Respiratory Revelations. Voice Over Artist Vocal health.

Do I love doing breathing exercises? No. But are they part of my regular routine? Still no. 

Until now. 

As someone who uses their voice to make a living, you’d think I’d know a thing or two about vocal health and how to maintain it. But recently I have been forced to take a good long look at myself and my knowledge in this area, or lack thereof. 

After a couple of months of not feeling well, symptoms which included a debilitating cough followed by the now recognisable cry of “IT’S NOT COVID!” whenever I was in public, I finally conceded that perhaps I didn’t have just a cold and that maybe I should go and see my GP (shout out to my fellow VO who voiced those particular “if you have a cough and it’s not covid…etc” radio ads, I am grateful).

Various attempts at antibiotics, a chest X-Ray, a follow up doctor’s appointment and then a referral to the Respiratory Health Department, I was surprised at how quickly a Respiratory Physiotherapist was despatched to my house. A home visit. Within a week of the referral. In a Pandemic! Are you mad?!

Turns out, I had atelectasis. Sounds fancy, right? Atelectasis I was told, whilst asked by the charming physio named Eric to sit on my sofa and breathe, is a partially collapsed lung. Won’t lie, it nearly collapsed the rest of me when he spilled those breathtaking beans. I was winded. Pun intended. 

The questions came thick and fast. Well. One question; HOW? Truth is we don’t really know. And at this point I didn’t really care. I was immensely grateful to have a real world diagnosis and a reason why I had been unable to read to my 5 year old at bedtime for 8 weeks, or hold a conversation with a friend, or walk up the stairs without feeling like I had reached peak K2. I won’t even mention how tough it was to work. 

By the way shout out to my clients who, when I totally lost my voice and couldn’t work, were very supportive. 

But in the space of one rapid heartbeat, I went from feeling like a decrepit, weak, falling apart at the seams, sorry-ass-excuse for a human, to an actual badass B**CH. My mindset changed as the lens I was looking through was changed, by Eric The Physio. Thank you Eric. I was still powering through life (at half speed admittedly) and all on a reduced intake of breath. Check. Me. Out. 

The remedy for this affliction? Breathing exercises. 

BREATHING EXERCISES?! That’s IT? Talk about anticlimax. All I had to do was what Vocal Coaches throughout my entire professional life had told me to do? Day-um!

I was diligent and did my exercises as instructed. And I kid you not, within a few short days, my full breath had returned and I was back to my daily practice of procrastinating about going for a jog. The rapidness of my recovery astonished me. 

Allow me to share. On a cycle of normal breathing, I inhaled deeply through the nose, HELD FOR A COUNT OF 3, then exhaled slowly through the mouth. I repeated this 3 times, before breathing normally again. Then repeated the entire exercise thrice. I had to do this morning and evening. 

I shouted ‘HELD FOR A COUNT OF 3’ because this, Eric informed me, is the crucial part which trains/ encourages the lung to re-inflate. Although this bit was extremely difficult the first day or two, it wasn’t long before I was counting to 4, then 5 then the whole 12 Days of Christmas. 

So actually. Those Vocal Coaches? Those exercises that we have to do before we get to the ‘fun’ stuff? Vital it would seem to lung health. Of course there’s no substitute for regular exercise and these were my prescribed exercises and if you feel unwell see your GP etc etc you know the drill,  but I thought you might like to know. 

Also, mindset. It matters.