How Yoga

May Improve

Your Singing

Voice lessons aside, one other thing that helps with singing or public speaking will

be a feeling of looseness and flexibility in the throat. While some may rely on

‘Hot tea, lemon and honey’ to achieve this, there are actually some yoga poses that

help ‘loosen’ the vocal cords and with practice actually increase the flexibility of

the muscles in those areas.

Now, from personal research, a specific book titled ‘Singing for the Stars’ by Seth

Riggs-(the vocal coach of the who-is-who of the Music Industry)-specifies that

stretching to warm up not only the vocal cords but the whole body before doing

vocal warm-ups are very helpful.

That considered, I specifically incorporated those poses that I know from sensation

loosen the cervical region that of course contains the throat. (As an added bonus,

some of these poses loosen other body parts that come in handy for my ‘James

Brown-Michael Jackson-Prince’-esque moves by the way…)

Now I will show you my choices and explain each one briefly.

1. The Sun Salutations.

This is more of a combination of poses, versus being an exclusive pose. Its ease

and versatility comes in handy for warming up the entire body and increasing the

blood flow. Moreover, with the deep breathing associated (and the corrective effect

it does have on breathing in general), this unique collage of indeed very simple

movements will come in handy for just about warming up to do anything.

2. The Wheel Pose:

This is a backward bending pose that owing to its execution stretches the entire

body immensely. When properly executed, one’s head will be turned upside down

which consequently stretches the throat and increases the blood flow to the head.

When, I’m doing mid to up-tempo numbers, I love executing the wheel pose to sort

of get the adrenalin pumped up and I also add the spinal twists (it’s counter pose so

to speak) for an even more balanced stretch that it may offer.

3. The Lion Pose:

Think “Scary Movie 1” here for a minute, remember when Marlon Wayans yells

“whazup” and stretches out his tongue? Well, this pose has a similar concept in

execution. Moreover, I actually read that taking its name into consideration, it is

often a pose recommended for overcoming shyness, as some Yogic texts claim in

executing a pose, you take up the characteristic of the object or creature it is named

after. Since this is the Lion Pose, it is believed that boldness and confidence is

increased. For now, let’s just stick to the immense stretching of the throat that it

offers.

4. The Shoulder-Stand Sequence:

Well, this sequence includes a pose known in Yoga as Savagasana (meaning it

affects all body parts). It is a simple inversion pose and when executed with its

counter poses: The Bridge and the Fish Poses, they adequately loosen up the whole

body. If my performance or session is in the earlier parts of the day, I may simply

execute just this sequence alone (with the previously mentioned sun salutations)

and be fine. The fish pose especially loosens up the chest and is often

recommended for respiratory disorders such as Asthma and Bronchitis.

5. The Relaxation Pose:

The name says it all. After a session or performance, it is always best to cool down

the vocal muscles as this comes in handy for extensive daily use. Perhaps no other

pose comes close to relaxing not only the vocal cords but the whole body like the

Relaxation Pose yoga has to offer. This simple relaxation technique is something I

have incorporated into my list of essentials as a vocalist and will come in handy for

interested parties as well.

In addition to these poses and since singing involves a great degree of breath

control, the Breathing Exercises (aka pranayama) belonging to Yoga come in very

handy, as well as do some Yogic Cleaning techniques for the body such as nasal,

throat and tongue cleansing…but that’s another topic altogether.

Moreover, a yogic diet -which is akin to the Mucus-free diet of the drug-free

fraternity/lifestyle-helps to ensure excess mucus within is curbed and of course

fasting-an advocated practice of Yoga-augments this even more. In fact this last

factor is secretly why I hardly ever run out of breath while performing folks.

Perhaps if I ever end up winning a Grammy someday (hey, you never know…), I’ll

be able to get up at the podium and acknowledge Yoga much more for helping me

sing better, but for now, if your trade, passion or hobby demands an intense use of

your vocal cords, you can surely benefit a lot from adding a little bit of yoga to

making them work a lot better.

# # #

Foras Aje is an independent researcher and author of “Fitness: Inside and

Out”, a book on improving physical and mental health naturally with a Bible-

Based Diet and Exercise. For more information on this book or other natural

health tips, visit his site at http://www.bodyhealthsoul.com/

To learn more tips on how to improve and maintain your

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