Florence hat geschrieben:I am back, after many months, and my symptoms have nearly disappeared. I am now totally convinced that your ideas about breathing are right. I am doing exercises from Tiger Feeling and New Faceforming and am experiencing a wonderful change in my posture and my appearance, but best of all, it is the change in my voice, sonorous, beautiful, deep, with more low and high notes, the voice I did not ever think I could possess, and my career is starting again, although I am 56. My pupils are also benefiting from your ideas.
Many thanks again.
Genau so. Und die Chorsänger und Schüler auch. Yeahh, singen ist schön. Lasst uns das Universum schwingen!
There are 3 new Books released. (You know, every artist dreams of a trilogy.). "Tigerfeeling – Das Rückenprogramm" contains new material on the diaphragms, new illustrations and a unique training program. Might be of interest for you.
I am back, after many months, and my symptoms have nearly disappeared. I am now totally convinced that your ideas about breathing are right. I am doing exercises from Tiger Feeling and New Faceforming and am experiencing a wonderful change in my posture and my appearance, but best of all, it is the change in my voice, sonorous, beautiful, deep, with more low and high notes, the voice I did not ever think I could possess, and my career is starting again, although I am 56. My pupils are also benefiting from your ideas.
Wow. Sounds like spontaneous healing ... go for it.
Mucus in the soft palate: Put a good quality sea salt into lukewarm water, pull it up the nose and spit it out. Best cleansing for "sinuses" – ? – and palate.
And yeah, the unbelievable results do occur after careful reading and careful realisation ...
I could have realized that impact earlier if I had read you more thoroughly! But better late...
Concerning the food, I have been very careful since I know what I have, and noticed the negative effects of certain things, like raw fruit or vegetables, wine, hot drinks, etc. But I was gradually getting worse, and I am very thankful to you, because the breathing, which I practiced a lot yesterday, has nearly completely healed me already.
I did breathe automatically like that all night (it was already starting the night before, actually) and woke up refreshed and well. I still have some bad moments after eating, but I know now how to cope with them, although there is a piece of mucus stuck in my soft palate which gives me a slight nauseous feeling and makes talking unpleasant. But I hope that it will gradually clear up, as the irritating source is now nearly gone. As soon as I smell the acid in my nose, I concentrate again on breathing plus pelvis muscles and the saliva dilutes, soothing the throat.
When I am definitely better, I shall come back for more discussions, in relation to singing also (which I cannot practice at the moment, and I even had to cancel singing pupils, but fortunately I am now going on holidays and my next concerts are from December 5th)
Well, you might have to abstain from the rich, spicy food for a while, give the stomach a rest. If your assumption (and my guess) is right, the symptoms should disappear within 2 or 3 days. If they continue I suggest you consult your doctor, maybe the stomach walls and the lining of the esophagus are inflamed. (Still: thanks to the inflammation you have realised the impact of the breathing ...).
Thank you so much, Benita, for answering me so quickly! Specially because I just had again an unpleasant moment of reflux back in the throat (with swallowing difficulties and the acid smell) after bending down. I tried not to panic, breathed right and I am feeling better again. But it feels very fragile!
Welcome among the "own body researchers". Great work. Great conclusion.
What you describe is this: The hiatus "loop" of your diaphragm cut into the esophagus pipe, thus evoking your reflux. And yes, it does sound as if the cure to your hernia is as simple: Let the diaphragm rise with every breath.
And yes, of course the natural breathing becomes automatic, it's the body's nature. That is why your highly intelligent body sends you "alarm pain" as soon as you fall back into old habits. Genious system it is. How long you need to get the harming and hurting habit out of the system is up to you, your choice, your responsibility. For me the "new breathing" was such an enlightenment, I never did one old tummy breath anymore ...
You had the great occurrence yesterday night, so it is too soon to get impatient with yourself. Go for it!
I kept your video in mind. And I went on looking for what I have, which in the end is not sinusitis, but pain coming from reflux from my stomach. I am now getting the so-called acid inhibitors, watching my diet and sleeping with my torso elevated. The sensations in my throat are so distressing that I did not dare experience further with your video. My encounters with your ideas are new, and I first concentrated on Levator ani, in my own experimental manner (as I told you, I do not have New Face Forming with me at the moment, but I shall read it at last again on Saturday when I go for a holiday to my house in France).
Yesterday night, I was so unhappy with the feelings of pain in my throat, with mucus, due to acid (I could even smell the odour of acid in my nose) that my usual calming procedure did not even work (minimum breathing with relaxing the pelvis muscles). I decided to try the breathing you showed on the video and it was rather amazing. First I experienced a sort of new gurgle in the stomach, and then got very quickly better. The odour of acid in the nose disappeared. When I went back to my usual tummy breathing (I must stress that I never do it in an extreme way), the odour came back. And so on the whole night, as I eventually went back to bed and continued with the conscious breathing until I could even sleep properly. And this morning, until this moment, no pain in my throat, with minimal mucus!
Could it be that the new position my diaphragm is now experiencing is healing a problem of "Zwerchfellbruch". I have not had any "Magenspiegelung" yet done, so I do not know the exact situation I am in.
If it is the case, is there hope that your method of breathing/posture will become automatic? Today, as soon as I do not concentrate on it, I fall back on what I usually do, and the odour of acid comes back immediately (but not the pain, fortunately).
As for the cause of my possible "Zwerchfellbruch", it might be multiple. I did eat a lot of rich, spicy and fatty foods in the summer (I am slim, so I do not mind eating rich foods). But as I also breathe intensively, being a singer, I could also have created the problem through years of bad breathing technique.
Thank to you both for your interest. I answer Benita, as Kerstin's explanations need a bit of thorough-reading.
In the meantime, I got treatment for sinusitis, which seems to be what I have, and it has helped already. But I am still a bit schocked at having the symptoms I described to you, as, being 55, I had many colds and sore throats in my life until then, but never with this feeling that I would have to vomit. This feeling still happens "out of the blue", even if I am not singing. It is also true that I never had sinusitis before.
I did observe what happens to my soft palate when I do the "radial aufgespannte Zwerchfell" and could feel the movement you describe. Not pleasant in my condition, but I realize that if one is healthy, it certainly has advantages. Keeping the shoulderblades down is anyway a very good tip for a good posture, and I shall keep that in mind. By the way, I read "New faceforming", which I unfortunately do not have with me at the moment, as I left it in my holiday house in France, but I look forward to read it again in November.
Apart from the treatment for sinusitis (a nasal cortisone spray and eucalyptus balm), what helps me to calm down the nausea feeling is breathing "imperceptibly" and slowly, while relaxing the pelvis, sitting or standing in a good posture, eyes shut, a relaxed tongue touching the hard palate and lower jaw hanging.
Liebe Florence, liebe Benita, ich versuchs mal aus meiner Sicht, und in deutsch, weil mein english missverständlich sein könnte. Ich habe eine Weile gebraucht, um mein Zwerchfell zu entkuddelmuddeln. Folgende Sachen haben mir dabei geholfen:
Immer im Hochturm und Streckbein, weil es dabei von alleine die Länge hat.
Meine "Transversusse" kamen mir immermal wieder in die Quere, dabei haben mir das Bild im neuen Rückenbuch mit den Händen über dem Oberbauch und die Sanduhratmung geholfen.
Bin nachts davon aufgewacht, dass mein Zwerchfell angefragt hat: "Mach mal richtig".
Meine Zwischenrippenmuskulatur war hart wie Eisen, musste erst ein bisschen weich geliebt werden.
Wenn die "Transversusse" angesprungen sind, beziehungsweise sowieso wie immer sich verkürzten und knubbelig machten, gab es Druck von unten auf den Kehlkopf, so etwa wie Angst fühlt sich das an.
Inzwischen geht es gut mit dem Zwerchfell, ich falle nur manchmal zurück, wenn es schnell gehen muss mit dem einatmen, nach langen Phrasen zum Beispiel. Das mit dem Gaumen kann ich mir ziemlich unangenehm vorstellen, da kracht was zusammen, was aufgerichtet sein sollte.
In der Hoffnung, dass es ein bisschen hilft und mit lieben Grüßen
It's complicated enough in German. I can try it English. No chance with my French. If you put Zwerchfell in the Search machine you will find a very interesting thread with a primitive but efficient wooden model of the diaphragm. I will post a link with a little film of me breathing with the radially mounted diaphragm.
The principle is easy and logical. Instead of making the diaphragm sink down into the body on inhaling, you use the ribs to activate the longitude muscles of the diaphragm and you lift it up, thus expanding the ribs to the sides and creating space for the lungs.
The soft palate expands exactly the way the diaphragm does. I can imagine powerful reactions when someone starts with the training. Hard to see how you could trigger such an unpleasant sensation when singing. Maybe one of the singers working with the method can give you a clue.
I suggest, that you carefully watch the shoulderblades when you sing and inhale. If they rise however little you're back in the "belly breathing". The atlas and the axis move, the palate becomes tight. Imagine that you lower the shoulder blades on inhaling and keep them exactly there on exhaling.
You don't mention how you work, whether with books or CD or Personal C-Trainer. Do you know NEW FACEFORMING (Book, see shop)? It delivers great exercises for the diaphrams in the body.
Please drop by in a couple of days to see the "diaphragm study" in action.
I have already profited enormously from your work. Many thanks! As a singer, I now experience a wonderful change for the best in my voice. However, I am also having some unpleasant sensations in the soft palate, that has become hypersensitive. It leads me sometimes to a feeling that I should be swallowing non-stop and I even had to cancel a rehearsal two weeks ago as I had the impression that I would have to vomit any moment. I am wondering if this would not be linked to my false understanding of the technique of "radial aufgespannte Zwerchfell" and I would be very grateful if you could explain this technique in English (or in French, as I am french).
