Breathing Exercises for Student Actors!

The following lesson plan was contributed by Lindsay Price, resident

playwright for Theatrefolk (www.theatrefolk.com) a publishing
company that specializes in play scripts and educational resources for
schools and student performers. If you're looking for high-quality,
innovative pieces to perform with your students, Lindsay's work comes
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Copyright © 2013 Lindsay Price, All Rights Reserved

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Introduction
When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the mind
too will be still... Therefore, one should learn to control the breath.
--Svatmarama, Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Breathing is something we do every day, every minute, every second. We have to do it, our
lives depend on it. We take often breathing for granted. And the only time we are aware of our
breath is when something goes wrong - we lose our breath, we get out of breath, we
hyperventilate, we gasp for air.

As a beginning actor, the relationship between you and your breath might be exactly the same
as in everyday life - you don’t notice it unless you’ve got stage fright, or you can’t say a line
because you’re out of breath. But if you want to improve as an actor the best thing you could
do is start paying attention to how you breathe.

When you control the breath as an actor, you control everything. You control your vocal
technique, your body, your nerves. You’re in control - period. It seems like a simple thing to do -
breathe - but it’s amazing how many of us forget to do it! If your breathing is tight and shallow
you won’t be able to express (physically or vocally) to the best of your ability. It goes further
than just the inhale and the exhale.

The breath has a direct effect on how an actor presents their work. Conquer this simple action
and you’ll take your acting to the next level.

In this newsletter you will learn:

• Exercises to improve your technique as an actor.

• Exercises for pre-rehearsal/pre-show and post-rehearsal.
• Exercises to deal with stage fright.
• A video on posture.

Explore the Breath

Breath: the air inhaled and exhaled in respiration. Respiration, especially as necessary to life.

What does it feel like to breathe?

This is not an ooky-spooky, artsy-fartsy weird theatre question. People spend so much time
breathing, it’s easy to lose awareness of how it feels. Awareness is the difference between
breathing as an everyday human being and breathing as an actor. It’s the first step to improving
your skills.
 • Start by standing up straight. Be aware of your posture - the way you stand will affect
your breath. If you’re slouching, you’re shortening your lung capacity. (Check out the
Posture video at the end of this newsletter)
• Pay attention to your breath as you inhale and exhale. What happens to your body? Are
there any places you hold tension? Are you breathing from your diaphragm or your
chest?
• As you breathe in, watch your shoulders. They should stay in place. Don’t crunch them
up to your ears.
• Once you spend some time breathing standing up, change the parameters. Breathe lying
down on your back, lying on your side, bent over in a forward bend, a side bend, a back
bend. Jog around the room. Hold a difficult balance pose. What happens to your breath
in each different posture? When does your breath get shallow? When is it difficult to
maintain a show rhythm? Do you ever forget to breathe?
• Try to speak in each pose. What happens to your voice when your body position
compromises your breath?

Abdominal, Diaphragm breathing

Breathing from the diaphragm is going to give you a deeper, fuller breath, more so than
breathing from the chest. If you’re a musical theatre performer, you must breathe from the
diaphragm in order to make a full sound. If you’re acting in an emotional scene, you’re going to
need as much air possible. It’s important to get in the habit of feeling what it’s like to breathe
from the abdominals.

• Lie on your back, knees bent, feet on the floor. One hand on your chest, the other on
your stomach. (Why? You’re most relaxed when you’re lying down. It’s also easier to
see the stomach go up and down.)
• Breathe slowly in and out. You want the hand on your stomach to move much more
than the hand on your chest.
• Now stand, keeping that hand on your stomach. Can you still feel your stomach going in
and out, or do you start to breathe from your chest?
• Can you recognize the difference between chest breathing and abdominal breathing?

Change up the inhale and exhale

The inhale and exhale is more than just in and out. You can breathe in through your nose, out
through your mouth. The inhale and exhale can be at the same pace, or they can be different.
Stay aware of yourself when you try these different patterns. If you feel dizzy, stop and SIT
DOWN.

• Breathe normally in through the nose and out through the nose.
• Breathe normally in through the nose and out through the mouth.
• Breathe normally in through the mouth and out through the mouth.
Which one is more comfortable for you? What does each feel like?

• Inhale fully for a count of four and exhale for a count of eight.

What is it like to have a longer exhale? Was there a moment of discomfort?

• Inhale fully and then exhale without making any noise. Control the breath.
• Inhale fully and then exhale as slow as you can, just like the slow release of air from a
balloon. Control the exhale.

How long can you control the exhale?

• Inhale five short breaths in a row and then exhale all the air out fully.
• Inhale fully and then do five short exhales in a row.
• Inhale and exhale shortly through your nose.
• Inhale and exhale shortly through your mouth.

These are not normal breathing patterns. What does each feel like? Do you feel in control or out
of control?

• Inhale and exhale through the nose, be forceful, try to give your breath sound.
• Inhale fully through the nose and exhale fully through the mouth - keep your mouth in a
small “O” shape.
• Inhale fully through the nose and exhale fully through the mouth - open your mouth
wide.
• Inhale fully and exhale quickly through the mouth - keep your mouth open wide.
• Inhale fully through the nose and exhale through your mouth with your teeth together,
creating an “Ssss.”

What does your breath sound like in each case, without adding anything from your vocal
chords? Can you think of a situation where you might use a “noisy breath?”

Self-Reflection Journal Entry

What was this experience like? Did you connect to your breathing, or did you think it was silly?
Why? What is the difference between breathing as an actor and breathing on an everyday
basis? Can you think of a moment where you had trouble breathing? What happened?

Breathing to Build Technique

“A voice which does not breathe becomes dull, collapses on itself and becomes sad.” Jacques
Copeau
You need your breath to move and you need your breath to speak. It only makes sense that as
an actor, you want as much breath as possible so that you can move to the best of your ability
and speak to the best of your ability.

Projection

Projection is key on the stage. Your voice will be thin and quiet if you don’t have a full breath
behind it. Tip! Never force your voice with projection. Projection does not mean yelling or
shouting. It’s about having enough air to get your voice to the back of the room. The first step is
standing with good posture. Good posture does not mean rigid posture. A tight body leads to
constricted breath and that will hinder your projection.

Roll Up

A great way to prepare your body to use good posture is to do a roll up.

• Stand with your feet hip width apart. Stretch up to the ceiling with both hands.
• Fold over at the waist, swan diving to the floor.
• Try to touch the floor with your fingertips. If you can’t, don’t force it - either bend your
knees or bend your elbows in the fold and clasp a hand on the opposite elbow.
• Hang for a few moments. Then release your neck and head. Don’t look up - point the
crown of the head toward the floor.
• Now you’re going to stand, but it’s very important that you do this slowly. Roll up
through the spine, one vertebrae at a time, keeping your head down till the very end.
• As you roll up, think about putting your shoulders into place, your neck in place above
your shoulders and your head in place on top of your neck. Keep your chin back, don’t
jut it forward. Your arms and hands hang naturally at your sides. All of this should be
very relaxing, and that’s how you’ll be standing - with relaxed good posture.

Breathing Exercise to work on Projection

• Inhale fully and exhale on a vowel sound. Start quietly and build the sound throughout
the exhale. Stay in control, keep the sound going for the entirety of the exhale.
• Inhale fully and exhale on a vowel sound. Start loudly and decrease your volume
throughout the exhale. Stay in control, keep the sound going for the entirety of the
exhale.
• Inhale fully and exhale on a vowel sound. This time move back and forth between a loud
and quiet sound throughout the exhale.
• Inhale fully and exhale on a ten count going from loud to soft.
• Inhale fully and exhale on a ten count going from soft to loud.
• Stand on stage and whisper a speech. Make it a stage whisper, loud enough for
someone to hear at the back of the theatre.
• This exercise is done in pairs. Everyone lines up, with the pairs facing each other. Each
pair starts a conversation. After 20 seconds, tell the lines to take three steps back. The
 pairs must continue their conversation. After another 20 seconds, the lines take another
three steps back, and so on. Discuss afterwards. Were you able to stay relaxed? What
was hard about the exercise? Did you strain your voice?

Endurance

Have you ever been in the middle of a scene and run out of air? Or have you not been able to
hold a note in a musical number as long as you were supposed to? That means you need to
work on your breath capacity - doing more with breath.

Breathing Exercise to work on Endurance.

• Inhale fully and exhale fully. At the end of the exhale, pause for one second before
inhaling again. Try for two seconds, three, four and five.
• Inhale fully, hold for one second, then exhale fully. Try for two seconds, three, four, five.
• Inhale fully and exhale fully. Time your exhale. How long is it? Do it again, this time
trying to make the exhale one second longer. Do this exercise on a regular basis to
increase your capacity.
• Sing a very familiar song - Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Sing it normally, noticing where
you have to take a breath. Now sing it double slow. How does that affect your
breathing. Can you do it triple slow?

Get into the practice of moving and breathing. A big mistake that happens is when we get into
something difficult and we hold our breath or forget to breathe consistently. The more you get
into the habit of moving and breathing, the less you’ll run out of air.

Yoga Sun Salutation

Each move in this sequence is linked to a breath, either an inhale or an exhale. This sequence
can be done slow or fast, so it’s perfect as a starter movement. Watch your breath - it’s very
easy to stop breathing and to hold your breath between movements. It’s a great exercise to link
movement and breath.

There are multiple variations to the sequence and sometimes you’ll see sanskrit names for the
poses, and people doing fancy “Look what I can do” moves - don’t worry about that. Just focus
on moving with breath.

There are links to photos of the steps below. The basic steps are:

• Stand in neutral. Inhale, exhale.

• Reach your arms up. Inhale.
• Forward bend. Exhale.
• Reach your right leg back to a lunge. Inhale.
• Reach your left leg back to plank, lower to the floor. Long exhale.
 • Rise up into a small back bend (Cobra pose). Inhale.
• Reach your butt in the air legs off the floor so you’re in an upside vee on your feet and
hands (Downward dog pose). Exhale.
• Step forward with the right foot into lunge. Inhale.
• Step forward with the left foot into forward bend. Exhale.
• Rise up to standing arms reaching overhead. Inhale.
• Arms back to your sides. Stand in neutral. Exhale.

You can find sun salutation images here:

• http://lifestylemod.com/surya-namaskar-sun-salutation-yoga-step-by-step-tutorial-
benefits.html/
• http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/yogapractice/sunsalutation.asp
• http://naturalbeautywellness.blogspot.ca/2011_07_01_archive.html

Character Development

Yes you can even use breathing exercises to further character development. Just as we all have
our own way of breathing, so will your character. These questions will be useful in the rehearsal
process when you are working on a play.

Questions to assess and analyze your character’s breathing

• How does your character breathe under normal circumstances?

• How does your character breathe in an emotional scene? Do they get panicky? Are they
relaxed and take deep breaths? Do they breathe angrily through their nose? Do they
hold their breath?
• Analyze your script. When does your character pause? Are there places you can take a
silent breath? Is there any place your character would take a noticeable breath?
• Are there any physical moments in the script where your character is out of breath?
How will you mimic that action so that you, the actor, are in full breath?

Breathing Warm-ups
When you rehearse or get ready to perform, you want to be at your peak. That means warm-
ups. Try these breathing warm-ups.

• Start with stretches, up wide. Reach up, swan dive down to touch the floor, roll up,
focusing on relaxing and aligning your posture.
• Yawn your mouth wide. Do two or three silent yawns and then one yawn on a sound.
• Chew imaginary bubblegum. With each chew, the size of the bubblegum gets larger and
larger.
• Stick your tongue out and pant like a dog. Put a hand on your stomach, is it moving in
and out?
 • Pant on a rhythm. Do four short exhales and one long exhale.
• Inhale and exhale through your nose. Hum as you exhale. You should feel a vibration
down your throat and up into your face. Massage your face while humming so.
• Inhale fully then exhale through buzzed lips
• Short breaths on a sound: Ha. Hey. Hee. Hi. Ho. Change the consonant - Ma, Za, Ta, La,
etc.
• Inhale fully and exhale fully on the above sounds, one sound per cycle.
• Do tongue twisters. Focus on tongue twisters that are a little longer, so you’re working
on expanding your capacity. Can you say this in one breath?

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Breath of Fire

Here’s an interesting yoga breath exercise that is supposed to “wake you up.” Try it!

• Sit cross-legged with your back straight. Tip! If you slouch when sitting cross-legged, it
will be easier for you to sit up straight if you sit on the edge of something so that your
hips are higher than your knees (e.g. a rolled-up blanket, three or four small pillows.)
• Close your eyes.
• Keep your mouth closed.
• Breathe quickly in and out through the nose. Keep the breath short and forceful. The
inhale and the exhale are equally short. Avoid emphasizing just the exhale, make both
equal. Do this for 20 seconds and then breathe normally.

Breathing for Relaxation

Sometimes the most important thing we do in a whole day is the rest we take between two
deep breaths. Etty Hillesum

If you have a quiet mind and a relaxed body, it makes sense that you also will have a quiet and
relaxed breath. Everything goes hand-in-hand. Quieting the mind can be the most difficult thing
anyone (actor or not) can do. What happens to the body and the breath when you let your
mind wander? Your body tenses up and your breath gets ragged. Maybe you’re thinking about
your busy day, everything you have to get done before a certain deadline and there’s stuff to
do at home and... the same thing happens. The body tenses up and the breath becomes ragged.

For an actor, there are two occasions when relaxation techniques are most beneficial.

• At the end of a rehearsal when there’s an opportunity to take five minutes to cool
down.
 • Shortly before you step on stage.

Post-Rehearsal Relaxation

This exercise focuses on tensing and releasing muscles from the toes to the face.

• Lie down with your arms at your sides. Focus on gently breathing in and out.
• Keep the body relaxed and the mind focused on breathing in and out.
• Starting with the right foot, tense the toes as hard as you can. Hold for three seconds
and then let the tension go. Repeat with the left foot.
• Move up to the right leg. Tense the muscles of the leg and then release. Repeat with the
left leg.
• As you continue, keep remembering to breathe. Keep focused on slow breathing, and
keep your mind focused on the breath.
• Move up to the butt and pelvis. Tense the muscles and then release.
• Move up to the stomach. Tense the muscles and then release.
• Move to the right hand, make a tight fist, hold and then release. Repeat with the left
hand.
• Move up to the shoulders. Tense the muscles and then release.
• Scrunch up your face. Tense the muscles and then release. Repeat this one three times.
• Lie completely relaxed. Focus on the inhale and the exhale. Count twenty inhales.

This exercise focuses on “sending” your exhale to different parts of your body in a relaxed
position. It’s a visualization that combines relaxing the body with focusing the mind on a task.

• Lie down with your arms at your sides. Focus on gently breathing in and out.
• Keep the body relaxed and the mind focused on breathing in and out.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your forehead.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your throat.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your chest.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale down your right arm.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale down your left arm.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your stomach.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your right knee.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your right ankle.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your right big toe.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your left knee.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your left ankle.
• Inhale. As you exhale think of sending your exhale to your left big toe.
• Lie completely relaxed. Focus on the inhale and exhale. Count twenty inhales.
Meditation

A short mediation is a great way to calm down after rehearsal. Again, this is not something
ooky-spooky, artsy fartsy, or sitting with incense upside down in the lotus position. It’s about
focusing the mind on your breath. Quieting the mind into that simple activity, breathing in and
out. It’s pretty difficult to do, especially if you have a very active mind! But it’s very useful for
relaxation.

• Sit in a relaxed easy seat. Close your eyes.

• Your only job is to watch your breath go in and out. Not sure how to do that? Picture
anything that moves back and forth. Waves, a swing, a ferris wheel with the inhale on
the up and the exhale on the down.
• If your mind starts to wander, that’s ok. Happens to everyone. Just bring it back to the
breath.
• Your first goal is to sit, watching your breath for a minute. Work up to five minutes. It’s
hard to do so start slow.

Can’t do it? Try a mantra. A mantra is just something to focus on if watching your breath just
isn’t working for you. It gives you something to repeat. So that means it could be anything. You
can easily use numbers.

• Inhale count to three, exhale, count to six, inhale count to nine, exhale on ten.
• Repeat.

If you want a traditional mantra there are many. Search on the word mantra. Two very easy
ones are:

• Inhale fully. Exhale on an OM sound. Repeat for a set length of time. Start with one
minute and work up.
• Inhale saying (or thinking) Om Mani Padme hum, (OM MA-NEE PAD-MAY HUM) Exhale
saying the same. For the full rock-star version, chant the mantra 108 times. Should take
about 15 minutes.

What should this sound like? Don’t watch videos of others doing it, do you own thing. Don’t
worry what it sounds like! Just chant it.

What does it mean? Don’t worry about the meaning! Focus on the sound and the breath. But if
you really want to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_mani_padme_hum

Controlling nerves and stage fright

You’re waiting to go on stage. You’re waiting to audition. You’re waiting to perform your
monologue or scene for competition. Your body is tense, your mind is thinking crazy things,
your breath is not in control.
This is the perfect time to focus on your breathing.

This is the best exercise to quiet your mind and get your breathing under control. It gives you
something to focus on without letting your brain bombard you with everything that will go
wrong.

It will naturally get you to slow your breathing without telling yourself to “calm down!” As you
count in your head, make the count even and steady - like a metronome. Focus on the count,
not your breath. The breath will take care of itself.

• Breathe in for a count of two, and exhale for a count of two.

• Breathe in for a count of four, and exhale for a count of four.
• Breathe in for a count of six, and exhale for a count of six.
• Breathe in for a count of eight, and exhale for a count of eight.
• Breathe in for a count of ten, and exhale for a count of ten. (Don’t force this. Only do
this if you can.)

Variation

• Breathe in for a count (e.g. four), hold for the same count, exhale.

Posture Video
Good posture exercises are hard to describe, so here’s a video to describe what I'm talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J793QSBiW9w&noredirect=1

To view this lesson on the Theatrefolk website, go here:

https://www.theatrefolk.com/spotlights/just-breathe-breathing-exercises-for-student-actors