23/02/25 - Postural Enlightenment

Using postural understanding and awareness to strengthen your relationship with your own voice.

One of the very first lessons I teach my students is one all about the posture of the body. Having worked with students who have varied ranges of mobility, I've had to develop a growing understanding of what it means to have a strong posture. While we associate strong posture as being something rigid and upright, some of us have bodies that don't work like that. Whether it be through discomfort or developmental difference, we all have ways we are comfortable holding ourselves. It's just about how we can adjust it to optimise that for singing.

Something I have mentioned in previous blog posts is the acronym 'HOSOKNOT'. This stands for: Head over Shoulders over Knees over Toes! This is the ideal standard posture that I try and install in my students for optimised singing practice. Think like the nursery rhyme "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes", it's just like that, only with a bit more of a mind, body, soul connection!

HOSOKNOT doesn't mean "HEADS UP, SHOULDERS BACK, ATTENTION SOLDIER!", absolutely not. In fact, it's pretty much the antithesis of a tense soldier's posture. If you have a look at the photo above of my lovely students Rachel, Taz and (just about) Kevin, you will see that all 3 of them have this lovely tallness to them, and that's not just because they're all well above 6ft tall! It's because they understand that the basic concept of HOSOKNOT is that it's ok to move while you sing, as long as we’re not collapsing or crushing in the middle of the body. We want to stay open; lifting the heart and soul of the body outward rather than upward, or (arguably, more importantly) downward.

If we're using HOSOKNOT on stage, it's really important that we remember to do things like bend from the hips, not the waist and if you are crouching, remember to keep your back straight and your torso long. Allow yourself to have fluidity in movement!

Adapting HOSOKNOT for the body you have

Over the years I've taught students with Scoliosis, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Ankylosing Spondylitis and I myself have a genetic condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which means I'm hypermobile and have very loose joints. I've had to look at ways to not only adapt this form of posture, but understand how best to use it for different body types and how to make myself and my students comfortable in lessons.

Techniques to understand and develop HOSOKNOT

In order to develop an understanding and relationship with your body to curate a more active postural awareness we can try some of these techniques:

Mirror work

Set yourself up with a full length mirror in front of you. If you don't have a full length mirror, one that shows at least your head to your hips.

Try to relax your shoulders and upper body, either by having a wiggle about and trying again or actively drawing the shoulders down and let the head float above them, rather than craning the neck. Remember, the whole idea is to keep the body aligned, so watch yourself. Open your chest, but don't pull it too far the other way. Stand as tall as you can bring yourself. Keep your hands either by your sides or on your lower abdominals (Diamond Tummy). You know your body best, so if it looks or feels wrong, it probably is.

Shine from the Heart

This one's where we get a little namby-pamby-witchy-woo-woo, but that's just part of my practice! I was shown this by my incredible cranial osteopath, and I'd be remiss if I didn't share it with you. Try this lying flat on the floor.

• Imagine a bright, golden light glowing around your heart space.

• Start to imagine that light glowing brighter and bigger with every breath you take.

• Start to send that light up towards the ceiling

• Then allow that light to reach through the ceiling into the air above you

• Let it keep reaching until it breaches the stratosphere and let that light reach up to the stars, up and out to the universe. Let it stay reaching out.

• Coming back to your body, start to imagine a second beam of light pouring from your heart and out your back.

• Let that light breach the floor and start to shine into the earth below you

• Let it reach down towards the centre of the earth and however much further you're comfortable with it going.

• Let that light shine from you, let it sing out for 3-4 deep cycles of breath.

• Start to draw it all back in, reel in that energy.

• When that light comes back to your heart, imagine a big golden circle of light around that heart space and watch as a lid starts to form around your heart.

• Place that lid on your heart just enough that the tiniest sliver of golden light shines out and let it protect your heart.

This should allow you to bring your shoulders away from your chest, giving you the ability to remain open, less slumped and activate a loving positive light around your chest.

Wall / Floor support

• Start by choosing to start with your back to the wall or lying flat on your back and close your eyes

• Allow that hard surface to support you as you take a deep breath in, notice what moves.

• Does your chest move with your breathe? If so, try and focus in bringing that breath into your stomach. Are you lifting your head? If your shoulders rise, lean more into that surface. Trust in that stability to hold you.

• Stay here and try a few sirens (Moving the voice through it's whole range bottom to top and back again.) Lip bubble, Ee, Oo, Aah & Ehh.

• Really think about the body's alignment and don't forget to engage your lower abs if you're using the voice!

The Garcia Position

I came across this technique in the book "The Art of Mindful Singing" by Jeremy Dion (pg. 70) and was a movement started by a man named Manuel del Pópulo Vicente García (1775–1832), and it goes as follows:

• Standing tall, raise your arms up in front of you and hold them high above your head

• Reach as high up as you can go, keeping your feet planted on the ground

• Slowly lower your arms, swimming them round behind you whilst trying to keep your sternum in it's raised position.

• Palms placed one on top of the other, facing outward into the space behind you, resting the backs of your hands on your sacrum/tailbone

This posture should allow a connection to one's heart space, bringing back that openness, as well as releasing any tension held in the upper body to ensure a more open chest when singing.

It might feel a little bit weird at first, but the body will settle into it, as with all techniques. Just remember to access that Conscious Control to give that lift in the body and hold yourself in the space.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

You might face challenges during these techniques, and that's ok. Hopefully these trouble shooting techniques could be a solution:

1. Tension in the Neck or Shoulders:

   • If you feel tightness, it might be that you're holding some tension in your upper body. Try to relax your shoulders and upper body, either by having a wiggle about and trying again or actively drawing the shoulders down and let the head float above them, rather than craning the neck.

   • Additionally, trying these techniques in a mirror can be super helpful for awareness.
     

2. Lack of bodily Awareness:

   • With this, the best thing that will help, as uncomfortable as it can be for some of us, is to look at yourself in the mirror.

     This can assist with physically seeing your alignment and using Conscious Control to move the parts of the body into where they should be.

     
     

Final Thoughts

Weather you're sitting, standing, or running about on stage, Postural Awareness is so important as a foundational element of your vocal practice.

Embody your body. Take ownership and hold yourself in your power.

The more you believe you are able to facilitate that power for yourself, the more you will be able to hold yourself up and safely perform in your body.