Mindful Relaxation
Breath Work Practices
There are many options for breath work. Yoga Nidra (also known as non-sleep deep rest or NSDR), diaphragmatic breathing (although this is a bit of a misnomer), box breathing, alternate nostril breathing, pursed lip breathing, and holotropic breath work to name a few. Some of these are more controversial than others, but the premise of breath work has been around for centuries in many different cultures. I became interested in breath work a few years ago after reading the book Breath by James Nestor (not sponsored or an affiliate link - you can get it from your local library). It’s a great read, if you’re interested in learning more about how breathing can affect everything. Then, I was listening to the Bendy Bodies podcast with The Hypermobility MD when Jill Miller was a guest (also not sponsored or an affiliate link- but I love this podcast). She talked about her book Body by Breath and how her methods can be helpful for those who are hypermobile (Again, not sponsored nor an affiliate link). From that point, I was hooked.
Why Relaxation and Breath Work on a Vocal Wellness Blog?
Our voices work because of the airflow on the exhale that leads to vocal fold vibration. The metering of this airflow is what we call breath support. If we try to meter too much, we end up with pressed phonation using lots of tension. Too little metering leads to a breathy vocal quality. Freeing up the voice requires finding the sweet spot between these two extremes. Our goal as voice users is to find the most authentic and easy voice for us. Relaxation and breath work practices can help with that.
My Personal Breath Work Journey
I have been doing a lot of breath work and NSDR practices since July of this year for myself. It has helped me feel more mindful throughout the day and gives me a sense of calm that I’ve never experienced up to this point in my life. More recently, I started incorporating this into my voice and respiratory retraining therapy practice, and I’ve seen success in helping my patients reset before we move on with other exercises to address their specific goals.
Why now?
I had a few reasons for creating this video. First, I had a few requests from patients to have a recording of me leading them through this practice. I will work on creating a similar recording for my employer, but it’s always faster to upload to my own channel while I work on getting through the process with my employer. Second, I thought it would be helpful to have a video that lives here on this blog for people seeking vocal wellness. I actually created two - the one at the top and the one at the bottom of this post. The one without background sounds is closer to what I do during therapy sessions, but I enjoy a little relaxing background sounds in the recordings I have used myself. Finally, I am working on a project in one of the courses for my PhD program that required an educational product for a health promotion program. My chosen program is reducing the impact of chronic pain in the hypermobile population using breath work and exercise. Since this type of breath work has helped me with my chronic pain management, I thought it would make a great “educational product.”