Sighing and toning
Sighing and toning
You have probably fallen into bed and let out a long "aaaah" as you were getting comfortable. You may have not realized it but that sigh was helping relax you. When we make any type of tone that causes a vibration in the back of the throat, that vibration is passing through the soft palate to the brain stem. This soothes that part of your brain that controls your heart rate and blood pressure. This calming benefit that comes with specific tones is one of the reasons that meditation mantras usually have sounds that produce vibrations in the soft palate. It is also the reason that people have a natural tendency to moan when they are experiencing great pain.
Sighing and toning are methods of relaxing that can be done throughout the day. Two or three repetitions can bring about noticeable increase in calmness.
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Take a moderately deep breath and as you breathe out, sigh deeply enough that you can feel it in the back of your throat. Repeat. |
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You may feel pleasant sensations on your face neck and chest. The combination of getting more oxygen and the relaxing of muscles may have something to do with this. |
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When you are under great stress, see if you can get enough privacy to lay down on your back and sigh out loud. |
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Sigh as you walk. |
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Don Campbell, who wrote The Mozart Effect, suggests experimenting with the tones oooo, eeee, aaah and humming, in order to discover which ones tend to calm you and which ones seem to invigorate. For many people "eeee" can be of help when they are feeling sleepy. |
Stephen Willis M.MFT