Liberating Your Jaw With Your Voice - 2 - Inhale Like Audrey, Exhale Like The Queen
Audrey Hepburn sings “Moon River” in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
The Queen of Soul covered “Moon River” for Columbia Records (before Jerry Wexler released the real Aretha Franklin. image source: Rollingstone
Liberating Your Jaw With Your Voice - 2 - Inhale Like Audrey, Exhale Like the Queen
A Breathing Lesson on “Moon River”
“Liberating Your Neck and Jaw,” developed by David Zemach-Berson, was a journey of connections from foot to tongue, a connect-the-dots exploration meant to highlight and clarify how the whole self holds up the head, and how the neck, jaw, tongue - and eyes - guide whole body movement.
We’ve completed the Zemach-Berson series, but why stop now? I am just off “Listening With Your Whole Body™,” a series developed by Feldenkrais Method and clarinet master David Raphael Kaetz. As the ears are in the head, and are sensory organs physically adjacent the eyes, it makes sense that these lessons dovetail exquisitely.
Kaetz describes his program: “As vision involves more than the eyes, listening involves more than the ears. Listening is integrated with movement, breath, attention, attitude, thought, emotion, context, relationship, and the other senses.Therefore, improving our awareness of how we hear and listen—with our whole selves—can set the stage for improvement.”
We look to improve how we use breath. For more elegant posture. For more power, period. We return to role model guides Audrey Hepburn (Carry it Like Audrey) and the Queen of Soul (Balance it Like the Queen).
This is a supine or seated lesson; you choose. It’s a trancey one, so get comfortable, have socks and a blankie nearby. We will be breathing consciously into the front, back, out and inside edges, top and bottom of the lungs.
In previous iterations of this lesson we’ve layered on pelvic floor contractions, visualizations of kayaking in rough waters or sitting on frigid ski lifts.
This time, following David Kaetz’s suggestions, we one-nostril breathe to highlight left-right variations and add in the eyes to ‘see’ the in-breath’s volume. And, still invoking David Zemach-Berson, we will try aligning the tongue with intentional breath to see where that goes.
Also, in the spirit of “Listening With Your Whole Body,” we will add a little listening to our before and after scan. Mostly for the fun of hearing two interpretations of the classic tune, “Moon River” by our two role models. We may also make some sounds of our own, just for the fun of it.
No science nerd candy. All the better to admire Audrey’s gentle breathiness and Aretha’s jazzed-up, pre-Muscle Shoals interpretations.
How You Might Feel After This Lesson: Open; Tall; Soft,; Strong; Able to breathe deeply; Aligned; Relaxed; Aware of side-to-side variations in ribs during breathing; Powerful twists, swings; Enhanced side-bending; Connected from tongue to toes through the breath.