Voice Alchemy: Healing, Self-Expression and the Courage to Be Yourself
- Aug 3
- 8 min read
Some experiences don't ask you to become someone new—they simply invite you to remember who you've always been.
At this year's ELLA Spiritual Day, participants will have the opportunity to discover Voice Alchemy, a deeply transformative workshop guided by Karlyn Imaya, a facilitator whose work weaves together breathwork, sound healing, shamanic practices, trauma-informed approaches and the healing power of the voice.
Far beyond singing, Voice Alchemy is an invitation to reconnect with your authentic expression, release emotional blocks and rediscover the freedom that comes from being fully seen and heard.
We spoke with Karlyn about her own journey, the inspiration behind this workshop, and why reclaiming our voice can become one of the most powerful acts of healing.
Voice Alchemy, healing and reconnecting with yourself
For those who don't know you yet, could you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your journey?
I worked for several years in the documentary film industry but in the end, I was spending long hours in an open-space office behind my desk, and I kept asking myself, "Is this really the kind of life I want?"
Then I went on a long journey through Asia. Along the way, I spent a lot of time with locals and Indigenous people, living very simply, close to nature, and being deeply present. I realized that there was a whole new world out there.
I also started discovering different cultures, their traditions, their spirituality, their songs and dances. I wanted to know more, to discover more. So I trained in various modalities, from shamanism to sound therapy, voice work, and trauma therapies, working with the body and somatics.
Today I have a variety of tools that I personalize according to each person and each situation. For many years now, I've been working in service of transformation, supporting people who are going through major life transitions and want to find more purpose, meaning, and authenticity in their lives.
Your work combines breathwork, sound healing, shamanic practices and the voice. How did these different paths come together in your life?
For me, those practices are really connected.
At the very beginning of humanity, we lived in communities and tribes. We sang, danced, told stories, gathered together, related to one another and to nature.
All of these practices are simply a continuation of what we've forgotten about ourselves as a human species. Coming back to that deep remembering is profoundly healing, both for me and for the people I work with. These simple practices reconnect us with our soul, with our essence.
My big news this year is that I've created the Integrative Shamanism Practitioner Course, bringing together all the practices and teachings I've been learning, embodying, and sharing over the years. It is my most complete offering so far, designed for people who feel called to become practitioners and facilitate meaningful transformation in the world.
The course is a three-month journey: one month of online preparation, followed by a full month of immersive in-person course in Mallorca, and a final month of online integration to support the embodiment of everything we've explored together. I'll share with you the link of the website.
This year you'll be guiding the Voice Alchemy workshop during ELLA Spiritual Day. What inspired you to create this workshop?
Very often, the voice is one of the most repressed places within ourselves.
As children, many of us were told we were too much, or not enough. So we learned to censor our voice and our expression, and to become who our family, society, tradition, religion expected us to be.
This workshop is about reclaiming our expression and our freedom to be fully ourselves. It's about transforming shame, heaviness, or stuck emotions into something deeply liberating, while also being playful and joyful.
Many people hear the word "voice" and immediately think, "I can't sing." What would you say to someone who feels nervous about joining?
This is not a space where you need to sing well. There is nothing technical about this workshop.
It's a space to explore your expression—your capacity to express your needs, your boundaries, and to be seen and heard in your truth. It's much more about expression in the widest sense than about singing.
We create a safe and compassionate space where everyone can be heard, especially in the places where they may never have been heard before.
We always respect each person's consent, and you're free to go only as far as you're ready to go. Even simply being present in the space, authentically sharing with other people from the queer community, can already be deeply healing.
What can participants expect to experience during the workshop? Without giving away too much, what kind of journey will they be invited into?
Participants will be invited into different dynamics, sometimes in groups and sometimes in pairs, where they'll have the opportunity to express themselves and be heard.
There will be playful games and sounding practices where we'll explore expressing ourselves in all kinds of ways—through joy, emotions, even our weirdness, or simply our uniqueness. Everything is welcome.
There are also moments for speaking and sharing our stories, if we feel like it.
Most of the time, though, the group itself dictates where the workshop goes, because voice work is first and foremost about learning how to listen.
I'm always listening to the needs of the group and sensing where people are ready to go—or not go. Sometimes we step outside our comfort zone, but never through pushing or forcing. I might arrive with a session that I've designed, but I often completely adapt it to meet what the group truly needs.
In your experience, what role does the voice play in confidence, authenticity and emotional wellbeing?
The voice is directly connected to our confidence and our capacity to be authentic—with ourselves, with others, and with the world.
Very often we grow up in families where fully expressing ourselves was not really welcomed. So we learn to tame who we are, to change, adapt, or please others in order to meet expectations and be able to survive or receive love.
Through working with both the speaking and the singing voice, we strengthen the muscle of expressing our truth. We become less afraid to express our needs and boundaries. We become less afraid to say no, to not fear the consequences.
We feel more at ease with ourselves because one of our greatest sufferings comes from betraying our own truth and compromising who we are.
The moment we're able to fully express ourselves, we naturally build confidence, wellbeing, and the capacity to truly shine, feel joy, and create more spaciousness in our lives.
On a physical and somatic level, we also release a lot of stored heaviness, memory and traumas that we've accumulated over time. It's like a deep workout—you feel really relaxed and open afterwards. It's incredibly rewarding to be able to truly say and be who you truly are.
You work with women from many different backgrounds. Are there any common blocks or fears that you see again and again?
I think the biggest fear connected to the voice—and actually to many aspects of life—is the fear of being fully seen and witnessed for who we really are.
It's vulnerable and tender, but it's also incredibly beautiful, powerful, and profound when we're able to access that place.
Of course there's the fear of being judged by others, but very often that's connected to the self-judgment we carry inside ourselves.
When we come into these spaces, allow ourselves to be who we are, and are received with full understanding, acceptance, love, and compassion, , something deeply healing happens.
The fear doesn't necessarily disappear. It's completely normal to feel nervous. But the freedom waiting on the other side is immense.
What have your participants taught you over the years? Has there been a moment during one of your workshops that has stayed with you?
Every workshop brings powerful moments.
It's never just about singing—it's about meeting other human beings in all their humanity and hearing their stories. That's deeply humbling.
Every single workshop teaches me so much.
Recently I was facilitating this work in India for a women's retreat with women sometimes coming from very traditional and sometimes strongly conditioned cultural backgrounds.The voice workshop became such a precious space for them to finally express themselves, be accepted without judgment, and say things they had never been able to say within their families.
It reminded me again that this is work that's needed everywhere in the world.
ELLA Festival brings together LGBTQ+ women from all over the world. What does it mean to you to facilitate a workshop within this community?
For me, bringing this work into LGBTQIA+ spaces feels even more important because we know this is a community that has suffered deeply from repression— having to hide, sometimes not being accepted or loved for who they are, being rejected by family or society, and even put in danger simply for being who they are.
Doing work around expression within our community is therefore deeply healing.
On a personal level, I'm on a path of being in service to something that can truly bring change. I believe this work can change people's lives and transform the way they relate to themselves and to the world.
Beyond techniques and practices, what do you hope every woman takes home after spending 90 minutes with you?
I don't have expectations about what someone should or shouldn't take away from the workshop, because whatever they experience will be exactly what they need in that moment.
But if they leave feeling a more free, a more themselves, a more accepted, a more like they belong, and more connected to themselves and to each other, then that's already something truly beautiful.
And if, the next time they're in a challenging situation and they're about to censor their truth, they remember what they experienced in the workshop—and it gives them the courage to express themselves, say what they need, or set a boundary—then that would be a really big victory.
Nature seems to play an important role in your work. Why is connecting with nature such an essential part of healing?
Nature is us. We are part of her, and she is within us.
Reconnecting with nature is reconnecting with ourselves.
In a world where so much is happening—politics that can feel absurd, wars, violence...—we can put our feet on the earth, we can feel nourished and comforted by her steadiness of the earth. We can wash ourselves in the sea and remember that we belong.
So many things today try to disconnect us from ourselves and from one another—social media, screens constantly demanding our attention, consumerism, the pressure to always work to pay our bills.
Nature reminds us the interconnectedness of all things.
Most of our suffering comes from disconnection, from the feeling that we don't belong. In nature, we remember that we do.
Looking back at your own journey, what advice would you give to someone who feels disconnected from themselves and doesn't know where to begin?
When I work with someone, I meet them where they are. I get to know their story, and I try to understand the roots of their disconnection.
So I would say: first, get to know your own story—not only the facts, but also the emotions and the patterns connected to it and how they impact your life.
And find a support system, whether that's a therapist, a more holistic approach like the work I offer, an organization, or what we call a soul family—friends or a community that truly feels like family, and that helps reconnect you to a sense of belonging.
Finally, if you could describe the essence of your work in just three words, what would they be—and why?
Open-heartedness. Depth. Playfulness.
In a world where so many people have learned to silence parts of themselves, Voice Alchemy offers something beautifully simple yet profoundly transformative: a safe space to reconnect with your voice, your body and your truth.
Whether you're seeking healing, self-discovery or simply a deeper connection with yourself and others, this workshop invites you to explore your authentic expression with openness, compassion and playfulness.
Join Karlyn Imaya during ELLA Spiritual Day and experience what can happen when you allow yourself to be fully seen, fully heard and fully yourself.
Sometimes, the most important voice you'll ever listen to is your own.
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Email me: karlynimaya@gmail.com
