Circular breathing: Encyclopedia II - Circular breathing - Rehearsing circular breathing

Circular breathing - Rehearsing circular breathing

The following steps can be used to learn the first steps of circular breathing:

1. Fill your cheeks with air. Breathe in and out through your nose.
2. While your cheeks are still filled with air, slowly squeeze out the air by pushing the cheeks by your fingers. Keep breathing through your nose.
3. In a similar fashion, try to slowly squeeze out the air without your fingers using your cheek muscles only.

Repeat each step until you master them with ease.

To improve your skills, a common practice technique by didgeridoo players requires the use of a partially full glass or cup of water and a straw. In a nutshell, simply try to continuously blow bubbles into the glass. The liquid helps to simulate the backpressure of an actual instrument. Using water also helps overcome the psychological blockage to circular breathing, as the body will instinctively try to avoid breathing water. Because the glass is not full to the brim, water will not spill over and make a mess. This technique also helps to build up strength in the necessary muscles.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Rehearsing circular breathing", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki