Breathe In Strength, Breathe Out Fear: Managing Stress Through Breathing

In the months since the COVID-19 pandemic flipped our (already ailing) public school system upside down, I’ve noticed an especially relevant parallel between the experience of educators and school leaders and my own experience as a performer: Frequent feelings of fear, stress, and anxiety.

As a performer in New York in my 20s and 30s, I was incredibly passionate about performing and lifting up my audiences, but my relationship with fear often sabotaged my ability to perform as best I could. I spent years researching the right rituals to quell the stress, fear and anxiety that would flood my body before taking the stage.  Of course, I understand that a performer’s experience of stage fright is not the same as the traumas of 2020. That said, the same chemicals are produced in the brain that hinder our ability to think clearly, so we can address the fear using similar techniques.

Since March, my conversations with school leaders have often returned to the topic of fear and stress. With the slew of pressure-filled situations in schools this fall, you have less time to think, less time to prepare, and less time to recover between meetings. The seemingly impossible trick is to be able to respond–not react–in the midst of it all. 

In all my years of coaching, offering breathing techniques is the practice that’s had the biggest impact on the most people in the shortest period of time. I recently worked with a principal, we’ll call her Patricia, who is in her first year of leading at a new school in Texas. Patricia has been swamped by all the planning needed to open her school, and in a recent coaching session, we noticed how she was breathing up into her chest and shoulders. We discussed that breathing purposefully into the belly can inhibit the initial panic response to stress by actually telling the brain to stop sending in adrenaline. 

Try it now, as you read. Consciously take four or five slow, deep breaths in the belly. Notice the sense of calm it gives you. 

The best way to learn is through practice, so I gave Patty a few steps to follow: 

Step 1. Practice a belly breathing routine: I asked her to practice breathing in her belly while lying down, right before she went to sleep at night and just after she woke up in the morning. She was surprised to find that by practicing when she was most relaxed, the diaphragmatic breathing became automatic in less than 2 weeks.

Step 2. Put the breathing to work, at work: Next, Patty started employing these techniques at her desk. She practiced noticing when she started to get stressed–she stopped what she was doing and took two or three belly breaths, each followed by a sigh of relief. She also consciously let her body relax, particularly her jaw and shoulders.

Step 3. Breathe in strength, breathe out fear: Then, Patty prepared to lead her next virtual team meeting: The most important time to practice, the real test of the belly breath, is when you lead a big group or talk to frustrated parents–any time you’re “on the spot.” Before starting the call, she practiced the belly breathing and let her mouth form a gentle smile with each exhale.

After applying these techniques, she reported, “Wow, I did not realize breathing differently could have such an effect. Not only did my attitude shift, but I felt the atmosphere in the virtual room change and people loosened up! After we all took these deep breaths, we were able to get work done and be present for each other in a very rough time.”