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Vocal Power - an interview with Arthur Samuel Joseph by Connie Hill

Arthur Samuel Joseph is the author of several books on the power of the voice. In his 40 years helping people own their vocal power through his Vocal Awareness System he has worked with Fortune 500 CEO's, politicians, college students, movie and TV stars, professional singers and athletes and people from all walks of life. They all consider him their secret weapon.\

CH: Can you tell me about your work?

ASJ: Vocal Power: Harnessing the Power Within is my third book. I've begun work on the fourth book which will be called Vocal Zen: The Journey to Mastery. Mastery is what this work is really about. If I can get you conscious of a breath, I'll get you conscious of a whole lot of other things. These skill have generally only been applied in the ballet or music or athletes, becoming a great runner or a great football player. Vocal awareness is life work. It's about integrating these same principles 24/7, not just when you are in a performance mode.

CH: Is Vocal Awareness the same as sound healing?

ASJ: I've taught sound healers, like Patricia Sun. But the concepts in Vocal Awareness are so different. For example, let me talk about my breathing ritual. If you went to the shore, found a wave-set and breathed in concert with the waves, you'd see that the rhythm is the same as the rhythm of the in coming and out going waves.

Most of us spend inordinate amounts of time being self-conscious. I spend significant amounts of time helping clients learn to become conscious of self. Most of us spend time worrying about what everyone thinks of us. I teach that the two greatest issues are fear of abandonment and ownership of our power. We work on these through the mind-body-spirit principles of this work.

When you see all the endorsements for the book, and it's too many, but they include Quincy Jones, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Pierce Brosnan, Lucie Arnez, to Peter Guber, Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield. I have a client running for President. I work with Fortune 500 companies. I teach healing at Esalen and all over the place. People ask me what I do and I say "I sell air." People have to breath and communicate." In January I will begin my 40th year of teaching.

I have two sets of audio tapes which have been in the top five of audio tape sale. They just continue to sell. And as my publicist said the other day, he heard on Oprah (so it must be true) that voice is the next frontier. Now, I'm traveling around the world trying to awaken to the power of the voice.

CH: What is a typical session with you like?

ASJ: There isn't a typical session. The way that I am speaking with you-this mind-body-spirit stuff, I use with my political candidate, movie stars, a twelve year with old downs syndrome and I used it with Arnold for 9 or 10 years. This is my work. I teach all over the world and it doesn't matter what language it is, we all process the same way with this work.

Each ession depends on what we are working on. Many sessions involve vocal exercises. Every lesson is taped to create objectivity. Students have told me they didn't hear certain things until the fourth time they had listened to the tape. This work is about consciousness. I want to make you conscious of self so you are not self-conscious. I teach that caution teaches anxiety; that conscientiousness creates awareness. During the work everyone creates a mission and goal statement.

CH: So why is the voice so significant?

ASJ: One's identity is largely conveyed through the sound of their voice. The whole goal of the work is empowerment through voice. We set goals and timelines. One of my clients is the COO of a six billion dollar corporation. In sessions we have begun to explore the difference between being a business leader or being a leader in business. Subtle distinction. Recently, I spoke at GE on the Hudson and here you have the ninth largest economy in the world. Not the ninth largest business economy, the ninth largest economy. I had the VP's of that company speaking before me at the symposium and they were speaking like business people not as representatives of this national economy.

I was just speaking at the MBA program at the University of Texas and I told 400 graduate students that in business, people aren't going to say to you "Oh, your voice seems tense or nervous." They'll say, "Oh, you seem tense or nervous." I want people to be incharge of how they want us to know them. In all verbal communication only 8% of what we hear is based on the language we use, 37% is conveyed by the sound of a voice, 55% by body language. You and I are on the telephone and 92% of what I'm saying is conveyed by the sound of the voice not the content. The emphasis is on the messenger not the message.

So, the whole theme of this mission of mine is to change the world through the voice. Voice is power. When you own your voice you own your power. The goal is not to make you into somebody you aren't, but to make you into who you truly are. We all behave in ways to which we are habituated and ways that make us feel safe. But those are behaviors, not who we are. When we behave like this we actually expose the very essence we don't want others to know about us. I see your fear so now I can go for the jugular. We just think we are safe, but we're in far more jeopardy. In Vocal Awareness I teach that the only thing that's constant in life is change and now you have the ability to really confront something. Everything in life revolves around two things if you really think about it, to choose or not to choose. It never matters how scary, how seemingly difficult, how daunting. What matters is how bad I want it. Even in abdication I've made a choice. All I care about in this work is did that choice empower or disempower us.

CH: I really like the first sentence in the chapter Taking the Next Step: "The journey we take is never outward towards accomplishment, only inward toward the deeper self." That is pretty darn powerful.

ASJ: What is the basic element of all sound? Vibration. What connects every living thing in the universe? Vibration. When you allow yourself to breath, you say thank you to source. If you loved and let go, your body would breath.

God has given me an awful lot of gifts and not the least of them is being born with a lead spoon in my mouth instead of the proverbial silver one and many other things. I didn't know it then but God was honing me to make me a teacher. I screwed up a lot but God kept being patient with me and still is. I'm in service to this work. I am in complete surrender to it.

CH: Can you tell me what you are going to talk about when you come to the bookshop.

ASJ: What ever I'm supposed to talk about. It will be about my work. We'll do some exercises. Some about the philosophy and stories. But the goal of the work is always sovereignty. So people will come out in that hour and a half with the beginnings of how to do the work. Part of the commitment is that you can begin this work in seven minutes a day on it. And we might even sing a song.

CH: Is there anything else you want to talk about before we close.

AJS: Just that I really appreciate being able to share with you. This is my passion. I built a better mouse trap so I hope this will make a difference.

Connie Hill works at New Renaissance Bookshop and is a local astrologer. She can be reached at 503-542-4330 ext. 1287 or gmnite@yahoo.com.