Chapter 5
Rediscovering Relaxation
In This Chapter
Bringing relaxation to every part of your body
Finding your balance and ideal posture
Linking movement and speaking
M y mantra throughout this book comes down to a single word: relax. Everything about your voice depends upon a relaxed body that is free to make your sound ring out. That’s why I’ve written a whole chapter on the subject! The most important element for speaking well is your breath (see Chapter 4), and breath only works well with a flexible, relaxed body. If you’re at all tight, you won’t sound good. In the following sections, I explore several ways to release tension, rediscover relaxation, and ready your body to support effective speaking.
At first this chapter’s focus on the body may seem odd for a book about the voice. But as the great Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski told his students: ‘The body must work first. Afterwards comes the voice.’ ...
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