Voice and Speaking Skills For Dummies

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.

Relaxing is not the same as slumping or completely giving way. True relaxation is a potent mix of opposites: stillness and movement, inner calm and energy, peace and power.

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.’ ...