Skip to main content

Yoga for Better Singing - Tadasana


The benefits of a healthy and regular yoga practice have been acclaimed in all spheres of life, music being no exception. A good voice may be your natural talent but everything good requires betterment. In order to sing well and with ease, you need to train your voice. There are various was of training your voice and body to enhance your singing and yoga is one of them. Adopt and maintain a regular yoga practice to keep your body in tune with your voice. Yoga will improve your concentration and focus when singing, make you relaxed, and enhance breathing and posture (alignment).

Pranayama (breathing exercises) practice is vital, without breath there is no voice. In order to sing well, you must be able to control your breath. Ujayi breathing (victorious breath is one of the essential forms of Pranayama. According to Wai Lana, a Hawaiian yoga teacher, Ujayi Pranayama "tones the lungs and encourages the free and healthy flow of prana" and helps to regulate blood pressure and oxygenate all parts of the lungs. It also builds up internal body heat.
Alternate nasal breathing is another relevant form of Pranayama that heals overworked vocal cords
The following asana (yoga poses) would also be helpful: Tadasana, Dandasana, Utkatasana, Uttanasana, Ardha Matsyendrasana.
How to Get Into Tadasana
Awareness could be the "magical" ingredient you are missing, which you could achieve by practicing the Mountain Pose. Tadasana is the foundation for all standing poses in yoga, and can hence be done by beginners in yoga. To do the Mountain Pose,
1.   Stand with your feet together and let your arms rest at the sides of your thighs.
2.  Press your weight evenly across the arches and balls of your feet. Let your breathing be steady and rhythmical.
3.  Draw your big toes together, heels could be apart or touch, and firmly ground your feet into the earth.
4.  Tighten your knees and pull your knee caps in, contract your hips and pull them upwards.
5.  Keep your spine erect, draw your stomach in, keep your neck straight and your head and chest in alignment with the rest of your body.
6.  Stand firm and take in a few deep breaths, be mindful and conscious of your breathing. Pay attention to the distribution of your weight on heels and toes, let it be even.
7.   With your eyes closed, continue breathing for 5 to 10 minutes if no other asana accompanies Tadasana.
8.   You could vary Tadasana by practicing with your arms stretched out over your head and not at the sides of your thighs.
Tadasana improves your singing ability by:
  • Rooting you firmly to the ground,
  • Increasing energy and enthusiasm,
  • Strengthening your spine,
  • Improving your confidence,
  • Enhancing your posture,
  • Steadying your breathing,
  • Increasing awareness,
  • Harmonizing your body and mind,
  • Firming your abdomen.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Popular Posts

Princess Qajar - The Revolutionary Persian Princess

Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh commonly referred to as Princess Qajar was a princess and memoirist of the Qajar Dynasty. Princess Tadj was one of the best known daughters of the Persian king, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar who ruled Persia from 1848 to May 1896. The Persian princess was born on February 4, 1883 and died on January 25, 1936, in Tehran, at the age of 52. Princess Qajar revolutionized beauty standards with her full look and ragged unibrow, and her unmistakably evident mustache. She was a true epitome of beauty at her time. Princess Qajar was declared a symbol of beauty in Persia and was coveted by many men. Thousands of men wanted to marry her, 13 of whom committed suicide upon being rejected by the princess. Princess Qajar eventually married Amir Hussein Khan Shoja'-al Saltaneh and had they had four children - two boys and two girls. They later got divorced in 1907 after enduring an unloving arranged marriage - she married Khan when she was 13. The princess argued f...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Lehman Brothers Scandal (2008)

Company Background : Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a firm specialized in the provision of global financial services. It was founded in Montgomery, Alabama, in the United States of America. The company had headquarters in New York City, New York, in the U.S. It ceased operations in 2008. The founders were: Henry Lehman, Emmanuel Lehman and Mayer Lehman. What Happened? Lehman Brothers hid over $50 billion in loans disguised as sales. They allegedly sold toxic assets [1] to Cayman Island Banks with the understanding that they would eventually be rebought. How they were caught : Their bankruptcy led to the discovery of the fraud. They filed for bankruptcy in 2008, which is the largest bankruptcy ever recorded. Their case was larger than that of Enron, Washington Mutual, WorldCom and GM combined.  On September 15, 2008, Lehman brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection  (Montgomery, n.d.) . Their bankruptcy filing came in as a blow to the financial indu...
1 comment
Read more

The finger-cutting tradition of Indonesia's Dani tribe

The death of a loved one is always an extremely painful thing to bear, and people of different cultures grieve in diverse ways, some more unique than others. A typically unique way of grieving is that of the Dani (an Indonesian tribe). Finger-cutting is a fundamental part of grieving for women of the Dani tribe, and pertains to their women only. According to The Globe and Mail, an estimated 250,000 Dani tribe members live in a town named Wamena, in the extremely remote central highland area of Papua Province. Wamena is only accessible by plane.  Upon the death of a loved one, the top joint of one of a woman's fingers would be amputated, and smear ashes and clay across their faces. Prior to amputation, a string would be firmly tied to the upper half of the woman's finger for 30 minutes, to cause numbness. This was to reduce the pain from amputating the tip. In most cases, the responsibility of cutting off the top joint of the finger is assigned to one of the woman's...
1 comment
Read more