My Flight Attendant Voice

This post is for Mike M and all the folks who come to my classes and think, "Geeze it's like she's reading a script," or "Hey, she'd make a great flight attendant, she talks just like one!"

This voice or style of delivery I've apparently developed was unintentional, but hilarious to me because I can't help it. Anyway, I haven't been blogging much because I'm in a Exercise Science Graduate program that requires a lot of reading and writing (as I type I should be doing homework, but I needed a little time away)! All of this studying is making the flight attendant voice more unavoidable when I teach classes. In fact, I was proof reading one of my discussion posts aloud and caught myself using the voice. Since the post was flight attendant voice worthy I thought I'd share.

As a Yoga Instructor I talk about posture and breathing with class participants to try to improve their Yoga experience. Individuals who are new to Yoga often find it difficult to maintain steady breathing in poses because they are unfamiliar with having their body twisted or compressed in ways that makes breathing feel constricted. For example, in Cobra Pose (prone with spinal extension, with knees and ankles contacting ground, but hips, chest and shoulders lifted)  it can be difficult to maintain full breaths because of the constriction that may be felt in the abdomen and chest if the head is fully lifted and cocked back.

The constriction new practitioners feel is real as inspiratory ventilation requires an increase in thoracic cavity volume (Clark, Corn, & Lucett, 2008, p. 47). When lying prone and creating a back bend or spinal extension as experienced in Cobra Pose the thoracic cavity is put in a compromised position relative to the anatomical position. In addition, often in Cobra pose the head is cocked back therefore potentially compromising some of the respiratory passageway such as the Pharnyx and Larnyx.

This is one example of how body positioning (posture) can affect breathing. I encourage all of my clients to practice Yoga because it helps them understand anatomy in a practical way. When they understand how the cardiorespiratory system functions with the kinetic chain we can began implementing more advance concepts like lifting with the Valsalva maneuver thereby increasing rigidity of the entire torso to support heavier loads (Baechle & Earle, 2008, p. 85). Incorporating more advanced concepts and teaching clients about the human body helps to keep them safe and consistently progressing in their training.

Clark, M.A., Corn, R. J., & Lucett, S.C. (Eds.). (2008) 3rd Ed. NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Baechle, T.R. & Earle, R.W. (Eds.). (2008) 3^rd Ed. NSCA Essentials of Strength and Conditioning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. 

If you want more exercise science/school stuff I'll keep sharing or if you just want to read stuff in your best flight attendant voice I'll share for that reason too! 

One a side note, in what Yoga pose do you find it hardest to breathe?