In this episode of Mindful You, Alan Carroll interviews Monique McDonald. Monique is an award-winning, Grammy-nominated, Opera Singer and certified Conscious Transformational Coach.  Alan and Monique discuss how people can reclaim their voices and how public speaking and singing are so intertwined. Through her professional music training, Monique helps her clients connect with their audiences from a profound place and learn how to tune themselves with others. We are in charge of the inhale and God is in charge of the exhale.

About The Guest:

MONIQUE is an award-winning, Grammy-nominated, Opera Singer and certified Conscious Transformational Coach. As an International Singer, Speaker and Emcee, Monique has a knack for making meaningful connections with audiences and helps others do the same with her unique coaching style. Known as the Magnetic Voice Mentor, Monique inspires healers and entrepreneurs to strengthen and elevate their stage presence, confidence, and mastery of expression through the human voice. What if your next professional conversation could take your business - and yourself - to unprecedented levels? Are you ready to unleash YOUR magnetic voice?  

Find Monique Here:

Email

Website

About Alan:

Alan Carroll is an Educational Psychologist who specializes in Transpersonal Psychology. He founded Alan Carroll & Associates 30 years ago and before that, he was a Senior Sales Training Consultant for 10 years at Digital Equipment Corporation. He has dedicated his life in search of mindfulness tools that can be used by everyone (young and old) to transform their ability to speak at a professional level, as well as, to reduce the psychological suffering caused by the misidentification with our ego and reconnect to the vast transcendent dimension of consciousness that lies just on the other side of the thoughts we think and in between the words we speak.

Personal: https://www.facebook.com/alan.carroll.7359

Business: https://www.facebook.com/AlanCarrolltrains

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aca-mindful-you/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulnesseminar/

Web Site: https://acamindfulyou.com/

 

Alan Carroll: 00:00:00

Welcome, fellow travelers down the mindfulness

Alan Carroll: 00:00:05

path. Today, we have a great opportunity to interview and

Alan Carroll: 00:00:12

speak with a Grammy nominated opera singer who is on stage in

Alan Carroll: 00:00:21

front of large audiences, and all the things that go together

Alan Carroll: 00:00:27

to be successful in that arena. Especially accessing to a

Alan Carroll: 00:00:34

mindful sense of consciousness. And she has the ability to allow

Alan Carroll: 00:00:44

people to get in touch with that mindful quality within. And so

Alan Carroll: 00:00:49

when they project out the sounds that they sing, the sounds come

Alan Carroll: 00:00:54

from a deeper level of consciousness and mindfulness.

Alan Carroll: 00:00:59

And therefore the quality of the formulation of the note is just

Alan Carroll: 00:01:07

wonderful. So it's with a joy in my heart to welcome Monique

Alan Carroll: 00:01:14

McDonald to the mindful you podcast. Well, welcome to the

Alan Carroll: 00:01:19

mindful mindful you podcast money.

Monique McDonald: 00:01:22

Thank you very much.

Alan Carroll: 00:01:23

I am, I am in prime impressed with singing.

Alan Carroll: 00:01:27

And I read a little bit about your singing and your singing

Alan Carroll: 00:01:31

career, just the ability to sing. And then the ability to

Alan Carroll: 00:01:35

want to be heard, which means voting up and down is already a

Alan Carroll: 00:01:40

breakthrough in confidence. And I also noticed that you, you

Alan Carroll: 00:01:45

talk you talk about, well, where do you sing? Well, you sing on a

Alan Carroll: 00:01:49

stage, don't you? Oh, yes, I do. And, and I would imagine that

Alan Carroll: 00:01:54

leads into stage presence. And that's, that's a very important

Alan Carroll: 00:01:59

concept, because a lot of my listeners are professional

Alan Carroll: 00:02:04

speakers who want to get better at the game of professional

Alan Carroll: 00:02:08

speaking. And so having someone like yourself, who is a

Alan Carroll: 00:02:13

professional speaker on stage singing is act like one step

Alan Carroll: 00:02:16

above professional speaker. And so that's like, I can't wait to,

Alan Carroll: 00:02:20

to to have you share some of your wisdom, of experiences and

Alan Carroll: 00:02:25

stories, and mindfulness and presence and, and to be to be in

Alan Carroll: 00:02:31

the moment in front of the audience. And how do you get in

Alan Carroll: 00:02:33

the moment in front of audiences. So that would be the

Alan Carroll: 00:02:36

ballpark of my first question, and you can enter into it any

Alan Carroll: 00:02:40

way you want to?

Monique McDonald: 00:02:41

Well, I'm super excited to be here,

Monique McDonald: 00:02:44

because awareness is one of the most important first steps to

Monique McDonald: 00:02:53

being on any stage, whether you're singing or speaking, I

Monique McDonald: 00:02:57

find that speakers in particular, and singers as well,

Monique McDonald: 00:03:04

don't spend enough time priming their energy to be seen and

Monique McDonald: 00:03:09

heard. So they just walk out into onto the stage or in our

Monique McDonald: 00:03:14

case, for example, on with a microphone and just start

Monique McDonald: 00:03:17

talking. And they haven't prepared so that they're not

Monique McDonald: 00:03:24

coming from their most powerful or most centered place within

Monique McDonald: 00:03:29

one of the reasons why I call myself the magnetic voice

Monique McDonald: 00:03:33

mentor, is because I help speakers and singers learn how

Monique McDonald: 00:03:38

to tap in to that presence and passion within and the line

Monique McDonald: 00:03:46

their voice to it. So that that energy is unleashed into the

Monique McDonald: 00:03:53

room. Before you even say a word you have prepared by one of my

Monique McDonald: 00:04:00

little tricks is I send love into the room before I even get

Monique McDonald: 00:04:04

there. I imagine all of the faces of the people that are

Monique McDonald: 00:04:08

going to be receiving my message or my song so that I'm already

Monique McDonald: 00:04:15

connected both within and without, before I walk into the

Monique McDonald: 00:04:20

room.

Alan Carroll: 00:04:22

Oh, boy, oh boy, aren't they sweet words? That's

Alan Carroll: 00:04:26

very, very nice. Very, very, very nice. To be to visualize

Alan Carroll: 00:04:31

the love going into the room, the the being present and aware

Alan Carroll: 00:04:39

is very mindful. And I know from my experiences that that often

Alan Carroll: 00:04:47

people don't realize and you you can you you're the you're the

Alan Carroll: 00:04:52

professional here that that when you speak it's a form of singing

Alan Carroll: 00:04:59

and And when you sing, it's singing. And in there is a space

Alan Carroll: 00:05:07

between the sounds, and are the notes that I believe is that

Alan Carroll: 00:05:15

that sorts of power that allows you to become present and

Alan Carroll: 00:05:20

energized, the note that follows the empty space, which accesses

Alan Carroll: 00:05:25

mindfulness and that infinite space of I'll call it

Alan Carroll: 00:05:28

consciousness? Are we? Are we on the same page here?

Monique McDonald: 00:05:31

Alan, I couldn't have said it better

Monique McDonald: 00:05:33

myself. That's exactly right. And, and in my studio, we were

Monique McDonald: 00:05:40

taught that singing is just elongated speech. So what we're,

Monique McDonald: 00:05:49

what we're literally doing is connecting to that source of all

Monique McDonald: 00:05:55

there is that every one of us, you bet, and literally tuning

Monique McDonald: 00:06:03

ourselves to that power or energy. So that what ever we say

Monique McDonald: 00:06:10

is imbued with that. So we don't have to worry so much about what

Monique McDonald: 00:06:17

we're saying. Because when you're tuned in like that, you

Monique McDonald: 00:06:23

can make mistakes, forget your place, you can be as powerful as

Monique McDonald: 00:06:29

you can be, you can be your most authentic self. And it is more

Monique McDonald: 00:06:36

than enough. Because you are connected to everyone within the

Monique McDonald: 00:06:42

sound of your voice.

Alan Carroll: 00:06:45

All right. It's, you touch a space, then you're

Alan Carroll: 00:06:51

speaking, which touches a space in me. That space of, of

Alan Carroll: 00:06:59

emptiness, of ego free judgment free zone. Yes. And, and that's

Alan Carroll: 00:07:09

the definition of mindfulness. Mindfulness is to be able to be

Alan Carroll: 00:07:13

24/7 and a judgment free zone. And so there's no thoughts

Alan Carroll: 00:07:20

there. There's no judgments there is just pure forgiveness.

Alan Carroll: 00:07:26

And, and I hear you talk about forgiveness. And letting go is a

Alan Carroll: 00:07:31

is a deep mindfulness journey. Because that's that's to to to

Alan Carroll: 00:07:38

relinquish the grip, somehow that ego has on your actions, is

Alan Carroll: 00:07:45

a tremendous source of freedom. And Lily Allen,

Monique McDonald: 00:07:49

and that particular grip translates into

Monique McDonald: 00:07:53

the body and the breath, so that your voice literally becomes

Monique McDonald: 00:07:58

blocked. It's almost like you're driving your car with the brake

Monique McDonald: 00:08:01

on.

Alan Carroll: 00:08:03

One analogy, that's great,

Monique McDonald: 00:08:06

right? It doesn't flow. And we all know

Monique McDonald: 00:08:10

people that speak that way. And we don't, the thing is, we're

Monique McDonald: 00:08:15

not trained, our ears aren't trained to understand what's

Monique McDonald: 00:08:19

going on, physically, it within the voice itself, but our bodies

Monique McDonald: 00:08:25

understand the energy and feel the block. So we don't know why.

Monique McDonald: 00:08:31

But some people we aligned to immediately and some people,

Monique McDonald: 00:08:37

there's a little bit of distance that's necessary. And that's

Monique McDonald: 00:08:42

what I help speakers do. I help Pete speakers, release that

Monique McDonald: 00:08:47

grip, reclaim those moments where they gave up their voice.

Monique McDonald: 00:08:57

And trauma happened, or because trauma happened, they gave up

Monique McDonald: 00:09:03

their voice, and they're always remnants of emotional and mental

Monique McDonald: 00:09:08

debris left over, no matter how much work we do on it. And I'm

Monique McDonald: 00:09:13

one of 12 coaches that practice this particular healing

Monique McDonald: 00:09:18

modality, of reclaiming your voice in those moments. It's a

Monique McDonald: 00:09:24

very powerful thing. And it's, it's, it's I'm so grateful that

Monique McDonald: 00:09:28

I get to do it. And what I call it is I helped clear the

Monique McDonald: 00:09:32

instrument so that it can flow in the way that we were talking

Monique McDonald: 00:09:36

about because true connection can only happen if we're

Monique McDonald: 00:09:46

breathing in our bodies fully present fully present.

Alan Carroll: 00:09:55

The the term that I like from the boot This

Alan Carroll: 00:10:00

tradition is if you follow your thoughts, it's a disembodied.

Alan Carroll: 00:10:05

And if you tune into your body, it's embodied. And so the dance

Alan Carroll: 00:10:11

is between the creation of the sound, which is a disembodied,

Alan Carroll: 00:10:16

and then the creation of the embodied experience requires you

Alan Carroll: 00:10:19

to be able to one foot here, one foot there, boom, boom, though,

Alan Carroll: 00:10:25

when you when you listen to lovely, sweetheart, come on

Alan Carroll: 00:10:30

baby. I love to sing, I loved I loved I sing all the time, I

Alan Carroll: 00:10:39

just, and I make up the words, excuse me. I love it, I make up

Alan Carroll: 00:10:46

the words because I don't know the words, but I just, I just

Alan Carroll: 00:10:49

start just to sing. And part of the of the speaking is the

Alan Carroll: 00:10:54

creation of the silence that allows you to think about the

Alan Carroll: 00:10:58

next note. So the note comes from a thought that you have

Alan Carroll: 00:11:01

about the what's the quality of this of the thought form.

Alan Carroll: 00:11:08

Absolutely, I want to create right here and this.

Monique McDonald: 00:11:12

Absolutely. And the voice works. In waves.

Monique McDonald: 00:11:16

Sound works in waves. So there's the flow, the ebb and flow, the

Monique McDonald: 00:11:23

time when the the voice is making sound and the silence.

Monique McDonald: 00:11:28

It's as our breath, we inhale, inspiration, the divine

Monique McDonald: 00:11:35

connection, and we exhale, my voice teacher used to tell me

Monique McDonald: 00:11:43

when God is in charge, we are in charge of the inhale. And God is

Monique McDonald: 00:11:50

in charge of the exhale. And what that meant to me was, we

Monique McDonald: 00:11:54

prepare through our inhalation for what we are about to say.

Monique McDonald: 00:12:00

But the actual saying of it, we must release and trust that it

Monique McDonald: 00:12:06

will go out into the world as it's meant to be because we are

Monique McDonald: 00:12:11

truly connected and aware.

Alan Carroll: 00:12:16

So many things, Say that one again, the inhale

Alan Carroll: 00:12:20

and the exhale, one.

Monique McDonald: 00:12:22

We are in charge of the inhale. And God is

Monique McDonald: 00:12:27

in charge of the exhale. So we inhale, what it is that we want

Monique McDonald: 00:12:35

to be. And we release the exhale, trusting that God is at

Monique McDonald: 00:12:41

work within whatever we're saying, or speaking. God, the

Monique McDonald: 00:12:46

source of all there is whatever word you'd like to put there

Monique McDonald: 00:12:51

that you're comfortable with. But what I know is, there is an

Monique McDonald: 00:12:56

invisible force that breathes us that beats are heart that

Monique McDonald: 00:13:01

connects us all. And our voice and our breath that supports our

Monique McDonald: 00:13:08

voice is the most ancient way to connect to that force.

Alan Carroll: 00:13:27

It's beautiful, um, it's like it is like you're

Alan Carroll: 00:13:30

singing a song and I'm listening to the song and letting it

Alan Carroll: 00:13:33

vibrate in my body. Another word has come up a few times. Last

Alan Carroll: 00:13:39

year, we're talking as the word harmony. And when you watch

Alan Carroll: 00:13:45

someone speak, or someone's saying, Is it Is there a

Alan Carroll: 00:13:50

fluidity or a harmony of flowing into that that ebb and the flow

Alan Carroll: 00:13:56

the ebb and the flow? Is the ebb long enough for the flow that

Alan Carroll: 00:13:59

just happened is the RS the flow too long for the ebb and as you

Alan Carroll: 00:14:03

become more present you how long you hold the sound? And how long

Alan Carroll: 00:14:09

you hold the silence becomes natural and and then then you

Alan Carroll: 00:14:14

have a balance or harmony? Does that make sense?

Monique McDonald: 00:14:17

I love the way you've put it Alan, it's a it's

Monique McDonald: 00:14:21

a really beautiful thing. In in, in our voice class and I and I

Monique McDonald: 00:14:27

do with speakers as well when we're working in person where I

Monique McDonald: 00:14:32

have them say the same words into each other's mouths.

Monique McDonald: 00:14:35

Obviously when COVID happened that stopped but there are when

Monique McDonald: 00:14:40

you're singing to sing the same notes. What what happens is

Monique McDonald: 00:14:45

without realizing it, and with very little effort, we tune

Monique McDonald: 00:14:51

ourselves to the other because It is a natural desire, it is a

Monique McDonald: 00:15:03

natural desire to unite a natural desire to be in harmony

Monique McDonald: 00:15:17

with each other. Because of many things about the way the world

Monique McDonald: 00:15:26

is right now, most people are using their voice to disturb

Monique McDonald: 00:15:31

that harmony, to break it up to interrupt it, because their

Monique McDonald: 00:15:38

intention is to control. But natural power that comes from

Monique McDonald: 00:15:44

the source within, that affects each and every one of our

Monique McDonald: 00:15:48

voices. And each and every one of our souls doesn't need to

Monique McDonald: 00:15:55

control it just is. And when I help see a singers and speakers

Monique McDonald: 00:16:03

connect and speak from that place, they they are always the

Monique McDonald: 00:16:11

favorite speaker, wherever they go. And I am on a mission, Alan

Monique McDonald: 00:16:17

to M power 10,000 voices. For that, yes, because we are living

Monique McDonald: 00:16:29

in a time where the world needs authentic, connected voices,

Monique McDonald: 00:16:37

speaking the truth, more than ever, creating that harmony,

Monique McDonald: 00:16:44

vibrating the world with their voice. I have a gift for your

Monique McDonald: 00:16:53

listeners with that wonderful

Alan Carroll: 00:16:55

gift. And also, how can my listeners connect

Alan Carroll: 00:16:58

with you?

Monique McDonald: 00:17:00

Well, they can go to the magnetic voice.com.

Monique McDonald: 00:17:05

And they can sign up for a discover your magnetic voice

Monique McDonald: 00:17:10

session. And we can have a chat. And or they can go to this link

Monique McDonald: 00:17:18

that I'm putting in the chat right now.

Alan Carroll: 00:17:21

And we'll also include all this in the show

Alan Carroll: 00:17:23

notes money.

Monique McDonald: 00:17:24

That's right. The magnetic voice.com/v O P,

Monique McDonald: 00:17:32

which stands for voice of power. And this is one of my favorite

Monique McDonald: 00:17:35

things that I get to do. i It's a live assessment, I'm going to

Monique McDonald: 00:17:39

meet you and we're going to talk about your voice. And what is

Monique McDonald: 00:17:44

your voice of power? What does that sound like? And how do you

Monique McDonald: 00:17:49

you want to align your voice of power with your blessing good

Monique McDonald: 00:17:56

message to the world that is only yours. The Native Americans

Monique McDonald: 00:18:02

believe that we each one of us have medicine for the world. And

Monique McDonald: 00:18:11

I believe that medicine flows through our voice into the

Monique McDonald: 00:18:17

hearts of humanity. So please remember, your voice matters.

Monique McDonald: 00:18:30

And what would you say, if you truly understood that your voice

Monique McDonald: 00:18:38

can vibrate the world

Alan Carroll: 00:18:50

it's just so sweet. The sweet things that you

Alan Carroll: 00:18:52

say it's being a cheerleader for more for God. And I'm a believer

Alan Carroll: 00:19:01

and a follower of the Course of Miracles and is full of stories

Alan Carroll: 00:19:05

and one of the sayings is, God cannot do for you what God

Alan Carroll: 00:19:10

cannot do through you. And so when you speak you're speaking

Alan Carroll: 00:19:14

for God and you speak for yourself you're speaking for

Alan Carroll: 00:19:17

God, you speak for the being energy that that that space of

Alan Carroll: 00:19:20

the of the infinite and full of compassion, grace and

Alan Carroll: 00:19:24

forgiveness. Whereas the ego speak for attacking and if you

Alan Carroll: 00:19:28

can catch that too, and go in that direction of the harmony

Alan Carroll: 00:19:32

for God is like wonderful and you speak for you. You speak for

Alan Carroll: 00:19:38

a greater vision and you have the gift of articulation and

Alan Carroll: 00:19:45

you're able to articulate the the infinite in a way that's

Alan Carroll: 00:19:48

very, very sweet. And I really it's a pleasure talking to you

Alan Carroll: 00:19:52

and I'll be signing up for that that session with you.

Monique McDonald: 00:19:55

Fantastic. Really beautiful so much Alan

Monique McDonald: 00:19:59

for having me. On your show, I feel so grateful and blessed

Monique McDonald: 00:20:05

that I get to help singers and speakers speak from that divine

Monique McDonald: 00:20:13

place, so that their message is always heard. Thank you for your

Monique McDonald: 00:20:20

time. Thank you for your voice, Alan, for reminding us how

Monique McDonald: 00:20:27

important awareness is.

Alan Carroll: 00:20:34

Thank you. Thank you very much. It's been a it's

Alan Carroll: 00:20:37

been a blessing to be with you. Thank you. Good luck on your

Alan Carroll: 00:20:42

talk. I'll be watching. You're talking about five or 10

Alan Carroll: 00:20:44

minutes. All right, thanks a million. All right. Bye Bye,