Singing using your diaphragm?

I heard you sound better singing with your diaphragm... How do you do that? do you push out your stomach? please help!
thanks
~mandy

You sing with support of your diaphram air passes the voice box and resonates in the sinus of the face. First, you have to understand how humans are meant to breath. We all breath properly when we are born and through time we start a habit of breathing using our lungs and shoulders. If you lie on the floor flat on your back and breath you breath correctly. When you breath in air enters your mouth and your stomach and chest rise but your shoulders do not rise. Your stomach rises because you have to think of your lungs as balloons when air enters a balloon it inflates and when it is let out it deflates. Now I have a great exercise for helping you feel your diaphram while singing. During your lesson I have the student place both hands on the piano stool and walk back with their feet until the are in a semi push up position. (not on the floor) You will feel alot of muscular tension in the abs where your diaphram is. It is nearly imposible to sing from the throat in this position. You will se an immediate difference in the quality and strenghth of your voice. This is exactly singing with the diaphram. Slowly, begin singing with the exact same technique in the relaxed upright position, feet slightly apart, arms at sides and knees unlocked. Note: Never sing out of your natural range. Singing incorrectly causes vocal nodes.

I never understood how a method of birth control could help one's singing voice.

I heard that if you lay down on the floor then it causes you to sing with your diaphragm. Maybe if you keep doing that and realize what it is supposed to feel like, then you can incorporate it in singing while standing up.

work at breathing with your chest then breath with your diaphragm. practice breathing with both then you will learn how to sing with one and not the other.

hmmmm...how to explain....
When you sing from your diaphragm, you're singing from your chest, not your throat or nose. I'm sorry, I wish I had a better explanation. I learned how to sing from my diaphragm, and yes it does make a big difference. It's like reaching down into your chest instead of your throat for your voice. Your throat should be open, and while singing with your diaphragm, your throat should contract very little while changing octaves. God, I'm sorry, but that's the best way I can think of how to explain this.... :/

singing from your diaphragm helps because you do not stress the vocal cords in your throat and do not mess up your falsetto voice. everyone has one you breathe in and sing from your stomach and no you do not push out your stomach.

try sucking in your stomach as you belt out a note sometimes people naturally sing from their diaphragm and not even know it if you sing a note from your throat you get tired easier so singing from your diaphragm is really just singing with a back up air supply that you have in your chest !

you dont exactly push out your stomach, you just support the notes using the muscles, if you are using the muscles properly you stomach will contract, this gives the voice a richer sound and instead of straining your vocal cords you dont have to push as hard.

your diaphragm is the muscle that you use to breathe in and out. it's not the same as your stomach or abdominal muscles. it's a complicated technique and you should really take lessons to learn it. it has to do with the way you breathe.

Also, when you breathe in (correctly), the air pushes your diahragm down, causing your stomach to expand. Don't purposely push your stomach out, that doesn't help. When you exhale, your stomach contracts because your diaphragm goes back up. A good way to practice this is by laying flat on your back and placing a book on your stomach. Take 10 good breaths with your diaphragm. If you are doing it correctly, the bok will move evenly up and down and your upper body will not move. After you've got that down, try the same thing, but sing a long note while breathing correctly. I did this exercise continuously for a while, and now god breathing comes naturally to me. I hope this helped!