The Role of Breathwork in the Corporate Setting

THE ROLE OF BREATHWORK IN THE CORPORATE SETTING

The ability to navigate the challenges that the corporate setting presents requires a ongoing commitment to the cultivation of greater self awareness, life mastery and conscious leadership.

Conscious breathing is a tangible and easily accessible skill that can be applied to manage energy levels, cultivate more emotional intelligence, enhance communication skills, sharpen focus and improve productivity.

It is a simple and effective tool that should form part of the culture of every conscious company and institution.

This article serves as a basic guide to applying breathwork in situations that are encountered in a typical day of a corporate executive/leader.

Situation 1:

Sitting at the desk dealing with emails, designing strategies, planning and executing of tasks, reading documents.

What is required:

A clear focused mind, creativity, lateral thinking processes, logic,concentration.

This can only occur if blood flow to brain is optimized and energy is flowing freely from the lungs and heart to the brain. However, often what occurs is that even though the mind is engaged (narrow external focus) there's a disconnection to the tension that the body might be holding.

The back of the neck, jaw and shoulders are the common areas where unconscious tension becomes locked. Backache is also a common phenomenon due to lack of awareness of the appropriate posture, and as a result the breathing is shallow or erratic.

This is not a high demand, charged experience, and the body and breath should support a state of calm focus.

Breaths to use:

1. Conscious breathing

The neck should be soft and the breaths open and flowing. When the breathing is re-patterned back to its natural state, oxygenation to the tissues is optimized, facilitating maintenance of natural energy levels.

Conscious breathing allows more awareness of posture; the back softensup and the diaphragm moves with less effort. Energy  flows through meridians more easily, supporting and nourishing all the organ and endocrine systems better.

Open flowing breaths reminds the body that 'adrenalized' energy is not required and non essential functions such as digestive processes and immune support can occur according to natural rhythms and cycles.

2. Regular deep sighs - " softening sighs "

Take in a long deep slow breath in through the nose or mouth and sigh it out through the mouth. Let the exhale go quickly, softly and completely.

Practice doing this in between paragraphs/emails. Use the sigh as a way to release tension that may be building up at the back of the neck, the jaw and shoulders and eyes as you look away from the screen. Use the breaths to become more mindful of your posture.

In the one or two seconds that you sigh, you can do all of these activities simultaneously, giving yourself a 'mini break' and sending signals to the brain to get out of 'fight flight mode'.

Situation 2:

Heated exchange with a colleague / Dealing with a difficult client

What is required:

-  The ability to listen to the essence of what is being communicated.

- The ability to respond rather than react.

-  A way to manage anger, frustration, expectation, and taking things personally.

Breaths to use:

In this context, the breath is used as a tool to create a pause before reacting. It can also be used as a "blow off tool" to release frustration.

1. It is helpful to practice the soft sigh as the pause and as a way to find your center.

2. To gain a sense of equilibrium after a heated exchange, take a long deep slow breath in through the nose and exhale slowly through the mouth through pursed lips. This a technique is appropriate when it is necessary to gain a sense of control (when you are feeling out of control).

3.  Whereas the above two techniques can be applied in the 'acute' situation,' this technique can be practiced when you have more time and space for yourself. The 'square breath' can be practiced by breathing in and out through the nose: breathing in for a count of 4, holding the breath for a count of 4, exhaling for another count of 4 and holding for a count of 4before the next inhale for a count of 4.

Situation 3

Presentation at a meeting/conference/workshop/seminar/interview

What is required :

To project energy, presence and confidence through posture and eye contact. The ability to project the voice clearly.

Breaths to use:

Often in situations like this, there is a surge of adrenaline and cortisol as the brain perceives and gets primed for a 'high demand situation.'

Use this energy and harness it with the breath.

Bring the awareness to where you are holding tension in the body.

Do a few 'sighs' to relax the shoulders.

Take the shoulders back and down and expand the chest.

Now bring the awareness of your breath to the belly (solar plexus).

This is also your seat of confidence - your power center.

Take in a long deep slow breath filling up all 3 breathing spaces (pelvis, belly and upper chest).

Contract your abdominal muscles as you exhale forcefully through the nose, pumping the exhales.

Situation 4

Sitting in long meetings

What is required:

- Keeping the focus on what is being discussed without getting distracted.

- The ability to see the big picture, to make contributions that are inspired, clear and logical, and to communicate them in a way that is clear and concise.

- It's also important here to be aware of how to use the breath as a listening tool.

Breaths to use:

In this context, simply become aware of how you are breathing as you are listening. Once again, use the conscious open longer breaths as an opportunity to pause, reflect on, and integrate new information, and before presenting your point.

Other opportunities to practice conscious breathing:

Begin to use the “in-between moments” in your day to practice conscious breathing and mindfulness.

For example: when walking between meetings, or when walking to the toilet. (Even peeing is a great opportunity to practice breath awareness!)

As you begin to wake up to the power of conscious breathing and cultivate more mindfulness in your working day, you will notice an improvement in concentration, energy, productivity, communication skills and overall wellbeing.