What "Sing from your diaphragm" really means!
Coach Nelle back again with Episode 3 of the vocal tips series. I'm sure you've heard the phrase "Sing from/Sing with your diaphragm," whether you're an avid singer or not. But what does it really mean? More importantly, how do you actually do it?
There's a critical bit of information that's left out of this phrase, and that its wording doesn't help communicate: the diaphragm is a passive muscle. Unlike the abs, pelvic floor, biceps, finger muscles, and many more muscles which we can turn on and off with our conscious mind à la "I'm going to tense my abs now," the diaphragm can only move/stretch/tense when activated by other bodily processes or internal commands to these consciously-responsive muscular systems. How we visualize the breathing process is essential to its health and ideal function.
It's a large, dome-shaped muscle at the bottom of the rib cavity, which constricts downward on inhalation (to create a vacuum allowing air down into the lungs) and expands upward on exhalation (so that air is pressed up and out of the lungs.)
DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING EXERCISE
Visualize the diaphragm concaving downwards into a bowl shape when you inhale, as if it keeps deepening as a bowl down to the pelvic floor between your legs.
This is impossible—of course!—but visualizing a more dramatic version of its natural downward movement helps us grow past habits of tension in the area. Remember to simply visualize this happening and not try to muscularly force this sensation. A true healthy, deep breath can often feel like a much more slight breath if you're used to a "deep breath" being felt high up in the chest, jamming it with air, as most of us are! This need for an intense, palpable stuffing-full-of-air feeling is in reality a need for control and sensation-proof of deep breathing, rather than a process that draws in the most air with the least amount of tension. The body is made to breathe, so wouldn't it stand to reason that a naturally deep breath feels more effortless than effortful?
For the exhale, imagine that the diaphragm continues to expand downward out of the torso as you exhale. This is also impossible, but lengthens the exhale by lengthening the time it takes for the diaphragm to return to its upward expanded position, in which air is forced up and out of the lungs.
Give this a try! You're guaranteed to feel a new depth in the body and breath, and a deeper understanding of just how pervasive the breath can be through the torso!
Here's a simple video animation of the diaphragm's shape and motion!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RcY7TFxXE3Q
Happy practicing!