a start wanting to be a director, to being an actor, to encountering Fitzmaurice Voicework and Knight Thompson Speech work in grad school, and the freedom that gave her physically, but also emotionally the lack of diversity and representation through her education which led her to co-found The BluePrint, which is a non-profit for advancing the training and careers of actors of color, taught by actors of color. Her incredible insights into dialect work and what's actually useful for the actor and how she found herself becoming an Intimacy Director.
She is a sought after conference presenter and having been to one of her workshops I can't recommend her work highly enough. You may have to listen to this episode twice, she drops a lot of truth bombs.
Links of note:
Rachel's website https://rachelfinleyarts.com/
Rachel's INsta https://www.instagram.com/rachel_finley_arts
Fitzmaurice Voicework https://www.fitzmauriceinstitute.org/fitzmaurice-voicework
The Freedom and Focus Conference in LA in August 2023
Knight Thompson Speechwork https://ktspeechwork.org/about-the-work/
Your Body Knows by Jana Tift
https://www.amazon.com/Your-Body-Knows-Movement-Actors-ebook/dp/B0845Y71J1
Global Majority Intimacy Conference
Intimacy Coordinators of Color https://www.intimacycoordinatorsofcolor.com/
Conference in India https://vachikavoicework.com/residential.php
Transcript at www.yourfreevoicecom/podcast/episode35
BIPOC FOLX...WE GOT YOU Training actors who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
Uplifting professional BIPOC artists and connecting them with emerging BIPOC artists for mentorship and collaboration
Establishing mental health resources and practices as an integral part of the curriculum
Positioning BIPOC artists to be multi-hyphenate creators so they have sustainability in the industry
Building family among The Blueprint community and deepening intersectional relationships within the BIPOC community at large
Through The Blueprint, actors get access to a myriad of growth opportunities including roundtables, masterclasses, intensives, educational content and whatever other solutions emerge as we encounter our students’ needs.
VASTA https://www.vasta.org/