I know, it seems way too simple.
Breathing? Seriously? Yup.
And here’s why the worlds most successful companies are teaching their people how to breathe in public speaking. Or, to put it more succinctly, allowing their bodies to remember how to breathe.
Here are 5 reasons why good breathing technique can lead you to claim more value out of your business communications. public speaking, make more money, listen better, and convert more clients.
#1 Diaphragmatic Breathing Gives You High Octane Fuel For Public Speaking
Breathing is an involuntary bodily function, so your body will be doing it no matter how conscious you are about it. But breath is also the fuel for all great business communications and public speaking, so you want to get the highest octane fuel that you can.
Here’s the rub: Not all breath is created equal. There’s breathing and then there’s BREATHING. The former is shallow and small while the latter is grounding, deep, and powerful.
Your lungs are much smaller at the top than they are at the bottom. When you are breathing just into the area of you shoulders and the top part of your chest, you are taking in a very small amount of breath. This can manifest as feeling tight, anxious, panicked, or fearful.
This is low octane fuel. Conversely, when you breathe into your belly and hips you actually allow the lungs to inflate more fully, giving you a stronger, more lasting, grounded breath. This High Octane fuel.
Changing where you breath is actually as simple as changing where you think. If you bring your though down into your lower belly, your breath will follow. Remember, your body already knows how to do this. Perfectly.
Just watch little babies when they breathe: Their little bellies move beautifully with each inhale and exhale. And I think we can all agree that babies have very released voices!
#2 Breathing Helps Combat Nerves in Public Speaking
When you breathe from your belly, what I call my Buddha Belly Breathing, which is the simplified term for the more fancy name Diaphragmatic Breathing, you will be more of the best of yourself in high stakes client meetings, pitches, and in public speaking.
The shoulders, neck, and jaw area are like the Bermuda Triangle of nerves, panic, and anxiety: Once you get stuck there, you get sucked in and are never seen again.
Instead, bring your focus and breath down into your lower belly, which is a place of power, grounded energy, and center. The lower belly, the place right below your belly button, has always been a place of power and center in many traditions, like yoga, pilates, martial arts, and in sports.
This lower belly area is where your core muscles are located and your core is essential for all movement and support for your back. If you’ve ever had food poisoning, you know that you can barely walk. That’s because your core muscles are where your gut is and this area is under attack and cannot function correctly.
You have the power to breath where and how you want. You have control over your breathing and getting a good, strong, centered breathing technique in place will turbocharge your effectiveness in public speaking, presentations, and pitching.
#3 Proper Breathing Means a Strong, Supported Vocal Delivery
Your voice is not just in your throat, voice box, or vocal chords. Your voice is your ENTIRE BODY. From the bottoms of your feet and how you stand, how your sit, all the way up through your body, how you use your hands and arms, and what your posture is like.
Your whole body is your vocal mechanism, your speaker instrument, and breathing from a deep, supported place like your Buddha Belly Breathing will always give you a strong, supported voice. When you breathe from this supported place of the lower belly and diaphragm, you will never have to push your voice or struggle to be heard.
If you are someone who gets ‘vocal fry’ a lot, that grumbly, gravelly sound of an unsupported voice where you sound like the Kardashians (yes, I blame them entirely for this trend), you are not breathing properly.
When you breathe from a deep, grounded, powerful place like the lower belly, you will be far less likely to have a weak, ‘vocal fry’ vocal delivery. Remember, people hear YOU in your voice so a supported, powerful sound gives you credibility and impact.
You’ll be far more successful, effective, and more present in your conversations, meetings, client calls, and presentations with a strong, grounded vocal delivery.
#4 Diaphragmatic Breathing = Clarity of ThoughtThere’s nothing worse than blanking in the middle of a presentation.
You panic, start to hyperventilate, or even have an anxiety attack. Trust me, I get it. I’ve been there, bought the T-shirt, and filed it away under ‘Don’t want to go through THAT again…’.
When you breathe from your belly and diaphragm, you get a higher quality of fuel to your brain, which in turn helps you to think more clearly and respond to your audience with more authenticity and impact during a presentation, meeting, or in public speaking.
Breathing in a deep and intentional way will also allow you to respond to clients and your audience with more clarity, impact, and credibility.
Think of my Three R’s: Reset, Refocus, and Resume.
If you feel your thoughts are running away with you or the washing machine won’t stop in your head, do this:
Reset – Stop. Take a grounded, focused breath into your belly and diaphragm. It doesn’t have to be a big breath, it can just be a small breath. The quality of the breath and where you breath are what makes the difference.
Refocus – What is your purpose in that moment? Why are you there? What’s the next thing you can remember to say? Where are you in your content and story?
Resume – After you breathe, focus on why you’re there and what the next think is you want to say, you then RESUME. Continue on.
My Three R’s really do help. Give it a try. The are simple but they work.
#5 Breathing Better Means You Can Listen Better
People often forget how important listening is in business communications and public speaking.
Breathing from your belly and diaphragm in a grounded, intentional way allows you to focus your thoughts and focus on the other person in the moment.
What do we normally do? We’re half hearing the other person and half thinking about what WE want to say and WHAT we’re going to say. It’s very difficult to respond to someone if you’re distracted by thinking about what you want to say and don’t listen to what they’re saying. Breathing helps you to turn your focus from yourself to the other person.
Breathing also helps you to slow down, remember that it’s NOT about you, and helps you to put the focus and spotlight on your audience or the other person you’re talking to, rather than yourself and how you’re doing.
All audiences are lazy and selfish and want it all to be about them, so when an audience really feels like you’re listening to them and making your communication or presentation all about them, they will love you for it. And they will in turn give you their attention.
So Here’s The Skinny…
At the end of the day, breathing from your lower belly and diaphragm in a deep, grounded, and powerful way will support not only the sound of your voice but give you high octane fuel for clear thinking, clear listening, and help control your nerves.
Breathing gives you a lot of bang for your buck. Do it well and use it wisely. Your business communications, public speaking, and presentations will be all the better for it and your audience will thank you for it.
And finally, remember: When you breathe, your audience gets to breathe, too. And a breathing audience is a happy audience. Trust me.
See you on the inside!
Maria xx
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