"Breathtaking" running and (haptic pronunciation) teaching!

Caveat emptor: Being a runner, I tend to find research "on the run" first which I "test" during my morning 5k and then often gets applied to (haptic) pronunciation teaching and beyond. Here is a great piece unpacking the role of breathing from several perspectives: Breath Tools: A Synthesis of Evidence-Based Breathing Strategies to Enhance Human Running, by Harbour et al.,published in Frontiers in Physiology summarized by Neurosciencenews.com. If your running or teaching needs an immediate boost, there is a great place to  . . . run to! 

息 Breathing, in many species, including us, has been shown to have a myriad of functions and potential benefits, one of them, the coordination of breathing with gesture related to utterance of sounds as in stressed or emphasized words. In principle, anytime we require a gesture to be synchronized with a sound, taking a breath either fully or in shallow manner prior to the gesture is almost inevitable and unavoidable. 

息 In Pouw and Fuchs (2022).“Origins of vocal-entangled gesture,” we see the inseparable linkage and 
"co-development" over time evident between language, thought and gesture. From a functional perspective their perspective that at any moment in time when a thought, word or gesture is realized, all three had in effect emanated from the same point of origin in the brain and remain very much connected neurophysiologically (and conceptually.) In other words, to affect one dimension is to touch or move the other two (including breathing)--our human, ad hoc analytic systems and intuitions not withstanding. 

息 In KINETIK and haptic pronunciation teaching, in many contexts, we focus learners attention on the breath and general upper torso movement accompanying the breath, as the diaphragm drops, drawing the air in and chest up toward the shoulders, expands. (The shoulders do NOT rise, but remain relaxed.) One purpose is, of course, to capture the learners attention and focus on the task, but, of course, other systems are affected and engaged accordingly. Memory for what is in focus improves, gestures become better defined and synchronized with the words or processes involved, and, consistently, learners become better at alternating between high focus and "relaxed alertness." It is almost, well . . . breathtaking, moment by moment. 

Source: 

Harbour E, Stöggl T, Schwameder H and Finkenzeller T (2022) Breath Tools: A Synthesis of Evidence-Based Breathing Strategies to Enhance Human Running. Front. Physiol. 13:813243. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.813243

Pouw. W. and Fuchs, S. (2022).“Origins of vocal-entangled gesture” Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Volume 141, October 2022, 104836 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104836

To breathe or not to breathe during pronunciation practice

Clip art: Clker

In most basic strength and flexibility training, some kind of systematic control of breathing is practiced. My experience has been primarily with running, weight training and yoga, where there is a general consensus that "nose breathing," at least when inhaling, is recommended. Here is a brief summary of some of the potential health benefits. (There is extensive, well established research also on the effects of breathing in yoga systems.)

I have been exploring the use of controlled breathing in HICP/EHIEP work for sometime now. The idea is to breathe in through the nose before haptic anchoring of a sound or word, then exhaling through the mouth with the anchor as the sound or word is articulated (hapticulated, as we say!) There are several potential benefits (in addition to the biochemical changes evident in the research) including: improved pacing of exercises, enhanced "felt sense" and concentration on the target sound, improved posture encouraged by conscious nasal inhaling, improved aspiration on aspirated consonants--and perhaps most strikingly, a general sense of well-being that remains for some time after practice. (Research seems to indicate that that feeling is  probably the result of greater oxygen absorption.)

So, if your pronunciation work seems to be sucking all the oxygen and enthusiasm out of the room . . . such controlled, embodied systematic "inspiration" (and expiration) could well be a real "breath of fresh air!"