Breathing Your Way to a Calmer Workplace – A Simple Solution

In nearly all of the work we do, we take at least 5 minutes to introduce a simple breathing practice.  While people sometimes initially react with uncomfortable chuckles, most people want more!  It seems remarkable when we say it – but are you remembering to breathe?

That is what this simple article is all about.
Naturally, if we are alive, we are breathing. The question is how. Watch a baby sleep – that is how we start out in life, with deep, slow, abdominal centered breathing.  Unfortunately, poor breathing – fast, shallow and choppy – becomes a bad habit for most adults, especially when stressed. The average person reaches peak respiratory function and lung capacity in their mid-20’s.  After that, we began to lose it at a rate of 10-27% for every decade of life! Unless we are doing something to maintain or enhance our breathing capacity, it will decline the longer we live.
Most people breathe with their upper body, many hold their breath unconsciously. These stress responses, created at a young age, usually in reaction to emotional traumas, worsen over time. They contribute to a whole range of physical problems. They place our bodies in a permanent state of the “flight or fight” mode.

Clinical studies prove that oxygen, wellness, mental focus  and life-span are dependent on proper breathing. Lung volume is a primary indicator of longevity. Optimal breathing contributes to lowering blood pressure; improving asthmatic conditions; maintenance of body ph levels; relief from headaches and burning of fat and calories just to name a few benefits.  Our breath supplies 99% of our entire oxygen and energy supply. Our physiology and brain need oxygen flow to be regulated for optimal health. The brain’s ability to maintain clarity and focus depend on unimpeded oxygen flow.

Emotions and Your Breathing 

One of the most powerful connections you can make to shift your emotional state is learning to regulate your breathing. You build the capacity to do this by:

• Becoming conscious of your breath throughout the day
• Noticing the connection between how you are breathing and what you are feeling
• Building new habits of breathing by bringing your regular awareness to your breathing before known stressful circumstances (like certain conversations, times of day, important events, etc)

The experience and intensity of your emotions is regulated by your thought and your breathing. These are inextricably connected.  Typically when we are angry, frustrated or impatient, our breathing is shallow and choppy. Fear usually triggers us to hold our breath, while being calm we experience easy, full whole body breathing.
Consequently, if you want to ratchet down your emotions, your “go-to” place should be your breathing.

Try this little experiment:
Step 1 
Close your eyes and imagine a time where you were really angry. Get into it.  Visualize the situation and especially the person/persons with whom you were/are angry.  Got that?
Step 2
Now, while holding this scenario in your mind’s eye, begin to get in touch with your breathing, slowing it down, regulating it to a smoother pace.  Stay here for a few seconds.
Step 3
While maintaining your slow and steady breath, recall the scenario and the anger you felt a few minutes ago.

What happened? If you respond like many of the people we work with, you will find it next to impossible to stay angry while focusing on your calmer breathing pattern.
Why? Because emotions are experienced in the body, even though they are triggered by thought.  The state of your physiology either enables or disables feelings. When you learn to regulate your breathing – you are also learning to manage feelings, a key competency of being more emotionally intelligent.

5 Steps to Training Your Breathing Process

The reality is every time you allow short, shallow upper body breathing to be your main method of obtaining oxygen flow; you are training your breathing patterns. Like everything else, changing habits takes commitment and consistency.  Approaching these changes simply and incrementally often works best.
Here are several steps you can take:

1. Decide on several times/occasions each day to stop and bring your attention to your breathing. It can literally be a minute or two.
2. Identify a few breathing techniques (there are dozens online, books and audio downloads ) to experiment with for a few minutes a day. If you are doing this at work (if you can, this can be very  supportive) many of our clients say they find ways to either close their office doors for five minutes once or even twice a day to do their breathing/relaxation practice (one person reports doing it in their car, several in their workplace bathrooms for privacy) Be creative – find a spot.
3. If you don’t feel you have time consider that in a given 8 hour work day there are 480 minutes or 28,800 seconds to work with! Can you spare 5 or 10 for your mental and physical well-being?
4. Once you have identified a technique that works for you, begin to make this a routine practice. Don’t judge yourself or give up if you miss a day or more, just keep going.  Consistency (even with lapses) will build your practice (and your breathing capacity).
5. Once you’ve got your regular (private) practice underway, start integrating your breathing technique into your daily activities (like driving, waiting in line or on-hold) and in conversations with others.  The more you practice, the more you will notice the connections between your breathing, feelings and behaviors.

If you stick with your breathing practice, I’m betting that you will find a little goes a long way – and you’ll want more.  Learning a simple quick breathing technique and integrating the practice into your daily life will often lead to creating a meditation routine.  The more you do, the more you will rest and relax – and the better you will feel. It is really that simple. Now practice!

Thanks for reading, 
Louise Altman, Intentional Communication Consultants
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