4B. Walk on Whispered "Ah"

• Everybody walk briskly. Focus on your breath. Two steps with your inhale, two steps with your exhale. The air comes in, bounces out, and there's a pause. The next time you exhale, open your mouth, drop your jaw and exhale with a whispered "ah" sound. Inhale, then, exhale with a whispered "ah" sound, one for each step, "ah, ah." Let your mouth hang open. Open mouth, open "ah" sound.

• The next time you exhale, put more push behind the "ah" sound. This will give your voice more volume. Use your diaphragm.

• The next time you exhale, add a little voice. Stay easy, soft throat, relax. The air comes in, bounces out, small voice, "ah" sound, relaxed throat, and then a pause. Two steps for your inhalation, two steps for your exhalation with the "ah" sound. Two steps inhale, two steps exhale with the "ah" sound. Exhale. Inhale: step, step; exhale: "ah," "ah." Inhale: step, step. Exhale: "ah," "ah."

• Change the "ah" sound to "oh" sound.

• Do each of the vowels. Inhale, two steps, exhale, two steps, "oh," "oh." Inhale, two steps, exhale, two steps, "e," "e." Inhale, two steps, exhale, two steps, "u," "u." Relax your face, loosen the muscles, exaggerate the articulation. "A," "o," "e," "I," "u." Accelerate your steps, faster. Vowel on every step. "A," "o," "e," "i," "u," ... "a," "o," "e," "i," "u," ... "a," "o," "e," "i," "u."

Except for sporting events and occasional rage, many of us are afraid of being powerful or raising our voices. Yet, voice and all its com­plimentary energy is elemental to our existence. "Ah-ing" over and over again, raising the volume, using the diaphragm, expanding our ability to articulate, develops the muscle strength for a powerful voice. It might even change our minds about having one.

The remainder of Day Four focuses on communication and rela­tionship. The next exercise indicates a position from which to start.

4C. Focus In/Eyes Out

• Stand face to face with a partner. Watch your breath. While you are looking directly at your partner, bring your attention, your focus, back inside your own body, as if you are looking out from the back of your own skull or spinal cord. A blurring or fading of vision might occur. Now, gradually bring your attention out until you're looking directly at your partner's face, and into their eyes. Project your energy out through your eyes into the eyes of your partner. More and more, and more, until you feel as if you're a laser beam, sending all the energy you can possibly blast out from your eyes into the eyes of your partner, through their eyes, and into their head. Now, bring your focus slowly back towards yourself. Move your focus back and forth between the back of your head or spinal cord, and their being, their eyes and yours, like a pendulum. Gradually let your focus settle in the middle: right between your partner's eyes and the back of your own skull. Stay there. Become familiar with that sensation.

Some people's attention is so fixed on their own experience that they're blind to what's going on around them. Others attach their attention onto what's going on around them so much, that they lose connection to their own experience. Most of us tip the scale more one way than the other, depending on the day, our mood, or what happens to hook our interest. If we're not careful, we can walk into a table, get hit by a train, forget to tuck in our shirt, or be blind to how we feel ourselves. In Focus In/Eyes Out, students play with shifting from inner to outer attention and back again. They may even discover their ability to hold it all simultaneously.

One of these states may feel more familiar. In a moment of conver­sation with their partner, students can identify which is their habitual tendency.