Voice through the Body to the Self
An Embodied VoiceWork Residential Retreat with Lisa Sokolov
October 8-13, 2026
Abode of the Message, New Lebanon, NY
Join internationally-acclaimed vocalist, teacher, composer and music therapist Lisa Sokolov for a deep dive into Embodied VoiceWork, a unique method exploring the resources and power within the process of freeing your voice.
Full Tuition: Sliding Scale $1000/$1300/$1600, meals and private room lodging included (Fee breakdown - $650 tuition, $650 room/board)
Commuter Rate: Sliding Scale $450/$650/$850 includes tuition and four lunches
Scholarship available – We aim to make this retreat accessible to all. If the lowest sliding scale fee is prohibitive, please consider requesting a scholarship.
Limited to 15 participants, open to people of all backgrounds/experience levels
The Work
Embodied VoiceWork is a transformative practice developed by Sokolov over the past 40 years. Used in art education, music therapy, human potential work, and spiritual practice, the method offers a space to connect and free one’s voice. Supported by practices of deep listening, group improvisation, and collaborative reflection, Embodied VoiceWork deepens the practitioner’s connection to the self, to others, and to the essentials of music, time and tonal space.
Embodied VoiceWork is for everyone, regardless of your experience as a singer, from professionals to those afraid to sing.
The method centers on a score of improvisational structures, called “landscapes” and “games”, designed developmentally to connect us to impulse and information in the body and the field. As we move through the series, we become more grounded in our bodies and learn to improvise and sing more freely and expressively. We will become more fluent in the language of music. Listening skills will be awakened both internally and externally. This work opens us to a powerful experience of emotional, energetic and expressive aliveness.
Through listening and sensing, we come into deeper relationship with our bodies and our own music. We open to breath and the inherent orders of the singing body. We come to understand non-verbal singing as a language. We will explore the vocabulary of the essentials of the language: resonance, tone, interval and time. Solo work evolves into duet, quartet and group work.. We connect into deep impulse and give voice to what is heard and felt. Our ears open and we become sensitized to the liminal world of music. This play cultivates a potent vocal technique and opens us to a powerful soulful experience of expressive aliveness.
“Embodied VoiceWork changed me. As a singer, it opened me to my own authentic voice, one that I struggled for years to know and to embrace. As a woman, it opened me to the abundance and beauty of my own body. And as a human being, it opened me to my soul and all the magic contained within me. I am so grateful and so indebted to this work and to Lisa for sharing it with me. Truly: It led me to all the very best to come in my life. It is THAT profound.”
- Former EVW student
The Retreat
This 5-night, 6-day retreat will be held at The Abode, a beautiful, historic former Shaker village in Upstate New York that has been used as a spiritual retreat center for the past 50 years. Private rooms and three delicious vegetarian meals per day will be provided.
The retreat will begin the evening of Thursday, October 8, and end the morning of Tuesday, October 13. Each day will be filled with multiple sessions of Embodied VoiceWork facilitated by Sokolov, including 6+ hours of singing, interspersed with ample time for rest, relaxation, and personal exploration. The small group setting will offer plenty of room for individualized support and intimate connection. The extended length of this retreat allows for exploration of the full series of Embodied VoiceWork landscapes.
Sokolov will offer a solo concert, open to the public, on the evening of Sunday, October 11. Admission to the concert is included with retreat tuition.
Note: This retreat can be considered as a prerequisite for the Embodied VoiceWork teacher certification. Inquire for more information.
“When I first walked into Lisa Sokolov’s classroom, I thought I was a “trained” singer, having studied traditional technique for years. But it wasn’t until I experienced her transformative teaching that I truly connected with my voice. Through her imaginative approach, I learned to use my voice as a powerful spiritual instrument, instead of merely a transmitter of nice sounds. Her singular combination of soul, rigor and joy both challenges and embraces her students. I came out the other side a far more open and grounded artist and person. I know many others who were similarly changed by being under tutelage and owe her a well of gratitude as deep as mine.”
- Shaina Taub, Tony Award winning Singer/Composer
Her performances include solos, duets, quartets, big bands and her own performance work and choral works. Her recordings Angel Rodeo, Lazy Afternoon, Presence and A Quiet Thing have all received Best CD of the Year citations and press kudos. DownBeat magazine cites “Presence” as a 5 star “Masterpiece”, Best CD of the Year and made the DownBeat “Best of the Decade” list. Snow in Spring music a collection of Chamber and Choral work wll be released Fall 2026. Sokolov has recorded extensively for iconic composer/bassist William Parker and is often asked to record composers’ adventurous song cycles. She has been heard at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, The Stimmen Festival, Opera House of Lyons, the Spoleto Festival, the Kool Jazz Festival, The Vision Festival, Havana International Jazz Festival, NYC Winter Jazzfest, the Tampere Jazz Happening, Brisbane Festival, The Knitting Factory, The Bottom Line, Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space and many other venues.
Before her full time appointment as Arts Professor at The Experimental Theater Wing at New York University Tisch, Sokolov was on the faculty of The Graduate Program of Music Therapy at NYU for 10 years. Lisa is invited internationally to perform, teach workshops and master classes in her vocal techniques to artists, therapists, physicians and people just wanting to connect and sing. She lectures internationally at universities, institutes and conferences and has led long–term trainings at institutes in Germany and Switzerland for over 25 years. Her performance and vocal techniques have been featured in magazines, newspapers and in texts on improvisation. Her book Embodied Voice Work: Beyond Singing was published by Barcelona Press in 2020.
As a fifth year cantorial student, Sokolov is immersed in studying the improvisational tradition of her lineage. This has opened melodic and rhythmic treasures, introducing a vital new strand in her work. Her work as a lay cantor has been featured in a CBS Special, “Sacred Art; Ancient Voices”. Sokolov has been cited in numerous books on jazz and on the field of Music Therapy, and has contributed chapters and poetry in several collections.
“Sokolov delves into the magical possibilities of the voice and the beauty and mystery of words…her progression towards the majestic and ecstatic "silence" of the universe. She is a musical adventurer…a master of breath and sound control…stunning…powerful…breathtaking."
Donald Elfman, All About Jazz Best of 2009
About Lisa
Lisa Sokolov is the originator of Embodied Voice Work. She is acclaimed as a groundbreaking singular vocalist, improviser, composer and music therapist. She has devoted her life to mining the depths of the powers of the human voice.
Sokolov is acknowledged for her pioneering work with voice in Music Therapy and Applied Arts and for her work, trainings and writing on the wider application of the role of voice in culture. Her research and methods have been applied in artistic training, music therapy and human potential work. She trains a wide range of people, from renowned professional singers, to those who are afraid to make sound.