Why your breath is your superpower

Philippa Wilkin, breathing expert and leadership coach

For our most recent event we were joined by Philippa Wilkin, breathing expert and leadership coach, who shared some insights on how to make your breath your superpower. We think all our members are superheroes, so we’re excited to share some of the top tips from the session.

Read on for this special guest blog from Philippa herself.

Inhaling and exhaling mean very different things

Obviously there are the basics – breathing in fills your lungs with oxygen, and breathing out releases carbon dioxide. But this subconscious activity also feeds into our nervous system and can influence our emotions.

Breathing in feeds our sympathetic nervous system – that’s our ‘fight or flight’ responses that we would have needed if we were being hunted by predators. In today’s world those predators don’t have big scary teeth, or a terrifying roar, but they do come with alerts of their own… we’re talking digital alerts.

“Our emails, calls, text messages and WhatsApp groups can hunt us down in all kinds of ways, particularly in the world or remote working we find ourselves in today. It can be overwhelming and exhausting, but our breathing can help bring an inner sense of calm.”

Breathing out on the other hand feeds our parasympathetic nervous system. This will feel more like we’re applying the brakes and slowing ourselves down to a state of relaxation and calm.

To experience this we can practice different breathing techniques, here’s a couple you can try at home:

The relaxing breath

This breathing technique will allow you to feel more in the moment and calm any nerves you may be feeling – perfect for practicing when you’re feeling overwhelmed, or have a big meeting coming up.

The idea is that you breathe out for longer than you breathe in – so you’re applying the brakes more than the accelerator. Following a simple pattern, you manage your breath for around a minute using the “4, 7, 8” technique as a guide:

Breathe in for 4

Hold for 7

Breathe out for 8

The energising breath

This breathing technique is very different and will raise your energy levels. You might find this useful if you’re having an energy lull after an afternoon of back-back calls, or you’re working on a time consuming project that’s sapping all your brain power. We all need a boost sometimes, and rather than reaching for the caffeine, why not use your breath to inject some vigour into your day.

The idea here is that you’re accelerating more to give you an energy boost – so you breathe in for longer than you breathe out. That means a different pattern, so manage your breath for around a minute using the “4, 2, loop ” technique as a guide:

Breathe in for 4

Breathe out for 2

Repeat with no pauses

These are just two exercises that can help you to manage your consciousness. We are all dealing with the impact of Covid-19 in different ways, and have challenge circumstances and lifestyles to juggle. In all this noise and distraction though, it’s really important to find a moment for yourself, and practice some techniques that allow you to be the best you. Breathing can help with this.

If you’re interested in finding out more about how to use your breath as your superpower, I’m holding more free sessions on the 12th, 14th and 19th May that you might be interested in attending. You can sign up here.