Physical Awareness/Loosening/Grounding

Evaluate emotional and physical state and address needs appropriately.

Yawn & stretch.

Allow mind to turn in and down to connection to the floor; then build up through skeleton, allowing unnecessary tension to release.

Head and neck rolls.

Drop down.

Elbow points roll forward. Balloons attached to elbows float up; wrists; fingertips.

Jaw, tongue & soft palate.

Breath Awareness

Stretch breathing muscles: Lying on back with knees to chest & open hip sockets; diagonal stretch; folded leaf; umbrella stretch.

Allow focus to move in and down to belly: Outgoing breath is release, relaxation; moment of nothingness; yield to the need for more breath. Let your hand drop with outgoing breath to remind yourself of the instantaneous release of diaphragm.

Breath arrives at the front of the mouth, lips: Think of an "f" onto lips. Wet lips to feel breath passing over lips. Imagine the pathway the breath travels, feeling the cool, incoming air passing over lips and hard and soft palates and warm, outgoing air traveling the same path.

Touch of Sound

Picture a source of vibrations low in your belly or pelvis: pool of vibrations, river, ball of light, energy, box, etc.

Drop a thought into the source, allowing vibrations to splash out on an unformed, easy "huh." Alternate focus between ease, purity of sound, relaxation, specificity of thought, breath, etc.

Add a bounce: "huh-huh."

On pitch: up and down two to three notes.

Allow a huge sigh of relief on sound.

Vibrations

With a relaxed jaw, hum onto lips.

Loosen lips: Blow out on breath, stretch & blow, add sound.

On sound, loosen your lips, gather vibrations and release them: "Bbb-mmm-uh."

Touch on sound, gather vibrations and release them: "Huh-humm-uh."

Repeat on pitch with head rolls, on drop downs, in diagonal stretch, shaking sound out through various body parts, etc.

Sigh out on sound; have a conversation.

Opening the Channel

Jaw: Massage; grab jaw and loosen on breath and sound.

Tongue: Tip of tongue on back of bottom teeth, stretch the middle or back of your tongue out of your mouth; then release, allowing tongue to relax back, settling in the lower jaw. Repeat stretch on sound, on pitch, feeling sound extending over the tongue (not into tongue): "Huh-yuh-yuh-yuh." Focus thought/sound forward with tongue gently stretched forward, then relaxing back: "Hee-yuh-yuh-yuh."

Soft Palate: Yawn wide and encourage a stretch of the soft palate. Stretch soft palate with a breathy "Kaa" in & out; repeat with physical stretches, in squat, Atlas/bear/side/side, etc. Call out to a distant person: "Hi!" or "Hey!"

Combine on bow and arrow: Draw arrow from quiver ("Kaa"); draw bow/arrow back ("ng" into soft palate); release arrow, arching across the sky ("Aaah"); add tongue stretch ("yuh-yuh-yuh").

Throat: Allow neck to extend as head tilts back; sigh out through an open, wide throat with a deep connection to belly (furnace and chimney); continue to sigh openly while bringing head to center, maintaining the open feeling in the throat.

Channel Resonators

Chest: "Haa" with neck extended, head tilted back. "Fee, fi, foe, fum."

Mouth: "Huh" with head at center, thought/sound focused along roof of mouth and out. (1-2 notes above easy sigh) Try cupping hands in a megaphone to feel forward focus. "Jack and Jill went up the hill."

Teeth: "Hee" with head and neck released forward onto chest, thought/sound focused into top teeth. "She feeds bees in her three leafy trees."

Move from teeth to mouth to chest, back & forth, repeating.

Blend in "Hey." Add pitches on triads. Add movement, skipping, arm swings, shaking chest, etc.

Increasing Available Breath

4, 6, Flutter: Using imagery, allow four huge breaths, then six medium, and then move into a flutter or pant. Repeat adding sound.

Vacuum the lungs: Let all air out; plug nose and hold breath while expanding chest; when you need air, allow yourself to breath in freely through nose.

Sinus Resonators

Wake up face muscles: Work muscles; massage.

Allow energy/attention to build.

Allow yourself to become vulnerable; give up responsibilities. Remove the mask.

Allow head to drop forward onto chest, thumbs on either side of your nose, holding the weight of the head. Tongue relaxing out of mouth onto lower lip.

Think "Heee" and release "Hee" on breath. Add vibrations on pitch (F# to F# & back to down to C#) while massaging sinuses.

Nasal Resonator

Sniff repeatedly through nostrils, plugging one at a time.

Find the selfish child in you, stomping and throwing a tantrum.

Ping a "me" into the bridge of your nose: "Me-me-me-me-me!"

Spread it onto & through your cheekbones: "May-may-may-may!"

Open the sound into your mouth: "Mah-mah-mah-mah-mah!"

Play with pitch and sound: "Why fly? Why fly so high?!" "A-way, a-way, a-way, a-way, a-way!"

Skull Resonator

"Hey" elevator: Imagine your body is a building, with the stomach/diaphragm as the basement and each of the resonators as a floor in the building. With the idea of the motor/power in the basement, use the word "hey" to move the elevator up through each floor, using as many breaths as you need. Repeat with elevator going down.

Repeat elevator on a drop down, letting it move faster with gravity. While dropped down, call out "Kee-eey!" into the top of your skull on three ascending pitches. Allow the elevator to return to the basement while building back up the spine. Repeat calls on "Kee-eey!"

Shake out a sigh of sound and a "Hey" while playing with pitch.

Articulators

"Puh-tuh-kuh-tuh" on breath.

"Buh-duh-guh-duh" on vibrations.

"Muh-nuh-nguh-nuh" on vibrations.

Tongue twisters; over-articulate a monologue.