The Jewish Singer
This podcast is for Jewish singers on a journey to become not only a good singer, but a well-rounded vocal artist with meaningful music to inspire and light up the world. Here we'll explore how to bridge the gap between technique and artistry with discussions about artist identity, vocal technique, stepping into the Jewish music scene with confidence, developing healthy singer mindsets, practice routines, and so much more.
The Jewish Singer
Ep. 8: Running and returning
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Hello and welcome to episode eight of the Jewish singer podcast. I'm so excited that you're here and I'm so excited to be here with you. I just came back literally a couple hours ago, uh, from the beach. So I'm feeling pretty chill and pretty relaxed after a very short little getaway with my family. I'm probably going to keep this episode a little bit short, but I just had a little tidbit that I wanted to share with you from something that came to my mind when I was at the beach today. So today I was with my family in Ashkelon and we were at the beach and it was really, really beautiful. And I walked down to the water with my five year old and we were just sitting there, uh, on the sand, like on the wet part of the sand, just close enough to the water where our feet would get wet when the tide came in. And we were just hanging out, chatting and watching the waves come and go, come and go. And I was reminded As I often am whenever I go to the beach about this Hasidic concept of running and returning. And as I was just watching the waves, you know, run out and then run back, run out, return back. I was thinking about the ways that this comes up in our lives. There's just something so calming about seeing that cycle. Seeing the way that nature just does its thing. It comes out and then goes back in. Comes out and it goes back in. And so this concept in Chassidus, It's running and returning. I think it's, it's like technical definition. It has to do with like the soul wanting to be close to Hashem, the soul wanting to basically return back to Hashem, like this, this concept of running to Hashem and wanting that closeness. And then the returning being like a settling and an acceptance of the soul's reality in the physical world. In our, in its body. Um, and I'm sure there's more definitions of this in ways that it shows up in the world, but I definitely see this come up for me in, well, so many ways, but, um, when, with regard to singing and artistry and creativity, sometimes I'm really running, running, running and have all of this energy and koach and creative energy. And then sometimes I'm really in this state of returning of like, it's a much more sober state. I'm much more kind of like, okay, what's happening. I kind of like lost a little bit of my mojo, which doesn't have to be such a negative thing, but I'm going to go into that. I'm going to talk a little bit more about that. So, the running is like, my voice is feeling really, really great. Wow, I'm feeling really like I can get those high notes, like I'm connected to my body, myself, my mind, everything's feeling more aligned. Um, I feel like connected to other people, you know, I want to share more with people. For me, like, Um, usually whenever I have something that I learn vocally or otherwise, I always want to like give it over. So it's like, Oh, I learned something great. Okay. Now I want to give it over, you know, on my Instagram where I post my voice videos, um, things like that. Everything just feels a little bit like it's just working in synergy, you know? And then that returning, maybe I'm having an off day. Or maybe you're having an off week. Maybe you're having off months, years, chas v'shalom. Or you're feeling like drained or unenthusiastic about creating. I have times when I just feel like. using my voice takes a lot of extra energy, like even speaking. I don't know about you, but sometimes I just wake up and I'm like, I don't really want to like talk a lot today. I don't want to have a lot of interaction today. Just having to use my, you know, my internal koach to create that sound feels more effortful. Um, obviously that's in that state of like, okay, my body. is calling me to be more introspective. My body is calling me to speak less, maybe listen more. And maybe those are moments that we can be creative, but it's in a less externalized way. It's in a less like, I'm going out and doing this thing and showing it to people and telling other people about it. And more like, okay, it's time for me to, be more internal about that creativity. Maybe this is the time that I, that I go inward and figure out what my ideas are. How can I plan for the future or just what am I feeling right now that can be expressed some way, maybe via writing or, sitting down at the piano and just playing for yourself, singing for yourself, whatever. So I think this makes. So much sense inherently to women because this is so much like our monthly cycle and we go through these ebbs and flows, right? We have shifts in energy, and with those shifts in energy comes oftentimes shifts in in focus and priority. Sometimes we get these surges and we feel like we're on cloud nine and that running, you know, is like, yeah, doing all the things I did my coffee day with my friend and I cooked for Shabbos already. And, um, I have a song coming out next week and I'm teaching and I'm doing this thing and I'm, I just feel great. You know, and then that week usually leading up for me, like the week leading up to, a period and the week of the period is much more chill you know, you're feeling like, yeah, no, I just need to be more conservative about my energy. And my time and like I said before, like going a bit more inward. And so that doesn't, sometimes that does for me mean like, okay, I just cannot do anything. Don't talk to me. Don't look at me. I just need to be. In my little cocoon, you know, there might be a couple of days of that, but in general, it can also just mean we have that opportunity to be a little bit more introspective and to be creative in a more inward sense and a more being in touch with ourselves since, and less in touch with the external world. But that return, that sense of like coming inward and almost feeling deflated, it does not mean that you've lost all the progress that you just made from the running, right? Like that seems silly to even consider that, of course not. It becomes the, the springboard for your next run, right? It's the recovery period for your next running for whenever that may happen. Um, creatively it's, it may not always happen, you know, within that month, monthly cycle, you might have months that go by where you feel like you're more in that introspective phase. And that's okay, it's totally okay. And the reason I wanted to speak about this topic today was because I think it's very common for us creatives to get worried about those down times. We get worried that creativity is never going to spark back up because, because it doesn't always come like clockwork, like the waves of the ocean or your monthly cycle. But I think it's important to acknowledge where you are, both when you're running and when you're returning. Because when you're running, you may think to yourself, Oh yeah, this is it. This is the new standard for me. I should never be less productive than this. Like I just proved to myself that I could be like this so I can always do this amount of work, this amount of gigs and collaborations and whatever else. But you have to remind yourself that. That returning, you know, will happen and it's supposed to happen and it's necessary and to not hold yourself to some kind of standard when you're in that space of feeling really good, you know, not to set yourself up for failure, so to speak, because you're anticipating that you're going to be able to cruise at that speed forever. And when you are in that state of returning to accept that and know that that is a vital part of the process and that eventually you will, you know, get yourself back into that run. And that it's not any, it's not like, Oh, this is the bad state. And then the running is the good state. Like it's all good. It's easy to, when you're in that return state to be like, Okay, I'm on, you know, scrolling through social media and seeing all these people have their music releases and doing all the cool stuff and like, Oh, um, I'm should be doing that right now. What am I doing? What am I doing right now? I should be doing that right now. No, you shouldn't. Because what you're doing right now, if you're in that state, if you're in that cocoon bubble state right now, that's what you should be doing. So it's just a matter of acknowledging, like, where are you right now? It could be that you're just stuck in a funk and you need a little kick or something. But sometimes genuinely we're just in this phase. of just, I need to be sitting with myself. And learning and growing and not being, you know, putting out an externalizing, my gift just yet, it's totally fine to be in that stage for however long you need to be in that stage for, and you'll have your moment of running. You'll have your moments of returning. Yeah, I just know that I, I am definitely one of those people that feels that when I'm not being quote unquote productive, that something's wrong or that I'm wasting time. And I just kind of had that that moment today of realizing that there's no, there's no wasting time If the time is being spent listening to yourself. And just getting more in touch and being in that state of gathering in all of the information, both internally and externally, and just asking yourself where to go from here. That's not wasted time. And I hope this helps you even a little bit in feeling more grounded and happy and accepting of wherever you are right now in your creative cycle. And I'm wishing you much success and simcha along the way. I hope you have an amazing week, and I wanted to ask you, have you been enjoying these podcast episodes? And if you have, can you please do me a favor and rate the podcast on Spotify or Apple, wherever you listen to it? I or subscribe on YouTube. And of course, share with your singer friends who would also love to have a little inspiration and vocal tips. And if you have any comments or topic requests, come find me on Instagram at Nechamaleah music. Thanks so much and happy singing.