Belly breathing
In for 4, out for 6, rest for 2, with a hand on your belly. The foundation for everything else: feeling the diaphragm do the work.
Breathing to
Breathing exercises for voice and body
Four breathing exercises that work on mechanics: where the air goes, how long the exhale lasts, how you sustain it. They're for anyone who sings, talks a lot, plays a wind instrument, or plays sports, and for anyone who'd like to know their own breathing better.
Breathings to start with
Pursed-lip breathing
In through the nose for 2, out for 4 through nearly closed lips. The simplest way to lengthen your exhale without effort.
Three-part breath (dirga)
Three 2-second inhales, into the belly, the ribs, and the chest, then a 6-second exhale. For touring all the room your breath has.
The singer's exhale
In for 3, then release the air through your mouth in an even thread that grows from 12 to 20 seconds. The most demanding: it trains a long, steady exhale.
How to use them
Start with belly breathing, lying down or sitting, until your belly rises on the inhale without you pushing it. Then add one of the others. The American Lung Association suggests practicing belly breathing and pursed-lip breathing for 5 to 10 minutes a day, and learning them at a calm moment, not when you're short of breath.
With the singer's exhale, don't squeeze to reach the end: if you have to force it, breathe in sooner. Do it sitting down while you're learning, and never while driving.
What singing and sports teach
In classical singing, breath management goes by an Italian name: appoggio, support. The teacher Francesco Lamperti defined it as the support the chest muscles give the voice, the diaphragm above all. The studies that have measured singers are very small. One from 2016 compared seven professional singers with four untrained people: at rest they breathed alike, and while singing the abdomen accounted for about 35 percent of air movement in the singers and about 14 percent in the other group.
Pursed-lip breathing comes out of pulmonary rehab, and nearly all its research was done in people with COPD. For someone without lung disease, what's left is a slow, comfortable exhale.
If you want to go further, Viloma, the interrupted breath breathes in on three steps with pauses, and Air for wind players drills the quick breath in and the long stream out. For movement there are the 2:2 and 3:2 running rhythms, which tie your breath to your steps, and Catching your breath for after the effort.
When to ask for help
If you feel dizzy, tingly, or short of breath, stop and breathe normally. If you have COPD, asthma, or another lung condition, follow your care team's instructions: this guide doesn't replace them. If you're pregnant or have a heart or blood pressure condition, check with your care provider first.
Hoarseness, pain when you talk, or voice changes that don't go away deserve a visit with a voice professional. And severe or sudden shortness of breath is an emergency.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if I'm breathing with my diaphragm?
Put one hand on your chest and the other on your belly. As you breathe in, the lower hand rises and the upper one barely moves. It's easier to feel at first lying on your back.
Do these exercises improve your voice?
We won't promise that. Voice teachers use them to train breath management, and the studies that exist are small and describe how singers breathe, not which exercise works best. To work on your voice, a teacher or a voice professional is the way to go.
Do they increase lung capacity?
We're not making that claim: we haven't read studies showing it in healthy people with these exercises. What they train is coordination: using your diaphragm and releasing air evenly.
Are they useful for running?
The 2:2 and 3:2 rhythms are made for it: they tie your breath to your steps. Try them first at an easy jog. After the effort, Catching your breath uses the nose on the inhale and pursed lips on the exhale.
Sources
- American Lung Association, Breathing Exercises
- Cleveland Clinic, Pursed Lip Breathing
- Voice Science, Appoggio (definitions by F. Lamperti and R. Miller)
- Salomoni, van den Hoorn and Hodges (2016), Breathing and Singing: Objective Characterization of Breathing Patterns in Classical Singers, PLoS One
- Holland et al. (2012), Breathing exercises for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
More breathings for this
Viloma, the interrupted breath
Breathe in on three steps, pausing on each, and breathe out in one go.
Air for wind players
A quick breath in through the mouth and one long, steady stream out.
2:2 running rhythm
Two steps breathing in and two breathing out, at running pace.
3:2 running rhythm
Three steps in and two out: the exhale lands on a different foot each time.
Catching your breath
After effort: nose in, pursed lips out, twice as long.