My beautiful great-grandmother, for as long as I can remember and right up until she passed away about 15 years ago, sang in a choir every single week. She loved it, and would always tell us all about the friends she sang with, and what they were all up to. I thought it was adorable, but something that only elders did for fun.

Lo and behold, one fine day I was chatting with a group of friends when one of them mentioned that she was heading to choir practice later that day.

“Oh, which choir do you sing with?”, another friend asked. When she replied, he told us that he was in a different choir group, and they got to chatting about how much they both loved it.

Since these two friends are quite possibly the happiest people I know, it got me thinking about the sense of community that singing in a choir can bring, and the impact that can have on our mental health.

When we embrace sobriety, we also tend to change identity and lifestyle, which inevitably is a great thing. But during the bumpy transition phase, many of us can struggle with feelings of isolation, low self esteem, and difficulty processing complicated emotions.

Keen to understand how singing in a choir might be able to help, I came across Tania de Jong’s TEDx talk, ‘How Singing Together Changes the Brain‘. I was blown away and utterly inspired by Tania’s varied and fascinating career and the passion and love with which she talked about this topic.
 

“ So many of us have been told we can’t sing or we’re not creative, and these sorts of messages permeate our belief system, and we have these self-limiting beliefs that mean that we really disqualify ourselves from doing some of the things that would really help us to unlock our full potential. ”

 
Tania’s work focuses on building and unleashing creative potential that transforms lives. She’s not only an acclaimed Australian soprano, but also the founder of Creativity Australia, running With One Voice choir social inclusion programs, and the global community wellbeing video challenge, Sing for Good. So I was thrilled to fly to Melbourne to interview her.

I started to think joining a choir group might be fun, but felt a little apprehensive, because I don’t see myself as the ‘musical’ type, or believe I have a natural talent when it comes to singing.  I was keen to ask her if anyone could join (lacking talent or otherwise), as well as explore the physical, mental and emotional benefits.

Let’s just say, our chat did not disappoint. Join us as we dive into the magic of self-belief, unlocking our own individual voice and the voices of those around us, and exactly what it is about singing in a group that is so powerful for us as human beings…

“ Singing is like a super wonder drug because the neuroscientific benefits are so profound for people.
 
When you sing, and particularly when you sing with other people, your right temporal lobe fires up, making you smarter, happier, healthier, more creative. And so you release all these endorphins, and they are what make you feel smarter, happier, healthier, more creative. But instead of it being a temporary thing, like with alcohol, this is a permanent change to your brain…
 
Not only that, but your memory, language, concentration improves. Singing with others has even been shown to heal people from strokes and brain injuries, and improve people with alzheimers.
 
So it really is the most incredible drug for your brain… And the thing about it is, when you sing with other people, you breathe with them, because you’re breathing the same phrases together in a choir. And there’s also some research, which is quite beautiful, that shows that your hearts start to beat together. ”

 
 
When Sheree decided to take a break from drinking more than a year ago, she never intended it to be ‘forever’. Like so many of us, she suspected that alcohol was taking away from her life more than it was adding to it. So she embarked on an experiment. And to her surprise, (like me) she found that she enjoyed life so much more without it.

As Sheree continued to ‘move the goalpost’ from one month, to three months, to six months alcohol-free, she decided to keep the sober momentum rolling and see just how good it could get. Her strength, energy, looks, and sleep all improved. She felt more focused, joyful, and content.

Now more than a year sober, Sheree lives a life of passion and purpose. Better yet, she’s helping other women to do the same.

Join us as we talk detoxing, momentum, and blazing a sweet trail…
 

“And I started thinking about that relationship [with alcohol]. I didn’t drink during the day – it was nighttime and it was always in a controlled way – but I also knew that in some ways, it was eroding the things that were important to me in my life. It made it more difficult to get up in the morning – you’re a little bit more foggy headed. Exercising, if you do yoga, even running, your muscles are a little stiffer.
 
All those little things, little small prices to pay, little drips of water into the bucket, that make you think: this isn’t working.“

Sheree is an author, television show host, health coach, motivator and raw vegan chef. She has written and presented on topics ranging from raw food 101 to overcoming career burnout. Currently she hosts Fork in the Road with Sheree Clark, a weekly TV show, as well as coaching a full practice of health and nutrition clients.

Find Sheree at Fork-Road.com :: Facebook :: Instagram :: Youtube :: MeetUp

 
I could have chatted with Carly Benson for hours. Like so many of us, hers is not a dramatic story of arrests, broken homes or massive debt. It’s simply the story of a woman wanting something better for herself. Something more meaningful than endlessly chasing the superficial ‘fun’, that was slowly corroding her soul.

When Carly stopped drinking 7 years ago, her life slowly and completely transformed. She now lives a life of empowered clarity and connection. Better yet, as a coach, writer and speaker, she’s helping other women to do the same.

Join us as we talk breaking points, self-love, the beauty of change, and the blessing of feeling the full spectrum of human emotions…

“I look at pictures of me from back in that time and I’m like: who IS that person? I feel like I wasn’t even really living. Now I’m just very present. I’m in the moment. Like, I’m here. I hear you.
And when I go out, I’m making eye contact, and I’m actually listening. I’m not thinking about: well what bar are we going to next, or hey let’s go get shots, or what did you say? I’m too drunk to remember…
Life is just a whole new level when you practice sobriety. And it takes a lot of guts. You know, I talk to a lot of people and I tell them: it’s not for the faint of heart. But if it’s something that you do, you can do anything.”

As an avid traveler, yogi and confessed self-help junkie, Carly Benson writes about her adventures in life and sobriety on Miracles Are Brewing, where she offers inspirational concepts for enlightenment, recovery, and having a miracle mindset. 

Find Carly at Miracles Are Brewing :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Instagram

 
 
You know when you make up your mind to do something? Say it’s training for a marathon. You decide that every morning you will go running, no matter what. No matter if it’s raining, or if you’re tired. No matter what.

What happens? You just get up and go, right? You’ve removed all that internal conflict every morning when your alarm goes off. All those ‘but maybe I shouldn’t go today’; ‘but if I don’t go, I’ll feel guilty all day’ thoughts – all gone. You just go. And all that head space and energy is freed up to just get on with your day, and your life.

The same is true for sobriety.

One peek at Alice Nicholls’ website and you’ll see this passionate soulpreneur is building an incredible health biz that touches the lives of so many. All the more so since she embraced sobriety over a year ago.

Join us as we talk fear-busting, friendship, growth, and rocking our sweet potential…
 

“When I stopped drinking – and I was working for myself then, so I had shifted to something I was passionate about, anyway – but I felt like my mental capacity was on steroids.
 
The more time shifted between my head being filled with hungover, fog, sick, let’s just get through another day, another week, another try, let’s try, let’s keep trying – all that pressure and that weight – all gone.  It was like… if you picture your life and your health and your wealth and your happiness like a pie chart, and picture half of its capacity being the alcohol part. And then take that away. And then shift the rest of it so that you can actually live. It was like doubling my life.”

Alice Nicholls is a student of Nutritional Medicine, Certified Holistic Health Coach, Life Transformation Coach and creative behind The Whole Daily, an authentic health and wellbeing website. Alice was named ‘One of our favourite wellness bloggers and authors’ by I Quit Sugar, ‘Our daily go-to source of all things recipes, words of wisdom’ by Lorna Jane, and has contributed to The Kind Life with Alicia Silverstone and I Quit Sugar, as well as being seen on Network 10.  

Find Alice at  The Whole Daily :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Instagram