Unlock your inner air bender: Breathing habits singers need to fix

Breathing is the very first pillar of a healthy and powerful voice. Often, it is not the singing practice but the breathing habits that create difficulties in hitting the higher notes or developing power. As most singers dive into the fanciest vocal warmups and assortment of exercises available online, what often gets neglected is the breath. In short, if you want to surprise yourself with a leap in your singing, fix these habits to learn how to be an effective air-bender.

#1 : Autopilot breathing

When was the last time you took a complete deep breath that you were fully aware of? We often let breathing happen on autopilot which works most of the time except when we carry that same bad breathing behaviour on the stage. Breathing should be part of your warmup-warmdown routine that you exercise before and after your singing. Always have a routine including some deep breathing to warmup all the muscles necessary for breathing effectively. Always start with slow, deep breaths and bring your awareness to how the air feels inside your body. It is very similar to meditation and who doesn't want to kill two birds with one stone. (Don't take this literally or you'll be charged with bird murder)

#2 : Mouth is for eating and kissing

The worst habit you can have is breathing through your mouth and not just while singing. Besides causing the annoying gasping sounds in your performance, this habit increases your risks of getting more infections as you have completely bypassed the perfectly good defence system setup in your nose. Fixing this one habit will also reduce the number of times in the year that you get throat infections, colds and other nasty microorganisms inside your body. Train your body to always breathe from your nose, also when singing. If you are a life-long mouth breather, use a tape on your mouth to force the habit onto yourself and get some attention from people around you.

#3 : I learned breathing techniques from a Baby

Best teachers to teach you "how to breathe" are Babies. When babies breathe they instinctively breathe only using their cute belly and the diaphragm. It is only as we grow up that we acquire the bad habits of breathing and start using our chest and shoulders more. We need to unlearn the adult way of breathing and learn from babies on how to breathe properly. Next time you come across a sleeping baby, observe how their belly rises and falls with each breath. (Please don't be creepy though, I am not taking blame if you get beaten up by angry parents.)

#4 : Breathing is a Skill You Can Learn

Yes, breathing is a skill that you can learn and get better at, just because you already know it doesn't mean you can't fix it or know all about it. As a vocalist, breathing exercises and practices should be practiced equally if not more seriously. A good breathing foundation is key to proper singing and to keep your voice versatile through different genres and styles. The best way to improve your breathing is to practice breathing exercises that help you improve your breathing control and capacity.

There are countless exercises from Wim Hoff's breathing method, Box Breathing to Pranaayam to chose from. I'll share some of my favourites too in future articles.

CONCUSION:

Practice breathing everyday before and after your singing as a warmup and warm down, and you'll observe massive changes in your ability to sing songs that used to haunt you earlier.

Will share some of my favourite breathing exercises and routines in following articles.

Fixing these three habits is the starting point and there's a whole plethora of breathing magic that you can discover through books, coaches and more. If you are lazy though, stay tuned for more 'gyan' from your sensei Eternalramblings.