2023.04.16 – 0836 – The Deep Breathing Double Whammy
So short and shallow breathing from your upper chest results in a tightening and tensing of neck and throat muscles (as well as affecting the pecs which raise the ribs, and the shoulders) which leads to a reaching and squeezing voice. Such breathing can be as a result of, well, ‘life’: nervousness, bad posture, the ‘stress of the day’…
Better breathing, deeper and diaphragmatic using the lower ribs and the lower back, not only gives you more air to fuel the voice, and gives you a more resonant, round sound, it also activates your parasympathetic nervous system, a network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger. So deep breathing is a double-whammy: a more relaxed voice and a more relaxed ‘you’.
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