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| Clipart: Clker |
Some kind of warm up is often essential before attention to pronunciation. The current warm up in the EHIEP system, designed to loosen up mind and body, takes about three minutes and resembles a cross between exuberant choral conducting, ballet moves and body building stretches. (See the linked Youtube in the right column for an earlier version.) The warm up function can be accomplished many ways. In developing an EHIEP adaptation for use in India, I went back to my earlier experience with yoga and began experimenting with versions of the "Pranayama" or "Bee" technique. As noted in a recent post, the paralinguistic side of HICP work must be culturally attuned to appropriate nonverbal behaviorial norms of the students. Although it seems to take about twice as long to "get there' (at least for ME!), the effect or mind/body state you arrive at seems remarkably similar. Of course, if you can't do a good lotus position, don't have a venue where your intense buzzing won't be seen as socially dysfunctional--or have serious nasal congestion--this might not be for you. But it is worth trying once, just to get the felt sense of what optimal, holistic readiness is like. So, pour yourself a cup of herbal tea, relax, sit down, and follow the directions. Will give you a buzz . . .
Pranayam(a)ise!
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