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Six months ago I was not doing so hot. I was lethargic, uninspired, and unable to move forward with my projects and creative ideas. I have an autoimmune condition called psoriasis, and I knew what was coming… I knew I was about to have a flare. So when I woke up one morning to find that the welt-sized mosquito bites I’d gotten a week earlier were scaling over and turning into a big ‘ole psoriatic rash, I smiled a resigned smile and said out loud: “Welcome back psoriasis!”

I’d had another big ep...

I’m sure at some point someone has told you that you need to be louder. They’ve likely said to you: “You need to project your voice more!” It’s very possible (likely, in fact) that after this was said to you, you pushed to make your voice louder.

Well I want to suggest that there’s a way to get louder without pushing. It just requires a mental reframe. After all, what is a projectile? It’s something that hurtles out into space and doesn’t return. It’s a missile. And let’s be honest, projectiles...

This past weekend I shot How Your Voice Works, my new online class about the anatomy and function of the human voice. When it was done and we’d wrapped the shoot, I was in shock.

Thrilled to be on set for How Your Voice Works

See, How Your Voice Works has been a very surprising project for me. It’s without a doubt the biggest thing I’ve ever created. On one hand it reflects over a decade of study and work (which is a fact that didn’t really sink in until Monday night when I was sitting st...

I’ve been tweeting and facebooking like crazy in the past three weeks because of the Kickstarter campaign for How Your Voice Works. So it was absolutely lovely when Suzy St. George of TakeLessons.com, a site I’ve been following for awhile, reached out to ask if we might like to share content. She sent me a few links and this one stood out. Why? Because so many of the things on this beautiful infographic are what you’re going to learn in the How Your Voice Works online class! Yay!!

I love good, ...

Let’s go back to the moment of birth…

Your mother is in labor. You’re slowly making your way down the birth canal. Suddenly your head crowns, you emerge into the world, your skin touches the air, and a huge host of physiological changes get set into motion. Your respiratory system kickstarts and you take the strongest breath of your life: the one that inflates your lungs. A short time later (maybe a moment, maybe a bit longer) you exhale through your windpipe, air passes through your vocal cord...

I’m gonna make a controversial statement here:

I don’t believe there is any such thing as a “bad” habit.

Before you holler, hear me out.

Let’s start by defining a habit. I often say a habit is something that you repeat. According to dictionary.com, habit (n.) is “an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.”

So here’s the thing… as human beings, we won’t repeat an action unless it serves us. Repetition is born from usefulness. If a behavior isn’t us...

My junior year of college I studied abroad in London at the British American Drama Academy. It was awesome and I had this amazing dame of a teacher Sheila for Shakespeare class. One day after I’d been working on my monologue in front of the class, Sheila said to me “Elissa, go find the book Being Not Doing and read it. That’s what you need.” I nodded vigorously, but the truth was I had no idea what she meant. All the same for some reason the moment stuck in my brain. Three months later when I wa...

Hi my name is Elissa. (This blog is brand new, so I feel like I should introduce myself!) I’m a voice and movement teacher working with performers and professionals to help them communicate with presence, power, and ease. I got into being a voice teacher after I lost my voice at age 21. I won’t go into the whole story here, but suffice it to say it was a major event in my life and a turning point. Looking back, I now see it as a blessing since it led me to where I am today and taught me the valu...