The voice is far more than sound
It is a window into the nervous system, and one of the most direct ways back to contact, safety and human connection.
I am a Danish choir leader, singer and author. For more than thirty years I have gathered people in song, and in recent years I have worked closely with what actually happens in the body when we sing together.
If you are looking for someone to bring singing into your conference, your team, your training or your community, this page is for you. The rest of my website is in Danish, so I have put the important things here in English.
What I can bring you
Everything below works in English, online or in the room. Groups of fifty and up are where singing does its best work, but I have done it with twelve and with seven hundred.
A talk people feel in their body
Voice, breath and the nervous system, explained so it lands. I do not lecture at people about regulation. We do it, and then we talk about what just happened.
A choir workshop for your conference
I have led the closing singing at polyvagal conferences in Potsdam and in Florida, from the main stage, with the whole room joining in. No sheet music, no audition, no one left standing awkwardly at the back.
Online singing for your network
I have run online choir sessions for the Polyvagal Institute and for the Bright & Quirky network in Seattle, with people joining from all over the world. Distance turns out to matter much less than you would think.
Training for professionals
For therapists, coaches, teachers and voice professionals who want to use voice and song as a regulating tool in their own practice.
Can I Borrow Your Nervous System?
My book is called Can I Borrow Your Nervous System? 25 Polyvagal Techniques for Coregulation, Calming Yourself, and Creating Connectedness. It holds twenty-five concrete practices, and it is built to be used rather than admired.
Stephen Porges wrote this for the cover:
"Can I Borrow Your Nervous System? by Janne Wind is an insightful, practical guide blending Polyvagal Theory, coregulation, and vocal techniques to enhance nervous system flexibility and connection. An accessible blend of science and practical wisdom providing a valuable guide for fostering trust in a challenging world."
Stephen PorgesRight now the book exists in Danish, in print. The English edition is being worked on, and I do not have a date for you yet. If you would like to know when it is ready, write to me and I will keep you in mind.
A little about me
I trained as a singer at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, and I have been working professionally with voices since 1992. Somewhere along the way I stopped being only interested in how a choir sounds, and became just as interested in what happens to the people in it.
That question led me to polyvagal theory, and in 2023 I became the first Dane to be certified through the Polyvagal Institute. Since then the two halves of my working life have been the same thing: the voice as a way into the nervous system.
I am neurodivergent myself, and I know the field from the inside. It shows in how I build a room.
- Professional since 1992. Cand. Mus. in voice, Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen
- First Dane certified through the Polyvagal Institute, Cohort 1
- Conductor of ODEON's Rhythmic Choir, the largest rhythmic choir in Denmark. Between four and six hundred people show up for a single rehearsal
- Founder of Denmark's first rhythmic online choir, in the spring of 2020
- Author of Can I Borrow Your Nervous System?
- Six summers studying with Bobby McFerrin at the Omega Institute, New York
Where this work has taken me
Potsdam, for the European polyvagal conference, where the closing song ended up on the main stage on both days. Florida, twice, for the Polyvagal Institute. Hamburg in April 2027, for the international conference of Singing Hospitals. Greenland, where I taught every choir in the south of the country and their conductors over ten days. Beijing. London. A concert at the Danish embassy in Berlin.
And at home in Denmark: singing for the Royal couple, a hall with seven hundred singers in it, and twenty years of teaching at the Kaospilot school, where the students come from everywhere and the workshops are usually in English anyway.
What people say
"I think that Janne's Online choir and online Festival have made me survive in this Corona-crisis. I was very isolated and I have been so happy every time we have been together singing - I really felt alive with all my choir-friends."
Helle, singer in the online choir
"Under your conducting dear Janne it was amazing. Made much more fun. Your lightness and faith: yes you can do it! Your positive attitude makes a BIG difference, a better way to learn, than with strict rules and pressure."
Participant, Pop Choir Online Festival
"The only purpose of this e-mail is to thank you for what space you have created for me and my voice. It was amazing how you challenged me and let me see my voice in another light."
Participant, talk, 2022
"Two things I appreciated most: To sing together even in Corona-time and really feel the community I was/am part of. It was healing my soul!"
Participant, Pop Choir Online Festival
"Janne is a truly gifted singer, songwriter, performer, director, manager and teacher. She creates miracles."
Anja
Shall we talk?
Write to me and tell me what you are planning. Where, when, roughly how many people, and what you hope they walk out with. I answer my own mail.
Write to JanneThe rest of jannewind.dk is in Danish, but you may still want to look around: