in this video i am going to share tips on how to release
tension from your voice how to start dealing with vocal pain and how to
start building a healthy and efficient voice from the ground up so stay tuned
hi i'm katarina speech language pathologist and here on this channel i share practical tips about
using your voice in a healthy way so if this is a topic that interests you consider subscribing to
this channel and hitting that bell notification icon so that you don't miss any of my future
videos in december i posted 12 short videos on my social accounts as part of my 12 days of vocal
revival for a strained voice and many people missed some of these videos so i decided to put
all of them together and in this video i'm sharing the first six tips so let's start
today i am talking about how to release tension from this part of your body from the front of the
neck and on purpose i am not going to tell you the names of the structures that we are going to touch
and move because sometimes just the names can trigger more tension anxiety or even vocal pain so
many people do not like touching their neck from the front so if that's you
let's try a different approach let's take your two hands and fingers and let's touch
your throat from the side so not from the front but from the sides and i want you to put your
fingers right underneath your chin where your chin becomes your neck either with your pointers or
with two fingers on each hand and just place your fingers right there and see if you feel your pulse
i don't feel my pulse but if you feel your pulse then move your fingers more to the center and
more underneath the chin so really where your chin becomes your neck and just hold your fingers there
and if that feels comfortable you can start moving your fingers gently and slowly from side to side
don't forget to breathe and actually stay in the present moment and just focus on your breath
focusing on your breath will help you stay present
and just move the fingers with everything what's underneath
from side to side and do it gently as gently as it feels comfortable for you
and you can do this for 30 seconds 60 seconds or even 2 minutes and again whatever feels
comfortable for you and if this doesn't feel comfortable just holding your fingers
right there will be helpful for desensitizing you to the touch on the front of your neck
but if that's okay then keep moving the structures underneath and just breathe
and focus on your breath and that's it and you can use this uh trick uh throughout the day you
can do it in the morning to warm up your voice you can do it throughout the day to release some
tension from this part of your body or you can do it at the end of the day after a day of talking or
using your voice to release tension that has accumulated there over over the day
today let's talk about the vocal pain so there are a lot of factors that can trigger vocal pain and
let's talk about three big categories of these triggers so the first category uh is places
places where you are or where you go and maybe you notice that you feel more vocal tension and pain
when you go and visit your ent or when you go to a voice therapist so that's the place
associated with vocal pain or maybe you notice that the place where you
experience some kind of vocal issue or vocal failure can trigger more vocal pain even now
the second big category is um people in your life and it can be your family or friends or
even a nosy neighbor and knows the neighbor can trigger more vocal pain or people who tell you
i don't hear anything wrong with your voice you are fine or people who tell you just snap out
of it those remarks and those people can actually trigger more vocal pain and the third big category
there are more but today we are talking about three categories is your body so when you are not
well slept when you are hungry when you have have a chronic condition like inflammation uh or immune
disorder or your musculoskeletal system is not working uh properly all of these chronic
conditions can actually trigger uh your vocal pain more quickly but also acute problems like
common cold or flu or if you develop a cough that can actually trigger more vocal pain and
why do we care to know all these categories and these triggers well you can change or
you can eliminate these triggers i call them danger messages and you can change them into
safety messages to your brain so that you decrease the perception of pain
of vocal pain so for example if you know that you need to go and see your therapist or your ent in
a hospital which triggers more vocal pain can you use some kind of visualization or meditation
to prepare you for this visit or if uh your nosy neighbor is a is a triggering factor
can you talk to your neighbor directly or can you avoid this neighbor for some time to deal with
vocal pain or if it's your body make sure that you sleep well that you eat well that you deal
most effectively with your chronic conditions so that you know what to do and how to manage
your chronic conditions and just the knowledge of these triggers can actually decrease vocal pain
so today let's talk about how to add a little bit of more uh vocal power
to your voice and it's simple as this do you see my nostrils are flared
let's try that first i want you to relax all of the muscles in your face in your head
and just count from one to ten one two three four five six seven eight nine ten that was
our relaxed voice right now i want you to flare your nostrils and count again 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10. what did you notice what did you observe my voice became louder slightly louder but more
importantly it was easier to make because when i flare my nostrils i engage the muscles in my mid
face but also inside my mouth and in my throat and i provide support to my voice in this easy way
if you are experiencing vocal strain tension or even pain when speaking and you are ready to
start working towards a free strong and confident voice with me check out the links below this video
today let's release some tension from the back of your neck what this is a simple exercise
so interlace your fingers and put them behind your head in the sub occipital region so that's where
your skull ends and your neck starts and just watch that your shoulders are not
up your shoulders down and just cradle your head in your hands and now without moving your head
move your eyes to the side and keep looking that way for 30 to 60 seconds
and just breathe normally don't forget to breathe don't hold your breath breathe normally
and wait for a big sigh or a yawn or some kind of release if you feel dizzy move your eyes closer
to the center not as much to the side and after 30 or 60 seconds you can bring your eyes slowly
back to the center and without moving your head look to the other side again and just hold there
for 30 to 60 seconds and again breathe normally and wait for a big thigh yawn or a ring release
of the muscles don't hold your breath and after 30 or 60 seconds you can go longer than 30 seconds
you can bring your eyes back to the center release your hands and see how it feels
so it's very simple but why does it work it works because there is a very unique connection
in the sub-occipital region it's a very sensitive area and there is actually
connection between the external structures to the central nervous system in that area
so today i want to tell you three ways how box breathing is helping your voice if you don't know
what box breathing is it's a type of a breathing exercise very simple breathing exercise where you
inhale hold exhale and hold for the same amount of time so for example you inhale for the count
of four then you hold your breath for the count of four then you exhale for the count of four
and then you complete the box or the square by holding your your breath for the count of four
so why is this simple breathing exercise helping your voice so first of all the obvious answer is
it's a breathing exercise breath is the fuel for your voice and if you spend time doing any kind of
breathing exercise you are learning how to control your breath how to coordinate your
breath and all of the structures and muscles and movements that are required for breathing second
breathing exercise is an amazing mindfulness exercise and we know that mindfulness exercises
are very effective for uh rehabilitation of voices and how does it work well when you are doing this
breathing exercise you are in the present moment you are not thinking you are not worrying about
the future and you are not thinking or uh or you you don't worry about what happened in the past so
you are in the present moment and it means that uh you are not adding extra attention to your voice
both thoughts going all over the place and thirdly when you are doing any kind of breathing exercise
including this box breathing exercise um you are calming your system down so the parasympathetic
system of your nervous system is kicking in and the heart rate is slowing down the the breathing
is calming and we actually know that when the parasympathetic system starts working it has a
healing actual healing on the tissue of your vocal folds so those were three ways why you should be
doing either box breathing exercise or any other type of a breathing exercise to help your voice
today i want to tell you about two concepts that will help you align without tension and i am sure
you know that the proper alignment of your body is very important for healthy function of your voice
but what happens very often that we try to align and we actually create more tension in the body
when we try to align the right way so two concepts that you can work with is effort and movement so
let's talk about the first one effort humans have um an ability to control how much muscle
work how much muscle effort they are putting into their movements and alignment and positions so
when you try to align and you feel tension in your body ask yourself how much muscle
work how much muscle effort am i putting into this alignment and work on a scale from one to ten
what would it feel if you work if you put effort at the level 10 when you align your body and
what would it feel like if you were at level one and you compare these um these extremes on the
scale from one to ten and then you start working and finding what effort level is best for your
body while you are still well aligned but you are not inviting tension into your body so that's one
concept the other concept is movement sometimes when we align there is already excessive tension
muscle tension that accumulated in our bodies throughout the day or throughout our life and
one way to release this tension is with movement and the very first movement you can try is just
breathing because sometimes when we try to align we hold our breath we stop breathing our tummy
is tucked in so i invite you to do this movement simple movement of breathing and when you are
breathing notice the movement in your body which body parts are moving what does your belly do
what does your chest do what other body parts are moving or expanding uh and shrinking when you are
when you are breathing that's one movement and the second movement that helps many people is walking
so when you are well aligned and you still feel tension somewhere in your body go for a short walk
move around your room and see if that releases some tension because we all know how to walk and
that in itself can release some tension that you may be holding in your body when you are trying
to align well if you found these tips helpful click the like button and share this video with
your friends and tune into part two of 12 days of vocal revival i hope to see you soon bye