Breathing for Success

A Great On-The-Spot Coaching Technique

Place one of your hands on the center of your chest and one hand on the lower part of your stomach and breathe as usual. Which hand is moving the furthest outward, away from your body. If it’s the hand on your stomach you are breathing correctly, if it’s the hand on your chest, you need to listen closely to what I’m going to say next. Breathing to high affects your self-esteem and your health. Medical researchers have visited wards for heart attack victims and every one of them was found to be breathing too high in the chest.

A full 80% of the vessels that take oxygen to your body are in the bottom portion of your lungs. If you’re breathing too high in the chest you’re not getting enough oxygen to your body. As a leader this is really easy way to spot coach someone in your family or your organization, it’s really easy to look at one your employees or associates and see if they are breathing too high in the chest and you can also notice when people seemed fatigued or they don’t carry themselves with a lot of confidence.

There are many behavioral pitfalls and health hazards to not breathing correctly and all these things affect not only the individual’s energy, attitude, creativity and productivity but it effects those around them as well. This one small tip can have huge impacts on the success of your people and the success of your organization. When your team mates breathe correctly and get more oxygen to their body they feel better, they have more energy, their self-esteem goes up and they feel more confident in themselves and their actions. And if they feel more confident they will take more initiative and get more done.

It’s No Mistake That the First Four Letters of Healthy Spell the Word Heal.

By being observant you can make help someone become healthier, more confident and more successful in less than two minutes using this spot coaching technique. Ask them to put one hand on their chest and one hand on their stomach and breathe as usual. Ask them which hand is making the most outward movement away from their body. If it is the hand on the chest, advise them of the benefits of breathing correctly and tell them it’s really easy to designate focus time while at their desk, in the break room or their opportunities they see fit. I like to do it while I’m driving.

P.S. when we sleep our bodies breath the way they are supposed to. It’s during the hours we are awake that we need to check and make sure we are breathing correctly. Take time to relax daily. If you take purposeful time each day to make sure you are breathing correctly, you automatically pull your thoughts into the moment and become centered. By taking time to listen to and feel yourself breathing correctly you are living in the moment.

Make sure you are living in the moment and not the past. Yesterday is the equivalent of a cancelled check; tomorrow is a maybe, it’s just a promissory note. Today is the only place in time when you have cash in hand, and we can only spend it today. Therefore, we must spend it all and spend it wisely. Being wise means spending some of that cash on yourself. Spending some of today on yourself. Taking time to make sure your surrounding environment is emotionally healthy and being disciplined to make sure that what you are putting in your body is healthy.

It’s no mistake that the first four letters of healthy spell the word heal. The people who think that they don’t have time for healthy eating today, tomorrow, and the days that follow, will sooner or later be left with no choice but to make time for illness. I like the way it was stated by William Londen, he said it like this. “To ensure good health, eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness and maintain an interest in life.” For purposes of this segment and the sake of your health I want you to pay particularly close attention to the part of Williams quote where he says BREATH DEEPLY.