Breathing and Posture Exercises

Posture:
Feel like a puppet with a string coming from the top of the head.

Head is neither tilted down or up. Chest is comfortably high.

Arms hang loosely by the side. Feel a tall, straight, comfortable spine.

Weight is balanced evenly on both feet. Never slouch to one side.

Have one foot slightly in front of the other the ‘ready’ position.

Stand in front of the mirror and ask. Would I like looking at this person?

Bend over gently and hang from the waist like a rag doll.

Unroll the spine, slowly, vertebra by vertebra until the body is comfortably up right.

Roll shoulders into an upright position. Avoid the stiff, tin-soldier look.

Swing arms gently review the body and make sure that it is relaxed and ‘ready to work’.

Never begin speaking without setting the body up first.

 

Breathing:
– Abdominal (deep) breathing is good.

– Chest (shallow) breathing is bad.

– Abdominal breathing relaxes the body, lowers the heart rate, and releases more oxygen into the blood stream.

– Abdominal breathing allows us to center ourselves and speak from a more grounded position.

– Abdominal breathing gives us a greater breath control so as to avoid running out of air or feeling ‘winded’.

– Chest breathing is the ‘breath of exhaustion’, leads to poor posture because of chest heaving, and most importantly, leads to muscular tension in the throat

 

Abdominal Breathing:
Remember: In, Down and Out. Shoulders, chest, and upper body stay relatively still. We were born to breath abdominally. Practice this form of breathing not only when speaking but allow it to become your habitual way of breathing.

 

Abdominal Breathing Exercises:
– During inhalation, feel the lungs fill deeply, while the abdominal area relaxes and expands. Keep an observant hand across the tummy.

– Feel the bottom ribs expand side ward as the deep breath is taken. The “chicken wing” exercise.

– Feel the back of the rib cage expand during the deep breath. Fingers touching across the lower back push them apart as the breath is taken in.

– Imagine a tire inner tube around the middle. …as the breath comes in, the tube inflates. …as the breath is released the tire deflates.

– Imagine the body working like a ‘bellows’.

– Lie on a hard, flat surface with hands resting on the abdominal wall. Take slow, steady breaths and feel the abdominal area rise and fall. Breath in -tummy rises Breath out -tummy falls.

– Lie on a hard, flat surface with several books piled on the abdominal wall. Watch the books rise and fall.

– While breathing in, count to five …then count to five as you exhale. Expand your breaths by breathing in to six, out to six. ..then in to seven. ..out to seven. …carry on until the count of ten.

– While on your back, breath in deeply then release the breath with a sigh. Move the sigh into an ” A w” sound. …feel the breath at the center of the sound. Feel the sound moving “on the breath”.

– Practice the ‘dog pant’ -slow, steady, controlled breaths.

– Take a deep breath in, hold an imaginary candle flame close to the mouth. ..release the breath slowly so that the flame flickers, but does not go out.

 

Exhalation & Connecting Breath with Sound
Correct inhalation through abdominal breathing allows correct exhalation. Exhalation is the moment when body and sound are connected. Good speakers learn to exhale efficiently in a manner that strengthens the voice.

 

Exhalation Exercises:
– After taking an abdominal breath, release it while making a vigorous Hisssss. (a nasty hiss) Feel the abdominal muscles contracting, pulling up and under the breath.

– Practice the hsss in a long sustained way and in short, sharp pulses. Always keep the throat and jaw as relaxed as possible.

– Release the hiss and then feel the hiss give birth to “ahhhh”. SSSSAAAAH!!!!

– Cave Man Grunt or the Grunt of Exertion. Keeping the throat and jaw relaxed, grunt and feel the abdominal muscles contract

– Extend the grunt. …turn it into a yelp, a dog bark, a howl, a bird call. anything that connects the body (abdominal muscles) to the sound (vocal muscles).

– Think about the belly laugh, the cough, the martial arts yell, the tennis serve, the weight lifter, the howl, the shriek etc.

– Once these sounds are comfortable, begin to add an ’emotional’ element to the exercises Imagine each sound connected to an emotional state or an idea. Infuse SSSAAAH with happiness, surprise, anger, authority etc. Feel the emotional connection of the sound as the body produces it
*** Good vocal sound must be grounded in the body. This is what gives a sound foundation, strength, and resonance. The body (the abdominal muscles) are the POWER SOURCE of the voice. Never speak from the throat, always speak from the body!

The elements of sound include range, tone, pitch, color, volume, intensity , strength, inflection and variety. Once the voice is connected to the breath and body energy, then it is released through the vocal channel, the throat and through the articulators. (jaw, mouth, lips, tongue, teeth)

 

The Vocal Channel
Remember: The vocal cords are not the power source of the voice. The body is the power source.

– Feel the yawny space in the throat. Experiment with relaxing the throat and making sound.

– Practice deep, hollow sounds and cartoon voices.

– The space in the throat can be a tool for coloring the sound.

 

The Jaw:
– Make sure the jaw is relaxed at all times. Let it hang freely from the hinges in front of the ears.

– Never clench the teeth or jaw, no matter how intense or emotional.

– Massage the jaw, let it hang open (falling asleep in front of the TV) Let gravity pull the jaw down.

The Articulators: (Lips and tongue)
– Don’t let the tongue pull back into the throat cavity. Don’t let the tongue push against the front teeth or the roof of the mouth.

– Make motor boat sounds flapping the lips and playing with sounds.

– Think of the tongue as a rug lying flat in the mouth.

– Let the tongue lie lazily on the floor of the mouth, touching the back edges of the bottom teeth.

– Don’t let the tongue pull back into the throat cavity -don’t let the tongue push against the front teeth or the roof of the mouth.

*** Tension in the tongue or jaw will lead to tension in the voice box.