Feeling overwhelmed lately? You’re not alone—and your voice might be the exact tool you need to feel more grounded.
In this episode of Vocal Tips in 10 with Amber Mogg Cathey, we’re shifting the focus from performance to personal well-being, exploring how singing can be a form of self-care for anyone—whether you're a touring pro or just someone who loves belting your favorite songs in the car.
We’ll dive into how singing impacts your nervous system, triggers endorphins, and creates real physical and emotional benefits. You’ll walk away with simple vocal tools—like humming, gentle sirens, and feel-good songs—that can help you release tension, regulate stress, and reconnect with your joy.
Because singing isn’t just for the stage—it’s for your soul. 💛
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
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Hi everybody. So there has been a theme in the studio this past week and really more than this past week. When I was thinking about talking about this, I was like, no, it's been the past several weeks. And then I thought, no, it's really been like all of 2025. And then I thought, oh, if I'm really being honest, it's probably been kind of COVID out. So sort of all of the 2020s. But it's really just been every single client that I work with this week.
talking about just this feeling of overwhelm, Whether it is the micro stress, and I just mean the things going on in their lives, you're prepping for a big tour. I worked with a couple of voiceover artists this week, somebody dealing with a voice issue and injury and the stress and trauma that comes with that as they are recovering. And I just find that even though I work with voice users in all different styles and different areas with different goals,
there always seems to be this kind of thread connecting everybody together. And definitely a recurring theme big time this week. I'm talking every single person, either showing up in person in my studio or jumping online and just starting with like, I haven't been doing as much as I want to. Everything feels heavy. I feel overwhelmed. It's just been a recurring theme. And so I wanted to talk about it here.
Because I'm just gonna go out on a limb and guess that it's not just all the people that I work with. Because I feel it too. All my friends and colleagues and everybody I talk to in our own ways with whatever we've got going on, there's the micro and then there's the macro of like, things are really a hot mess kind of everywhere.
and that feeling of stress can obviously really affect us in all ways. The body keeps score. So when we mentally feel something, emotionally feel something, it affects us physically and our body is our instrument. So there's that component of things. Where singing can all of a sudden feel more difficult and we have more tension, we fatigue more quickly. We just don't have like the full access and freedom to our instrument.
like we want and like we feel like we generally have. And then the part I want to talk about today is how singing and how using your voice can be such a form of self-care. And what I find a lot of times is if you're working with a singer who maybe is not doing this professionally, you know, they sing at church, they sing in their community, but they aren't getting paid. They have a tendency to not
value their voice as much as somebody who is getting paid. And I'm always like, that's crazy train. Your voice matters and the value it gives to you matters just as much. If you love it, if it gives you joy, if it brings meaning to your life, I think you deserve just
the best care and training and experience you can have with your voice. And then I find on the flip side, so many of the professionals that I work with, having this feeling that they can't really focus on their voice and their instrument as self care, because it's their job. So they need to just really be serious. And it's always a focus on the next project, the next audition, the next tour, the next performance, whatever it is.
and they feel overwhelmed. Sometimes they start to feel like, you know, it's not as enjoyable as it used to be or as they want it to be, or they feel this disconnect.
And I feel like now more than ever, the self-care aspect that singing and using our voices gives us is so powerful and it is so needed. And what I find with all of these clients, we have a session and it starts with like, I'm here today, but I'm not feeling great. I feel overwhelmed. You know, we always start with like, how are you feeling? What's going on?
It starts with that and always, once we're at the end of a session and they've been singing, we've been using our voices, we've been getting that therapeutic peace, when you sing, it triggers your vagus nerve, You get more oxygen in the body. You get all those great endorphins that you get from exercising because singing is athletic. And then you're expressing yourself. You're expressing some of those emotions that maybe you've been bottling up because they just feel kind of too overwhelming.
to let out. never, literally never. I don't ever like to speak in absolutes and I just spoke in absolutes twice there. I never speak in absolutes. But truly I can't think in decades of doing this work ever finishing a session with somebody where they don't feel so much better. And I'm not talking about here so much better in what they're able to do vocally, which certainly that's the case as well. And that's my job. That's what I hope is the case.
but I feel like just as important, they just feel better overall. The mental weight feels lighter. The stress feels more manageable.
to remind you, like I remind every client that I work with, sometimes the times when we don't feel like singing, like I just don't think I can do it today. It just all feels too heavy. I totally get that. You need to listen to yourself, honor your mind, your body, all of those things, and
many times those are the times where we need to be singing the most. And just because it is your profession, if you are somebody who does this for a living, it doesn't mean that you can't just sing because it feels good. So what do I mean by that? What are ways you can do that? Singing your comfort songs, singing your go-to songs. I don't know if you have...
heard about or read any of the studies that show watching a comfort show or a comfort movie. I'm sure you guys have those. My husband and I were talking any time any Harry Potter is on. We watch it and it just feels like comforting and calming. If it's cruddy weather outside, if it's a bad snowstorm and everybody's stuck at the house, we immediately are like, you know what's going to make everybody feel good? Harry Potter. It's one of our comfort shows. And the studies have shown
that watching a comfort show or a comfort movie genuinely helps you regulate your nervous system. So I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, singing your comfort songs, those songs that we go back to, no matter what, I find myself when I'm not singing for a specific purpose and I just sing because I want to, because I need it, because it feels good, I go back to some of the songs that I sang back in college, some of them I've been singing since high school.
A lot of years and sometimes I give myself a hard time because I'm like, Amber, branch out woman. Like you don't need your little handful of favorites to keep going back to that well. But when it comes to self care and just singing because it feels good, there is something magical about going back to those songs. There's a reason why we lean on those particular songs or a particular show or a particular book.
It's singing not for any purpose other than to feel good. And if it feels like I can't even think of a song, I can't do it. If you really feel like I can't do anything, I am just locked down and frozen, start with humming.
Humming triggers the vagus nerve. It's one of the reasons why in yoga, in meditation, humming is used. It helps you connect the mind and the body. You feel that nice, yummy resonance really centering you into your body. It triggers your vagus nerve. It triggers your parasympathetic nervous system. It genuinely lowers your blood pressure. It makes you feel better.
So if that's all you can do sometimes, just some nice buzzy humming, whether it is a chant or whether you are humming a tune, I can almost guarantee you. I'm not gonna guarantee you, because like I said, never, everybody's different. Every situation is different, but almost always that humming is gonna make you feel just a little bit freer where before you know it, you're singing a little bit. You're starting to sing some words. You're starting to do a mix.
of humming and singing and before you know it, you could be in a full blown hairbrush in the hand, you know what I mean? Rocking out performance in your house. And it doesn't matter if you rock out and perform for a living or if you don't. Sometimes we just need those times of play and release. And I feel like in times of stress, and I know this for myself, sometimes what I wanna do is just shut down, just like.
fetal position on the couch and watch my comfort show. And I would encourage you as much as you can, try and stretch yourself a little further than that. So I don't know about you, but one of the things for me when I feel shut down, if I force myself to go take a walk outside, even if it's 15 minutes, I always feel better, like a million times better. Because I think I get out in nature, I move my body, and then I just get like a better perspective.
And I feel like singing is the same thing. It's that athletic activity with the mental and emotional release. And I just think it's a good time for us to all have a reminder that our voice is needed, our voice is valuable, and it's valuable for more than just making money. So whether you make money with it or you don't, using it to just care for yourself, just to express, just to make yourself.
feel good and feel better, it's just as valuable.
All right, friends, I hope that you are taking care of yourself. I hope that you will sing because it makes you feel good. And I hope to see you in the next episode.
