"Trusting Your Breath" by Katie Osborn

How do you connect with and accept your natural breath? How can you use your voice to authentically express yourself? How do you work as an actor while living with cystic fibrosis?

Lifelong breath training.

“Deep breath in.. now BLOW BLOW BLOW BLOW!” is a phrase many of us living with cystic fibrosis know from our initial breath training for our PFT (Pulmonary Function Test) performances. Through this early “breath performance” training, we are taught the “value” of numbers associated with our lung capacity and our ability to extend a single breath. In my early acting career, I transferred the skills I learned from this universal CF training to my work on-stage

As a young actor, I pushed to project my voice and extend my breath to the end of long Shakespearean lines. For years, I felt that showing the “strength” of my breath was essential to my success as an actor. Outwardly, I displayed my lung power by executing choreography and delivering monologues while suppressing any urge to cough. Internally, I was fighting with my natural breath. In my efforts to push every ounce of my breath, I often felt anger towards my own body and its limits. However, to grow artistically, professionally, and personally, I had to honestly address my relationship with my lungs.

My relationship with my breath first began to shift during my undergraduate acting training through University at Buffalo’s Theatre Performance BFA program. I can vividly recall the day in my college Voice class when my wonderful mentor and Voice instructor, Kathleen Golde, guided my class through a “touch of sound” breathing exercise. This technique required me to mindfully connect to my body with gentleness and explore the depth of my breath in a new way. After struggling through the assignment, I gathered the courage to share with Golde my breathing challenges as an actor living with CF. Golde took the time to guide me through additional instruction and helped me find greater acceptance of my own unique breath. In the supportive learning environment Golde created for me in the class, I felt safe enough to be vulnerable as I worked to discover how to utilize my authentic breath as a professional actor.

In Spring 2024, after several years of working as a professional actor in New York, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to embark on a new level of breath and voice training through the amazing sINgSPIRE program. When I began my singing lessons with the talented Betty Kay, (who is also a brilliant performer!) I immediately felt seen and understood as both an actor and a person living with CF. Betty was able to help me connect my “acting brain” to my “singing brain” and I learned how to support my voice while remaining relaxed in my body and breath. Through our work over several weeks, Betty not only helped me fulfill my lifelong dream of singing “On My Own” from Les Miserables, her excellent teaching helped me develop one of the most valuable skills of all - trust in my own breath. The newfound level of trust I now have in my breath has allowed me to perform on-stage with more ease and confidence than ever before.

Thanks to singing instruction through Breathe Bravely’s sINgSPIRE program, my professional acting training, and experience living with CF, I have transformed my relationship with my lungs. The singSPIRE program is such a gift to the cystic fibrosis community, and I am so grateful for the many ways Ashley and the entire Breathe Bravely team continue to impact lives by providing breath training in an incredibly powerful way.