Just Breathe
The trick to confidence and control in your presentations
Breathing is natural, right?
Do you struggle with breathing when you deliver a presentation or speech? If you do you’re certainly not alone. Public speaking is one of the most common fears in the world and when those nerves flare-up, breathing seems to be the first thing that gets out of whack.
Why is that? Breathing is obviously natural and we do it without thinking. We even breathe when we’re asleep, no problem! It’s like flying for birds; we do it instinctively and we’re super good at it, right?
Unfortunately, most people don’t breathe correctly in the first place, let alone when they’re presenting. According to Belisa Vranich, a psychologist and breathing expert,
“nine out of ten people breathe out of synch with their body.”
We overuse our neck and shoulder muscles and we only use the top part of our lungs. Dr. Vranich calls it vertical breathing. The largest part of our lungs is the bottom third. That means in order to fill our lungs they should expand horizontally as more air reaches the bottom third. When we breathe vertically, we don’t fill our lungs and have to take several smaller breaths to get enough oxygen.
Vertical breathing also impacts the vagus nerve. This is a cranial nerve that wanders (the word “vagus” literally means wandering in Latin) through many other parts of the body, and reports back to the brain what we’re feeling in those body parts. When we breathe vertically the vagus nerve reports stress back to the brain. So if we‘re not breathing correctly in normal situations, think about how this is magnified when we’re presenting in front of an audience.
Added Pressure
No wonder we get anxious and stressed out. Our breathing has much more to do with controlling our stress level than we think. That’s why breathing exercises are almost always recommended when someone is suffering from high-stress levels.
People get nervous before a presentation because they put added pressure on themselves. Fear of judgment or failure wreaks havoc on their mental state before they even get started. Even if it’s not an actual phobia, most people just aren’t very comfortable presenting to an audience.
So whether it’s fear or just discomfort, stress kicks in and breathing incorrectly exacerbates it. The combination of pressure and poor breathing increases the cortisol levels in the body. Cortisol is the stress hormone, and it makes people forget the basics and go into panic mode. This leads to taking short, shallow breaths, and makes people talk faster so they can take another breath. It’s a vicious cycle, and it causes the speaker to appear nervous and less confident to their audience.
Voice Control
In order to be a confident speaker, especially if you experience anxiety when speaking in front of an audience, breath control is key. If you’ve ever had voice lessons you know that breath support is critical to having a powerful voice.
When I was studying acting we spent a great deal of time working on breathing. Good breath control gives actors and singers the power to project in a huge theatre and the control to perform for a small room, or even a camera.
Once you’ve mastered your breathing, you can do so much more with your voice. Practicing breath control techniques can improve your ability to control the volume, speed, and tonal variety of your voice. Breath control is essential to voice control, and voice control is one of your greatest presentation tools.
Breathing correctly
To lower those stress levels, and to give you the vocal control you want, the first thing to think about is where you place your breaths. Most of us take breaths up in our chest, only using the top part of our lungs.
Take a second and pay attention to your breathing. Take a deep breath. What do you notice? What part of your body moves? Chances are it’s your chest moving in and out, and your shoulders moving up and down. These are both indicators you’re breathing too shallow. When you breathe deep into the bottom part of your lungs you should feel your ribs expanding horizontally.
The trick is to focus on low breathing and working with the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle with one purpose, to help us breathe. Most of us don’t use it and don’t really understand how it works.
It sits just below the lungs, and as it contracts it increases the capacity of the thoracic cavity, drawing air deep into the lungs.
Now you know how it works! And now that you know, you can start using it to fill the bottom third of your lungs. As you learn to effectively use your diaphragm you’ll increase the oxygen levels in your body, lower your stress levels, increase testosterone, gain greater vocal control, and enhance brain function and clarity.
Breathing Exercises
There are many breathing exercises you can use to help build better breathing habits. A simple one the military uses is called tactical breathing. Here’s how it works:
- Stand up tall and empty your lungs by breathing out
- Once your lungs are empty, breathe in through your nose to a four-count and make sure you’re using your diaphragm. Your stomach should move in and out and your ribs will expand out horizontally (you can place your fingertips under your ribs on either side of your sternum to make sure you feel them expanding horizontally). Try to restrict your shoulders and chest
- Hold that breath for a four-count, and then breathe out through your mouth to a six-count
- Hold that for a two count, and then repeat
If you do this exercise for a few minutes you’ll start to relax and you’ll reduce those cortisol levels. It will also increase your testosterone which is the confidence hormone.
Do this exercise several times every day and you’ll start to build new and better breathing habits. I also recommend doing this for a few minutes just before a presentation. It’ll help you relax and make you more likely to breathe correctly while presenting.
TIP: Remember, if your shoulders and chest move when you breathe, you’re breathing incorrectly. If you want to get a sense of what good breathing feels like, try laying on your back with your hands on your ribcage. Take a deep breath and you’ll notice that only your stomach and ribs move. Your ribs should expand horizontally. Then stand up and try to emulate that. Correct breathing, using your diaphragm, should cause only your stomach to move in and out and your ribcage to expand.
Practice breath control exercises daily and you’ll feel more relaxed, more confident, and you’ll gain the vocal control you need to deliver dynamic and engaging presentations. Just breathe, and find the confidence and control to crush your next presentation!
I’m passionate about helping people become better communicators. You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter @therowecompany and Facebook @theroweco.