At JDS this week, we’re diving into the intersection of pranayama (breath control) and yoga asana (poses) to discover how these practices can benefit and connect us to our authentic voice.
The Misconception of “Finding Your Voice”
Many yoga teachers encourage meditation on “finding your voice.” However, this notion implies that the voice was lost in the first place. Often, our sense of losing touch with our authentic voice stems from being overwhelmed by external noise and internal self-doubt. Instead of battling to stand out, we can focus on connecting with our voice through pranayama and yoga.
The Power of Connection
Your voice is not lost; it just needs to be connected with. Yoga poses combined with specific pranayamas can help restore vitality to exhausted vocal cords and help you move past mental and emotional blocks.
Aside from the throat-grasping huskiness that comes from exhausted vocal cords, we often ‘lose touch’ with our authentic voice when there’s a lot of drowning out going on.
Often we feel as though there is so much noise going on that we are unable to ‘beat the noise competition’ and sometimes even blame ourselves for not being able to stand out amongst the sounds of everyone else’s overcompensating anxieties that manifest as being the loudest ones in the room.
Well, instead of beating your voice up, have you considered… connecting with it?
Unless it’s missing, it’s not ‘lost,’ and using yoga poses with pranayamas helps us to connect to our dear friend, our voice.
For the coming weeks, we are exploring how engaging in pranayama in poses not only helps us connect to our voice, restore tiredness in vocal cords, but also move past the stuck points in the best ways we know how: moving and breathing!
Various studies have a lot to say about pranayama done in yoga poses that are helpful. Here are just a few:
Ujjayi Breathing: Practicing Ujjayi for 10 minutes can immediately restore vitality in the voice. It helps us to calm down and move some warmth through our throats!
Bhramari: This pranayama has been used to help shift the acoustic and aerodynamic parameters after just 10 minutes. Prolonging the exhale also has the added benefit of helping humans get used to having lower oxygen levels than normal. When this happens, we have higher levels of carbon dioxide, which can make most people feel anxious. However, training the brain to stay calm when there is more CO2 than O2 (also known as healthy nitric oxide levels) has benefits for helping someone manage stress and anxiety.
Lion’s Breath (Simhasana): This pranayama has been used to help throat and voice-related issues for centuries. Here, we exhale from the back of the tongue, like we are inviting something to be deeply breathed out. If you have ever known the intensity of a yoga pose, use this pranayama and notice if it helps you stay longer in the pose. Not only is it great for endurance, but it’s also perfect for helping us get out of our way when things get intense and need to be roared out.
Finally, my favorite has to be AUM’s in Child’s Pose. Who would have thought that by making the primordial sounds of the universe while holding a pose that invites surrendering to our purity would actually help us connect to our voice? Of course, surrendering the idea of what and who we believe we are supposed to be and breathing while making primordial sounds is a genius way to get unstuck from whoever we think we are supposed to be.
Moving and Breathing to Connect with Your Voice
For the coming weeks, we are exploring how engaging in pranayama in poses not only helps us connect to our voice, restore tiredness in vocal cords, but also move past the stuck points in the best ways we know how: moving and breathing! Various studies support the effectiveness of these practices:
• Ujjayi Breathing: Immediate restoration of vocal vitality.
• Bhramari: Significant shifts in vocal parameters and stress management.
• Lion’s Breath: Endurance and emotional release.
• AUM in Child’s Pose: Deep connection to the authentic voice and self.
Join us in exploring these pranayamas and experience the profound benefits of connecting to your voice through the harmonious integration of breath and movement. If you are unable to join us live or attend the on-demand recording, check out this meditation that was used during our savasna on Monday's class 'Connect To Your Voice' https://youtu.be/4md4TPk3LKc?si=SokiEnfNk63Iw1xy
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