🎙️ Weekly Insight #49-Breath Isn’t the Fix — Awareness Is

Amyloid. Cortisol. Legato. Three places breath shows up if we let it.

Why Breath Isn’t Something You Master, but Something You Learn to Notice Again

When someone says “breathe correctly,” most people either tune out or get confused. It sounds vague. Clinical. Maybe even a little gimmicky. After all, we all breathe. What is there to fix?

But in voice work—as in life—how we breathe tells us more than we realize.

When Science Follows the Breath

That’s why I was intrigued by a video from Dr. Clint Steele, a self-described brain and nervous system specialist, who shared a 2023 study from USC published in Scientific Reports. The study showed that participants who practiced slow breathing (six breaths per minute for 20 minutes a day) significantly reduced the amount of amyloid-beta peptides in their blood and saliva—early warning signs tied to Alzheimer’s disease.

Let that settle in for a moment: just slowing down your breath for 20 minutes a day led to measurable changes in a biological marker for cognitive decline.

Patterns That Shape the Brain

Steele describes the mechanism this way: when your breath is short, high in the chest, or constantly rapid, it signals to the brain that you’re in survival mode. Over time, that pattern increases cortisol and keeps the nervous system in a heightened state. That’s not just uncomfortable—it’s toxic to long-term brain function. But if the exhale is longer than the inhale, and the breath comes from activating the diaphragm rather than the shoulders and neck, the body receives a different message: you’re safe, you can relax, and healing can begin.

This isn’t new insight to anyone who has trained in voice. But even in voice communities, breath is often treated as background technique—important, but automatic.

“No one can learn what they think they already know.” — Epictetus, Discourses 2.17

Returning Again and Again

It took me years to realize that what I was learning about breath in the studio also applied to how I moved through the rest of my life. Margaret Harshaw was the first teacher who truly pointed me in that direction, and even late in her life—when I worked with her, she was eighty-five—she continued to notice breath everywhere. Whether it was a newscaster on television or someone walking across the room, she paid attention to the way breath shaped presence, speech, and posture. That kind of awareness stayed with her well beyond the operatic stage. And I’ve come to understand why. Breath isn’t something you master and move on from. It’s something you return to, again and again. In teaching, I’ve noticed that even well-trained students lose their breath when a new challenge is introduced. The moment something feels unfamiliar or uncertain, the body responds—tightening, holding, reverting. So breath isn’t a foundation you leave behind. It’s the process you keep revisiting, especially when something is at stake.
Practice or Pattern?

It may feel automatic, but breathing is deeply patterned—and those patterns either reinforce calm or build tension over time. Neuroscience supports this: chronic stress, marked by elevated cortisol levels, has been linked to reduced volume in the hippocampus—the brain’s memory center. Other studies show that breathing with longer exhales helps calm the body and steady the mind.

From Castrato to Bestseller

That shift is encouraged, in part, by the length of the exhale. Breathing patterns that emphasize a longer release help settle the nervous system, a point Dr. Steele highlights in his video and one that aligns closely with exercises I’ve used in the studio for years. One of the most enduring among them is the Farinelli exercise, named for the celebrated 18th-century castrato. As I noted earlier, it was Margaret Harshaw who first introduced me to this approach—the only voice teacher I worked with who taught it explicitly. It was, in many ways, revolutionary—not just for my development as a soloist, but for how I teach. Long before breathing protocols were studied in labs or tracked by apps, this exercise taught the same foundational principles through careful pacing and attention. It’s built around three phases: the intake of air, a brief suspension, and a conscious, extended release. The timing is flexible—you might begin with a five-second inhale, a five-second suspension, and an eight-second exhale. That longer exhalation sends a different message to the body. Whether the breath is used to speak, sing, or simply release tension, the value lies not in the numbers themselves but in the awareness of how each phase feels. Breath that is observed becomes breath that can be shaped.

When I was preparing a workshop for an MBA program, the dean recommended a book his son had recently read: Breath, by James Nestor. It had become a New York Times bestseller, and I did what I often do—scanned through it carefully and took notes. A few details came back to me while writing this. Nestor suggests that the “perfect breath” is one that lasts 5.5 seconds in, 5.5 seconds out—an even, steady cycle that supports balance in the nervous system. He also describes how shallow breathing—high in the chest and limited in diaphragm movement—can lead to the high-shouldered, forward-neck posture commonly seen in individuals with asthma, emphysema, and other respiratory conditions. One of the physicians he interviews recommends a breathing technique that closely resembles a modified version of the Farinelli exercise: a measured intake, a moment of suspension, and a gradual release. Once again, what’s presented as new turns out to be deeply familiar—rooted in long-standing traditions that emphasize awareness, pacing, and the link between breath and well-being.

Where It Landed for Me

The Farinelli exercise gave me a new relationship to airflow, one that wasn’t about pushing or controlling but about observing and choosing. In my own singing, I’ve noticed over time how my ability to sustain long phrases has steadily improved, not through effort but through awareness. I recently performed a recital where I was able to manage long musical lines with breaths that served the poetry—never avoiding breath, but taking it with intention. This same kind of breath awareness became especially valuable when I traveled to France to sing Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata. The role is built on extended legato phrasing, something I once found daunting. Years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to get through those lines with ease. But now, I can monitor how I’m using air and decide when to release it. That change didn’t come from sheer willpower or technique alone. It came from sustained practice and a growing awareness of how breath moves through my own body—how I manage it, pause it, release it, and direct it in real time.

In the Studio, Under Pressure

In practice, I’ve seen this countless times in the studio. A client enters in a rush—words tumbling out, breath shallow—and their voice reflects it: a cluster of physical and acoustic qualities that often show up together when someone is stressed, rushed, or unaware of their breath patterns. But with just a few minutes of focused awareness—watching where the breath lands, extending the exhale—their breathing shifts, and with it, their voice begins to open. Their tone becomes more connected, their timing less frantic. They return to a more centered, present version of themselves. And that has benefits far beyond the studio.

Not Something to Fix

This is why I keep returning to the word awareness. The breath can’t be corrected until it’s noticed. You can’t change what you don’t perceive. That’s true whether you’re singing, leading a meeting, caring for a loved one, or simply sitting in silence.

It’s not about fixing your breath. It’s about learning how to notice it.



If you’d like a deeper dive into the Farinelli exercise, I explore it more fully in this earlier Weekly Insight: 🔗 From Breath to Phrase: Weekly Insight #18

You can also watch a short video where I demonstrate the Farinelli exercise here:🎥 Watch on YouTube

For those curious about the neuroscience connection, here’s the original video by Dr. Clint Steele that sparked this reflection: 🎥 Watch on Facebook

And if you're unfamiliar with the legacy of Margaret Harshaw, you can read more about her career and influence here: 🎶 Margaret Harshaw – Wikipedia



#DevelopYourAuthenticVoice#VoiceAwareness#VocalPresence#BreathAndVoice#VoiceTraining#AlzheimersResearch#VagusNerve#NervousSystemHealth#AmyloidBeta#BreathingAndBrain#FarinelliExercise#MargaretHarshaw#BreathWithDrSteele #DrSteeleBreath

Elias Mokole

Keynote Speaker, BA & Beyond 2025 | Voice Presence & Change |

Founder, Developing Your Authentic Voice Newsletter

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