How you sound, and the words you refuse
You wrote that your voice is most yours when you teach, when you explain something you love, and when you share what you have lived, and least yours when you feel judged or unsafe. Everything below is an attempt to make the first one the default and the second one impossible.
The five rules of the voice
One idea per sentence. No word that needs a dictionary. If a sentence sounds clever, it is probably in the way. You asked for this on 6 August and it is now the first rule, ahead of everything else.
Come and experience it. Not: transform your life, last places, do not miss out. Urgency is the fastest way to lose the exact woman you want, because she is already tired of being sold to.
The 70/30 rule, made usable: if you name an energy centre, add one plain sentence about what it feels like in the body. She can then follow you whether or not she believes in chakras.
Always you, never you all, never ladies, never queens, never goddesses as a way of addressing your audience. One person is reading, and she is on her own when she reads it.
A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word that changes its meaning: pull away, put off, hold on, take up, get away from, go over, keep up with. You wrote that these are too specific and need very good English, and you are right: they are the hardest part of the language for a reader whose first language is not English, and most of your women are in exactly that position. There is always one plain verb that does the job. Not she pulled away from what she loved. Yes she stopped doing the things she loved. Not she puts off decisions. Yes she avoids decisions. This rule was applied to all 173 rewritten lines of the Method dashboard, the Goddess Table, the self test and the sign lists inside the seven gates, and it applies to everything from here on.
Tone, by where you are
| Where | How you sound | Length | The test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instagram caption | Spoken, close, like a message to one person you like | 3 to 8 short lines | Could you say it out loud without feeling strange? |
| Instagram stories | Unedited, present tense, in the middle of something | One thought each | Does it show your day rather than describe it? |
| YouTube | Guiding, slow, more silence than you think you need | 10 to 20 minutes | Would it work with eyes closed? |
| Warmest of all. Voice notes over text whenever the answer is personal | Under 60 seconds | Would she feel answered, or processed? | |
| Site | Calm and clear. Short paragraphs, one idea each | As short as it can be | Can she find the next step in five seconds? |
| In the room | Fewest words of all. You hold, you do not narrate | Minimal | Are you filling the silence because it is useful, or because it is uncomfortable? |
Say this, not that
| Say | Not | Why |
|---|---|---|
| I hold the space | I heal you, I fix you, I transform you | It is your ethical line, and it is your strongest difference. Never trade it for a stronger sounding promise. |
| Come and experience it | Book now, secure your spot, do not miss out | The invitation is the brand. Urgency belongs to a different kind of business. |
| A gate that is asking for attention | A blocked chakra, a broken chakra | You are not diagnosing anyone. Asking for attention is true, gentle, and it still points somewhere. |
| Energy centre, then chakra | Chakra, with no explanation | Name it in plain words first, then use the word. Beginners stay, and nobody feels tested. |
| This is what it felt like for me | This is what you will feel | Your experience is yours to claim. Hers is not yours to predict. |
| Women I work with often say | My clients always feel | Only once women have actually said it. Until you have testimonials, do not use either. |
| I am still training in this | Nothing, or an implied credential | Openness about where you are learning is credibility, not weakness. It is also true. |
Words that never appear
Not because they are wrong, but because each one either promises something you cannot control, or makes you sound like every other account in this market.
How to write a question
You said the guiding questions were too complex and hard to answer. That is now a rule for every question you ever ask, in a class, in a caption or in a worksheet.
- Has one idea in it
- Uses everyday words
- Can be answered with something from the last seven days
- Example: What did I say yes to last week that I did not want to do?
- Starts with Where do I... or In what ways...
- Contains two ideas joined by and
- Can only be answered in the abstract
- Example: Where do I confuse love with self sacrifice?
What you can claim today, and what you cannot
This is the page that keeps you safe. It exists so that nothing you publish can be pulled apart later, and so that you never have to stop and wonder whether a sentence is allowed.
| Claim | Status | Exact wording to use |
|---|---|---|
| Yoga teacher training, 200 hours, Nepal | Yes | 200 hour yoga teacher training in Nepal |
| Sound healing with Himalayan singing bowls, Nepal | Yes | Trained in Nepal in Himalayan singing bowls. Say Tibetan only when you are quoting the wording on your own certificate. |
| Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht | Yes | Bachelor in Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University |
| Master's in Positive Psychology, Tilburg | Yes | Master's in Positive Psychology and Wellbeing, Tilburg University |
| Dance therapy | In training | Currently training in dance therapy in Belgium, until January 2027. Never: dance therapist. |
| Voice Movement Therapy, Authentic Movement | No | Do not name them at all until you have trained in them. You said yourself you have not studied them. |
| Therapist, counsellor, psychologist | No | You have the degrees, not the licence to treat patients. You are a teacher and a facilitator. |
| Numbers of students, years of experience | Not yet | No number goes public until it is true and countable. Nothing is worse than a number someone can check. |
| Results, testimonials, before and after | Not yet | You have none. The day you have three real ones, this line changes. |
| Health claims of any kind | Never | No claim that a practice treats anxiety, depression, insomnia, hormones or pain. Describe what happens in a session, not what it cures. |
Testimonials · women only, or men too?
Collect every honest one you can get. Publish women. Those are two different decisions and it is worth keeping them apart.
Collecting. Ask everyone who has practised with you, in Tenerife, at the Belgian studio, men included. You need the practice of asking more than you need the quotes right now, and a man's line about your sound healing is real evidence that you did the work. Keep them all in one document with the person's name, where and when.
Publishing. On the account and on the site, lead with women, because a woman decides whether to book by seeing someone she could be. A page of testimonials from men would quietly tell her this is not built for her, even when every word is positive. It is not about excluding anyone, it is about who has to recognise herself in three seconds.
Where a man's testimonial does belong. A festival or studio proposal, where the person reading is deciding whether you can hold a mixed room. A YouTube video, which anyone can watch. And your own confidence, which is not a small thing when you have none yet. The exception that overrides all of this: if you ever open a mixed class or a mixed retreat, publish men on that page, because the page has to look like the room.
Copy you can use as it is
You already carry what you are looking for
Yoga · Sound Healing · The Seven Gates
MSc Psychology · Nepal
↓ Which gate is speaking? Free, 7 min
142 of the 150 characters Instagram allows, counted with the line breaks, which Instagram also counts. Two alternatives, the reasoning behind each line, and what to change when a workshop opens, are in Applications.
Elena Daenen teaches The Seven Gates, a journey through the body's seven energy centers, held through yoga, sound healing and movement.
Ninety minutes with one energy centre. We start on the floor, slowly, and let the body arrive before anything else. Yoga to open the area, then the singing bowls, then quiet. You do not need experience, flexibility, or any belief about energy. You need a mat and a willingness to stay for a while.
Elena Daenen · The Seven Gates
Yoga · Sound Healing · Movement
elenadaenen.com
Elena Daenen · DAH-nen · IPA /ˈdaː.nən/. Long ah in the first part, stress on the first part, and the second part is soft, closer to nen than to nen with any weight on it. Not Day-nen, not Dan-nen, not Dye-nen.
Put Daenen, pronounced DAH-nen in the notes you send to any festival, studio or podcast before they introduce you, and say it yourself in the first ten seconds of your first video. Nobody guesses a Belgian surname right, and the person most likely to say it wrong out loud is the one introducing you on a stage.
I teach The Seven Gates, a journey through the body's seven energy centers and the goddess who lives in each one. I am not here to heal anyone. I hold the space, and the woman does the rest.