The group English National Opera Breathe has helped thousands of patients by using singing as a ‘form of physiotherapy’, with plans to expand the programme to help asthma sufferers too
Belting opera singing is helping people with serious health issues learn how to breathe properly.
Long Covid sufferers are taking part in sessions with an opera singer to get tips to “reset their breathing patterns”. The group English National Opera (ENO) Breathe has helped thousands of patients so far, with the programme being expanded to help those with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease too.
ENO president and former GP Dr Harry Brünjes, 71, said: “It’s a form of physiotherapy with our core opera singers. We taught people just how to breathe more effectively. By doing that, it actually meant you get your oxygen saturation up.”
And the good news is it won’t even cost you a tenor – the weekly sessions over Zoom are free after patients are referred by the NHS through a respiratory specialist. It sees them sing lullabies – although their audio is muted to avoid anyone being embarrassed by the quality of their singing.
Creative director Suzi Zumpe said: “The purpose of a lullaby is to soothe not just the listener, but the singer too. They’re universal. On a practical level, lullabies are also ideal for nonspecialist singers: simple, short and within the spoken range.”
Patients say it’s helped them “return to work” as they no longer have as much difficulty walking without getting breathless. ENO’s Beth Warnock added: “The feeling of being breathless makes people breathe very shallow and take quick breaths.
“A lot of what we’re trying to get them to do is to reset their breathing patterns … to sit lower in their body, using their diaphragms. But we do that by using movement and physicality and also exercises where you’re conjuring imagery so that you’re not thinking about your breathing, and your breathing changes as a byproduct.”
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