For the first follow up to my Projection series I want to focus on breathing as an actor. There’s a lot to go into when it comes to the mechanism of breath, but there are a few basics that I want to cover today. We’ve already talked about getting rid of your misconceptions about breathing and that’s probably going to be the most important thing you can do for yourself. The second most important thing you can do is to fix those misconceptions. This can be done through many techniques, the best of which is probably Alexander Technique.

Studying something like Alexander Technique will help you greatly as an actor because you will learn how your body operates at its default level and then learn to let it do that job. Through AT you will learn how your bad habits can negatively affect your breathing, and then you will learn how to fix it. So that is the first thing you should do to work on how you breathe, but for our purposes let’s find out what you can do on your own.

First off, let’s review some of those misconceptions we talked about last time.

1. Your Lungs Breathe You – This is one of those things that makes sense, until you really begin to think about it. Your lungs are not what cause you to breathe; they are only sacks for taking in the air. What causes the action of breathing is your ever important diaphragm. The diaphragm is what expands and contracts to push and pull air through your lungs.

2. Your Lungs Open Front to Back – Many people believe that their lungs open and close like whoopee cushions, front to back with seams around the sides. What really happens is that your lungs expand like balloons, expanding in all directions at once. Take a deep breath with that in mind. Can you feel the difference in how much air you can take in when you realize how big your lungs can actually become?

So those are the misconceptions we discussed last time, now let’s take a look at some new ones.

3. Your Ribs are a “Cage” – People always refer to your ribs as a rib cage. But how horrible would it be if that were true? Cages are rigid and unbendable. Your flexibility would be shot and breathing would be constantly labored. Your ribs are in what I call your rib “structure,” which implies more flexibility. You would be amazed at how much flexibility your ribs actually have. Did you know that when you breathe, your ribs expand like bucket handles? It’s true. Your ribs connect to cartilage in the front, what we call the sternum, and to the vertebrae of your spine in the back. They are each hinged just like the handles on a bucket. Try this with a partner to demonstrate: Stand with your partner facing away from you with their arms relaxed down by their sides. Now slide your fingers underneath their arms right at their arm pit. Now feel how their ribs move as they take a few deep breaths. They flex outward and upwards, almost like wings.

4. Breathing Isn’t Effected by Posture – Learn some Alexander Technique and you’ll find out how untrue this one is. Your posture has an incredible effect on how well you breathe. Have you ever found yourself slumping down at your desk either at work or at school and finding yourself having trouble staying awake? The reason is that when you slump, or slouch you are collapsing that rib structure onto your lungs reducing how much air they can take in. Reduce the amount of oxygen that gets to your brain and you become sleepy and sluggish. If you are slouching, or compromising your stature in anyway, you are reducing the effectiveness of your lungs and that will only lead less effective singing and speaking.

So how can you begin to increase your breathing ability? Well, it’s like anything else in life, it takes practice. Whether your goal is to be able to sing, speak, be an actor, or even none of those, practice deep breathing everyday. Deep breathing is essential to living a stress free and healthy life. It has been estimated that deep breathing will help your cells clear toxins from your body 15% faster that regular breathing. It is also an essential relaxation technique, helping pump more blood to cells and tissue.

So everyday, whether you are an actor or not, take about fifteen to twenty minutes out of your day to relax, close your eyes, and focus only on your breathing. Breathe the air as far down into your stomach as you can. Concentrate on feeling the air move into and out of your lungs, making your exhale twice as long as your inhale. So if you breathe in for two seconds, breathe out for four.

After about fifteen to twenty minutes, open your eyes slowly and give your muscles some nice slow movements, just to wake them up a little before you return to your day. If you just don’t have fifteen minutes to spare, then just try five minutes, or two minutes or whatever you can spare. Try just a few deep breaths when you find yourself becoming upset or nervous. Deep breathing before an audition will help you immensely because you’ll think much clearer than if you had been holding your breath, which is what many people tend to do.

So reassess how you think about your breathing and fix you mental body map. The more of your misconceptions you can correct, the better your body will function. Along with a correction in thinking, use the diaphragm exercises we discussed in Projection for the Actor. These will strengthen your diaphragm, which can improve breathing, singing and speaking. And most importantly, practice deep breathing everyday. Not only will you feel better, you will be healthier for it. Until next time, breathe deeply and Sin Boldly!