The Diaphragmatic Breathing process helps you relax, focus, boost your energy, improve your speech tone and clarity. This breathing method is applied when you inhale a breath while your diaphragmatic muscle expands your lower ribs and stomach area. Then as you exhale your breath passes through the vocal folds to allow for vibration for your speech. The diaphragm returns to its former position on exhalation until you take your next breath. Obviously, you will automatically continue breathing on your next inhalation with the same cyclical process in order to stay alive.

The benefit of this process is that you will get more air space to manage than if you used only your upper shoulder neck area to breath with. The link to your voice is that you will have enough air to speak without being short of breath whether you are a professional speaker or just getting through your normal daily life.
The ability to control the amount of air you might need so you have enough air at the end of your sentence is a bonus to allow for more expression of tone to make your story or message be heard and felt by your listeners.

You can retrain your breathing style to diaphragmatic breathing with a simple exercise of practising to breathe in for four seconds, hold it for three seconds, then exhale for four seconds. Place your hands on your stomach or your sides to feel the expansion in your lower ribs as you inhale. Each day increase the amount of time your exhale your breath eventually getting comfortable to a count of ten or more.

Diaphragmatic breathing has the power to fully relax your body, mind, and the sound of your voice. This becomes a valuable tool to avoid panic attacks or feel nervous; it sets up your mind to focus more clearly; and it links to your voice becoming more flexible in expressing your ideas with a variety of tone.

If you want your voice to be energetic, vibrant and clear, consider adapting to the diaphragmatic breathing method as your core base in preparation to speaking with presence. This is your default backup system to discovering your best voice.
For more exercises and benefits of diaphragmatic breathing process take a look at Chapter one in ​“Breathing…Just Steps to Breathtaking Speeches” by speech coach, Brenda C. Smith. She has written an easy-to-follow book with targeted exercises from beginners to advanced levels including stories of successful participants.  

This blog is the first one in her series of seven steps outlining how you can go from preparation to creating presence and engaging performance. The entire series shows what is already available within you to speak with comfortable with confidence. If you found this information helpful, then please continue to read this series of more benefits that link to diaphragmatic breathing. 

When you get dentures or are recovering from oral surgery your mouth changes and you suddenly are surprised by your struggle to speak clearly again. However, you can adapt. It simply takes practice with a few key exercises of your speech muscles: tongue, lips, teeth, palate (roof of mouth), and jaw.
Here are three key exercises to practise so your speech can adapt to the new shape within your mouth.

#1Key Warmup with the Tongue: Your tongue tip must be re-trained to touch a new upper location around your denture device to hit the gum line behind the upper teeth. Start a short phrase, “Tittle tattle, tittle tattle, tittle tattle,” and repeat it five times.
The tongue likes to dance and flip with the upper palate or roof of your mouth. So, give it twirl with this phrase, “Lillory, Lallory, Lollory” five times.
Rest between your practice sessions while recovering from any surgery.

#2 Key Warmup with the Lips: A simple way to stretch your lips is to smile and then pout several times to limber them up. Repeat aloud, “boo” and “hee” together: “boo-hee” five times. A good tip is to massage your face and cheek gentle before you start your exercises to loosen any tight muscles.

#3 Key Warmup with the Jaw: A tight jaw will not allow your speech to be heard clearly so you must open you mouth widely. To loosen up you jaw focus on relaxing it and gently move it up and down, and side to side. Then you can try taking a huge yawn to feel that air hit the back of your throat and feel your jaw stretch way out.
If you have some favourite tongue twisters, then now is the time to use them. Speak slowly while saying any to achieve better accuracy. That’s more important than how fast you can say them.

There are more exercises for all your speech muscles in “Speak With Confidence: Even With Dentures” with tips on avoiding whistling sounds, mumbling, and more.
Here’s to Keeping Voice Fit! 

Do you hesitate to pick up the phone to speak because of your dentures? 
     It’s not uncommon for a new denture placement to confuse your tongue as to where it goes inside your mouth. This can also affect your reluctance to speak socially outside of the comfort of your home and your immediate family. 
     Preparation in managing your speaking skills, your personal feelings, and your interactions with others will help re-build your self-confidence.           

     The following three actions will guide you to move from being worried to being more confident.

Action #1:  Warmup your tongue movement in relation to your new denture teeth, your jaw, lips, and mouth.
     While wearing your dentures, begin letting your tongue tip explore the inside of your mouth. Drag it across the palate, or roof of your mouth right to the back of your mouth. Then, guide the tongue to touch your new dentures a tooth at-a-time, as if it’s cleaning the inner side of your teeth. Stretch your tongue to repeat cleaning the front of your teeth. Rest between exercising your tongue to just let it relax in its new space. 
     When you believe that your tongue has figured things out, start speaking short phrases, such as, “Pass me my drink please.” You may be drinking through a straw or sipping slowly but you can practise your speech between your normal activities. 
     Saying tongue twisters will help you figure out which sound is the most difficult for you. Then teach your tongue how to do it by repeating it slowly and often. Take a few minutes to read a short paragraph during your day. 

Action #2:  Motivate positive emotional reaction to speaking clearly again with mind relaxation and visualization.
     Breathe in slowly with the diaphragm to relax your shoulders, neck, throat and jaw. Let your arms hang loosely, and yawn widely several times. Close your eyes and visualize yourself having a conversation over the telephone with a friend just like you use to do. Then open your eyes and speak out loud what you might say initially to that friend. 
      Take the next step and actually call your friend. Your speech may not always be perfect, but it is the best you can do now, because each time as you practise you will get better. Simply smile and tell yourself that you’re doing great. 
      Next, be mindful and willing to take a risk to speak socially by going outside of your safe home to the local coffee shop or an event. Remember your speech muscles are along for the exercise so keep them moving. 

Action #3:  Rehearse your changes as if you are about to speak with a microphone before an audience.
     Stand up as  if you are in front of a microphone and read aloud a short passage from a book.  Then do another paragraph in front of your computer and record your passage. Play it back and listen to how well you now are speaking with your dentures.
     You will gain confidence and adapt to any stressful situation by speaking as much as possible. Speak to your listeners as if you are interested in them. Throw away all your excuses as to why you can’t speak, and just go out there and speak. It’s not about you anymore, it’s about contributing to a conversation. This will keep your mind, speech, and confidence away from your previous fears. 
 
     Let’s all Keep Voice Fit! Get ready to exercise your speech muscles for articulation clarity! There are more warm-ups, exercises, and tips to re-train your lips, tongue, teeth, palate, and jaw after dentures in Brenda C. Smith’s latest book: “Speak with Confidence: Even with Dentures;” “Training Your Speech Muscles to Clear Communication.”  
Did you find this Blog helpful? If so, please leave a comment.   

 It all started with a panic attack that Carole knew she had to do something quickly to regain control of her breathing. She tried to breathe in but nothing, no air, no relief, nothing, like holding your breath. But how long could she hold it before she passed out? What could she do right this second! Helpless, frantic, and desperate Carole thrust her belly with energy so it ballooned then automatically released it. Mechanically she repeated the physical push again, then again, and again, and once more to where it continued naturally without her focus. A calmness released the pain in the back of her neck and her tight throat while silently her thoughts streamed gratitude to the universe for saving her life.

Hmmn! So, it’s true what her drama coach taught her, diaphragmatic breathing will calm you and energize you for life, never mind what it does to you as a speaker to project your voice on stage for those performances.

This story is one of many that I share in my book, “Breathe…Just Steps to Breathtaking Speeches” to illustrate the transformation my clients move into by allowing their diaphragmatic breathing to become their natural breathing. Initially, there is a voice concern or a desire to infuse variety of expression in their presentations and speeches, or simply to overcome fear and build confidence. Convinced after experimentation, exercises galore, and the discovery, little by little, do I see their body, voice, and mind take ownership of their unique voice power. Then we all celebrate!

You may not be able to meet with me personally, but my wish is that if you want to take care of your voice or your panic attacks, then the answer lies in your core breathing source as outlined in my book.
The diaphragm is at the base of your ribs and propels more air into your lungs then exits through your vocal folds as your speech. 

I deliberately organized my book with exercises to help you in the voice production preparation stage to then lead to creating vocal presence and range of tone in the second part of your training. Finally, in the performance stage, you learn how to put it all together to affect your listeners emotion and motivation and engagement to really connect with you and your message. Applause or a movement will follow your transition into a wonderful speaker.

What are your thoughts on your career, your life balance, and your future when it comes to what role your voice plays in your drama now and as you age? Try one of my exercises to see where your potential can grow, and read about another client who may have a story that connects with you.

Cheers, here’s to Keeping Voice Fit!

.Brenda Smith, Founder of Voice Power Training Services and Author, is a personal speech coach who brings her expertise and experience as a lifelong drama director and teacher to guide your transformation into becoming a presenter with vocal power and presence: http://www.VoicePowerTraining.com
 
Brenda’s book: “Breathe…Just Steps to Breathtaking Speeches” a complete easy to-follow system to achieving a powerful voice and presence available on Amazon, and all other online book outlets.
Contact FriesenPress Publications for group order discounts from Colleges, Organizations, or Corporate HR Training Staff or other educational and health organizations

Are you looking for non-intrusive ways to relieve stress, confusion, and stiffness in your presentations? Is this pattern negatively affecting the way your listeners connect with you and your message? If so, here a some sure-fired techniques to reset you voice, body, and mind to speak with enthusiasm, clarity, and calmness.
I have personally seen the transformation while coaching my clients to overcome this detachment to their audience by releasing the very tools that you alreaady carry within you to appeal to your listeners.
#1. Key Tool is to apply the best breathing method for speakers, trainers, professionals, and leaders. This is diaphragmatic breathing which allows you to take in more air and manage your speech before, during, and long-after your presentation. It will immediately calm your anxiety to sail you through any proposal, sales pitch, job interview, staff meeting, fundraising appeals, or leadership inspiration. Yes, your breath is always with you so why not utilize its support and manipulative qualities to relax, pause, and energize yourself.

• One exercise to take on diaphragmatic breathing is to breathe in without lifting your shoulders; instead, expand your lower body in the abdomen and lower rib area. Do this throughout your day as you speak to friends, colleagues, and over the phone, podcast, or video call. Take three diaphragmatic breaths initially to calm yourself. Continue to take in enough air to get you through your first thought, pause; then, in again for your next thought, pause; and so on. Take another breath any time during your speech if you feel anxious. You have simply reset the “Breathe” button to continue powerfully. 

#2. Key Tool is your combined unit of speech muscles within your mouth; namely, the tongue, palate, teeth, lips, and your jaw. These articulation tools make your words come out more clearly to be easily understood. You may not realize it but often these muscles get lazy if they are under utilized. What happens is that your speech and words become mumbled, slurred, and dropped to create confusion, mispronunciation, and ambiguity or vagueness of your meaning and commitment.

• Exercises, such as, tongue twisters can reinvigorate these muscles to brilliant clarity of your message. However, the best exercise is a jaw exercise to loosen your jaw and open your mouth wider. Move your jaw from side-to-side, open-and-close, and circle it. Just before or during your speech mentally check yourself to not let your jaw revert to a clamped mouth of garbled speech, or too rapid speech with no mouth movement at all. Yes, you can do this!

#3. Key Tool is your vocal, mind, and body drive to be flexible in showing your content with your emotions. Within you there lies your mind focus to energize positive thoughts to enable you to speak with emotional passion. Partnered with this is the flexible skill of vocal tone, resonance, and pitch levels. When these characteristics match your content then your listeners get the picture and visualize what you are asking them to do. They hear your voice, see your gestures, and feel your emotional enthusiasm. They are drawn into your message, your passion, your story, and your call-to-action.
Practise your content in different ways to by emphasizing specific words, pausing appropriately, and gesturing in alignment to give your most passionate meaning. Your thoughts will lead your direction to feel emotional as if you are in the moment, like an actor does to convey believability. Your vocal pitch and tone will rise and fall to fit your emotional input.

• An exercise for flexible tune-up before you present is to say the word “come” in various tones as if you are calling your dog in a friendly, aggressively, sarcastically, joyfully, or urgently manner, and so on. Your vocal pitch (high, mid, low) will rise and fall to fit the mood and meaning.

​The steps to breathtaking speeches are the ones that you manage and build from your core breathing method to empower your vocal skill to align with your body and mind partners.
Read more of my client’s different stories on how they were able to reset their speech alignment to better presentations by simply fixing vocal power needs, in my latest book “Breathe…Just Steps to Breathtaking Speeches.”  The book provides specific guidance for fixing annoying tones, achieving clear articulation, having fuller resonance, and more energy to produce presentations with a dramatic engaging edge.
Contact me: http://www.brendacsmith.com/contact.html
 
Please leave a comment or question below.

​Are you grabbing the attention of your listener with the use of pause in your speech? 
Many presenters speak as if they are reading carelessly without any attention to making their message or content stand out to the listener.  Conveying content orally requires mastery of speaking phrases or key words with a pause and rhythm to match with your thinking and feeling. This allows the audience to pay attention; plus, it creates presence in your performance.
#1.  Pause with Deliberation
If you pause randomly without focus to the purpose or meaning of your ideas, you are out of sync with your natural breathing and speaking rhythm. Instead, align your phrases and thoughts with your own rhythm to pause so the audience not only gets your meaning; but also, touches them deeply with your vocal pitch that follows your pause. Both are partners in expression to keep your audience with you.
For example, say aloud: “Truth alone makes life rich and great.” [Emerson]
Where do you personally pause when you say this?  What tone do you have for the rest of the sentence after your pause? Next, experiment and repeat the sentence by inserting a pause in a different spot – after Truth, or after alone, or after makes, or after life, or after rich. What changed in your thoughts, meaning, and tone for the rest of the words? If you want the meaning to truly connect with your audience insert a pause to deliberately signal what your thoughts are about it. Isn’t this how we all naturally express our passionate ideas?

#2.  Pause with Variety of Frequency
How often should you pause? Too excessive or too few will not focus your audience to see the image or to feel the emotion. Your listeners will believe that you are manipulating them, just like a fake actor or a brassy salesman who sounds totally unreal to you. Frequency is in proportion to the urgency of your images or ideas pausing less often to match a faster pace of the content; and more often to create a moment of reflection or reaction.
It’s like leading up to the climax of the story – is there a moment of contemplation or suspense before the climax, and then again after? For example, in story of “Humpty Dumpty” how often could you insert a pause to be effective? Try it and see what happens. Apply this technique in your own speech content. Rehearse your speech out loud to discover where your key words and passion stand out more; then insert your dramatic pause.

#3.  Pause Long or Short for Dramatic Effect
Pause longer on the most important point in your content, or if there is a key image you want to really touch your audience with. While you pause longer, it allows for a definite idea or image to sink in to the listener and gives contrast with the rest of the words. Strong feelings like tears, amazement, laughter, fear, or deep contemplation are often the reactions from your listeners, merely by the length of your pause before.

When you’ve mastered the use of pause, pitch, and truthful expression, you will know it’s the right match when your audience becomes speechless and the applause is resounding.

Leave a comment below and share this blog on social media with your friends and associates.
 
P.S. - There are more exercises in “Breathe…Just Steps to Breathtaking Speeches”
P.P.S.  - Are you ready to have personal coaching for your own self advancement?  
Or, listen up- exciting news: Are you a seasoned professional speaker, coach, or trainer and wish to become a quality speech coach for your own clients.  Contact Brenda C. Smith today to become an Associate Breathe System™ Coach. She is accepting applicants for her upcoming “Vocal and Presentation Mastery Coaching” program.