Yesterday I ran a webinar for a very talented group of people.
They were young students who attended, along with their parents, to learn more about why Healthy Breathing is so important for the maintenance and optimization of the singing voice.
Like any education I present on the topic of breathing, the first priority is to explain to people what Healthy Breathing looks like. It’s really important to set the foundation for learning about breathing with this information because put simply – most people don’t really know what comprises Healthy Breathing!
We tend to think our breathing is fine unless we have a respiratory condition such as asthma or we catch a virus and it “goes to the chest”.
After all, there’s nothing to it really. Or is there…?
Healthy or Functional Breathing consists of three components or pillars.
When any of these is out of alignment, Dysfunctional or Unhealthy Breathing is the result.
The first pillar is the biochemistry of breathing and involves the gases of Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide and the miracle gas Nitric Oxide.
The second pillar is the biomechanics of breathing and this involves the diaphragm and accessory breathing muscles.
The third pillar is the cadence of breathing which refers to the rate or speed of breathing.
Many health conditions have been clinically proven to be linked to Dysfunctional Breathing. These include rhinitis, allergies and also anxiety. You can imagine that for singing students it’s doubly important to protect the voice by practising Healthy Breathing – all the time! That means night and day.
We explored how they might be breathing both night and day…
I will be running these webinars regularly so if you missed out yesterday, keep an eye out for the next one which will be in June.