NICOLA CAROLI | BLOG

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.