How to Reduce Work Stress and Anxiety With Simple Breathing Techniques

Summary

Squiggly Careers Podcast: How to Reduce Work Stress and Anxiety With Simple Breathing Techniques

Hosts: Sarah Ellis & Helen Tupper
Episode Date: December 9, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Sarah and Helen explore how simple, intentional breathing techniques can help reduce stress and anxiety—especially during busy and high-pressure periods at work. Drawing on recent research, personal experiences, and practical exercises, they break down the science and real-life applications of conscious breathing. The episode is warm and relatable, featuring candid anecdotes and actionable tips designed for immediate use, particularly relevant for the often hectic end-of-year period.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Context: Why Talk About Breathing?

• Seasonal Relevance: The hosts note that, with the end of the year approaching, many people feel an uptick in work and family commitments, leading to greater stress and last-minute overwhelm.
  • “This is our version of Christmas, which… feels like a good time of year to talk about breathing.” – Helen [02:11]
• Back to Basics: The episode embraces a fundamental yet often overlooked skill: breathing, and reframes it as a tool for workplace well-being and resilience.

Science & Credibility Behind Breathing Techniques

• Evidence-Based Benefits: Inspired by Stuart Sandeman (Breathpod), the hosts share statistics from a 7-day conscious breathing experiment:
  • Stress and anxiety down 48%
  • Brain fog down 56%
  • Ability to relax up 54%
  • Energy levels up 49%
• Healthy Skepticism: Sarah and Helen humorously approach these high numbers with a healthy dose of skepticism, while still acknowledging the value in trying breathing exercises for oneself.
  • “My energy has gone up by 50… That would be something to behold.” – Sarah [05:14]
• Mouth vs Nose Breathing: Drawing from James Nestor’s Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, Helen highlights that breathing through your nose is more beneficial than through your mouth, affecting hydration, sleep, and even mental states depending on which nostril is used.

Three Practical Breathing Techniques for Work

1. Calming a Racing Mind Before Speaking/Presenting

When: Right before a presentation or critical meeting when your mind is racing.
Action (Then): Take a slow exhale through your mouth for 4–6 seconds before speaking.
Why: This reduces cortisol (stress hormone), steadies your voice, and helps you show up calmer and with more gravitas.

• “The big long breath gets rid of the cortisol and it also steadies your voice…” – Helen [14:10]
• Anecdote: Sarah shares how she subtly used this technique before a high-pressure presentation at The Shard and found it genuinely effective. [14:47–16:49]

2. Resetting When Overwhelmed or Out of Control

When: Feeling overwhelmed by too many tasks or end-of-year crunch.
Action (Then): Take a quick inhale through your nose, followed by a slow exhale through the mouth. Repeat for a few cycles.
Why: Helps counteract the shallow breathing associated with stress, supporting your prefrontal cortex so you can regain clarity, logic, and perspective.

• “Stressed short, shallow breaths... the way that you are breathing is having an impact on how your brain is processing what you’re trying to deal with.” – Helen [17:58]

3. Managing Hard Emotions to Stay Present

When: Conversations where strong emotions (upset, anger) rise and threaten to derail your presence.
Action (Then): Try the “Stanford physiological sigh”: two quick inhales (through mouth or nose), followed by a long, slow exhale.
Why: Helps regulate emotions, bringing your body out of fight/flight and back to a more curious, engaged state.

• “Mentally focusing on this breathing exercise...I did it about three times...and I was much more in control both of my emotions and of what I was going to say.” – Helen [21:29–22:47]

Personalization & Further AI-Generated Practices

Sarah experimented with AI to create custom breathing prompts tailored to context and setting (like doing them subtly on a train):

• Extended Exhale: Breathe out longer than you breathe in to induce calm [24:53]
• Box Breathing: Inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4
• Noting Breaths: Simply notice and label “in” and “out” (a mindfulness practice)
• Arrive Calm Routine: Ground feet, open posture, deep breath, one box breathing cycle, and intentional statement (“I’m here now”) [26:29]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Skepticism About “Big” Claims:
  “My energy has gone up by 50… That would be something to behold. I actually don’t want to imagine that. I’m not sure that would actually be a good, dangerous level of energy.” – Sarah & Helen [05:14–05:33]

• On Personal Experiences with Breathing and Emotions:
  “I get more stressed initially...So it just takes me a moment to be like, actually, breathe in a way that this is… I sort of have to get past that first point.” – Sarah [08:28]

• On Presentation Jitters:
  “I often find the moment I get most nervous is when someone is introducing me...Do I try and look, like serious and credible, or do I smile?” – Sarah [15:16–15:25]

• Breathing as a Reset:
  “It helped me just with that tiny bit of perspective of, like, what matters most right now is being here with our team.” – Sarah [27:46]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:11] – Holiday stress and why breathing matters now
• [04:11] – Stuart Sandeman’s story & Breathpod findings
• [05:46] – Practical breathing approach for work: three techniques
• [06:18] – Mouth vs nose breathing science
• [14:47] – Calming exhale before presentations
• [17:22] – Breath for energy and clarity
• [19:56] – Handling hard emotions in conversations
• [24:10] – AI-generated, personalized breathing routines
• [26:29] – “Arrive calm” ritual & the importance of transitions

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Tone & Takeaways

The conversation is candid, light-hearted, and practical, making science accessible and tips actionable. Helen and Sarah share their own moments of skepticism and vulnerability, making the case for trying breathing techniques a no-pressure, supportive experiment rather than a “miracle cure.”

Main Takeaways:

• Conscious breathing can be a powerful workplace tool for managing stress, clarity, energy, and emotional presence.
• Small, intentional breathing exercises can be seamlessly integrated into busy workdays—even during meetings and on public transport.
• Everyone can benefit from experimenting with different breathing methods, finding what works best for their own stress triggers and routines.

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For more tips and resources, the hosts recommend signing up for their Squiggly Careers in Action newsletter.

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Contact:
[e-mail]

Newsletter: Squiggly Careers in Action

Transcript

[A]

Hi, it's Helen from the Squiggly Careers Podcast. And before you listen to today's episode, I just wanted to let you know about some news that Sarah and I are very excited about, and that is that our new book, Learn Like a Lobster, is ready to pre order Now. We really care about everybody learning and growing at work, but we know it is not easy to do. And so we're borrowing some brilliance from lobsters to help you to do it. The book takes three inspiring and surprising abilities of lobsters in terms of how they grow and applies it to how we can learn at work. So if you want some inspiration and you need some practical insights to support your learning, growth and development, this is the book for you. And if you pre order now and send your Pre order to helloearnlikealobster.com you can join the Lobster Library where we have a community of lobster learners ready for you to learn with some live sessions. And this will all happen before the book arrives. So pre order the book now, send it to [e-mail] and get started with.

[B]

Your learning straight away.

[A]

Now let's get onto today's episode.

[C]

Hi, I'm Sarah.

[B]

And I'm Helen.

[C]

And this is the Squiggly Careers podcast where every week we borrow some brilliance from a person, a place, an object, a thing of some description, and we try to turn that curiosity into useful action for your career.

[B]

And today our thing is breathing.

[D]

I'm so, I'm so like, we've gone back to basics.

[E]

Back to basics. I'm so happy I've committed to this episode. I think you must have been skeptical about us doing an episode on breathing.

[C]

Yes. Though I have read. I know we're going to talk about four box breathing, that particular kind of technique. I have read a lot of evidence around, you know, that works for kind of high performing athletes. That it is actually really kind of good for you. So actually I think less skepticism than the chairs episode.

[D]

I got some fun messages, emails from.

[E]

People about the chairs episode.

[D]

Yeah, that wasn't my favorite episode. So actually I think I was a bit more on board with this.

[C]

I think I was. I believed that breathing could be useful, especially maybe this time of year. Okay.

[B]

Yeah, we did say, in fact, if you are watching on YouTube, you will note that we have.

[C]

This is our version of Christmas.

[E]

This is our version of Christmas, which.

[B]

Is because we are doing a team Christmas Day after us today, which we will write about in Squiggly Careers in Action. So if you are not subscribed to our newsletter. Subscribe to the newsletter because we'll tell you about some of the fun things we're doing in case it's useful for your team to copy. But yes, we're developing dressed in our Christmas best for the episode today. And it does feel like a good time of year to talk about breathing.

[E]

Because we were, we were laughing about the last couple of weeks of the year where people are like, oh, just.

[B]

Squeeze in, just squeeze this in, meeting.

[E]

In, or just, we just get this done before the end of the year.

[B]

And you're just like, absolutely not.

I.

[E]

Have no more capacity.

[C]

But I think what's those sort of. It's a tricky one, isn't it, for people because I think everyone recognizes there's.

[D]

Quite a lot of fun stuff.

[C]

So there's like fun I want to get together with friends and family. Maybe there are extra commitments that come your way. If I don't know, you've got kids, you've got the nativity play. Sometimes you don't get loads of notice.

[D]

For some of those things. I think lots of parents would kind of go, you have that in common.

[C]

Oh, actually there's a carol service that everyone needs to go to next Thursday. And you think, yes, well, next Thursday I'm delivering a session or feedback or.

[D]

Whatever, whatever it might be.

[C]

And so I think I also find there's a lot of like last, there's more last minute rearranging in December than there is at any other point in the year. You know, we're just like, new things come your way. Whether that's demands from other people, people you work with, wanting to catch up, wanting to see people. And I suppose you also have a bit of like an end of year mindset of like, what needs to get done so that I can enjoy Christmas.

[D]

I think I have that in mind as well.

[C]

Like, well, as long as all these pieces of the puzzle all fit together, then at Christmas I can just stop.

[D]

It's a bit like the pre holiday thing.

[B]

And so our premise really is that breathing is useful at any time of the year, but it might be a particularly relevant skill to reflect and invest in right now. And the reason this all got started and I was like, I think we should talk about breathing on the podcast is I randomly went to an event by this guy, I've got his book here, Stuart Sandman. I was at this place and he was doing a talk and I thought, you know what, I'm going to go down. I've never really been to anything on breathing before. I'm going to go down.

[C]

Breathe in. Breathe out.

[D]

Breathe in.

[B]

Breathe out.

[D]

Useful reminder.

[E]

Yeah, that's what it says.

[D]

Don't just do one of those a.

[B]

He has a fascinating squiggly crow story. Like he was a DJ and now he's like this breathing expert and had some like personal stuff. Very, very interesting. And yeah, now that has a Radio 1 show I think. But he shared in the presentation some facts about breathing because they'd done a big experiment with. They have a business called Breath Pod and they did a big experiment about the impact of intentional breathing exercises on people's performance. And there's some really interesting stats that you shared. So when people did a conscious breathing practice, of course we're all breathing, but there are some breathing practices that are more beneficial. And when people did that every day for seven days, stress and anxiety went down by 48%, brain fog went down by 56%, ability to switch off and relax increased by 54% and energy levels increased by 49%. I think if you're getting those kind of benefits.

[D]

I know I can see a little.

[E]

Bit of skepticism, A little bit skepticism.

[B]

But if you are getting those kind.

[C]

Of numbers feel too big.

[E]

My energy has gone up by 50.

[D]

I was like, I.

[C]

Well, 49 increase in energy.

[D]

I'm sort of like, how is that even possible?

[B]

Wow.

[D]

They already bring quite a lot of energy to the work that I do. Imagine your energy increasing by 49.

[C]

That would be something to behold.

[D]

I actually don't, I actually don't want to imagine that. I'm not sure that would actually be.

[E]

A good dangerous level of energy.

[B]

Well, if people do want to test that they Breastpod has like a free seven day the, the experiment basically you can do for yourself. So if you want to kind of see what your energy and levels and brain fog reduction could be in reality, you could do it.

[D]

And we'll put the, we'll put the.

[B]

Link in the show notes if you want to try it out. But in this episode we wanted to talk about some sort of practical ways that you can bring better breathing into your work. So as I have gone deeper into the world of breathing, I also read another book as well. If I'm halfway through this and I'm really enjoying it. This book is Breathing the New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor. Just lots of things I just didn't know about breathing. For example, breathing through your nose is much more beneficial than breathing through your mouth.

[C]

Oh, that's interesting. I feel like I have been taught through, mainly through exercise to Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth.

[B]

Yeah, I think it's the breathing in through your nose.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[D]

That's what I have been taught.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

There's loads of science about why, but one of the things that stuck with me about why. Well, the first was if you breathe with your mouth open at night, this is nothing really connected to. With work I thought was interesting, you lose 40% more water. So you're far less hydrated if you breathe.

[C]

That's why there's all those things, you know, where you can, like, stick your mouth together.

[D]

And my partner does sometimes snore quite loudly. So he's tried some of these like, things, but for that reason. And some of them are really freaky. I'm like, as long as you don't look across, that's absolutely fine.

[E]

They've got these, like, eye masks on.

[B]

But, you know, anything to help better sleep can help better performance. And. But the other thing was about this nose breathing was the difference in breathing through your left and right nostril, which was an exercise that Stuart did when I was in that session. He did this. But I think you know the science behind it. And so if you are breathing in through your left nostril. I mean, this is really embarrassing if you're watching on YouTube, because I'm. I'm now holding my nostril. If you breathe into your less nostrils, that is designed to kind of calm your system. So if you're stressed or something, like holding your right nostril, breathing in through your left one is more likely to calm. It's somehow connected to, like, the parts of your brain or parasympathetic nervous system, which is a whole territory that I don't really understand, but that's one thing. Whereas the right is more likely to energize you. So, you know, if you're feeling like a bit like before a presentation, like, upbeat. Yeah, you need to upbeat, like. And we'll talk about specifically the breathing exercises, but the science of it is that that whether you're breathing through the left or right nostril has an impact on how your body responds.

[C]

That is interesting. I did do something the other week where I was having a massage and.

[D]

I just thought it was going to be a normal massage.

[C]

But then the lady made me do some breathing first before I was, like.

[D]

Allowed to have the massage. And I was like, I don't want.

[C]

To do the breathing.

[B]

I just.

[D]

I want the massage. And what I find when I knew we were doing this podcast at that point, so I was like, oh, well.

[C]

It'S just more content.

[D]

I was like, I actually, when I.

[C]

First start doing any of these exercises.

[D]

We'Re going to talk about, and I've tried a few of them and got some other ones as well. I get more stressed initially. I definitely get more stress.

[C]

So note my breathing.

[D]

It gets, like, really shallow. I get a fit, like, oh, my God, I can't breathe. And so it just takes me a moment to be like, actually breathe in.

[C]

A way that this is.

[D]

I sort of have to get past that first point.

[C]

I think partly because she was watching.

[D]

Me breathe and I was like, that's weird.

[E]

I mean, that is weird to watch them.

[D]

I mean, she was sort of doing it, but I think at one point I sort of clearly wasn't doing it right.

[C]

Because then she sort of started, like, demoing it quite loudly. I think she didn't believe. She was like. Because she couldn't perhaps see me, like, breathing out in quite the way that.

[D]

She wanted me to.

[C]

She was like, let it go, Sarah. Like, breathe out. I was like, I am breathing out.

[D]

I was like, is this having the exact opposite impact of what she's intending?

[B]

I did try to go with it.

[D]

For the purposes of the part, of course.

[B]

Am I allowed to share the sound box story? Yes.

[E]

So every year, Sarah and I meet in January, which is partly because it's Sarah's birthday, but also because it just gives us, like, a moment to think.

[C]

It's called, like, the year ahead.

[D]

Don't you?

[E]

Yeah, it's a spa and strategy day.

[B]

Which is probably annoying for everybody around us.

[D]

As long as no one else is on the spa day, it's fine.

[E]

We basically go to a spa that we've probably not been to before. And in the morning we exchange some presents, Christmas and Sarah's birthday.

[B]

And then the rest of the day.

[E]

We just do spa, but at the same time is talking about strategy, which.

[D]

We learn books, we take notebooks around.

[E]

It's so funny. One year we did it and I. And I always had my phone because I'm always making notes, and I accidentally left my phone in a robe and then the rope. We had to, like, chase the robe around the street.

[D]

You chase the robe once, but I said, just leave it and, like, it'll turn up. You were like, absolutely not.

[C]

You got your tracking out and you.

[D]

Tracked it to the men's changing room.

[E]

Very relaxing experience. Spirit shatter day.

[D]

But we did a.

[E]

Both did a sound bath and I.

[B]

Went in and it was the breathing. For anyone that's done it, it was, you know, it was the sounds and.

[E]

The breathing and the massage.

[B]

And I came out after three hours. I think, like, this is a revelation.

[E]

I've never felt like this.

[D]

You came out very emotional.

[E]

I cried in the massage and I gave the person a hug.

[D]

Oh, my God.

[E]

And then when I saw Sarah as she was about to go in, I said, oh, that was amazing. It's like a transformational experience. And Sarah's like, I just want a massage. And I think you briefed the person. It's like, whatever Helen has had.

[D]

No, I don't want that. I was like, I just want a massage.

[C]

You can hit some of the gongs if you want. Like, if, if.

[D]

If you want to do that, that's fine.

[E]

So he said to them, you can hit a gong.

[B]

Well, yeah.

[D]

They've got their things, haven't they?

[E]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it's quite professional.

[D]

Yeah. How much? Well, you know. But I was also like, I suffer.

[C]

With migraines and so you do actually.

[D]

Have to be a bit. So there was actually a bit of.

[C]

A serious point of like, please don't give me a migraine.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Which actually they took, to be fair to them, they took very seriously. I think I just saw you come out then.

[D]

What was the funniest thing was you panicked about clearly what was going to.

[C]

Happen to me and refused to leave. So I was like, you go home, it's fine. And I was much nearer where we were and then you were just sitting.

[D]

There looking really nervous when I came out and I was like, it's absolutely fine.

[C]

I just. But I think I did quite a lot of, like, teeing.

[B]

Yeah, I think you framed the experience.

[C]

Yeah. Okay. I didn't have to breathe, basically.

[B]

So.

[E]

So funny. That's going down.

[B]

Memory spa.

[D]

Yeah.

[E]

Also we have a spa and Saturday soon, so we can. We do look, look forward to more fun.

[D]

But I'm in charge of this one, so I've not booked a sound bath.

Oh, okay.

[B]

So we're going to frame the breathing. So what we have done is we've taken three whens at work that we think breathing might be able to help you. So, like, situations where perhaps you might be feeling a sense of stress or uncertainty. And based on the research, this could be a moment where thinking intentionally about breathing could help you in that situation. So we've got a when we've got a then for which is that breathing exercise. And then we also got the why, like, what's the science behind it? I mean, like, obviously we're not experts in this area. So it's kind of high, high level science. And then what Sarah has done that we'll share at the end is use AI to create a slightly more personalized when then, which I have found very helpful.

[D]

Like, did that today.

[C]

So as much as we can joke.

[D]

About, like these things, I was like.

[C]

Oh, something very practical, very quick, very short and easy to do. I sort of used your kind of when then why as a starting point, personalized it. And I was like, oh, yeah, this is great. I can imagine using this all the time.

[B]

So three practices and then one prompt for personalization. That's the plan. So the first one is when you're about to speak, but your mind is racing and your brain is really busy. So I have this quite a lot because part of Sarah and I's job is to deliver workshops and presentations to companies. And we're often like, this morning, for example, my train was late. I know you said, I was really, really like, ah. And I got here five minutes before I needed to be on. So everything was racing. I was annoyed at myself that I wasn't, I couldn't get here earlier. I was sort of worried about, like, look, my brain was racing. And so that is a moment where that mindset and also your, your kind of physical body could affect your performance because I might start presenting and I might be talking too fast or it comes out in a bit of a rush. So this is a moment when breathing can help you to respond better to that situation. So what we want to do here is when you are, you've got that kind of like panic, busy brain. You're not how you want to show up. The then breathing exercise is to take a slow exhale through your mouth for four to six seconds. So really long, like, like really long. And you do that before you speak. And the reason that you want to do that is that long, slow release reduces cortisol. So cortisol is a stress hormone that gets kicked up and it means that we get all kinds of tense and we bring all of that into our conversations. The big long breath gets rid of the cortisol and it also steadies your voice so it will lower. Remember when I did some voice training about, you know, making sure that you kind of want to have that lower voice that gives you a bit more gravitas. Whereas when we are really tense, our vocal cords tense up and it makes us go naturally higher. And so if you, if you're kind of releasing all of that, then your voice is lower, you are slower. And that is what you bring to that moment versus the slightly stressed, sped up version of you.

[C]

I actually had it this week. I was doing a presentation in the Shard, which was very fancy, as you'd imagine. And I'd read. I'd read this, you know, your notes beforehand on breathing. And I often find the moment I get most nervous is when someone is introducing me. So I. We present all the time and I really enjoy presenting. I'm a. I'm a sort of comfortable presenter. Like, I like doing that, but it's when it's that exact moment when someone's talking about you and I think it's because it feels a bit awkward. You're, like, standing right there and I'm like, someone's.

[D]

I suppose, do I smile at the.

[E]

Weird things they're trying to sell you.

[D]

Obviously, to that audience. Like, Sarah's the best thing ever. And you're just like, I don't think.

[C]

I know what facial expression to adopt.

[D]

Do I try and look, like serious and credible, or do I smile? Or like, what would that look like?

I don't think I have a serious, incredible face.

[C]

Like.

[D]

I don't look at myself too, but.

[C]

But, yeah. So actually, in that moment, I think I wouldn't want to see some.

[D]

I don't want other people to see me go, because then they would.

[C]

But I think actually you can. You can sort of do a subtle.

[D]

Like, just like a little bit of a.

[C]

And I think that helps me as I'm then, because I was then walking onto a stage so, you know, in just that. That kind of millisecond before you're starting. And I actually also had the same. Earlier in the week, I was presenting to two very senior people in a company that I'd not met before. And, you know, there was just quite a lot of expectation on that meeting and somebody had had kind of made that happen and they were there. So I also wanted to do a really good job for them because they really believe in our work.

[D]

So then I was like, my job.

[C]

Is to be as good as she's.

[D]

Clearly told them that we are.

[C]

I hope I represent squiggly careers and amazing if, well.

[D]

And again, I.

[C]

And I could feel my heart, you know, when, you know, we said before about, you know, when you can you suddenly feel your heart in a different way. And I think I was just a little bit nervous and I did just breathe out just for a bit longer. And somebody also said to me about, like, your jaw can get quite tense and sort of sometimes, especially like the forehand people can't see you, like, almost like opening your jaw a little bit. And then I did feel quite. I got really good feedback after that meeting as well. So I was like, maybe the breathing works.

[B]

So the next one is when you're feeling overwhelmed, like out of control of your work, which I do think this time of year, you know, back to.

[D]

All much, but I was thinking, like.

[B]

Crunchy Christmas, you know. Yeah.

[E]

There's just so much to do and it just.

[B]

Everything keeps piling on or maybe like before a holiday or there's just certain times where it just feels unmanageable. And the breathing trick here that can help you regain a bit of a control is you want to take a breath for energy. So in this situation, again, we might be feeling a little bit stressed. We might be feeling we should just be tired by it all a bit.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh. So a breath for energy is something that can help you kind of keep going because you probably can't stop everything.

[E]

You know, it's like you probably do.

[B]

Have to do all that stuff. So anything to kind of help you through it is what we need here. So this is where you do a quick inhale through your nose and then a slow inhale, exhale through the mouth. And you want to repeat this a couple of cycles. And what this does, it's a bit of a sort of an energizing reset for you. So of course this is not going to solve the fact that you've got loads of stuff to do, but if in that moment you're feeling so overwhelmed that you can't do it, an energizing reset is helpful and the science behind it.

[C]

This is interesting, I thought.

[B]

Yeah, I thought it was quite interesting. So back to the stress thing again. So stress can make you breathe kind of shallow, and so you're kind of doing lots of kind of short, short breaths, really. And that affects our prefrontal cortex. So this is the. In your brain that you get clarity, logic and perspective from. So the way that you are breathing is having an impact on how your brain is processing what you're trying to deal with. So stressed short, shallow breaths, meaning that your brain is not able to process with logic and perspective. So it makes the hard thing harder if that is how you are breathing in that moment. Whereas when we take the breath in through our nose and the slow one out through our mouth, it sort of resets everything so you're easier to respond to the situation.

[C]

So if the first one is more about calming down, the second one is more about, like, giving you energy. Yeah, energy. Boost.

[B]

Yeah, I would say the first one is about calm. The second one's also about clarity, because the energizing is a way of creating mental clarity, like helping your brain do what you need it to do in that moment, which is clarity, perspective, logic, so that you can respond to the many things that you're trying to deal with.

[C]

So I thought the next one was interesting because this is about when emotion gets in the way. And I was thinking about, you know, if somebody's having a conversation with you and you're getting emotional, and there's nothing wrong with that, but most people would say they don't want to get emotional in that moment. Perhaps somebody's having a hard conversation with you or something's just feeling really difficult. And I've seen people get. It's almost funny, isn't it? You get, like double emotions. I've then seen people get emotional and.

[D]

Then get really upset about the fact they then got emotional. So you're like. It's like emotion on emotion.

[C]

And so I think I like the idea here that this could help you to choose, like, almost like your emotions a bit more in a moment where perhaps something, like hard is happening and you can feel yourself getting upset, or you could. It could be the opposite. You could feel yourself getting angry. So what could we do in that moment?

[B]

Well, I have actually been in this situation this week for everyone but the upset one. And I was. And I had exactly what you were saying, which is it's like, I don't need to be upset by this. And now I'm actually getting more upset by the fact that I'm feeling like.

[D]

I might be getting upset.

[B]

And then this is just distracting me.

[E]

From the conversation I need. Like, there's some, like, we.

[B]

It's just not. It's distracting and it's frustrating. And none of that is actually useful for the conversation that you're trying to have. So I tried this one out this week because I'd done a bit of research before I was in that moment. And so the, the, the then, if you are in this situation, our emotions are kind of getting in the way of how you want to respond. The then is the Stanford physiological sigh, which is quite hard to say, but it is quite easy to do. So this is where you. You're in that situation. And again, like, I was on camera, so I could still do this without feeling like they were seeing me doing something massive.

[C]

Just need to breathe, everybody.

[B]

You want to see debris. This is so hard. I did it. Like, I didn't see my mouth do anything different than it would normally do. But you, you inhale and I did this through my mouth. So you inhale and then you then do like another like a pop up inhale and then you do a long slow exhale. So I did this all through my mouth which actually, I don't know whether it's supposed to be mouth or nose but I did it through a mouth because it just felt easier. And I, I think the thing that helped me was actually more just. I'm sure the breathing did something better for my body and we'll talk about science in a moment. But the thing really that helped me is my mind shifted from I'm really annoyed about this emotion to the breathing.

[C]

So it goes, it redirects your attention.

[B]

That's exactly what it did. And does do other things to your body as well like in a way of like controlling the emotions, just mentally focusing on this breathing exercise. I did it about three times and while I was listening. Yeah, I wasn't, I wasn't speaking at that moment. It was just while I was listening and I was much more, I just felt much more in control both of my emotions and of what I was going to say. So it kind of helped me, it helped me in two ways. So the science behind this as well as kind of my direct experience of it this week is that when you, when you've got strong emotions it makes you breathe a bit faster, a bit more panicky about it and that spikes your heart rate and it can create quite tunnel visions because it's kind of how we I guess survive in those moments. Like survive, survive, survive. But that, that kind of survival costs is not very helpful if you want to remain curious in a conversation.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And sort of stay in it and keep doing it. Your that kind of heart racing fast is escape. Like it's that kind of fight, fight response. Whereas actually what we want you to do is to potentially be curious about the conversation. And so the sigh just helps slow things down. It helps you calm down and it helps you to stay in a conversation rather than respond in a way that might mean you're kind of almost like mentally exiting it.

[C]

Yeah, I do think there is a difference. I've tried out some of these. I think the breath that you do when no one's watching is different to the breath you can do in a moment. So I've done some where that there's often it is quite useful to like really sigh out. But you're never going to do that mid meeting.

[D]

Yeah, also that's like feedback for someone, if you are, you know, they'll be like, oh God, is it that boring?

[B]

You do that before.

[D]

I have seen you do do that. I've told you, you do.

[C]

I think you're not. It's really interesting. You say you have this breath that.

[D]

You do where it sounds like you're like, I'm so over this. And sometimes I don't think it's that you are.

[C]

I think it's just that you're processing, processing and thinking. But it's almost like, you know, those unintended consequence things that we all have.

[D]

It's like the fact that I, I.

[C]

Frown when I'm thinking you have this.

[D]

Particular breath that you do because sometimes it's not like you do it like.

[C]

Maybe in like a workshop. And I'll say, well, I hope people.

[D]

Think she did, she's like bored of doing it or whatever. And it's never that. It's actually often that you're like processing.

[C]

Maybe what someone said or like making a link or a connection.

[D]

And obviously I know that really well. But you definitely have this like breath that comes to you like it's very particular moment.

[E]

I do think it's like a, it's.

[B]

Like a. I just need a moment breath.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And like, and then because I need to catch up and think about what.

[E]

I want to do next. But yeah, I should probably do it.

[B]

Less visibly and audibly.

[C]

Do you want to hear about my.

[B]

Yes, I would love to hear about your AI prompting.

[C]

So I was on the train this morning, so commuting on quite busy train and I thought, oh, I wonder if you can personalize breathing based on, you know, sort of what's happening to you today. So I said, I've had a full on week with work and home life. I'm on my way to our end of year team day and I want to show up in a way that's present and calm. Can you give me three different breathing exercises to try on the train and explain why it works? So I was trying to do quite.

[D]

A specific product because I was, I.

[C]

Don'T want to look ridiculous on the train.

[D]

And also I was, I want to.

[C]

I want to understand kind of why it works. And so it did and it actually gave me some different ones and it told me how long to repeat them for. So it talked about the extended exhale. So we've talked about it like breathing basically breathe in for less than you breathe out.

[D]

If I was doing the simple squiggly.

[C]

Careers version box breathing, which I knew and that's Kind of quite easy to do. So that's you breathe in for four, hold four, out for four, stay still for four. That's kind of quite easy. I liked this one, noting breaths. You know, we talked about noticing earlier this year. That episode always really stuck with me. This idea here is that just breathe normally, but all you do is say to yourself in your head, like in and out, you know, basically you're just noticing your breath. And what it's saying is that it's essentially, I suppose, a bit like a kind of meditation. Meditation, like a mini meditation. Because it's say if you're, if your mind wanders, just think, oh, I've sort of stopped noticing my breath. Literally just notice your breath.

[D]

And I was like, oh, that feels.

[C]

Like quite a useful thing to do. And then I liked this three minute arrive calm routine. And I was like, okay, you know, because we are all. I was thinking about how many back to back meetings people have. The amount of switching people have in their days, like into work and out of work. Most of us will have moments where we're like, we want to arrive calm. You don't want to be that person. I'm always really mindful of this because.

[D]

I've worked with people like this, you.

[C]

Know, people who turn up to everything frantic, everything's frantic, everything's stressy, everything's full on. And those people are not, they're not nice people to be around. But that's definitely all of us, you.

[D]

Know, like some of the time.

[C]

But I'm, I'm always like, that's not, that's not how I want to show up. And so it kind of talks about, almost like as you arrive, you kind of do that, like notice your breath, almost like ground your feet on the floor.

[D]

So like, you know, like the whole.

[C]

Like notice your feet like flat on the floor. Like stand up straight, you know that. Open your diaphragm. Yeah, so like kind of shoulders back. Open your diaphragm. There's something about posture apparently that kind of helps you to, you know, like enter a room with confidence and calmness. And then, yeah, it gave me this 30 second arrive study. And you do one deep breath, one four box breathing cycle, the grounding scan. That's like feet kind of shoulders back, one like intentional breath where you go, I'm arriving here. And that point here is almost like your transition. Like, almost like saying to yourself, I'm here now. And I was, I mean, I've added the I'm here now in like a. I think it's quite Nice to own that statement.

[B]

Did you do it?

[C]

Yeah, well, I was. Well, actually.

[D]

So let's talk about the actual reality of what happened. So I got to this room where.

[C]

We'Re recording now, and I could. I could obviously hear you.

[D]

So I'd got to come like, okay.

[C]

I'm ready to do the podcast because.

[D]

Like, we're doing this and we're doing. We've got a bit of switching going on.

[C]

It did make me think about, you know, like, my posture, how I was standing, and also just, you know, how you do want to show up. I was like, it helped me a bit to let go of other things because I have got in my mind emails in my inbox that I need to send and reply to and things.

[D]

That I've not done.

[C]

So, like, that is definitely in the back of my mind. And it helped me just with that tiny bit of perspective of, like, what matters most right now is being here with our team.

[B]

So we hope that has given you a bit of a perspective on how breathing can help you to support your performance at work. We would love to know any breathing bits that we've missed, so anything you already do that's helpful. Also, your reflections on the episodes, just email us. We're Helenand Sarahquigglycareers.com but if you are.

[C]

Going through a busy time at the moment pre Christmas, we hope you're doing okay. We hope this felt useful. And back with you again soon. Bye for now.

[B]

Bye, everyone.

[E]

Sam.