Week 2

Today marks the first of our voice classes, today was a simple lesson to get to know the warm ups we could use. This included ‘the lazy days’ warmup, a granny dance, sun salute yoga workout and what I like to call body manipulation.

We were welcomed into the class and were told to find a space and lay down. Having done so we had to lay on our backs, have our legs up and knees at a 90 degree angle so our calves are parallel to the floor. From this position we lay on our sides and have both arms pointing out in front of us, our knees stay apart. To do the warm up the idea is to relax the muscles in our body and focus primarily on our breath, to do this we began to roll from side to side, knees staying apart. We breathe in as we lay on our side and as we roll over to our other side that is when we breathe out, the arm that was closest to the floor draws a semi-circle above our head, the other arm runs droopily across your chest. This allows for you to achieve a constant steady breath and soft muscles in preparation for voice work.

Moving onto the second, we did some stretching, one I am already familiar with, this is a popular yoga stretch that is advised for every day- the sun salute. Combining deep breaths, lunges, cobra, down dog, and simply trying to touch your toes…(which after 5 years I still cannot do!) this particularly helped stretch the muscles inside your body to and also afterwards achieve a better posture to be able to use our voices effectively and without straining.

Following on from this we did some short work on our stance ensuring legs were shoulder width apart and grounded with the floor keeping us balanced. Our legs were relaxed, butt tucked in, this keeps strain particularly off of your back muscles when standing I found. Shoulders back and down which in turn meant our chests were naturally out giving our lungs more space to breathe without being hunched over, it clears the airways! Then you hold your head high and this should enable you to talk standing comfortable without putting strain on your voice.

Afterward we did the ‘body manipulation’ in which you lay on the ground and relax all of your muscles as of you were sleeping. Then your partner goes around your body, starting with calves, then elbows down to your hands, shoulders and finally your neck going up to your head. They take the limb in their hands and rub gently and relax the muscles before laying them down. This also allowed me to focus on my breathing and especially when going about day to day to try and relax your muscles too.