Welcome to episode 177 of my podcast, The Executive Edge. This is the podcast for skills in life and business, and today I have John Hall with me.
John is an expert in breathwork and if you’ve never tried it, it’s an excellent process for managing stress and emotions especially in difficult situations. John worked at JP Morgan Chase for years and uses science-backed techniques garnered from the processes used by Navy Seals, the FBI, and top athletes, which teaches them how to stay calm. They use it to handle themselves in difficult situations whilst still behaving rationally. Obviously at times when logic and good decision making is needed, this is a good thing! Which is where the similarity with senior people in business comes in.
What does he talk about?
John who runs his own business www.breathe-with.me talked about how the vagus nerve works and that it runs the full length of the body from brain to toes! As a result, it controls or influences, many reactions, and responses in our body. He is quoted as saying “our mind is sending signals to our body about what to focus on. Our focus is sending signals back to our body about how to respond!” So, the aim of this podcast is to help you recognise what you have control of, and how to assert that control. It pays off.
If we are feeling tense because of a situation, we are ‘sensing’, it is this alert that readies our body for a speedy response. The trouble is, we do not want this system ‘on’ all the time. It affects our rest, our sleep, and our digestion. In fact, pretty much every part of our day. So, from a one-off experience early in the day can come a wholly disrupted and less productive day. That is not what the average senior person or executive needs.
What did that mean we need to do?
Breathwork can be used tactically, and if practiced in easier situations, enables us to default to calmer states when we need them under stress. I asked John how to do this. He taught me a very useful process where I needed to imagine a square box in my mind. My breathing would then follow the outline of the box from corner to corner holding my breath at different times along the way.
John’s knowledge and experience was behind everything we discussed on this episode, and I felt calmer and in control just by listening to him as we chatted.
He runs coaching sessions in this skill and courses so that anyone can learn it. After coping with years in a high-pressure role, he is well placed to teach others how to handle that. You can hear more of this episode here
