If you are living with a lung condition come and join ‘Singing for Lung Health Cardiff’. We meet on Wednesdays from 13.45 – 14.45 at Llandaff North Scout Hall, Belle Vue Crescent, CF14 2FJ.
Cost: £3 per session or pay whatever you can. The important thing is that you come and help your lung health to improve so if you cannot pay, please still come along.
Anyone with a lung condition is welcome. No previous singing experience is required, so come along and have some fun!
A typical session includes:
- Gentle physical warm up
- Breathing exercises
- Vocal warm up
- Songs from around the world: modern and traditional
- Refreshments
‘Singing for lung health Cardiff’ has been running since May 2016 and is a specialist singing group for people with lung conditions. The group was started after the singing leader, Rebecca Sayers, received training from the British Lung Foundation which currently has a programme to train singing leaders all over the UK so that people with lung conditions are able to access a ‘singing for lung health’ group. Karen has been attending the group since it began. She says, “I found that singing helped my breathing straight away and I really enjoy coming. I think that it’s brilliant and I recommend it to anyone with a lung condition.”
We meet once a week and people come from all over Cardiff to sing. The act of singing is a combination of relaxing and engaging specific muscles, so we start with warm-ups to physically get the body moving. We then do breathing exercises that help the singers to breathe more deeply and also notice how they are breathing.
We sing a whole range of simple songs: modern, traditional, in English, or other languages. People find that when they sing they aren’t concentrating directly upon their breathing and they therefore relax and breathe more deeply. Singing also can result in more controlled breathing when people focus on singing a full phrase of a song. A common symptom of many lung conditions is in constantly taking high ‘top up’ breaths rather than being able to let all the air out and then take a strong, deep breath. In singing, people often find that they have used a fuller out breath and are therefore able to breathe in more deeply.
There is increasing evidence that singing regularly as part of a group is good for your lung health, general health, and wellbeing. Singers from the Cardiff group have found it a really useful and enjoyable group to be part of. Elizabeth has been singing with the group regularly since the start. She says, “The breathing exercises have helped me a lot. I am not a singer but I thoroughly enjoy all of the simple songs that we sing. It really supports and gives additional help to what you receive from the hospital.”
Please contact Becca Sayers on 07811 874760 / [email protected] for more details. Visit our facebook page for updates and further information at: www.facebook.com/singingforlunghealthcardiff
Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-Snz1_GooM to watch us singing for World COPD day on November 16th 2016
www.blf.org.uk/support-for-you/singing-for-lung-healthttp://www.nature.com/articles/npjpcrm201680
