A new year is perhaps only a turn of the calendar, yet for many of us, it’s a call to commit more fully to ourselves. Whatever your resolution – to change, to grow, to eschew the act of making resolutions. Whether you call them new commitments, intentions, maybe renewed promises, or revised goals for:
- Business Success & Leadership Success
- Personal Growth
- Peace and Happiness
If you’ve made any commitment to your personal success, professional success, or leadership success in 2023, consider an essential truth:
Success needs Presence, and Presence needs Breath.
Contact Us today to learn more.
The Impact of Being Present in the Moment
No matter the goal, there is an underlying and unifying need for Presence. Being in the moment and claiming presence throughout your day is essential. The key to all successful human relationships and connections is presence – whether physically (in-person or virtual), mentally, and/or emotionally.
Whether you call it executive presence, leadership presence, personal, human, or stage presence, Presence is being in relationship with others – genuinely seeing others and being seen. It is an action, not an end state or checkbox on an evaluation. Being present and having presence is a series of nuanced communication adjustments we make to connect. Sometimes it is instinctive; sometimes, we must adjust intentionally to be present with others.
Our team is committed to guiding and encouraging each client team or leader we work with to be “in the moment” and intentionally present for their conversations and communication. They focus on being present, their own leadership presence, in order to build trust, influence, and relationships.
Presence is the key to teams, retention, and leadership being activated.
Presence Needs Breath
It seems obvious, yet too often, staying connected to our breath eludes us.
It’s the first thing that goes out the window when faced with an unexpected stressor; your breath gets shallow, erratic, or sometimes pauses altogether, limiting oxygen to your brain. We breathe all the time – (obviously, because we are here!). For most of us, the simple act of intentional breathing happens by default, automated by our brain stem. Yet, are we aware of how often we hold our breath and how shallowly we may be breathing?
You may wonder, “Does how we breathe matter that much?”
It does. A deep full breath will fuel your thoughts and connections in a way that a shallow breath doesn’t.
We can’t be present with others when breathing shallowly or holding our breath. Want to learn more? Contact Us today.
Physiologically, the deeper breath gets more oxygen to your bloodstream, which is responsible for getting that blood to your brain. The shallower breaths allow less oxygen, and what you do get in goes to essential functions to keep you alive and in the fight and flight mode – not share deep thoughts calmly.
You can feel a difference when you are caught off guard in a meeting and resort to a quick, shallow protective breath vs. the deeper, easy breath when relaxed with close friends sharing a conversation. When we pay attention to our intentional breathing techniques, we notice the subtle yet profound shifts. With a fuller breath, we can calm ourselves – ground our thoughts – and be present. We become more connected to those in the room, whether in a physical or virtual environment.
Mindfulness for the New Year
Often, at the top of the New Year, many of us renew our commitment to meditate more regularly and weave mindfulness into our daily routines. Various apps, classes, and webinars have become the go-to tools to guide us. Many of these tools start with a very calm voice telling us to “Take a deep breath.”
This directive can be a less than helpful way to start. When we follow this miscue, our breath frequently becomes tight, shallow, and tension-infused. We inhale, and our chest puffs full, or our shoulders rise.
We’ve just created more tension.
The misguided breathing suggestions and directions can disconnect us from ourselves and others. There’s just enough well-intentioned information to trip up what we already do instinctively.
While the words are well-intentioned, “take a deep breath” or “feel your lungs fill,” they often cause a tension-filled, shallow breath because we focus on the inhale first. We need our breath to connect and be present. There is a super easy fix for this.
Try it right now:
Exhale first. Yes, exhale, blow out the air then,
“Allow” the breath back in.
Action: Exhale first with the Mindset of Allowing the breath back in.
When we initiate an exhale, it’s generally more challenging to inhale with the high, clavicular breath. The exhale first triggers a deeper inhalation lower in our lungs.
Although we are often instructed to inhale first, we’re a vacuum, so the exhale is vital, and releasing to refill is efficient and more straightforward. A complete exhalation is the natural breath reset and our body’s instinctive inclination. It’s what you do when stressed – you often blow out or sigh out your breath. Asthmatics are encouraged to focus on the exhale first when feeling an attack coming on.
Allow a deep breath: even saying “allow” to yourself will most often permit the breath to drop in more fully. It may fill more in your back where there is more significant lung space, low and in the back.
Exhale and allow the breath in.
Then drop right back into the directions from the calming voice in the meditation app or class. Or return to listening to the conversation you are involved in. Or head down the black diamond ski slope.
Choose to replace “take a deep full breath” with “exhale and then allow your breath to flow in deep and full.” To expand this practice: do the slow exhale on a count down from seven to one and then allow the breath back in more quickly. You can also add words to the exhale because speech is created on the exhale. “I’m exhaling all my tension.” Then allow the breath to flow back in easily and swiftly and share another spoken phrase or simply exhale.
The intentional breath is an actor’s resetting tool. Suppose they’re on stage with another character for the eighth show of the week and not “present” in the scene, possibly their thoughts drifting to other things. In that case, they need to reset to return to the situation at hand. The most straightforward and least disruptive action they can take is: Exhale completely and inhale through the nose slowly and intentionally – (not a sniff!). They connect through their breath, which usually brings them back to the moment at hand. It works in everyday life as well – when we leave the current situation and conversation to journey away in our minds, we can return with an intentional breath out through our mouth and in through our nose.
Here are possible scenarios that need a breath reset to be present:
- If you find you are holding your breath – exhale and allow the flow.
- If you find yourself off in your thoughts trying to remember if you need to pick up milk on the way home, whether on stage in the middle of a scene or in a meeting with your colleagues – activate your intentional breath, and now you are back in the present moment.
- If you are listening to the grievance of a colleague and in your mind creating a solution and not truly present, your breath will help you return to the conversation.
- If the choice in front of you is anxiety-inducing, whether leaping out of a plane or having a tough conversation, exhale to get the oxygen flowing to be present and in the moment.
- If you race through your presentation, convinced that you need to get through your material quicker, being more connected to your breath will help you be present so you can own the room with your thoughts communicated clearly and powerfully.
Success in life and business requires building relationships, trust, and influence. Commit to the risk and power of being present and having leadership presence.
Breath is the foundational tool to fuel our presence. And by allowing that fuller breath, you are more Present for yourself and others.
The intentional breath supports your executive presence and being present with colleagues, clients, friends, and family.
Connect with the ARTiculate Team for coaching on intentional breath and how it can support your unique situations.
Hilary Blair is a leadership keynote speaker based out of Denver, CO, and is the co-founder of ARTiculate: Real & Clear. She is also a highly regarded, actor, improviser, facilitator, voice-over artist, and voice expert coach.
