Saturday, June 20, 2009

breathing exercise

Although I use all three breaths regularly when singing, if you have studied with me you know there are specific reasons I use the nose breath as often as possible. Since I know many of you have trouble breathing thru your nose, I’m going to give you this exercise to help you practice it. Keep in mind that you can use all three breaths: in thru the nose, in thru the mouth and nose or all in thru the mouth. With all three breaths it is important to keep the tongue dropped and throat open, and make sure you are relaxed and not tensing to draw the air in. You want to breathe low and horizontal or wide, not vertical.

I like this exercise because it helps you get used to the nose breath and it activates a passive inhale. In this exercise you shouldn’t feel as is your trying to inhale… if you stay relaxed your stomach or low abdomen should come out naturally or passively.


This breath consists of rapid, forced exhales followed by passive inhales. It is best done at the beginning of a practice session. Inhale and exhale thru the nose for this exercise.

Shake your arms out and come back to normal breathing if you feel lightheaded at any time!


1. Come to sit in a comfortable crosslegged position.

2. Take two or three deep inhales and exhales through the nose to prepare.

3. Inhale to a comfortable level, and then exhale sharply and forcefully through the nose, drawing the belly toward your spine in as you exhale.

4. Let the inhale happen passively, (the stomach should automatically and without stress just come out) and continue this cycle of forceful exhales and passive inhales at a fast pace, so that the belly is pumping continuously.

5. Do three rounds of thirty breaths each, coming back to deep inhales and exhales between each round.

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