How to Relax Your Vocal Cords

Breathing exercises for your vocal cords can serve a variety of purposes. Singers use breathing exercises to learn proper techniques to improve voice quality, power and lung functioning. Other reasons are medical, such as vocal cord dysfunction when vocal cords do not open up properly while you breathe. Regardless of the reason, simple breathing exercises can improve the health of your vocal cords and the sound of your voice.

Breathing With the Diaphragm

Breathing with the diaphragm is an important part of exercises that help your vocal cords. When you breathe in at the stomach rather than the chest, your vocal cords open up properly and allow the air to pass. Voice quality improves over time, as does lung capacity. Press out all of the air in your body by squeezing the stomach, then take a slow, deep breath. Concentrate on breathing with your stomach and letting the air move your stomach instead of your chest. This is breathing with your diaphragm. Spend a few minutes focusing on breathing this way. Make sure your body is relaxed and your back is straight.

Breathing Deeply
Taking deep, slow breaths helps you focus on breathing properly; it also helps you focus on relaxing your body. Take a breath slowly, focusing on breathing with your diaphragm, then slowly let the breath go. Press the breath out while holding a finger in front of your mouth or nose to make sure the air pressure remains constant. Keeping a constant, steady flow of air is not only good for singing, it helps your vocal cords relax during breathing and helps make breathing softer.

Panting
Panting is not used in singing, but it helps in vocal cord dysfunction patients. According to eMedicine, panting helps the vocal cords relax, which helps with the medical problem. Unlike singing, which works to improve lung capacity and voice quality, vocal cord dysfunction can create problems breathing when your vocal cords do not work properly. Panting helps you relax, which improves breathing.