If you’ve had to stop and catch your breath right in the middle of what otherwise would have been a badass rendition of Rue’s exploration of depression on “Euphoria” or Sally’s rapid-fire meta-monologue on “Barry,” you know the importance of breathing properly when speaking. While you’re probably not forgetting to breathe—you’d likely have bigger concerns—knowing how to inhale and exhale properly when speaking can be a game-changer for performers. Let’s explore breathing techniques that will leave your audience breathless (but not you!).
“The ability to harness your breath is one of the most important…areas within public speaking,” wrote Allison Shapira for the Harvard Business Review. She should know—she’s a former opera singer and public-speaking professional. Here’s why it matters so much.
To sound better: Perfecting your respiration allows you to speak more clearly, enunciate, and project your voice. “We speak on exhalation, and the longer our inhalation, the more words we can produce clearly as we breathe out,” according to Mount Sinai.
To feel better: Our vocal cords serve double duty: producing sound and acting as a valve opening for the windpipe; so, any additional stress put on them—like improper breathing—can be harmful. Alternatively, proper breathing protects your cords, not to mention prevents you from passing out onstage from lack of oxygen (always a mood-killer).
To last longer: Breathing deeply and consistently from the diaphragm while speaking or singing lets you hold words and notes longer by putting less stress on your vocal cords.
To de-stress: You breathe differently when you’re calm and when you’re anxious. If you’ve ever had a panic attack or been told to “take a breath” to calm your nerves before stepping out onstage, you know how much that can help. Some might see this often-repeated phrase as a mere platitude, but it has truth to it: A 2023 research report studying breathwork and its effect on stress and mental well-being found that breathwork was associated with decreased levels of stress and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Breathing techniques and learning how to breathe properly can be used to alleviate stress, insomnia, chronic anxiety, depression, inability to focus, and physical tension. Don’t believe us? Take a lesson from Rosita on “Sesame Street,” who uses deep belly breathing to work through her feelings of frustration:
1. Stand tall.
Having good posture is the first step to good breath control when speaking. Stand tall with your shoulders pulled back. Be mindful of your posture in everyday life, then start each practice or rehearsal with good posture. The more you work on your posture, the easier it will be to bring this into your performances.
2. Breathe from your diaphragm.
Follow these basic steps adapted from the University of Mississippi Medical Center to breathe from your diaphragm:
- Lay one hand on your chest and one on your belly.
- Close your mouth and breathe in through the nose, imagining your stomach is a balloon filling up with air.
- Breathe out through the mouth and let your belly flatten like a deflating balloon.
- Continue breathing, focusing on breathing into the diaphragm and expanding it outward. As UMMC notes, “Pay careful attention to your chest and neck, which should both remain relaxed and flat.”
- Practice diaphragmatic breathing often; the more natural it feels, the easier it will be to incorporate that breath into speaking and performing.
3. Breathe like a square.
Box (or square breathing) is helpful for meditation, reducing stress, and mitigating nerves. To box breathe, imagine your breath as a square and that each side represents inhaling, holding, exhaling, and holding again, usually for four seconds each. Remember to breathe from your diaphragm.
4. Let the breath do the talking.
A powerful way to control your breath and have better command of your voice is to think about speaking specifically on the exhale. “Practice exhaling slowly while speaking and letting your voice resonate with a full, supported sound,” advised Shapira.
To do this, first try simply counting. Take in a deep breath; and when you exhale, count slowly. Once you’ve mastered counting and using your breath, try adding speaking into the equation. Read from a script or book, or anything really, and focus on speaking on the exhale.
5. Extend the exhale.
Since speech happens on the exhale, try box breathing, but with an extended exhale. Start with a 4-4-4-4 count for each side of the box. Once you’ve mastered that, try adding a second to the exhale, making it a 4-second inhale, 4-second hold, 5-second exhale, 4-second hold. Gradually add a second or two to each exhale. This exercise can help you control how fast you’re exhaling. The longer and steadier your exhale, the easier it is to control your voice and stay consistent.
6. Do vocal warmups.
Just like you’d warm up your legs before going for a run, you should warm up your vocal cords before speaking at length or performing. Avoiding vocal fatigue is crucial for both stage actors (who might perform night after night) and voiceover and screen actors (who may need to repeat scenes over and over).
To maintain healthy vocal cords for a stellar performance every time, do vocal warmups like:
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Articulation and resonance: Activate your lips, teeth, tongue, and palate by making “ow” sounds.
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Enunciation: Loosen up your mouth muscles and enunciate better by blowing raspberries and saying tongue twisters.
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Sirening and humming: Start by humming at a low pitch, swing up to a high pitch, then bring that pitch back down low to help reach your full vocal range while also working on your breath.
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Tongue exercises: Breathing from your diaphragm, stick your tongue out and around every part of your mouth.
The Best Acting Warmup Exercises7. Prepare for the specific role.
Carefully studying the script is a great way to figure out where natural pauses might occur. It can also be a time to think about how your character might breathe. Is this a scene where the character is scared and has a shallower breath? Are they relaxed or happy and taking longer, deeper breaths? Take the time to incorporate this into your preparation; it should help you from running out of breath.
8. Only project your voice as needed.
If you’re used to stage acting, you might go into screen acting using your stage voice (a loud projected sound meant to be heard by the person sitting way in the back of the room)—but keep in mind that’s usually not necessary for onscreen work. According to vocal coach John Burr, speaking loudly “is a surefire way to run out of breath. Delivering at a comfortable, relaxed, conversational level will conserve your breath in a way that may surprise you.”
9. Focus on emotional release.
Using your breath to connect with your character can “enhance emotional authenticity and captivate audiences with your performance,” according to Southside Performance Studio in the U.K. To do this, name an emotion that your character might feel. Breathe in and out deeply, and say the emotion out loud. Do this a few times, thinking about the emotion and where in your body you feel it. You may find that your breathing changes depending on the emotional connection you feel.
