Author: Randeep Singh / go to all articles on Yoga cure
Yoga voice exercises:
Various social living beings have been gifted with different means of producing sound, voice from the vocal cords in case of humans, as signals to communicate with their fellow beings, in order to maintain the cohesiveness of a particular species.
The survival of all species is a lot dependent on their ability to communicate within themselves in times of need and danger. Yoga voice exercises help enhance this ability in humans.
Frogs croak, cats mew, dogs bark, elephants trumpet, and humans can shout, howl or speak in order to communicate with each other. The sound producing organ in humans is known as the larynx (sound box) which is actually the upper most section of the trachea (wind pipe which directs the inhaled air into the two lungs) upon the opening of which are stretched two bunches of muscular strings called the vocal cords.
When one is not speaking the bunches of vocal cords remain separated to allow for the inhaled air to reach the lungs. When one speaks they vibrate with the air being exhaled from the lungs and create sound. Sequencing of different sounds into a meaningful message is known as speech.
The point of location of the vocal cords in the neck carries great significance in Yoga, the area is considered as one of the seven nerve plexuses ( Visudhi Chakra) which are located along the length of the spine, and the Kundalini energy when awakened is believed to travel through these chakras from the lowest ( muladhara chakra ) to the one located in the scalp ( saharsrara Chakra).
Each band of vocal cord is made up of three three layers of different types of tissues. The outer layer is known as squamous, the middle layer lamina propria, and the inner most layer is made of vocalis and thyroarytenoid muscles. All the three layers of the vocal cords are covered with mucous membrane to keep them wet for proper functioning.
When one eats the contents pass through a common passage (pharynx) for air and food before epiglottis (a cartilaginous lid over trachea) directs the food into esophagus by closing the opening to trachea. The baritone of the male voice is produced by longer length of the vocal cords, whereas the high pitched female voice is the result of comparatively shorter vocal cords.
Children have still shorter vocal cords in comparison to their adult counterparts. The vocal cords are not strings but folds in reality. The vocal cords vibrate with a minimum frequency of 110 times per second to thousands of times per second, depending on the type of sound being generated.
The sound generated by the vocal cords is turned into speech by the muscles of the mouth, especially the tongue and the lips. Whispering doesn’t involve vocal cords. The vocal cords can suffer from various disorders and diseases.
Screaming for long can produce small nodules on the vocal cords. The vocal cords can get inflamed – Laryngitis – from infections, the quality of the voice is altered by the inflamed vocal cords. There are times when the vocal cords seem to have jammed due to anxiety and stress.
Yoga to strengthen Vocal Cords
The quality of the voice depends on the tightness present in the muscles of the jaws, throat, tongue and yoga the lower part of the mouth. Vocal yoga exercises help relieve the tension in these muscles which aid in producing the right kind of voice for proper communication of the intent.
The quality of respiration, or any problems thereof, can impact the quality of the voice. Voice exercises as designed under yoga to strengthen the vocal cords use yoga asanas, relaxation techniques ( ineventive ways to relaxand yoga techniques), and breathing exercises for fine tuning the apparatus of producing sound and also the structure within which it is held, the mouth.
The exercises to speak clearly work by inducing relaxation while one speaks, this way any speech aberrations in case present due to anxiety or lack of confidence are done away with. The backward bending asanas stretch the muscles of the throat, chest and the neck which help improve the quality of voice.
Inverted yoga asanas and certain back bends which are done while lying supine on the floor require the chin lock ( Jalandhar Bandha) to come into play which massages muscles of the throat and the vocal cords. The massage provides thus helps improve the blood supply to these muscles which keeps them in good stead.
Conscious relaxation techniques are best for are best for decimating stress from the body, especially the chest , neck and the head. Vocal yoga exercises habituate the throat region to remain relaxed when one is speaking, this helps add authority to the message being sent via speech.
Yoga voice exercises makes one more aware and conscious of the way one breathes. Once the control on the breath is achieved one can use this to alter the quality of one’s voice whenever required, hoarse and strong voice when conveying strength, soft and sweet tone while trying to endear someone.
Human body is an evolute of the elements the entire universe is made up of, the universe is believed to have originated from sound (OM). Sound is energy and energy can interchange between various states of matter, the elements which make the universe are nothing but solidified energy , or sound.
That is the reason each cell composed of those elements vibrate differently for different sounds, Sounds vibrations can be varied to produce the healing effect into the cells impacting the overall health of the body., for example with the Himalyan singing bowl. Yoga for speech use different sounds frequencies as humming techniques to induce a healing effecting within a body.
Creating a humming sound by keeping the jaws, throat and the mouth relaxed help exercises the vocal cords and improve the quality of the sound produced from there within. Chanting “Om” regularly can provide one with clarity in speech. Yoga for hoarse voice and yoga for vocal cord nodules help heal these conditions very effectively, better than any other methods available for the same.
Yoga for the Power of Voice
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