Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Interview with Karen Salmansohn


I had the real pleasure of sitting down with the amazing Karen Salmansohn- best selling author and consultant- a few weeks ago. I hope you enjoy our conversation! You can read the original interview here.


Q+A with the awesome Jennifer Hamady, “Voice Whisperer”
I love Jennifer Hamady. She’s inspiring to be around personally– and she offers mega-doses of motivation professionally to her happy clients– who vary.  Some are professional performers who are struggling with a vocal or performance block. Some are CEOs who are struggling with something in the way of their true self and interpersonal expression. Basically, Jennifer helps people “find their voices”– in every sense of that expression.  In a world today that serves isolated and individual aspects of holistic problems, Jennifer addresses “The Voice”– technical, physical, expressive, and spiritual– as one entity. But I’ll let Jennifer tell you more in this Q + A.


Q: What 3 topics do you find you discuss most with your clients? 

A: Trusting your body and yourself...  ‘Thinking’ without thinking. Learning new ways of ‘knowing’ and learning...   Exploring who you really are and what is really true. Being honest about what is stopping you (internal rather than external factors)


 Q: What is a trend in society right now that you want to awaken people to know more about?

 A: We are a culture of guru-seekers. Yet we are our own best teachers. Our best learning occurs when we become our mentor’s equals and partner in the process. With both my professional singer and speaker clients- as well as the men and women I coach in various industries- it is my mission to help them understand and embody the idea that physical, emotional, and cognitive learning all begin with them. And that they are beginning always from a position of peaceful power.  They are perfect the way that they are. That to live an extraordinary life is to give up attachment and to embrace curiosity, self and other love, and a passion to continually learn. 


 Q:What is a legacy you’d love to be remembered for because of what you do?

A: Someone said of me that I am the Mother Teresa of Voice Liberation. That sums up well the legacy I’d love to leave. (Note: She blushes modestly here.) Truly I would love that while I was on this planet, I helped people find their voices- find themselves. That I presented and embodied a new and more powerful way of looking at ourselves and our self-expression, and offered a path that enabled all men and women- performers and professionals alike- to fully embrace both. 


Q: What makes you say “THAT’S CRAZY! I CANT BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE DO THAT WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR VOICE AND SELF-EXPRESSION!”

A: I can’t believe that people really think singing is hard. That it’s something someone else has to teach you. That you can academically master a primarily autonomic and reflexive response through the use of the intellect and language. It so rarely works, to say nothing of the mental confusion and frustration it breeds. It shocks me that despite poor results, people continue to do more of the same.  That thousands of university programs are all about this.  The intellect can be helpful; it just can't drive the ship.  I also can’t BELIEVE that people don’t KNOW they have the power- and right- to be at peace and comfortable in their own skin. That their sense of personal worth and knowing- as well as confidence and joy- are really dependent on, or at least, able to be confirmed by, external factors and things. 


Q:Thanks Jennifer. I want more people to know more about you! Where else can folks find more about what you do?

A: People can listen to the recordings of the interviews I’ve done on the listen page of my website. (Click here now!) Plus I write columns for Psychology Today and Huffington Post. Plus there’s my popular book The Art Of Singing.

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