i heard on the tele that when u sing u should breath in into ur stomach (which i know is true) but then the woman said "imagine u have a peice of string tied to ur belly button and running through ur stomach and out of ur back and imagine me (standing behind u) pulling it back so that ur stomach goes in as it does when u breath in through ur lungs (not stomach)., is this true?

If u didn understand that:-
is it true that u have to move ur stomach "backwards", towards ur back whilst singing?

I'm not sure I understood by you should breathe with your stomach so that your stomach will go out as you breathe in and deflate while you are letting the air out.
Christina

I wasn't aware that breathing has anything to do with your stomach - are you talking about how the body feels when you breathe, as opposed to the physical properties of breathing?

David

well not really your stomach but with your diaphram and intercostal rib muscles, but your stomach should expand and you breath in, it should should both phisaclly expand, and you should feel it open up too

Hmm. I would say that the string image could be a good thing - one of the most useful things I've found is to use my lower back more when I sing (example exercise, lie on your stomach on the floor, hands under your head, elbows out, breathe in and as you do so try to send your lower back upwards, and keep sending it that way as you hiss out - ideally your chest should press into the floor a little automatically when you do this right) but the idea of pulling your stomach in as you breathe in seems odd...even when singing it shouldn't be pulled right in, but rather your solar plexus should go up. When inhaling, the stomach should go outwards - it's the natural thing for it to do.