Breathing...

colja

Well, I have to hold a breathy "s" sound for 30 seconds. I hope you know what I'm talking about... I take my breath, and then I'm slowly releasing it and making the sound "s". The problem is, that I can't hold it longer than 15 seconds. I have had some breathing problems, and I'm alergic to some stuff that affects my breathing, and when those 15 seconds pass, I still have enough air to make it to 30 seconds, but I need to take a breath, and can't hold it! I have enough air in me though, just that after not breathing for a while (15 seconds) I get dizzy and have to take a breath immediatly! What should I do? Just practise?

highmtn

You may need to release the air more slowly. Try making a smaller "sssss" by using your tongue to make a smaller stream of air.

colja

highmtn said:

You may need to release the air more slowly. Try making a smaller "sssss" by using your tongue to make a smaller stream of air.

I can do all of that, I just can't take much time without breathing in! After 15 seconds I stil l have enough air to go to 30, but I get dizzy and have to inhale immediatly.

TommyM

In my experience, it's a matter of building up gradually, e.g. try going for 15 seconds then building up to 20, 25, and 30 seconds incrementally until you can do it comfortably.

To me, if you're getting dizzy at 15 seconds and feeling the need to inhale then it suggests that you don't have enough 'air in the tank' to make it to 30 seconds at all. If you've never made it to 30 seconds, how can you tell that you've got enough air left to get there?

That urge to inhale is your body signalling to you that you don't have enough oxygen so, to me, it suggests that you're maybe releasing too much air and not controlling it properly. Bob's advice on controlling a smaller stream of air is really the best option, but if your problems are being caused by medical issues then it may be that there are other ways to go about it.

If you're doing a breathy "s" then you might be releasing too much air at the onset, which in turn is leaving you with insufficient air to support the sound, e.g. going "Ehhhsssssss...." rather than doing a "ssssssssss", if that makes sense.

Something I found that helped me was to practice this sort of exercise while walking around. I used to get the same problem with the urge to inhale when I did this walking around, but I managed to gradually override that urge to inhale by getting more and more control over how I was releasing the air.

I'm sure someone on here will be able to offer more detailed, KTVA-specific advice but I wanted to throw a few suggestions in just based on similar issues I've had in the past.

colja

TommyM said:

In my experience, it's a matter of building up gradually, e.g. try going for 15 seconds then building up to 20, 25, and 30 seconds incrementally until you can do it comfortably.

To me, if you're getting dizzy at 15 seconds and feeling the need to inhale then it suggests that you don't have enough 'air in the tank' to make it to 30 seconds at all. If you've never made it to 30 seconds, how can you tell that you've got enough air left to get there?

That urge to inhale is your body signalling to you that you don't have enough oxygen so, to me, it suggests that you're maybe releasing too much air and not controlling it properly. Bob's advice on controlling a smaller stream of air is really the best option, but if your problems are being caused by medical issues then it may be that there are other ways to go about it.

If you're doing a breathy "s" then you might be releasing too much air at the onset, which in turn is leaving you with insufficient air to support the sound, e.g. going "Ehhhsssssss...." rather than doing a "ssssssssss", if that makes sense.

Something I found that helped me was to practice this sort of exercise while walking around. I used to get the same problem with the urge to inhale when I did this walking around, but I managed to gradually override that urge to inhale by getting more and more control over how I was releasing the air.

I'm sure someone on here will be able to offer more detailed, KTVA-specific advice but I wanted to throw a few suggestions in just based on similar issues I've had in the past.

I know I can hold up to 30 because there's more than half air still in me... I guess I'll try thanks!