BREATH is the power that makes Speech possible.

But whenever we breathe in order to speak, the breath instinctively enters the mouth, for three perfectly common sense reasons: the hole is bigger, the journey to the lungs is shorter, and the lips are already apart in anticipation of our next word. Also, nose-breathing tends to lower the soft palate—that is, the back of the roof of the

The Sub-conscious Mind is the Habit Mind.

Exhale and expand as before, and this time let out the breath on a steady HISS. Avoid tightening the lips or jaw, or the throat may tighten in sympathy, and a restricted throat means restricted tone. Try to keep the Hiss uniform in strength —for about fifteen mental counts. (The breath should last longer, now that the mouth-exit is smaller.)

Habits of Voice are inevitably associated with habits of mind, and what is character, but the sum-total of habitual thought?

nothing is more revealing about your personality than your voice. What does the voice do? It reveals all the emotions inherent in man —anger, frustration, happiness, contentment, etc. Actually, the impression you make on other people is not done with words, but how you speak them.

1. Yawn in, with mouth and throat wide open. 2. Close the eyes and register the sensation of concave tongue and arched palate. 3. Relax, then—still with eyes closed—try to reproduce the sensation with muscle action only. 4. Open eyes and check up. . . . Try repeating the muscle action three times quickly, first with mouth half-closed, then with

The shape of the mouth—inside as well as out—can affect both tone and clarity; the structure of head and shoulders, the size of the tongue, even the shape of the nose—all have their part to play in the making of the individual voice,

When people are nervous they tend to use the extreme ends of their natural pitch: thus men tuck their chins into their collars and growl into their boots, and women tilt their chins and talk out of the top of their heads. And in normal, un-anxious conversation there are many lazy voices that cling to the particular pitch that comes easiest, instead