A Better Voice is Just a Breath Away

A Better Voice is Just a Breath Away

The number of people looking for information, books, CDs, and seminars on self-improvement is staggering. Ever concerned with honing our business skills, improving the image we project, feeling good about ourselves, juggling jobs and family…we are all on the search for bettering ourselves and our lives. Yet, few people are aware that they have a better speaking voice inside.

Most people do not like to hear themselves on their voicemail or their answering machine because they don’t identify with that sound. Unfortunately what you don’t like on your voicemail is the voice by which everyone else recognizes you. That is your vocal image and it accounts for 37% of the image you project.

When I work with a client, the first thing I teach is diaphragmatic breathing, something the majority of the population is not doing. We are renowned for being lazy or shallow breathers using only the upper portion of the chest for respiration. It is a medical fact. Sadly, lazy breathing only increases stress or tension. Diaphragmatic breathing, on the other hand, actually reduces it.

All mammals have a diaphragm; all mammals use that diaphragm to support breathing. It is only the most intelligent of the mammals that stops this practice sometime during our childhood development. What results are voices that are being powered by the throat, the voice box, the mouth, and/or the nose. Without the chest, our 5th (& most powerful) amplifier, we are missing a voice that is warm, rich, resonant, and mature-sounding.

To find your diaphragm, place your hands under your rib cage and cough. Did you feel that muscle ‘kick’ out? You may remember that muscular partition if you have ever watched a funny movie, laughed for two hours, and then found you were sore. Or you may have had a cold with a hacking cough. Remember how sore your midriff was? In both cases, you were giving your diaphragm a workout!

When you learn to breathe with support and speak at your optimum pitch, you will discover a voice that actually vibrates in your chest. If James Earl Jones were to walk into your room and speak to you, you would feel the vibrations of his voice in your own chest. He has a very deep, very resonant speaking voice. (And, he is most definitely breathing with support!)

Once you make your ‘real’ voice a habit, you will find that you actually have control over it and not the other way around. When I give a presentation, the first thing I do is breathe because it is the most important thing I’m going to do to control my nervousness. I’ve given hundreds of presentations but my audience doesn’t hear or see my nervousness because I’m controlling it. I like nervousness…it’s that extra spurt of adrenaline that can make your talk, your speech, or your presentation sparkle.

Projection is another wonderful benefit of breathing and speaking within your optimum range. Projection is the ability to increase your volume without shouting and is only possible if you have those two qualifiers. Hillary Clinton shouts and so does Ann Coulter. If only those two women knew about breathing, because the image they project is loud, harsh, and out of control. I never yelled at my kids; I projected. It was better both for my throat and for their ears. So in the future, if you find your children not listening to you, try projection. It works!

For anyone suffering from vocal abuse, good voice training means that you lessen the wear and tear on your vocal folds (cords); and, unless you have been diagnosed by a physician with nodules on your folds, you will notice a significant improvement in not only the quality of your speaking voice but also the length of time you can talk without losing it. For teachers, coaches, trainers, ministers, and politicians, voice training would make their jobs so much easier.

If you’re tired of being interrupted when you speak, is it because you are soft-spoken? If you’re asked to repeat yourself a lot, it is either because you do not enunciate distinctly or because you speak too softly. Losing control of the conversation can be most demoralizing; so, if you want to be heard, you need to change the condition. What a wonderful confidence builder when people start to listen to what you have to say.

The benefits of breathing with the support of your diaphragm go far beyond the voice or presentation skills. Through the years, I have had people tell me they sleep better; they fall asleep faster; their blood pressure is lower; they sing better; there are controlling their stress; they can eliminate pain; they have more stamina; the list goes on and on. Because I breathe correctly 24 hours a day, I don’t carry my stress in my shoulders or my neck; therefore, I am never sore in those regions at the end of the day. I have found, however, that the majority of my female clientele do carry their stress in those regions until they make diaphragmatic breathing a habit. (Incidentally, men tend not to deal with their stress in the same fashion.)

The first thing we do in life is take a breath; the last thing we do in life is take a breath; one of the worst things we do in life is take a breath. While a better voice is just a breath away, consider what that breath can do for the rest of your life!