"Singing starts in the womb and continues blissfully throughout our lives — on the playground, at the ballpark, at political rallies, in the concert hall, in our morning worship. Unsolicited singing emerges as an organic impulse to express out loud our membership in the universal community choir. We love it, and we long for more," writes Silvia Nakkach, a pioneer in the field of sound healing and an international specialist in cross-cultural music therapies. She adds: "The disciplined practice of music as yoga is one of the most powerful ways to embody the sacred and mystic texture of reality — and the voice is the most energetic agent to facilitate this transmission of power."

Nakkach calls her approach the "Yoga of the Voice" and links it to yogic practices of breathing, meditation, and body postures. The goal is unlocking your spiritual energy, expressing your deepest feelings, and leading the way to a life of emotional well-being. She includes exercises on using seed sounds, chants, and mantras from many cultures; techniques for vocal improvisation; and ways to cultivate singing as a regular spiritual practice.

Nakkach has fashioned a very fascinating resource on singing as medicine with all kinds of fresh information on birds, psychoacoustics, call-and-response songs and the brain, the re-enchantment of the world, building a chanting refuge, using invocations, toning practice, and trying raga music.

The author also has a good eye for top-drawer quotations on singing and music. Here are a few examples:

• "It is important that we sing. . . . Singing frees the soul, makes it flexible, and helps it soar and expand. Singing lets the sun in — gives warmth to our lives and wings to our spirit. Those who sing know this."
— Dina Soresi Winter

• "The voice is not only indicative of man's character, it is the expression of his spirit."
— Hazrat Inayat Khan

• "Real music is not for wealth, not for honors . . . it is one kind of yoga, a path for realization and salvation to purify your mind and heart and give you longevity."
— Ali Akbar Khan