Yoga
In True Voice Yoga I aim to make the connection between the key principles of yoga and the very specific and specialised demands of singing, speaking dramatically or playing a musical instrument.
Posture
Starting from the ground up, yoga reawakens out awareness of the equal and opposite forces which need to be active for us to achieve perfect stability. The force of gravity invites us to collapse forward into the child’s pose (balasana) from which we all originate. To establish a posture whereby the upper half of the body is completely free to allow for the effortless technique and expression of true feeling required of the performer, we need to exert an equal opposing force, a force which is provided principally by the potentially strong muscles of the legs and the back. In the lifestyle of the modern age, these muscles tend to be a little too weak (because they have shortened) to be fully able to exert this force. During the five breaths of an ashtanga yoga pose, we focus very much of maintaining these forces, relating their action to the even flow of the breath.
Breathing
In my practice and training, having established a perfectly grounded posture, I aim to deepen the breathing capacity by reawakening and developing another important set of muscles which have usually been seriously shortened since childhood. To perform we need to utilise the full capacity of the lungs, not only to ensure that we always have sufficient breath with which to express ourselves but also to optimise the potential resonance of the hollow cavities of our bodies. Also, the greater the intake of breath, the greater the supply of energising oxygen to organs and muscles.
Asanas
Yoga poses then provide a highly effective biomechanical system for re-setting, lengthening and strengthening the muscoskeletal frame. By re-lengthening the spine for example, so compressed by the physical and mental stresses of modern life, we allow the nervous system to release unwanted tension. A consequence of this is improved concentration and focus and a significant reduction in performance anxiety, this being replaced rather by a sense of wellbeing and even generosity towards our audience.