The Breath

Taking ownership of the breath in front of an audience is a major challeng for most of us. But more often than not, it's simply the knowledge of mastering our breath in these situations is where the solution lies.

"Inhale the future, exhale the past" Samantha Chase

Breath is the fuel for all presenters and breathing correctly is a key part of success when presenting but few people have learned how to do it correctly. Many speakers struggle with breath, often running out of power quickly or speaking without having any real breath support. When there is a lack of awareness or technique, we hear the speaker struggling with a kind of breathlessness, often compounded by nerves.

Don’t be hard on yourselves though. Most of us never get the chance to work on our voices going through the educational system and this is a pity given that we are required more than ever to communicate and convince with our voices.

I have had many discussions with experts on this topic and they all feel that today, this skill is still widely needed in business and beyond. Public speaking is a major part of the skillset whether your presenting in front of a live audience or delivering an online seminar. Many business executives find themselves also regularly invited to lecture at business schools and universities but they've rarely had the voice training to sustain long periods infront of students. Some work with coaches like me, some have taken voice classes at the various drama schools in their home cities or gone to see wonderful voice teachers who have adapted their work for people outside of the arts such as Patsy Rodenburg, but in general, in business, nobody has the time to devote their voice to theatre training as actors do, but they can work the basics in a relatively short time with a certain amount of discipline.

Think of it like a car gas tank

The main challenges for the breath and presenting is not understanding how it all works. What you're doing when taking in breath is like filling the car gas tank. You can't do 100 miles on an empty gas tank and you can't deliver a powerful thought without a decent gasp of air.

The first thing to do is to identify where we start. What’s important is where to identify where the breath is produced. The place to start is to place the hand on the solar plexus (this is the point in your body where the rib cage meets the gut) and try to imagine when we take a breath to bring the air right down to this spot. We can reinforce the location by making a ‘huh’ sound or trying to force a laugh. This will in turn create a pressing movement as the solar plexus presses down to push the air upwards through our vocal cords and out through the mouth. Try it now:

Exercise

-Place the hand on the solar plexus and make a ‘huh’ sound or force a laugh to locate the press on the diaphragm to push the air out and upwards. Think of it as like an ‘ignition’ or a ‘spark’.

Once you have experimented with this it’s time to stand up and add the posture to the mix.

-Adopt the GI Stance and run your hand down your chest to your solar plexus. This place produces what I call the ‘spark’ or ‘ignition’ of your breath.

-Place your hand over the solar plexus again and force a laugh. You will feel this part of your body press down. This is again the muscle which is pushing down and contracting and pushing the air flow upwards. This is your spark, or your ignition to begin the production of breath and ultimately your voice.

-Run your hand down to the spark/ignition point again and this time take a big breath.

-Breathe out on a long breath and imagine blowing out a line of air through pursed lips at a specific point in front of you at the same eye level (a light switch, a clock, anything that is easy for you to focus on) do this until you’re empty and then repeat 2 or 3 times.

-Take a break and then try again this time blowing out a line of air on an S sound (like a hiss). This will help constrict the airflow a little and make the breath more sustained. As you do it, bring your hand up as if you are going to shake someone’s hand and think about the concepts ‘interested’ ‘curious’ and ‘connecting’. Repeat and try to maintain the GI-stance. Remember to plant your feet, leaning into the balls of your feet and keep those knees soft and not locked. Repeat this a few times each time filling the lungs to capacity and then emptying them fully.

So, to recap:

-GI-Stance

-Breathe out from the solar plexus in lines of air towards a fixed target

Continue to breathe out but do it to a count. Start with 8, then 10, then 12, 14 then 16. Keep repeating to build capacity.