accentuate the four steps or elements as in most
exercises and avoid the temptation to jerk and to exaggerate minor parts
or actions. Constrictions, inharmonious and unrhythmic jerks are always
out of place in any exercise. The best results can be obtained only by
observance of principles.

Do not force the breath out. Allow it to pass out easily and normally.
Increase the inspiration rather than the expiration. The air will tend
to pass out too quickly, reserve it and allow it to pass out steadily
and regularly.

We find that the taking of breath is associated with the result of
expansion and vitally connected with the conception of impressions and
expression, and so is a necessary part.

The expanding of the chest causes greater room in the thoracic chamber
and breath flows in naturally. This exercise, however, implies that we
should consciously and deliberately accentuate expansion and the taking
of breath. It aids in the realization of life and the diffusion of
activity.

Man breathes over twenty-five thousand times in twenty-four hours. He
can get along very well on two or three meals of food and six or eight
glasses of water, but with as low as fourteen thousand breaths a day, he
is flat on his back and has hardly enough power to move hand or foot.

We live on air. This is one reason why the expansion of the chest is so
important. It gives room for breath. In fact, in breathing we do not
suck breath into the lungs. Air presses fifteen pounds to the square
inch to get into the lungs. Expansion is, therefore, the primary element
in breathing. We should, however, at times not only expand fully but
consciously draw in breath. We can expand the chest while sustaining it
and drink breath into the very depths of our lungs.

Thus the exercise requires us to take as much breath as possible, to
retain it a moment, then slowly give it up and at last to relax
completely the diaphragm, all the time sustaining the chest expansion.
Preserve still the quadruple rhythm. Of course the exercise can be done
with dual rhythm, and it will be helpful, but the accentuation of all
four of the primary actions will accomplish more than double the
beneficial results not only for health but for the voice. It develops
the retental action of the breath. A true use of the voice demands a
full chest. This exercise strengthens the muscles that reserve the
breath and support the tone.

The process of respiration is most directly necessary