Vocal Yoga - In Union With The Voice

The whole body sings. Many people, while chanting or singing, do not engage the muscles of the core, limiting their vocal power and resonance. Voice scientists have found that during long periods of singing, muscular fatigue occurs in the lumbar-thoracic region of the back, especially in the latissimus dorsi. According to voice scientist D. Ralph Appelman, the latissimus dorsi, together with the abdominal muscles, create a sphincter that controls expiration. The latissimus dorsi are the only large muscles of the back able to do this. It is explains why many singers feel muscle engagement in their backs when sustaining long phrases of music, and many singers have the sensation of controlling exhalation from the whole circumference of the waist, including the back.  If the core of the body is engaged the voice is supported.

EXERCISE: A great exercise to engage the core while singing is to sing with your back against a wall. Put your back against a wall. Now slide your back down the wall until your knees are bent and it looks like you are sitting in an imaginary chair. Press your back into the wall, take a breath and sound on a loud ahhhh. The region you want to especially focus on pressing into the wall is the lower third of the ribcage and waist area. You will find that in this position, you can get very loud and go much longer on your breath than usual.  (Excerpt form Vocal Yoga, the Joy of Breathing, Singing and Sounding.)

THE JAW

For singing, chanting or theatrical speech, it is very important to learn to relax the jaw. Many people suffer from jaw tension and any tension in the jaw can directly affect the voice. The Italian singing master Francesco Lamperti said, “On the freedom of the jaw depends the freedom of the larynx.” The bottom of the jaw has muscle attachments to the hyoid bone that the larynx is suspended from. Tension in the lower jaw will pull on the hyoid bone and put tension directly into the larynx, which can result in the throat feeling constricted. Some of the best exercises for a tight jaw come from Feldenkrais.

Feldenkrais Jaw Exercises

You can do these exercises sitting or lying down. Sitting: sit in a straight-backed chair with your hands on your thighs and feet flat on the ground. Lying down: lie on your back with your legs outstretched or bent, with your feet flat on the floor, hip distance apart.

*Turn your head to the left and right to relax the neck.

*Open your mouth (does your jaw open evenly)? Does your lower jaw move downward to open? Close your mouth and relax.

*Instead of lowering the jaw to open the mouth, open your mouth by tilting head backward as your eyes go toward the back of the wall (if lying down) or toward the ceiling (if sitting in a chair). Bring your head back. Do this again, but make sure to relax your neck first.

*Open your mouth a little and very slowly move your lower jaw to the right (very slightly) and then return it to the middle, and close your mouth.

*Put your forefinger on the left side of the jaw to feel the movement more closely. Once again, open your mouth and move your jaw to the right and then back to middle and close your mouth. Is the movement smooth or rough and uneven?

*Open your mouth a little and very slowly move your lower jaw to the left (very slightly). Return it to the middle and close your mouth.

*Put your forefinger on the right side of the jaw to feel the movement more closely and, once again, open your mouth and move your jaw to the left, then back to the middle and close your mouth. Is the movement smooth, or rough and uneven?

               *Rest for a moment.

*Open your mouth a little and move it very slowly, slightly forward. Does it move forward or does it veer to one side? Move your jaw back, close your mouth and relax.

*Open your mouth a little, move your lower jaw forward and    keep it there. Then move your lower jaw slowly to the left and slowly to the right.  It will be moving side to side. Close your mouth and relax.

*Turn your from head side to side to relax the neck.  Open your mouth again.  Does your jaw feel more relaxed?  Can you open your mouth more than before?

Here is an inquiry I received that I think would be helpful to may people:

I practice Bikram (ie., hot) yoga.  I also sing in a community choir here in Salt Lake City.  When I do yoga I almost always suffer significant weakening of my voice (it becomes constricted, and I don’t have my usual power or resonance), and in addition, as a low bass, I usually lose about the bottom minor third of my range.  It generally takes 36 to 48 hours to recover.
 
This has the Bikram instructors totally puzzled, but none of them knows anything about singing.  It seems very odd to me, since my vocal chords are never really engaged during yoga.  Since you obviously know about both singing and yoga, I thought you might have an idea or suggestion for me.  I really thrive on my yoga practice, and regret the constant burden it is to my singing.
 
Anyway, If you have any thoughts about this I would really appreciate hearing from you.  Thanks!
 
G

Hi G,

Thanks for your question.  There are indeed some possible reasons for your vocal problems after practicing hot yoga.

You might be engaging what is called the val salva reflex.  When doing any sort of strenuous exercise we can hold our breath and close and squeeze our vocal cords together, causing vocal cord distress.  You have probably heard weight lifters making grunting and squeezing sounds when lifting heavy weights.  You can squeeze the vocal cords together even without any audible sound. 

Although breathing is a very important component of yoga, most of the yoga teachers I train inform me that most of their students hold their breath while doing difficult postures.  So make sure you are breathing and your throat is relaxed, and your vocal cords are open.

Many students also clench their jaws when doing difficult postures which is also terrible for the voice as there is a muscle that courses directly from the jaw to the hyoid bone, which the larynx hangs from.  Jaw clenching is often accompanied by squeezing of the vocal cords, so make sure your jaw stays released when you are practicing.

Another problem could be ujjayi breathing.  In India the yogis say that ujjayi breathing should be barely audible but many Americans practice ujjayi breathing loudly.  Ujjayi breathing is a constriction of the back of the throat and will often constrict the vocal cords as well, when done loudly.  The one thing we want most, in singing, is a relaxed throat, so ujjayi breathing is not always good for singers. Especially singers that struggle with throat tension.  It can be practiced softly without constriction of the vocal cords, but it requires some training to do so. I practice ujjayi breathing, but I do it softly and I am always aware of not clenching my vocal cords.  The main purpose of ujjayi breathing is to give a focal point to direct the breath stream to. By  directing the breath to a surface the air pressure coming from below is balanced and the breath will be lengthened much the same way it is in singing when the voice is directed to the resonators.

You could also be breathing too vigorously. We breathe right between our vocal cords, since they are at the top of the trachea.  They are actually like a mouth opening into our respiratory system. When breathing the cords should remain open and relaxed, but if you are breathing vigorously you may be tightening the vocal cords on inhalation, which can fatigue them. Try breathing deeply and silently as you would in singing.  In singing we don’t want the singer to make an audible sound on inhalation because any sound on inhalation is caused by constriction of the vocal cords or vocal tract. This same constriction can happen through vigorous breathing while exercising. 

Another possible factor is that practicing yoga in a hot dry room is drying out your cords.  The vocal cords like humidity levels between 30 and 60%.  If the room is very dry you need to drink a ton of water while practicing and afterwards.  The best way you can hydrate your vocal cords is by drinking water (better than any other type of drink) that assimilates into your blood stream and is delivered to the cords through hydration. The other way to hydrate the vocal cords is through inhaling steam. Inhaling dry air dries the vocal cords. Singers are more sensitive to things like humidity changes and dehydration than the average person. There is a layer of moist mucus called a mucosal wave that floats over the vocal cords and when this dries out they don’t respond normally.  Many opera divas make concert halls turn off their air conditioning or heater in rehearsals because it dries their throats.  After practicing hot yoga a regular person needs to consume a lot of water to re-hydrate the body; a singer needs to consume even more.   Watch out for the consumption of coffee, black tea, alcohol or use of antihistamines if you are practicing hot yoga as they dehydrate the body and the vocal cords.  So, drink lots of water and you could also try putting a pot of plain water (no herbs) on the stove, heating it up until it is steaming and putting a towel over your head so you can inhale steam for about ten minutes to rehydrate the cords.  This is great for any type of vocal fatigue or if your cords are feeling uncomfortable after an illness.

I have a feeling your problem may be a combination of the things above which are exasperated by practicing in a hot room. Have you had any of the same problems doing other forms of yoga?

Hope this helps!


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HEATHER

Hi, welcome to my site.  I have decided to write a blog to write about my various musings on the voice.  We are all able to have resonant, beautiful voices and the very core of our being desires to return to a state of a harmony.  One of the major misunderstanding of the voice is that it does not take energy to produce it.  This was not always the case.  In the days of Shakespeare life was more physical.  You would probably be pulling carts, dragging horses and carrying jugs of water, while speaking at the same time.  The roads were uneven and you would be walking on cobblestone streets. which required more energy and balance.  Now in our automated life, life is easy.  We sit much of the time, stand as lazily as possible and breath as shallowly as possible.  We only energize out body if we are exercising.  Speaking has become a breathless, devitalized action.  The result is weak, lackluster voices and for many, an inability to speak loudly or yell.  For voice work the breath has to be stimulated and then the voice is to ride out on the breath.  This requires an energized body.  I was recently in NYC with famed voice teacher Patsy Rodenberg.   She said, "The actor needs to build a strong, robust lung capacity for speech."   Some of the ways to do this is to jog and speak.  Singing is excellent to build the lungs.  Yoga breathing exercises are fantastic. Check the Vocal Yoga page and I have just posted some exercises for the lungs. I also have a breathing exercise CD releasing this week.  Another way is to be loud.  Speak up.  You will notice that to speak loudly requires breath, energy and an increase in pitch.  The louder you get the higher the pitch of your voice.  Eventually you can speak lower and still keep the volume up but, at first, go with the higher pitch and explore your vocal power.