Honor the Breath...

June 8, 2020

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BREATHING is the foundation for not only the VOICE, but also LIFE. The BREATH is essential to vocal production; the vocal folds cannot vibrate without it. Do you want a reliable & functional voice for your occupational, social, and/or personal voice use? You must HONOR the breath!

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Lower belly/abdominal breathing is the most efficient way to breathe for LIFE & VOICE use. Teaching, speaking, singing, inspiring, motivating, acting, leading, presenting, selling...even just calling in the dog(s)...the list of "vocal jobs" goes on and on. Whatever "job" you need your voice to do, AIR must be the foundation AND efficient use of that air is critical for a healthy functioning vocal mechanism. The beautiful truth to understand though, is that our body already knows what to do...oftentimes, we just need to get out of our own way and allow our bodies to breathe how we were born to. Our own anatomy associated with respiratory function suggests that our bodies are DESIGNED to breathe “from lower down” versus from up higher up in the chest, shoulders, or throat.

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Let’s take a deeper look:

-The lungs are pear-shaped (bigger at the BOTTOM than the top)

-There are MORE air sacs in the LOWER lungs, which equates to more ROOM for air than in upper lungs

-The lower rib cage has more EXPANDABILITY than the upper rib cage (as evidenced by the floating ribs & more flexible cartilage), and this can CREATE MORE SPACE for air

-The lungs EXPAND primarily in a DOWNward motion/direction when they inflate

-When the diaphragm contracts, it LOWERS/flattens which also “pushes” the abdominals down and out, giving the impression of “breathing into the stomach”. The belly is designed to soften, allowing for this EXPANSION, which makes room for the LOWER lungs to EXPAND more than the upper lungs

-Expanding the upper thorax involves using the chest, shoulder neck, & jaw muscles to try & lift the entire upper rib cage, which results in a miniscule amount of room for the tiny upper lungs to expand.

-The back muscles are able to give slightly when the diaphragm lowers: When you breathe deeply, the LOWER lungs are able to EXPAND in all directions (CHEERS to 360 degrees of EXPANSION!)

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By breathing LOWER in the body, not only do we improve efficiency of breathflow and reduce the “setting in” of muscle tension, we are better able to control exhalation for any type of VOICE use simply by being AWARE of and ENGAGING the abdominal muscles!

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Some information from The Voice Book: Second Edition (DeVore & Cookman, 2020).

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