10 Minute Warm Up For a Tired Voice Without Using It

Today, I want to show you a 10 minute warm up for your strained or tired voice. The best part? We are not going to use your voice at all! Yes, that is correct. We are going to use your body and mind to wake up your voice. 

If your voice feels tired or strained the first thing in the morning or if you experience vocal strain or even pain in your voice throughout the day, there are some simple ways to warm up your voice and give it more life. But here is the thing. You don’t need to use your voice to warm up your voice.

What??? Yes, you can use other body muscles and mind exercises to prepare your voice for the tasks ahead without making any sounds whatsoever. I recommend doing a combination of vocal and silent exercises as part of your normal vocal routine but today, let's talk about the silent exercises. This is what I have been doing with my clients and it works. They experience improved vocal function and more ease in their voice. So, let’s test it on your voice. Shall we?

Take a Baseline

The first thing we need to do is to take a baseline. Taking a baseline means making a short informal assessment of your voice before you do the exercises and then comparing it to your voice after the exercises. It’s a quick way to know if there are any changes in your voice. 

So, let’s do that . Simply count from 1 to 10 or say the days of the week. If you are a singer, sing a short cut from a song. Then, notice how your voice feels and how easy it is to use your voice in that moment on a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 means that it is really hard to make a sound and 10 is the easiest voice you can have.

If you are experiencing vocal strain, tension or even pain when speaking, and you are ready to work with me towards a free, strong and confident voice, you can apply to our Vocal Freedom System coaching program. Learn more about the program here.

Mindfulness Exercise to Warm Up Your Voice

Now, let’s do a 2 minute mindfulness exercise. Watch the video below to let me guide you through a simple mindfulness exercises that will bring you to the present moment and into your body.

Breathing Exercises to Warm up Your Voice

During this breathing exercise, exhale twice as long as you inhale. So, if you are inhaling for the count of 4, exhale for the count of 8. Try to prolong your exhalation. It will calm your nervous system down and the parasympathetic, the “rest and digest” system will kick in. And you know that the same nerve, the vagus nerve, also innervated your larynx or voice box.

Watch the video below for guidance.

Light Massage to Warm up Your Voice

The third non-vocal exercise is a light massage of your larynx. We are going to massage the hyoid bone and the thyroid cartilage. Watch the video below for demonstrations and guidance.

Take a Baseline Again

Excellent. Now, we are at the end of our 10 minute warm up and let’s test your voice if you feel less tension, more stability, clarity or ease of sound production. Assess your voice in the same way as you did at the beginning of this video. Count from 1 to 10 or say the days of the week. If you are a singer, sing the same cut from your song. And compare your voice. Is there a change in the ease of production? Or is there anything else that changed in your voice? Sometimes, your voice can be stronger, clearer, more stable or resonant. Sometimes, the change will be very small – just one number towards an easier voice. But that is ok. 

How is your voice feeling now?

Link to the video: https://youtu.be/CAABQuncieQ