Written by Ellie Smith, Yoga Instructor
Ellie Smith is an experienced yoga and breathwork teacher, with a background in academia, teaching communication and cultural studies. She is the founder of Ellie Smith Yoga Ltd, a platform for new and returning professionals to learn how to apply practices from yoga to improve their public speaking presence.
She placed a hot mug of tea in front of me. I watched as the steam spiraled peacefully towards the warm overhead ceiling light. The gentle aroma of masala chai spices did nothing to soothe the frozen knot in my stomach.
"You need to speak louder," said my workshop co-host. "You're not reaching them."
I sighed with faint despair. She was right. I'd spent two hours fumbling through notes and mumbling through words that I'd practiced a million times that week.
"Do whatever you need to do to get back into your body so you can give them the workshop they paid for. But before that, drink your tea."
I was halfway through giving my first-ever yoga workshop, which was all about Yoga for Self-Care. This had taken months of planning and practice. Yet my presentation had been subpar for the first two hours that morning.
Many factors contributed to my low-quality performance. Among them was my voice. I had started out unprepared for all eyes on me, for the deafening silence in the room, and for the first few words that came out of my mouth as almost inaudible squeaks.
There was something crucial I had neglected to do, and it could have made all the difference that mortifying morning.
Key takeaways
Vocal warm-ups are crucial for maintaining vocal health and avoiding the dreaded, anxiety-driven stage squeak in public speaking.
Yoga-inspired vocal warm-ups, derived from poses, breath practices, and meditation, can improve vocal tone.
Understanding vocal anatomy enhances warm-up effectiveness, safeguards your voice, and helps you determine a targeted warm-up routine.
What are vocal warm-ups?
In public speaking, acting, and singing, vocal warm-ups are not just a prelude to an event but are essential to safeguarding vocal health. Conventional vocal exercises used to tune the voice include:
Lip trills, pouting, and yawning to warm the fascial muscles and improve breath control.
Humming to relax the vocal cords, ground your voice in a strong vocal tone, and allow for greater blood flow to the throat muscles.
Tongue twisters, like the famed Peter Piper, to enhance vocal articulation and flexibility, improving pronunciation.
Singing scales from your highest note in your head voice to the lowest note in your chest voice, perhaps with a couple of key changes thrown in to challenge your vocal range.
These vocal techniques ensure that your muscles are limber and ready for the demands of speaking at length. Each one is a great way to avoid what I call the dreaded "stage squeak." Together, they refine range, tonality, and expressive capacity.
How does yoga play a role?
Contrary to popular Western belief, yoga is far more than a set of physical exercises. While yoga poses do help prepare your voice for a public speaking event, other yoga practices can assist in developing a targeted routine to ensure your voice reflects the confident, authentic, and knowledgeable person you are. Let's delve in.
Asana (Yoga poses)
For most of us in the Western world, asana is our entry point into yoga, so it seems logical to start here. One part of the body we often forget when it comes to vocal warm-ups is the neck.
Warming up the neck muscles also activates the larynx, increasing blood flow to the internal muscles of the area. Here are three beginner-friendly poses you can do before your event that won’t garner too many sideways glances:
Neck side stretches: Drop one ear to your shoulder while relaxing the opposite shoulder.
Neck bends: Drop your chin to your chest, then lift your chin up toward the ceiling.
Seated cat-cow: Exhale as you round your spine backward, dropping your chin to your chest and pulling your belly in. Inhale as you reach your chest forward and lift your chin toward the ceiling, still engaging your belly muscles.
Always check with a trusted medical professional before attempting any new movement. Move within a range that feels comfortable to you, and avoid pushing past your limits.
Pranayama (Breathwork)
This is where we get into the (vegan?) meat and potatoes of yoga-inspired vocal warm-ups. Breathwork primarily serves to regulate our nervous system, helping us ground and calm ourselves when needed or vitalize and invigorate ourselves when necessary. Some practices have the added benefit of warming up our voices. Here are three of my go-to practices before a big presentation.
Humming bee breath: Breathe in deeply through the nose, then breathe out slowly while maintaining a long, continuous, low hum. Rinse and repeat. This warms up the vocal cords and effectively calms frayed nerves. You can also cover your ears if you’re comfortable doing so.
Lion's breath: Breathe in as you raise your arms above your head, then breathe out while opening your mouth wide, sticking your tongue out, and quickly dropping your arms down. It sounds weird, but it’s effective at warming up the facial muscles and relieving tension. Best done in solitude to avoid being labeled the conference/workplace weirdo.
Ujjayi breath: Breathe in through your nose, then breathe out as if you're whispering to someone but with closed lips. Breathe in while maintaining that slight restriction at the back of the throat. This one takes practice, so don't fret if you don't get it immediately. You’ll notice how it slows your breath rate, stimulating your rest-and-digest response. It also works the larynx muscles, helping them stay warmed up without the extroverted nature of the previous two techniques.
Dhyana (Meditation)
Meditation often gets sidelined due to its perceived difficulty. The idea that we must sit peacefully with our heads full of absolutely nothing but pure bliss is a common misconception in the wellness world, which understandably puts off beginners. I don't know about you, but my head has never been full of pure bliss, and that's not for lack of trying.
Here are two meditation precursors that I have found helpful in two ways. First, they allow me to carve out a minute or two to collect and ground myself. Second, they help warm up the vocal cords.
Silent meditation: Just sit in silence, focusing on the fact that you're breathing in and out. Your mind will wander, that's ok. The whole point is to notice when it does and gently guide it back to the breath.
Om yoga meditation: Breathe in through the nose, then breathe out while chanting "Om" for the full length of your exhale. The lower the tone, the more relaxed you'll start to feel, and the less likely you are to "stage squeak."
Anatomy of the voice
Understanding the anatomy behind our voice, including the roles of the vocal folds, soft palate, and facial muscles, can significantly enhance the effectiveness of our vocal warm-ups. It enables you to target your exercises for optimal results, ensuring your voice remains in top condition.
This section will briefly examine our vocal cords (or folds), soft palate, and facial muscles. These components play crucial roles in sound production.
Vocal folds
Located in your larynx, these are two smooth muscles that stretch horizontally to form a slit. They vibrate when you breathe to produce your voice. And, like any muscle, they need warming up. They must vibrate freely to produce clear tones, making practices like chanting and Humming Bee Breath crucial for their flexibility. Ujjayi Breath is wonderful for warming up, cleaning the vocal folds, and providing a much-needed pre-speaking moment of calm.
The soft palate
This is the soft tissue at the back of your mouth, just beyond the bony part of the roof. When we speak, it lifts and moves back to close off access to the nasal passage, preventing air from escaping through the nose. When we produce sounds like mm (such as when humming in Humming Bee Breath), it lowers to allow some air to pass through.
If you've ever played a wind instrument, you've worked your soft palate quite a bit. I used to play the clarinet, a terrible experience for all involved. After hours of band practice, my soft palate would eventually give up, meaning all the air would come out of my nose at an alarming rate. Charming.
Our palate's elevation allows us to transition seamlessly between registers, especially when reaching for the highest note in our range. Exercises focusing on humming in head voice (higher notes) and breathing practices like Humming Bee Breath can condition this area for better control.
Facial muscles
Lastly, the facial muscles, including those around the jaw and mouth, contribute to articulation and vocal tone. Practices like tongue twisters and lip trills enhance their coordination, preventing a tight jaw or any strain that could impede our speaking voice. Chanting Om for a few rounds can help warm up these muscles. My favorite practice is Lion's Breath, as it warms up the muscles of the face and voice, but this is best done in private, so as not to scare off potential audience members. Gentle twists and backbends also help warm up the jaw and neck muscles.
Practice and consistency for a long-lasting impact
Try incorporating yoga-inspired vocal exercises into your daily routine before going on the proverbial stage. By understanding that consistency is essential, vocal warm-ups can become part of your pre-game ritual, ensuring the health of your vocal folds.
Through frequent practice, I noticed a significant improvement in my vocal tone and ability to breathe through the inevitable jitters. Your breath control and lung capacity may also benefit, reducing that awful feeling of breathlessness when speaking in front of a group. Good vocal health is not about quick fixes but about the persistent, dedicated cultivation of this skill set.
From warm-up to cool down
Cooling-down routines are just as critical as initial warm-ups, aiming to mitigate any risk of vocal strain for those who speak publicly frequently. Engaging in soft humming exercises allows us to ease our vocal muscles. Such methods encourage blood flow to return to a normal pace, soothing the throat muscles and vocal folds after rigorous use.
About that tea
Practicing breath control, maintaining good posture, and engaging in time-tested voice exercises helped me in more ways than I anticipated. These practices encouraged continuous improvement in my expressive tone and articulation, providing the tools I needed to convey my message to my audience. That large mug of masala chai also helped immensely, so my last tip is to have a warm drink at hand before going on stage.
I invite you to embrace vocal warm-ups and cool-downs as non-negotiable, essential ingredients of your public speaking journey. If you're curious about starting yoga, please sign up for my weekly newsletter, Simply Yoga. You'll get a few freebies to help you start the right way at home, too. I can't wait to see you there!
Read more from Ellie Smith
Ellie Smith, Yoga Instructor
Ellie Smith is yoga and breathwork teacher based in rural Japan. Her background is in tertiary education with a focus on communication and cultural studies. She now blends these two professions in her business, teaching clients how to get started with yoga, how to stick with it, and how to apply its principles and techniques off the mat to reduce public speaking anxiety and improve their public speaking presence.
