A First Breathing Game

Not the Whispered 'Ah' Just Yet...

Hello from summery NYC! I had a lovely time in Buenos Aires last week. If anyone is interested in seeing a city with plenty of history, charm, and near pathological obsession with steak, Maradona, and Messi, I thoroughly suggest you check it out!

Last week I wrote a pretty quick and dirty post about 2 big NO NOs for supple breathing; habitually holding the breath and habitually sighing.

I stress the word habitual this week because you might want to hold your breath in certain situations…like being underwater… or on an NYC subway car.

Y’all locals know exactly what smell I’m talking about………..

This week I’m going to describe a way to practice breathing. I want to stress that the details of all of this is best demonstrated in person. I’m writing this out for the benefit of my students, but I think if anyone is reading and thinking and exploring they will find some benefit from this.

An Extremely Brief Primer On Alexander Technique Breathing Techniques

For starters, FM Alexander didn’t develop any breathing techniques (fooled you with the title!). It’s not that he didn’t make any observations about his breathing or that he didn’t try breathing techniques, it’s just that he found reciting to be a far more reliable indicator of how his whole organism was functioning.

Ultimately, the use and development of YOUR voice will become an important part of your journey with the Alexander Technique.

Before The Whispered ‘Ah’

I was first introduced to today’s activity by Ted McNamara during a lesson in London. He described it as a precursor to learning FM Alexander’s Whispered ‘Ah’ (aka his one and only vocal bona fide brilliant vocal technique) and called it ‘the natural breath’. I’m sure there are historical reasonings behind this term, but the internet seems to be at such odds with what this phrase means that I’m tempted to leave it with the name Prologue to the Whispered ‘Ah’ or some such thing.

I recommend trying the following exercise out during a lie down. This can be done while sitting or standing, but once you’re doing anything more strenuous you’ll want to allow yourself to be in that moment.

For starters, I’d like you to bear in mind the general rubric of the Alexander Technique. The short short short version to bear in mind is:

STOP. Dissolve. Expand.

It’s just a thought. There’s no need for you to be good and try to make this happen.

Before the Inhale or Exhale

AKA a little breathing anatomy info!

Air can enter and exit the lungs via the nose and mouth. The lungs are surrounded by a rib cage on the top and sides and are supported by the diaphragm at the base. When we breathe, the full volume around the lungs has some degree of mobility. If you’re curious, you can find some great anatomy videos of the breathing mechanism in action. This one is ok but seems to focus on the dangers of mouth breathing!

During an inhale, regardless of what is ‘correct’ or ‘proper’, the ribs may expand out wide, the shoulders may raise, and the diaphragm expands down and wide towards the pelvis. During an exhale, these processes reverse. We all have this capacity for a 3 dimensional range of motion around the lungs and as you go about your day, you probably don’t notice much about any of it.

That’s normal! You’ve got stuff and things to do with your life!

While these may seem like basic facts to most folks, I think it’s necessary to cover the basics.

Purpose of the Exercise

Breathing is a fairly automatic process. You did it when you were born. You’re doing it now. And no other creature on the planet does a breathing exercise. So it begs the question WHY BOTHER?

If tension has built up anywhere around the head, neck, or back, this will block the total capacity of your breathing. This tension has the insidious side effect of making it feel like you have to exert effort to breathe. Over time, this effort will feel so normal that you’ll forget what it feels like to leave yourself alone and let everything happen on its own. The exercise I’m going to describe will give you more tools to build out your Inner Sherlock and assess what is happening in a given moment.

The Inhale

I’d like you to allow air to flow through your nose, flow up towards the brain, and slide down the windpipe. You will feel this air slide along the back portion of the lungs if you’re very quiet. There is no need to pull air into the lungs actively.

When I say don’t actively pull air into the lungs, I specifically want you to avoid any audible sniffing sound. If you have a cold or allergy kickin’, this may be impossible so cut yourself some slack! If you don’t have a cold and believe that this sniffing sound is impossible to prevent, there’s either a reasonable medical reason why or you’re simply pulling air into the nose. Have a go at inhaling with less severity and see what happens!

As this air enters your lungs, you will hopefully feel it slide down the back portion of the lungs. You don’t need to fill the lungs up to 100% capacity. If you gun for 100%, you’ll likely add in some stiffening to the ribs or neck. Sometimes I will take 60% or 80% of a breath to help prevent that.**

The Exhale

I choose to exhale through the mouth. To do this, you will take your time to allow the mouth to gently open. There’s no need to force the jaw open. Go slowly and you will find a way to allow the jaw to slide away from the top teeth.

Now that I have air in my lungs, I like to imagine that I’m holding a balloon of air gently by the tip with my thumb and index finger. The air does not escape because I push on the balloon and force the air out. Instead, I simply let go of the balloon and allow the air to fall out of the end at whatever gentle rate it chooses to fall.

This air should leave you silently and warmly.

Pitfalls

Any stiff or dead weight in the breathing mechanism will throw you for a loop here.

The sniffing sound I described earlier is an example of stiff weight. This will generally come from some combination of tension around the nasal muscles and the neck.***

The sighing I described last week is an example of dead weight. This will hollow out your thorax and create a slump in the upper chest. It will also create a push in the breath that will generate a weak/percussive vocalisation.

In general, the less you do the better this will go!

One Little Trick

As Beret once…or twice… told me, imagine that you expand on the inhale and the exhale. Imagining an expansion of the ribs during the exhalation process is a terrific way to have a wonderfully supple and resonant voice.

Get In Touch

If you’re in NYC, you may learn more about my private teaching practice at johndalto.com.

If you’d like to book any lesson time with me, you can find my booking link here.

** I don’t literally walk around with an oxygen meter. I simply allow different sensations.

*** I’m sure I could also grip up in my legs too!