Top 4 Body Image Challenges that adversely affect phonation. 🙏
1. “I’m too Tall”
2. “I’m too Short”
3. “Hide the Sisters”
4. “Pull My Tummy In”
👣👣👣👣
I’m too Tall: 🗣
- Shoulders slump
- Leaning forward
- Rib cage collapsed on diaphragm
- Passagio issues
- Neck Kyphosis (head jutting forward)
- High notes weak or flat
- Poor appoggio
I’m too short: 🗣
- Habitually rises shoulders
- Habitually raises chin
- Chest, neck, jaw, traps, lats tension
- Over-arched lumbar
- Habitual locking of knees
- Rigid sound
- High notes rigid or sharp
- Throaty resonance
- Poor appoggio
Hide the Sisters: 🗣
- Shoulders slumped down and in
- Rib cage collapsed into diaphragm
- Weak diaphragmatic inhalations
- Collapsed chest
- Knuckles facing forward
- Upper chest tension
- Poor appoggio
- Can’t get a fell inhalation
Pull My Tummy In: 🗣
- Costal breathing
- Depressed soft palate
- Weak or immobile diaphragms
- Anxiety
- Overly reliant on rib cage breathing
- Lack of lower body awareness / power
- Poor appoggio
Muscles and fascia pattern what our brain asks of them. You cannot expect a student to simply “stand up straight”, as they will recruit muscles to do a job for which they were not intended, adding strain on top of frozen. This is where restorative yoga and The Wilson Method Breath Balls come in. We need to slowly coax and train the muscles back into their natural positions. It’s Re-Membering. 💃🏻🕺🏻
There are no absolutes, everyone is different. These are general pronounced general patterns I have seen throughout my 30 years of teaching voice, yoga and breath therapy. Any additions or amendments are welcome.