B. Practical Program for Beginners
1. Practice Producing the Basic Sound
Now that you have acquired some basic knowledge, procedures, and points to watch out for, the time for practice has arrived.
The first thing beginners must do is produce the basic sound of esophageal speech. Your students may be nervous or afraid.
Encourage them to relax. Figure 3, below shows how to produce the basic sound, as often demonstrated by the well-known American instructor, Mary Dochler or the late Mr. Shigehara, a former president of the Ginrei-Kai.
It consists of the following four steps:
(1) "Open your mouth." Open your hands and spread your fingers together outward.
(2) "Close your lips, trapping air in your mouth." Bring the tips of your fingers together and close your hands.
(3) "Swallow air so that it travels deep into your throat." Swivel your hands without opening them.
(4) "Open your mouth and say 'ah' at the same time while strongly pulling in your gut (abdomen ) at the same time." Open your hand forcibly at the same time.
