© Ruth Bonetti

It's Natural! - watch a pet or baby sleeping. (How can a such a small body project so loudly when it cries!)

The primitive reptilian brain stem regulates breathing - constricted when

under threat with the Flight or Fight reaction.

Linked with posture

Stress = constriction. The throat tightens; shoulders hunch, cutting off air

supply.

When challenged, we all tend to hold our breath which tenses our body.

Many performers are trapped in ramrod frozen postures - "rib cage"

Breath Holding: causes insufficient oxygen flow to the brain

- thus a lower energy level.

-causes an imbalance between the left and right sides of the body & brain.

How to relate to the diaphragm in everyday life

• smell a flower
• fake a cough, a yawn or a sneeze.
• call 'fire' or 'stop'
• blow a piece of paper against a wall
• blow a candle
• compare "eee" breath with "oh".
• hiss

Not having enough air = usually a fear of running out.

• Waste rather than hoard your air.
• Empty lungs completely = deeper in breath.
• First exhale - extra huff … wait ... inhale

• gauge how fast the air should be expelled
• think ahead when we can take a breath rather than mid-phrase.
• RED pencil in emergency breaths (musicians and public speakers)
• In rest bars breathe OUT- IN. (Pencil)

• Rib expansion
• Back expansion
• Whispered ahhh *
• Yawn

* See Taking Centre-Stage - pre´cis from Chapter 8.