ure under which most people live
induces mental tension together with the consequent nervous and
muscular tension. We are, without being conscious of it, so habituated
to unnatural tension that automatic breathing is shallow and irregular
instead of being deep and rhythmic.

The task, therefore, is to reclaim a neglected birthright--natural
breathing--to make it habitual and amplify it.

PRELIMINARY SUGGESTIONS

1. Breathing exercises to be invigorating and purifying demand plenty
of fresh air.

2. At first do not practise longer than ten minutes at a time, three
times a day.

3. Gradually lengthen the time without overdoing. When tired stop.

4. The best time is before dressing in the morning, with the window
open. The worst time is directly after a meal.

5. Maintain throughout an easy, flexible poise.

6. Breathe as _deeply_ as possible without abdominal distention. The
greatest expansion should be felt at the lower end of the breast-bone.

7. Breathe as _broadly_ as possible, expanding the sides without
tension.

8. Breathe as _high_ as possible without shoulder movement or
stiffness.

9. Use not the high breath alone, or the mid-breath, or the low
breath, but use the _complete_ breath.

10. Breathe _rhythmically_ by counting mentally.

11. Breathe _thoughtfully_ rather than mechanically.

12. Do not crowd the lungs or lay stress on the mere quantity of air
you can inhale. The intake of breath is, for the singer, secondary to
its control, economy, and application in song. Increase of lung
capacity will duly appear.

13. When not singing, speaking or practising an exercise that demands
it, _keep your mouth shut_.

ATTITUDE

Dress the neck and body loosely, so as to give the throat and trunk
perfect freedom. Place the hands on the hips, so as to free the chest
from the weight of the arms. Stand erect, evenly upon the balls of the
feet; the body straight, but not strained. Raise the back of the head
slightly without bending the neck. This action will straighten the
spine, place the chest forward, and bring the abdomen backward into
its proper relation.

The great majority of people are shallow breathers, chest breathers,
who when told to take a "deep breath" do not know what is meant. It is
therefore necessary for them first to learn what a deep breath is, and
then how to take it.

Exercise I

FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT A DEEP BREATH IS

Before rising in the morning, remove your