Spasmodic Dysphonia & Muscle Tension Dysphonia Exercises

No exercises today — this is a lifestyle episode.
And today’s topic is one of the biggest enemies of Spasmodic Dysphonia:
The phone.
If you have a voice disorder, the phrase “give me a call” can feel like a threat.
In this episode, I tell a real-life story about dealing with eBay customer service, a missing Bar Bingo championship belt case, a mystery shipping company, forced callbacks, spam-call settings, and the kind of stressful phone conversation that can make a Spasmodic Dysphonia voice go completely sideways.
The bigger point is how phone calls affect people with Spasmodic Dysphonia, dysphonia, speech issues, or voice disorders — especially when we are already frustrated, emotional, misunderstood, or forced into a situation where texting or email would have worked better.
Sometimes the best sentence is:
“I have a speech impediment and a hearing impediment, so phone calls do not work well for me. Can we please handle this by text or email?”
This is part of the lifestyle side of Spasmodic Dysphonia.
Because honestly?
This could have been a text.

I had a realization lately.
I looked in the mirror and realized I am getting old.
So today we are going old school.
This is a longer marathon-style Spasmodic Dysphonia voice exercise session based on the original full routine I started doing back in 2023. Instead of a quick attack drill, this one goes deeper into the fundamentals: warmups, repetition, mask placement, diaphragm breathing, vocal power, placement, quality, and feeling the buzz of the voice in the right place.
We work through Nim / Me drills, counting exercises, “Right Ready Really Beautiful No Go Do,” performer voice fundamentals, Forebrain discussion, and the old school voice routine structure.
And yes, I apparently woke up goofy for this one.
I’m not a doctor, speech therapist, or vocal coach. I’m your friend with Spasmodic Dysphonia doing the exercises with you.
Power. Placement. Quality. Old school.

It’s Monday. It’s a brand new month.
That makes it a pretty good time to stop saying “I should start doing voice exercises” and actually start.
This is a beginner-friendly Spasmodic Dysphonia exercise session built around the basics: posture, breathing, smooth airflow, humming, mask placement, straw-in-water glides, mini sirens, and descending hums.
We work through light and easy exercises designed to help find a smoother way into the voice without forcing it.
In this episode:
posture reset
breathing from the lower region
smooth connected airflow
finding optimal pitch through humming
mask placement and forward focus
straw-in-water voice glides
low-to-high “who” glides
high-to-low “who” glides
mini sirens
descending hums
getting back up when the voice slips
I also talk about the Fort Brain device, resonance, and why the buzz comes from your own voice when you’re placing it correctly.
I’m not a doctor, speech therapist, or vocal coach. I’m your friend with Spasmodic Dysphonia doing the exercises with you.
Light and easy. Don’t force it. Find the mask. Start here.

We’re going into the weekend.
You might be going out tonight. You might be going out tomorrow. You might have a date. You want to wear your best clothes. You want to wear your best shoes.
And you want to wear your best voice.
This episode is a longer archive voice exercise session built around vowels, breathing, mask placement, facial resonance, diaphragm support, and repetition. Some days you want a quick 10-minute attack drill. Other days, you want a deeper marathon session to really warm up and finish strong.
In this session, we work through:
* daily “nim / me” warmups
* phrase repetition
* diaphragm awareness
* vocal power
* mask placement
* facial resonators
* long vowel holds
* A / E / Ah / Oh / You vowel work
* combined vowel flow
* “fire” and “you” diaphragm blasts
* “you come here”
* nasal resonance drills
* “nay” scales
* sustained “you,” “whoa,” “nae,” and “ma” exercises
* a reminder that breathing matters, mistakes happen, and being human is part of the work
I am not a doctor, speech therapist, or vocal coach. I’m just your buddy with Spasmodic Dysphonia, sharing exercises and routines that help me keep showing up, keep practicing, and keep attacking.
Never strain. This is about quality, not force.
Breathe deep. Feel the mask. Use the resonators. Finish strong.
Chapters:
00:00 Weekend setup: wear your best voice
00:49 Daily drills begin
01:15 Nim / Me warmups
01:51 Me-Me counting drill
02:11 Nim / Me with phrases
03:36 “Right Ready Really Beautiful” phrase drill
04:58 Power, placement, and quality
05:47 Element 1: Vocal power and diaphragm
06:34 Element 2: Mask placement
07:50 Element 3: Facial resonators
08:36 Never strain: quality over force
09:04 Long A vowel hold
10:19 Long E vowel hold
11:46 Ah vowel hold
13:10 Oh vowel hold
14:29 You vowel hold
15:50 Combined vowel flow
17:01 Diaphragm power: “fire”
17:51 Diaphragm blast: “you”
18:12 “You come here” drill
19:25 Nasal resonator work
19:55 Nay scale drill
20:26 Held fourth “nay” drill
21:33 Combining all voice elements
22:11 Sustained “you” repetition
23:09 Sustained “whoa” repetition
24:21 Sustained “nae” repetition
25:33 Final “ma” exercise
26:40 Final affirmation
27:08 Breathing mistake / human moment
27:31 Final reminder
#SpasmodicDysphonia #VoiceExercises #VoiceWarmup #Dysphonia #LaryngealDystonia #VoiceRecovery #VocalHealth #SpeechTherapyExercises #VocalExercises #VoiceDisorder
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For other amazing resources in helping the voice heal. Check out Cathy Merkle-Roddy's program and book a consult with this link. https://tinyurl.com/4wrpx6h3

Do celebrities have a magic pill for Spasmodic Dysphonia, dysphonia, dystonia, or major voice disorders?
That’s the question I keep coming back to.
When you’re dealing with a voice disorder, it is easy to think celebrity money, celebrity doctors, celebrity access, and celebrity specialists must mean there is some secret fix the rest of us don’t know about.
But when you look at public figures connected to Spasmodic Dysphonia, dysphonia, dystonia, or serious voice problems — Shania Twain, Selma Blair, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Shadoe Stevens, and Scott Adams — the story is not usually “they found the magic pill.”
The story is more complicated.
They searched.
They struggled.
They tried treatments.
They adapted.
They had setbacks.
And in some cases, they had to accept a changed version of their voice.
In this episode, I look at celebrity voice stories through the lens of Spasmodic Dysphonia and voice disorder awareness: what happened, what treatments or theories they have discussed, and what their stories can teach the rest of us.
I still have Spasmodic Dysphonia myself. I’m not a doctor, speech therapist, or vocal coach. I’m sharing what I’m learning as I go and trying to build more awareness around what it feels like when your voice becomes unreliable.
The biggest takeaway:
There may not be a magic pill.
But there is a toolbox.
Maybe that toolbox includes doctors, Botox, voice therapy, vocal exercises, nervous system work, lifestyle changes, surgery, rest, acceptance, patience — or some combination of all of it.
And even when the voice changes, the person is still there.
Contents:
00:00 Do celebrities have a magic pill?
02:26 Shania Twain and voice loss
06:01 Selma Blair, MS, and Spasmodic Dysphonia
09:02 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Spasmodic Dysphonia
12:14 Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, identity, and losing the voice
14:00 Shadoe Stevens and the broadcaster connection
20:29 Scott Adams and surgery
21:35 Is there a magic pill?
23:17 The voice changes, but the person is still there
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#SpasmodicDysphonia #VoiceDisorder #VoiceRecovery #Dysphonia #LaryngealDystonia #ShaniaTwain #SelmaBlair #RFKJr #DMC #RunDMC #ScottAdams #VoiceExercises #VocalHealth