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sound Almost everyone stifles the aryepiglottic folds leaving them underdeveloped in all but
a meager portion of the population You may have never used yours but they have always
been available to you By practicing the growl you will unstifle your aryepiglottic folds
If you dont know what the use of aryepiglottic folds sounds like listen to Louis Armstrong
sing What a Wonderful World Also channel Cookie Monster Barry White Marge Simpson
and Batman Hold a deep note in a low loud growl throughout your exhalation After youve
practiced the growl alone try singing with a growl After two to five hours of cumulative
practice you should be able to unleash your inner monster permitting you to overlap a
growl with your normal speech any time you choose
Using portions of your throat to which you are unaccustomed in the exercises above will
make you choke and cough Especially using the aryepiglottic folds will feel sensitive scratchy
and achy as in a sore throat Utilizing these achy sections of the vocal tract will rehab them
The soreness will dissipate and accumulated phlegm will clear Whole sections of your vocal
apparatus only vibrate when you cough or scream but you can use diaphragmatic rehabbing to
coax them to flutter with every word you speak Try using noisereducing earmuffs with these
exercises so that you are not focused on the timbre of your voice but rather the rattling
sensations in your throat
Feel good about vocalizing forcefully Dont equate vocal power with discourtesy and dont
inhibit it to be polite Model your favorite radio personality or disc jockey emulating how they
can speak richly and deeply yet also congenially on the air
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Chin Lock
Tucking your chin back into your throat firmly allows you to contract many muscles in the
throat and vocal tract It is a great way to find and activate lengths of muscle that have gone
dormant In yoga this position is known as a chin lock jalandhara bandha The muscles it
strengthens include the underused longus colli and longus capitus both in the front of the neck
alongside many others As you explore the chin lock over several weeks you will discover there
are many layers to the dormancy in your laryngeal muscles As you gain the ability to contract
and relax new portions of these muscles in addition to recovering your voice your neck will
become straighter and your throat and jawline will become leaner
When trigger points in dormant laryngeal muscles become active we feel choked up
Most of us are familiar with the acute version of this sensation that accompanies crying but it
can easily become a chronic problem The feeling of being strangled by the tension in my own
throat was a daily occurrence After only a slight provocation my voice would waver as if had
just been ina fight People around me could hear the strain in my voice and recognized it as an
impairment and a clear indicator of uncertainty recovered slowly and with work through a
gradual process of strengthening these strained weakened muscles
You will find sections of muscles that ache intensely when contracted in a chin lock
Stimulating them daily with contraction will reanimate the dormant muscle fibers clear up the
trigger points increase circulation remove the achy feeling andeventuallymake this
chakralike module steadfast and unfaltering Once this has been done it will be impossible for
you to feel choked up
Another technique to reach inaccessible dormant muscles is to swallow while holding a
chin lock This will ensure that you are not unnecessarily engaging the swallowing muscles in a
state of fear as many people do You have probably seen cartoons where the protagonist gulps
after they are threatened by a bully Remove this tendency by using the exercise below
Vocal Exercise Speaking and Swallowing Through a Chin Lock
Bring your chin back to your Adams apple then toward your chest Visualize the tip of your
chin reaching for your collar bones From that position flex the muscles in your throat as
deeply as possible Search for sore muscles and contract them firmly for up to seconds to
bring them to fatigue While you are holding this chin lock perform the following exercises
To intensify the chin lock open your mouth wide Place your fingertips on your
bottom teeth and pull your lower jaw down to flex your throat muscles more deeply
Swallow while holding a chin lock This may be difficult or painful at first so do it
gently and carefully
Freeze your swallowing musculature halfway through the swallow action You may
need to hold your breath This position will allow you to gently contract an array of
laryngeal muscles
Chew and swallow food maintaining a chin lock throughout an entire meal
Speak or sing through the chin lock Does your voice sound foreign or strange At
first it should sound deep and bold but muffled What you are hearing is your optimal
vocal tone Your end goal should be to speak in this register all the time
Chapter Release Vocal Tension
a
Illustration A Man performing chin lock B Man using fingers to accentuate chin lock C View of the muscles
of the larynx from the back
cannot emphasize enough that many of these exercises such as the chin lock and the
isometric contraction of the diaphragm Exercise require months of explorative work but
result in gradual progress that makes real and lasting changes to your quality of life It took me
two years of practicing a couple of minutes a month but eventually used the chin lock to push
into and break up the partially contracted lump in my throat Using the chin lock to reanimate
dormant muscles in the larynx will instate your fullest most optimal voice and enable you to
speak in deep rich tones
Ujjayi Breath Fogging Up a Glass
have spent numerous hours searching for an optimally relaxed throatvocal posture
After trying countless configurations concluded that the ageold ujjayi breath pose is the
best among them Ujjayi Sanskrit for one who is victorious breath is a common Taoist and
yoga breathing technique which instructors usually describe as breathing while constricting
the back of the throat This constriction is accomplished by complete relaxation and you can
find the ujjayi posture by allowing your vocal cords to go completely limp Ujjayi breathing
makes a hoarse throaty sound because when completely relaxed the vocal cords sit very close
together and vibrate softly as air moves in and out
When at rest the vocal cords should be separated by about eight millimeters of space
During cardiovascular exercise that distance doubles to allow unimpeded breathing The space
between your vocal cords also expands when you are under intense stress This response
happens because your body assumes you are going to be breathing heavily For that reason
a permanently widened vocal opening is a sign of chronic stress If you stop bracing those
muscles though the opening will go back to its normal eight millimeters But how are we
supposed to learn to relax a structure we cant see or feel Luckily the answer is easy
Everyone knows how to do it To perform ujjayi breath simply breathe as if you were trying to
fog up a glass
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
Vocal Exercise Fogging Up a Glass
Breathe as if you are trying to fog up a window or mirror Concentrate on relaxing your throat
and the entire vocal apparatus Imagine all the tension in your voice box evaporating
Even though you cannot fog up a glass by inhaling maintain this vocal posture even during
the inhalation
As long as your breath can fog up glass the deep soundproducing muscles should be
completely relaxed You should find that after performing vocal exercise your fatigued
vocal cords can be coaxed into this resting posture more readily This is because it is easier to