Posted on 11/12/2019 5:18:33 PM PST by NoLibZone
Like most people, you probably deal with your fair share of workplace annoyances. From the meeting that gets rescheduled yet again to managing your overflowing inbox or navigating the tricky world of team dynamics, your stress levels may spike multiple times throughout a single day.
How are some people able to stay calm and productive in response to challenges while others are easily rattled?
To find answers, let's look to those who have mastered the art of composure under pressure: The U.S. Navy SEALs.
In fact, neural scans show that some SEALs have a remarkable ability to remain calm in response to threatening situations. Their brains respond differently to stress, activating neural centers related to emotional control instead of ones related to anxiety and fear.
Their secret? SEALs manage their physiology to better to control their psychology.
If you're thinking this is the result of some superhuman ability, think again. It may come down to managing one important aspect of well-being: your breathing. A Simple Exercise to Help You Stay Calm
A practice that SEAL teams use in times of trouble is one you can borrow at your desk.
It's called box breathing or four-square breathing.
Here's how it works:
Breathe in for four seconds. Hold air in your lungs for four seconds. Exhale for four seconds. Hold your breath, lungs emptied, for four seconds.
You can even find guided visualizations online to assist you in a box breathing practice if you're just getting started. The beauty of box breathing is that it's inconspicuous, meaning you can practice it anywhere, at anytime -- during negotiations, before delivering tough feedback, or even in the middle of a frustrating conversation, for example.
Recently I shared this tool with a client who is navigating her team through a rocky leadership transition. Meetings were fraught with chaos and morale was slipping, which my client felt responsible for as a manager. These worries were beginning to take a toll on her. The anxiety followed her home at night. She found herself becoming increasingly irritable, and knew she had to address it in a more productive way.
After practicing box breathing for just a few days, she experienced a major shift. Because box breathing improved her ability to regulate her emotions, she felt more in control and able to deal with challenges.
With renewed levelheadedness, she could communicate more effectively to advocate for her team during the transition -- even when upstream dynamics threatened to throw their progress off-course.
Give box breathing a try. Even though you're not on the battlefield, you may find this time-tested Navy SEAL technique helps you rule the day.
Researchers at Veterans Affairs put it this way:
Learning to control your physiology, to control your anticipatory responses as you remain in that situation, are the first steps to controlling your brain's response.
If you're thinking this is the result of some superhuman ability, think again. It may come down to managing one important aspect of well-being: your breathing. A Simple Exercise to Help You Stay Calm
A practice that SEAL teams use in times of trouble is one you can borrow at your desk.
It's called box breathing or four-square breathing.
Here's how it works:
Breathe in for four seconds.
Hold air in your lungs for four seconds.
Exhale for four seconds.
Hold your breath, lungs emptied, for four seconds.
You can even find guided visualizations online to assist you in a box breathing practice if you're just getting started. The beauty of box breathing is that it's inconspicuous, meaning you can practice it anywhere, at anytime -- during negotiations, before delivering tough feedback, or even in the middle of a frustrating conversation, for example.
Recently I shared this tool with a client who is navigating her team through a rocky leadership transition. Meetings were fraught with chaos and morale was slipping, which my client felt responsible for as a manager. These worries were beginning to take a toll on her. The anxiety followed her home at night. She found herself becoming increasingly irritable, and knew she had to address it in a more productive way.
After practicing box breathing for just a few days, she experienced a major shift. Because box breathing improved her ability to regulate her emotions, she felt more in control and able to deal with challenges.
With renewed levelheadedness, she could communicate more effectively to advocate for her team during the transition -- even when upstream dynamics threatened to throw their progress off-course.
Give box breathing a try. Even though you're not on the battlefield, you may find this time-tested Navy SEAL technique helps you rule the day.
It’s called box breathing or four-square breathing.
Here’s how it works:
Breathe in for four seconds.
Hold air in your lungs for four seconds.
Exhale for four seconds.
Hold your breath, lungs emptied, for four seconds.
Oh no... You forgot to include the (repeat) instruction at the end.
Without the loop, the liberals will get to the end and just stop breathing !
{wait, wut I do now? Instructions stop. Do I breath in? Out? ahold sone more... Help!}
Cool!
The old adage ‘Before you lose your cool, take a deep breath’.
Excellent! Thank you, this seems like an excellent technique for relaxation and focus.
It helps if you know you have the ability to beat/blow the crap out of anything that is bothering you.
Rinse, lather, repeat.
Very cool. Thanks for posting.
Last winter I had an incident when I was shoveling heavy, wet snow, and my heart starting racing. My pulse was over 150, and stayed there for awhile. I called my cardiologist and asked to talk with a nurse and she said (as expected), go to ER. I told her no so she suggested doing a lot of what was explained in the article. My heart rate settled pretty quickly.
But there are a couple more steps noted in the article that weren’t included in what I did. Next time I get an afib attack, I’m going to try to do it the way the SEALS do.
How long do you do this? All the time or just for a specified period of time? TIA
Ages old. Yes, it works. Stretch too. Watch your dog/cat, they do the very same things.
lather? rinse?
Comeon, that will really confuse the liberals!
We gonna be finding them with mouthfuls of shampoo.
4 cheers for the mind-body connection!
Thank you for posting!
Up until now I have been reducing stress by breathing out more than I breathe in.
It only works for a while, but it’s self-correcting behavior.
If you practice it enough it becomes almost second nature. But as with anything - if you get out of practice it can be like starting over.
Kind of reminds me of hyperventilating before the long distance 200yd & 400yd freestyle competitive HS varsity swim meets, back in the early-mid 60s. Those were grueling events. I went downstate to finals, set records, won 1st in all meets for 4yrs, but those records are long bypassed now.
That ain’t shampoo; that’s rabies. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE OR SHOOT THEM!
I’ve been using this method for years. It works.
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