Category: Breathwork

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.

In 2020 the breath tokens are about connecting breath and sound.

WU Sound

Yesterday I watched a video by trauma expert Peter Levine on sexual healing. In the video he recommended and demonstrated the vocal exercise of sounding „WU“. Originally this sound comes from the Tibetan chanting tradition. 

The WU sound is healing because it vibrates in the area of the belly, the pelvis and the pelvic floor which sends a message of relaxation in the viscera to the brain. This connection between the organs of the viscera and the brain is mediated by the vagus nerve.

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.

In 2020 the breath tokens are about connecting breath and sound.

Humming with a quivering jaw & smile

The other day, in the car, I started humming. I noticed that, as so often, when I produce sound, that there was tension in my throat. Since I was driving, I needed both hands on the wheel and I couldn’t massage the floor of the mouth, which is one way of relieving this tension. So, instead, I let my jaw quiver while I was humming. It was very freeing for the voice, for my jaw and face and also emotionally. As I was relaxing more and more, I noticed that the area around my mouth was still a little tense, so I started to smile, an inner smile, like the one cats and dogs have, just enough to open and soften the space inside the mouth. The smile in combination with the quivering jaw was even better and I hummed away freely for about half an hour until I got to my destination. It was a really joyful experience for me and a great breath and voice workout and I can highly recommend it.

I recently discovered the Eric Franklin Method and would like to share an excerpt of his excellent book BREATHING FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE. Eric Franklin is a world renowned movement and dance teacher and his hands-on communication style and in-depth knowledge of breathing mechanics is really impressive.

“THE EVOLUTION OF BREATHING

The first water-living animals breathed through their skin. This method worked fine if they were small enough and plenty of flowing water was available. Some early animals that lived in fresh water started to move around a lot, so breathing through the skin was not sufficient. Multiple folded flaps (gills) developed to increase the surface area for absorption of oxygen. These gills were enhanced by primitive expansions of the pharynx (the part of the throat behind the nose and mouth) into early lungs. However, gills are not suited for breathing in air, and primitive air-breathing animals such as frogs had to rely on swallowing movements to gulp in air (figure I.1).

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.
In 2020 the breath tokens are about connecting breath and sound.

Vowel sounds, shapes and seeing

I‘ve been experimenting with sounding different vowels while doing a simple movement. For example:  Lowering the body – sinking in the pelvis, bending the knees – and then rising up, raising the arms to the sides above the head and lowering them again. I did the movement with each vowel „A“, „O“, „E“, „U“, and „I“  five times with my eyes closed. After each vowel I rested to sense the effect and opened my eyes to register if and how my perception of my environment had changed. I was standing by the shore of the lake near where I live, surrounded by trees. 

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.
In 2020 the breath tokens are about connecting breath and sound.

The Breath Tokens from January – May 2020 have been about sounding the vowels “A”, “O”, “E”, “U” and “I”. In this Breath Token, let’s try out combinations of these vowels.

Sounding Vowel Combinations

Let‘s begin with sensing where we have contact: on the chair, or on the floor, for example. We sense the weight of our body, letting it sink towards the ground. Let‘s stroke along the body walls to fully arrive in our body and its boundaries. We can accompany the stroking with gentle humming, moving the mouth.

Vowel combinations could be “UI”, “AE” or “OE“, for example.

As with all the other soundings, we explore imagining, shaping, speaking and sounding the respective vowel combination. We repeat the exploration three times or as often as we like.

Here’s another great video by Patrick McKeown on the Buteyko Breathing Method. His talk is clear and simple and includes breathing explorations and palpable results.

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.
In 2020 the breath tokens are about connecting breath and sound.

Sounding „I” (“ee”)

Let‘s begin with sensing where we have contact: on the chair, or on the floor, for example. We sense the weight of our body, letting it sink towards the ground. Let‘s stroke along the body walls to fully arrive in our body and its boundaries. We can accompany the stroking with gentle humming, moving the mouth.

Let’s now explore imagining, shaping, speaking and sounding an “I”. We repeat the exploration three times or as often as we like.

Human babies do it, bat babies do it, some whale babies and bird babies do it and there are quite a few other primate babies that babble. Maybe many more babble and we just haven‘t heard it yet. 

I found this video online where one can hear “bat sounds, noises, screeches and calls, nature sounds and baby bats.” There’s no way I can distinguish the babbling from the non-babbling, but it all sounds wonderful to me.

Yes, babbling is indeed a wonderful thing, no matter which animal you are. In my breathing sessions I like to include babbling. Babbling tones the tongue, lips and vocal chords and it releases tension in the face. When I do physical exercise, even fairly gentle stretches, I often notice that there‘s tension in my face. I‘ve also noticed this in other people. Babbling helps, it gets the whole face moving, relaxes the jaw and supports the breath movement. Try holding your breath while you babble…

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.
In 2020 the breath tokens are about connecting breath and sound.

Sounding „U”

Let‘s begin with sensing where we have contact: on the chair, or on the floor, for example. We sense the weight of our body, letting it sink towards the ground. Let‘s stroke along the body walls to fully arrive in our body and its boundaries. We can accompany the stroking with gentle humming, moving the mouth.

Let’s now explore imagining, shaping, speaking and sounding a “U”. We repeat the exploration three times or as often as we like.