Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [47]
Similarly, the broadcaster who must stay on the air for hours and hours during an election or national disaster must employ voice-relaxing techniques. The voice of the newscaster is, it often seems, just as much a part of his or her public persona as his or her appearance and journalistic skills.
When you feel that your voice is giving out, do some exercises that relax your whole body. Breathe deeply, take a brisk walk, seek a few moments of privacy, or maintain temporary silence.
You may find that warm tea with lemon is soothing to the throat. Many broadcasters sip room-temperature water containing a few slices of lime to keep the throat comfortable. Singers protect their throats with a warm scarf to avoid extremes of temperature.
Avoid infections and seek expert medical treatment when necessary. If nodules or polyps appear on the vocal cords, have them surgically removed as soon as possible under proper medical advice.
Professionals who have a stuffy nose often irrigate the sinuses with warm salt water. The process nicknamed “sniff and spit” is not very elegant, but it is very effective. Sniff a small amount of warm salt water up the nose, and spit it out, until the nasal passages are clear of phlegm and you can breathe easily. This allows the sinuses above the eyes to drain and will help to eliminate nasal drip and the accompanying irritated throat. Do this twice a day to keep the nasal passages free and clear.
In short, protecting and preserving your voice is a part of being a successful public person.
BREATHING
Breathing is the most natural and important thing you do. The newborn baby has to breathe to live. The athlete has to synchronize breathing with muscular effort. Opera singers and flute players depend on making use of a large quantity of air. For normal conversation you can get along by drawing a shallow breath, which fills only the upper part of the lungs. But when you are the person up there on the platform, you need to fill your lungs with air and control your breathing.
When you breathe correctly, you center your body and are firmly balanced and relaxed. You automatically place your vocal apparatus in the correct position for use of the diaphragmatic muscle. That muscle is the source of the power you need to speak with resonance.
Remember that breathing supplies the essential oxygen to your bloodstream, which in turn transmits it to your brain and throughout your body. Remember that the human body cannot store oxygen; it needs to receive a constant supply of it. To fill your lungs completely, raise the chest with the support of your diaphragm.
Fill your lungs with air from the bottom to the top—breathe in so that your abdomen bulges outward. Fill the rib section next, then the chest up to the armpits. Keep the breath coming until you feel that the area under your front collarbones is full of air. Fill all of your resonating chambers, including the back of your throat and nose. You want to have the sensation that air is filling the chest cavity from the abdominal muscle up to your throat.
Think of your chest as a basket, a barrel, or a bagpipe that you fill to bursting. That lung full of air is ready to be used for effective speaking. You control it. It also relaxes you and gives you a sense of well-being because of that oxygen it pumps into your bloodstream. It relieves the tension in your body yet keeps you alert.
It all goes back to the basic principles of practicing yoga for relaxation and power. Lamaze breathing, as taught to the expectant mother, uses some of the same principles to relax the muscles and lessen pain. It has even been said that singers often outlive nonsingers because their hearts and lungs get essential exercise from strong muscle control. An athlete’s confidence is partly based on good breathing habits, ample lung capacity, and strong heart muscles.
Always take a deep breath before you utter the first word of what you are about to say. Whenever you feel yourself running out of breath, pause at the end of your sentence or