You've probably heard the term "sing from the diaphragm" - but when you've tried to learn how to sing from your diaphragm, it hasn't helped you sing any better, right? In fact, if you're singing from your midsection, you might even be straining and pushing to try and "support" your voice like lifting a cinder block over your head, right?

That's because when you learn how to sing from your diaphragm - you're not actually singing FROM the diaphragm at all.

AND, you already know how to do it!

Yep, you're using the diaphragm right now - it's the main muscle involved in breathing, after all.

It's not a new skill that you need to learn, it's already a basic bodily function that you need to learn HOW to use in a more efficient way to support your voice properly.

So, a little crash course in diaphragmatic breathing for you.

The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle which sits at the base of the lung cavity/above the abdominal cavity. Now, the diaphragm is a bit of a large sucker, so when you breathe in, the diaphragm actually pulls down to create a negative space in the base of the lungs - this draws air into the cavity.

Congratulations, you can breathe well enough to stay alive.

Now, when it comes to SINGING using the diaphragm - because it's such a large muscle, and also it's involuntary (meaning, you can't just "flex" the damn thing - you have to have the right intention and right setup in the adjoining muscles like your intercostals, lower back and even pelvic floor), the first thing the diaphragm wants to do is return to it's raised resting state - pushing all of your air out in one go.

You can try it now by breathing in deep and wide into the ribs and belly at your midsection, then letting out a big SIGH....... HAAAAAH

Congratulations, you just pushed all of your air out.

Now, to learn how to sing from your diaphragm properly - you need to resist this natural recoil of the diaphragm. That's right, by supporting your voice, you're really creating resistance to this natural recoil.

Too much, and you'll lose airflow completely (don't hold your breath!), and not enough and you'll have too much airflow and not enough resistance and pressure - you'll be aspirate and weak.

It's VERY similar to the feeling of blowing up a balloon - you can just pretend for now, but it's also the same premise as those $100 'vocal straw' things that people pay too much money for (just get a straw from a cafe for fucks sake, it's the same damn thing!). You get that natural backpressure and hesitation within your airflow that creates a supported release of air - part pressure, part flow and ultimately balanced between the two.

Now, sing something.

Anything - a word, a vocal line, an exercise.

I'm going to bet you DIDN'T support in the same way like you were blowing up a balloon, right?

And here lies the secret to learning how to sing from your diaphragm, you don't actually sing FROM your diaphragm at all; you support your breathing properly by resisting the natural recoil by creating resistance, and then when you actually sing, you rely on this resisted breath to create vibration of the vocal folds without excess leakage of air.

Pretty simple right?

Let me show you in this free vocal training video;