Colin McLean of Presentation Works, Norwich
Inspiration often comes from unexpected quarters. Opportunities seldom announce themselves in shouty capital letters; we have to recognise them.
In April 2019 I was approached, via email, by a lady from Canada. She had apparently come across my voice, in the Guided Meditations section of brain.fm – an online site promoting “Music for the brain to improve focus, meditation & sleep”. Her request was simple, where could she get more?
Now, I had never heard of brain.fm so I was a little sceptical at first. I duly found the site, searched for ‘Guided Meditations’ and, well, yes, it was undoubtedly my voice taking listeners through their 15-minute paces. I recalled having been hired via a freelance site, some months earlier, to record meditation tracks so I reasoned that here is where they had ended up. Fine.
But I had and still have no personal credit on brain.fm so how had my voice been identified? I still don’t know the answer to that. A happy mystery.
Back to my Canadian lady. I hadn’t anywhere else to steer her so we briefly discussed her requirements and what she felt might be of benefit. In the course of exchanges she explained a bit more about her circumstances and that, in her words entirely, she felt that I had a healing voice.
That’s quite some compliment and quickly turned into a personal challenge. If one person had bothered to track me down, however that had been accomplished, then surely there must be others who also were finding some benefit. After all, this wasn’t my assertion but hers.
And the idea was born overnight; I would set up a dedicated YouTube channel and call it, however immodestly, The Healing Voice. I set about recording poems initially and later longer pieces, guided meditations and chapters of, to date, just one book – ‘Winnie The Pooh’, with whom we can can find solace, regardless of our age.
In my introduction I refer to The Healing Voice as ‘an oasis of calm amidst busy life’. Just one year later I might have referred instead to ‘chaotic life’.
Anyone is very welcome and there is of course no charge. Please have a drink on me at a modern oasis. And do let me know how you find it there.