Speech and Language Therapy
Date of issue: May 2025
Aim
The aim of all of these exercises is to reduce muscle tension in the jaw and throat by gently stretching and opening the mouth and vocal tract. They can help to relax the muscles in the throat, making it easier to breathe.
When to carry out
Practice these exercises little and often throughout the day.
Carry out each exercise 5 times.
Top tips whilst carrying out exercises:
- Stay hydrated whilst completing these exercises. Have water with you and take regular sips.
- Remember to breathe into your lower ribs. Good breathing helps support voice production.
- Sit in a relaxed position to carry out these exercises.
- Rest your voice after doing this exercise if you feel any discomfort
Instructions
1. Yawn / Sigh
Pretend to do a big yawn (mouth open, tongue low, stretch and widen the back of the mouth). Breathe out on a sigh as silently as you can. This may trigger an actual yawn.
2. Silent Sigh
Take a deep breath in, open your mouth wide and let the air out silently.
3. Inside yawn
Keeping the lips together with light contact, try to produce a full yawn or a half/attempted yawn.
Feel your jaw and tongue lower at the back of your mouth.
Think about the feeling of ‘opening’ this creates in your throat.
4. Inside smile
Keep your lips closed and smile with the back of your mouth/into the throat area.
Imagine you want to laugh at someone but you don’t want them to see it.
Think about the feeling of ‘widening’ this creates in your throat.
When the exercise is complete be aware of a more open throat.
5. Strong sniff
Sniff strongly in through your nose, keeping your lips closed.
Additional vocal warm up exercises and jaw, throat and neck stretching exercises can be found here. (link to voice warm up exercises video)
Accessible formats
If you require this information in a community language or alternative format such as Braille, audio, large print, BSL, or Easy Read, please contact the Equality and Human Rights Team at: email: fife.EqualityandHumanRights@nhs.scot or phone 01592 729130. For people with a hearing or verbal impairment you can also contact the team through the NHS Fife SMS text service number on 07805800005.
