[Stacie Watson] You know, Alicia, I’ve been spending some time thinking about our last conversation on leadership presence. And I think like many of the leaders that I work with, and we work with, I really understand the value of that idea of being able to really be in the moment and be present. And I guess I also really appreciate how hard that can be. Just honestly, it’s hard.

[Alicia Davis] It’s hard. It seems like the simplest thing to do, right? And it’s probably one of the hardest things to do. And that’s why, right, and that’s why in this video, which is part two of our four-part series of how to maintain a calm presence, as a leader, we’re actually going to do some or a practice. And I call them practices, but it’s ways to strengthen your ability to focus. And that’s what we talked about last in our last video was about how do we focus our attention when we get scattered when we have 1000 things. And so there are really three ways that you can really begin to deepen your awareness. One of them is belly breathing. And I’ll just preface this Stacie, I’ll say, it’s great, because breathing is natural, right? We do it all the time.

[Stacie Watson] That’s right.

[Alicia Davis] Right?

[Stacie Watson] Well, it’s so interesting with belly breathing because there’s so much research that shows how a few, three, four deep belly breaths really do help you even reset your nervous system, like physiologically, they really make a difference in how you’re able to just calm your body as well as your mind. It’s really powerful.

[Alicia Davis] That’s right, and so I mean, even like most of the time, we’re sitting, and maybe you’re even doing it right now, like we most of the time, we’re chest breathing. So even if you’re sitting and listening to this, you know, you can even just pause right now, or just take a breath that’s a little deeper. And literally, just let it go down to your belly. And then exhale. That’s all you need to do to begin to focus on breathing your breath down into your belly.

[Stacie Watson] Right.

[Alicia Davis] And, you know, I don’t know, Stacie, about you. But I have been finding with a lot of the leaders that we’ve been talking to that their staff and sometimes even themselves are feeling, panic, and anxiety.

Stacie Watson
Yes, again, overwhelmed and exhausted, right, all of those things.

[Alicia Davis] All of those things. And so these other two practices, one of them is called Box breathing. And one of them is called grounding with your five senses. These are practices that you can do for yourself, and or you can guide your staff in to really help when there are moments of panic or anxiety. And so this grounding with the five senses is really, anytime you can literally focus on your five senses, like noticing what you see, really listening to what you hear, noticing what you feel. Being aware of what you smell, and anything that you taste, all of those things are present moment. And that’s what helps decrease the panic or anxiety because it brings us into the present moment.

[Stacie Watson] Right. Absolutely. No, I think a lot of times our panic and anxiety have to do with thinking about what might happen or what did happen before. And that both of those are not in the moment, right? So that makes a lot of sense.

[Alicia Davis] We’re in the what-ifs.

[Stacie Watson] The what-ifs. Exactly.

[Alicia Davis] So now this box breathing, I actually want to guide you briefly and if you’re listening guide you in this as well. So this is called box breathing. I’m going to show it and I’m going to actually move my hand because sometimes people like to do it also with the movement. So we’re going to breathe in for a count of four and you can keep your eyes open, you can close them – it does not matter. I’m gonna close my eyes. So breathe in for a count of four. And you bring your hand up if you want to. So you breathe in 1 2 3 4. You hold or pause – 1 2 3 4. You exhale – 1 2 3 4. And you pause – 1 2 3 4. And inhale and pause, and exhale and pause. Inhale, hold, exhale, hold. Do one more on your own. Now just bring your attention back to the moment, open your eyes if you had them closed. Okay, you Stacie, so what do you notice happened while you did that?

[Stacie Watson] Well was actually really interesting because on the third inhale and exhale, I felt my shoulders physically drop a little bit. And I didn’t even know they were up. And they were obviously so it was very interesting. I think I was really sort of had my focus on my breathing and it sort of allowed me to release some of the whatever I was holding, you know, just there’s a lot going on. And, you know, so that was actually really interesting.

[Alicia Davis] Great. So I would invite you as you’re listening, anytime that you really need to focus and calm yourself down, try the belly breathing, the box breathing, or focusing on your five senses. Yeah, so I’m Alicia Davis.

[Stacie Watson] I’m Stacie Watson.

[Alicia Davis] And we are the co-owners of Transformative Leadership Strategies and we love to support leaders and both their being and their doing Thank you for listening.

[Stacie Watson] Thank you.