This 10 minute lie down focuses on your breath and voice. Vocalists, speakers, teachers, and anyone who uses their voice can benefit from this lie down.
Play audio to below for the guided lie down with Ann Rodiger, or read through the instructions on your own.
Leave a comment below and let us notice what you experienced!
Transcribed Audio Lie Down Instructions
By Ann Rodiger
Hi, my name is Ann Rodiger from the Balance Arts Center in New York. Here’s a 10 minute lie down for your voice and breathing.
Put yourself on your back on the floor with your head on a little book, so that your neck still has its natural curve, and you can let your head weight balance on your book. Bring your knees up so your feet are flat on the floor. And keep your legs fairly parallel, so if you were standing your feet would be underneath your hips. Bring your hands onto your abdomen, and your elbows out to the side.
Notice your body weight on the floor, let the parts of your body that are contacting the ground soften and spread out.
Start to notice your breathing.
Notice how you’re inhaling, and notice how you’re exhaling.
As you breathe in the next time, close your lips, and let the air come in through your nose. Notice that the air can come up behind your eyes and go toward the back of your head, behind your tongue, as it goes through your neck and down into your torso.
As the air goes out, let it return along that same pathway. So for the moment you’re breathing in and out through your nose.
Let your eyes go back in your eye sockets.
Check in with your weight on the ground.
This time as you breathe in, let the air come in again through your nose, notice that it can go up behind your eyes, down behind your tongue, which is wide and easy, and notice that the air can go down all the way toward your diaphragm, and that the movement of your diaphragm goes down toward your pelvic floor.
Notice that as you breath out everything softens.
This time as you breathe in, notice that the air can help you define the length of your torso, as well as the width and the depth.
And as you breathe out and let the air gently move out, make sure you keep the sense of length and width and depth.
Do that again, breathe in, notice your full length, you’ll also notice that your legs start to release and you’ll feel your feet on the floor more clearly
Allow your ribs to move, allow your sternum to move, allow your abdomen to move, and notice that the main event though, the direction that you’re noticing, is your length. Your ribs also move out to your sides.
Check in with your weight in the floor. Notice too, that as you breathe you can sense your weight more clearly on the ground and you might feel heavier.
Notice that you can breathe like this for a moment or two. And allow the air to come in and out of your body easily and gently. Meaning there’s no pulling of the air in and there’s no pushing of the air out.
You start to let your body breathe you.
You can take all the cues for the inhale and exhale from your own body.
As you’re breathing in continue to soften your jaw, your tongue is wide, it’s high in the back, it’s easy. You continue to notice that the breathing softens your ribs, and gives you more length, width, and depth.
And you also notice you have the natural curves in your spine.
On the next exhale let the breath come out of your mouth. So you let your jaw open a little bit, you release your tongue, and you let the exhale come out of your mouth. And then as you breathe in you close your mouth so the air comes in through your nose identifying your length again.
Repeat that.
So you let the air go out easily through your mouth, after it touches your soft palate, it comes out over the top of your tongue as it exits your body.
On the next exhale let yourself make an “E” vowel, gently and easily. Put a little H in front of the “E” so the air moves first before you actually phonate.
All your inhales are done with closed lips so the air can come in through your nose and help you release again into your 3-dimensionality.
On the next exhale say all of your vowels. Say “He Hay Haw Ho Who”, all in one breath.
Breathe in easily, and then do that again.
Notice that you can say your vowels with your weight in the floor.
Notice that you can start the phonation without pushing on the air. Use the air to make the sound that’s in the back of your mouth above your tongue.
Now count to 10 on the next exhale, all in one breath. If you feel like you’re starting to run out of air and breath, focus on your length and ease in your tongue, and jaw, and mouth. Let your body responds as it needs to. And then close your lips on the next inhale.
Repeat that again.
Now speak a phrase like, “hello how are you?”
Make sure that as you speak the words, your body weight is still on the ground, and this time you’re also sensing the vibration in your bones, of the sound, as you phonate.
Go back to an easy breath through your nose.
Think through al your directions: your weight on the ground, your 3-dimensionality, the easiness of your eyes, easiness of your jaw, your tongue, your throat.
Notice that you can sense the space around your body and the space in the room.
This time count to 10 again and notice you can sense the whole space around you while you’re counting to 10.
And complete your lie down by doing one more check and scan of your whole body so you can release anything that has become tense or has interfered with your vocal production.
Come to standing and walk around.