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make muscles go limp after exercise as long as you focus on the process |
When a traumanaive kitten or puppy jumps down to the ground they belt out a soft |
hmm sound as their paws make contact This is because ujjayi breath is their default and |
their vocal cords always sit right next to one another Every breath for them is the softest |
cooing hum As you practice try to emulate that pure and innocent vocal relaxation |
You are performing ujjayi breathing properly if you are mere millimeters from a hum You |
should hear a breathy wheezing sound as you take each breath a sort of white noise White |
noise contains many frequencies with equal intensities Examples include radio static applause |
or the sound of surf It is not a coincidence that ujjayi breath is also known as oceans breath |
The sound is created by air resistance when the vocal opening is the bottleneck of the |
breathing tract |
Base of Tongue |
Epiglottis |
Aryepiglottic Fold |
Vocal Fold Cord |
Trachea Glottis |
Esophageous SN |
Illustration A Vocal cord closure B Vocal cords at rest C Vocal cords braced open |
Once you develop proficiency breathing with your throat in this configuration try speaking |
while retaining it Speak like you are trying to fog up a glass think of this as ujjayi voice |
It may sound weak now but it is the optimal way to speak In fact want to encourage you to |
perform the vocalization exercises above using ujjayi voice You might also consider the ujjayi |
smile pairing your smiling with relaxed breathing Most humans separate the vocal cords |
widely when they smile the same way that an eager dog pants as it wags its tail Your every |
smile should be accompanied by ujjayi breath |
When you relax the throat and breathe as if you were fogging up a glass it becomes a little |
harder to breathe Your airway diameter narrows even further Remember from the last |
chapter that this is a good thing Ujjayi is an advanced form of resistance breathing Once you |
have mastered nose breathing add ujjayi on top of it to increase the resistance even further |
Chapter Release Vocal Tension |
Breathe this way all the time to develop a more powerful voice and a stronger diaphragm |
consider ujjayi breath as the seventh tenet of optimal breathing |
Hot chicken soup can help you stop bracing vocal muscles The delicious taste combined |
with the warming liquid reduces bracing allowing you to hold the muscles in your throat under |
the trigger point activation threshold believe this is why warm broth or hot tea with honey is |
commonly thought to help in healing respiratory infections They encourage the restive ujjayi |
posture Take advantage of this effect and have a hot soup or drink after practicing the |
exercises above |
Rehabilitate and Detraumatize Your Cough |
A cough is a protective reflex that clears the large breathing passages of foreign particles |
microbes phlegm saliva and other fluids It involves a forced exhalation of air against a closed |
glottis The diaphragm creates pressure and when this pressure reaches a certain level |
the glottis and vocal cords open suddenly resulting in a violent release of air It is essentially |
a hiccup in reverse believe that it may also be a mechanism for delivering blood to sensitive |
respiratory tissues and thus could play a vital function in overall health |
A healthy and effective cough depends on hardy and active respiratory muscles so it is |
negatively affected by a lifetime of tension By the time they are old most people have weak |
strained coughs that probably no longer perform their healthpromoting functions For many |
people on their deathbed debilitated coughing appears to be their weakest link and a factor |
that contributes to disease progression For these reasons this short section will guide you in |
rehabilitating your cough |
Most people cough too hard and strain the muscles involved by doing it haphazardly |
This leads to coughing that pits different muscles against each other damaging some and |
wearing others down Most people cough violently or not at all This may be because we are |
accustomed to thinking of coughing as a negative reaction associated with disease and death |
Of course that is far from trueinstead think of coughing as health promoting and learn to do |
it gently but vigorously Since performing the exercise below twenty times equating to around |
coughs my coughs have been crisp lively and completely painfree |
Vocal Exercise Detraumatize Your Cough |
Cough times in three minutes Start softly and find a safe sustainable cough Build up to a |
more forceful cough while ensuring that there is zero associated pain or strain As you go |
breathe in cycles inhaling slowly and deeply then coughing until you have no air left and |
repeating You should be coughing five to ten times in a row in between inhalations You may |
find that your body instinctively takes over this process so allow these involuntary action |
patterns to do their work It should feel good Focus on coughing in different ways at |
different depths and with different intensities and pitches Stick out your tongue |
Experiment with a barking cough a whooping cough and a staccato cough Try to extend a |
cough by creating a prolonged raspy sound over several seconds Think of this as a search for |
frailty and seek out dormant muscles that you can activate Afterward pay attention to any |
tension or bracing that may have been caused by the exercise and gently quell it |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
Strengthen Your Yawn |
Your yawn may be another subroutine that you can benefit from rehabilitating Yawning is a |
mammalian reflex consisting of inhaling while stretching the face throat jaw tongue pharynx |
and eardrums Yawns are largely diaphragmatic and are the longest smoothest breaths that |
many mammals take all day Dozens of explanations for yawnings adaptive value have been |
proposed by scholars but there is still little agreement about its purpose It has even been |
called the least understood human behavior |
When mammals yawn they often stretch their spines in some way and the pairing of |
these two actions is called pandiculation When your cat or dog yawns while standing |
they usually perform a deep backbend or some other stretch at the same time One likely |
possibility is that pandiculation is natures way of pairing a diaphragmatic breath with |
stretching and isometric contraction the topic of the next few chapters If this is the case |
the sheer normalcy of pandiculation in the animal kingdom suggests that this pairing is |
something we should emulate |
From the perspective of muscular rehabilitation yawning is not so different from coughing |
It is a valuable opportunity to stretch and contract a large number of muscles throughout the |
head and neck And like coughing in most people yawning becomes weak and regressive over |
the course of their lives This is probably because to yawn substantially and resolutely |
you must put your social guard down An unrestrained yawn is a great way to prove to your |
body and others that you are relaxed recommend yawning as heartily as you can to explore |
and strengthen it Practice it before bed because its link with drowsiness may help you fall asleep |
Vocal Exercise Strengthen Your Yawn |
Yawn twenty times during the next three minutes Practice extending a yawn for at least five |
full seconds or as long as you can Take a broad diaphragmatic inhalation while stretching |
your throat jaw and tongue Open your mouth wide and clear your Eustachian tube by |
firmly popping your ears There is also an underused suite of muscles involved in swallowing |
and voice production that your yawn should hit This suite may ache but you can rehab it in |
only a few sessions If you watch your yawn in the mirror with your mouth open you can |
contract this group by maximizing the distance between your uvula and your tongue Hold |
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