05/11/2025
✨3 WAYS YOGA CAN SUPPORT YOUR VOCAL HEALTH ✨
I started practicing yoga in my twenties, when I was doing a lot of travelling for work on tours, singing Pink Floyd - and in the beginning it was a way to find a bit of a stretch in the morning, or after a show. I’d roll out my mat where I could, when I could (I found some pretty crazy places to practice!) and it wasn’t every day. I would do it when I had energy, but then as I did it more often I realised that it really helped me when I was low on energy too.
It helped me find some presence and a bit of peace within the relentless moving about, and helped me to feel more prepared for shows, especially on days when we’d had a run of four and I was knackered. Sometimes it just looked like a child’s pose, or legs up the wall, but I did come to realise that it offered more than just stretching my body.
1. I could release some tension in my body, stored there from lots of nights spent on tourbuses but also from holding myself on stage, using my voice, and not getting enough sleep. I was tense from anxiety, and tense from not feeling I could perform as well because I was tired.
2. I could feel taller after stretching, and allowing my body to decompress a bit, which helped my breath capacity and posture. Breath and body awareness is essential for the voice to be supported, and yoga helped me to breathe more deeply and stand up more easefully.
3. Bringing my mind into the present moment and dropping into my body helped me to get through stage fright, performance anxiety and stress related issues with my mental health. My voice often remained strong and focused, even if my body was shaking all over!
People telling you to ‘do yoga’ has become a total cliché, I know - but I genuinely think it’s amazing for performers, professionals, and anybody who uses their voice or body as their instrument. It’s not just exercise, it can offer many other benefits too!
