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Energy: Meditative, focus, calm, recharge
Every physical activity is powered by the confidence your action generates. If you are swimming, it’s the confidence to move your arms and legs working together. Running it’s the grit to push through the pain barrier.
If the physical activity is boxing, it may be the confidence to hit your target under pressure. All physical activities have one thing in common, they all cannot do without this one thing. Yes, to generate confidence, you need OXYGEN. Every person needs the right amount of oxygen to achieve a physical activity in front of them.
And this is no different for the activity of singing. Singing is probably one of the most pressurising activities one can perform in front of people’s audience. It’s straightforward to detect when a person is under pressure to deliver a melody. The secret is to watch their chest rising.
Think back to when you were about four or five running around. Recovering was far easier than recovering from a sprint in your adult life. And the reason for this is children (preschool) generally breathe from the diaphragm (belly area) because they do not spend most of the day sitting down which prohibits the lungs from drawing down and expanding. Secondly, they are not familiar with anxiety (I’ll explain later).
From about five or six years of age upwards, we start to breathe from the shallow part of our lungs. This regular practice of shallow breathing throughout our lives causes us to panic breathe when we are under duress and need to draw for a deeper breath.
In this session, I will teach you how to correct this and breathe from the belly (or diaphragmatic breathing). With regular practice, this will help rejuvenate your body and lift your soul. (Not to mention sing more robust notes!)
Imagine you are an underwater swimmer, deep-sea diving to the bottom of the ocean. And as you swim deeper and deeper, your lungs are exposed to greater pressure.
The Deep Dive exercise will train your body to remain calm to the pressurising feeling of running out of oxygen. Click below to play Deep Dive.
“In a world laced with anxiety, frustration and fear, there comes a time when we need to slow things down and breathe from the soul.”
This session is useful for extending your singing notes, giving your legato (long notes) clarity and consistent tone (we will use these skills in Session 3 – Far Away. This session is also useful for controlling anxiety and stress when singing in public. Practising to manage stress under controlled conditions helps you to manage stress in public places.
In video above we see the respiratory system in action. When we inhale, the diaphragm contracts and flattens and the chest cavity enlarges. This contraction creates a vacuum, which pulls air down into the lungs. When we exhale, the diaphragm relaxes and returns to domelike shape, and air is pushed out of the lungs. Try to breathe along with the video. I want you to imagine when you inhale, you have just eaten a large meal and expand your tummy. When exhaling gently pull your tummy in, forcing the air out.
It’s time to find a quiet space to explore the capacity of your lungs. In this exercise we are going to explore inhaling and exhaling using a steady pulse. Follow my instructions on the as we perform to regular pulse.
Practice Track 7 Min 10 Seconds
Watch my video. On CLINTON’S CATCH UP Go to the facebook Unit Group page: SOUL BREATHE
Imagine you are swimming to the bottom of the ocean. As we get deeper and deeper the pressure increases. This exercise has a similar feeling of pressure. Prepare yourself to explore your breathing behaviour as the tempo slows down. The aim is to keep your composure as the tempo decreases. Performing under pressure is one of the key components of singing in public and the respiratory system is part of the key components. Inhale for four beats (listen for left beat), hold your breath for two beats (listen for centre beat) then release your breath for six (listen for right beat). Try and stay with the pulse for as long as you can as you take a deep dive.
Practice Track 12 Min 14 Seconds
Watch my video. Go to the facebook Unit Group page: DEEP DIVE