Previous Episode: 5 Ways to Influence

INTRODUCTION TO EPISODE 4 – You Need to BREATHE More (with Aimée Bruneau)

Have you ever seen a professional singer sit down while they're doing the performance? Most likely you don't see that very often especially when it comes to opera because the power is in the breath.

In leadership and communication, there's so much power that comes from breath. Today, Mike wants to teach you how to have a powerful breath and why it's so important as we dive into this subject with Aimee Bruneau.

Aimee is a public speaker and a communication coach.

 (For the full show notes and more resources, at no cost, visit connect.stepstoadvance.com


EPISODE 4 SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTS

2:15

Ancients used to be able to look at a person and determine the quality of that person's life and how long they would live just by watching the way that person was breathing.

3:26

The time when Aimee discovered the importance of breath. 

8:30

Things that happen when you breathe shallowly when you are speaking in leadership and communication.

12:30

When people are very nervous, their voices will start to sound like it's not even their own voice because they shallow breathe. 

13:04

Structurally, if you're not using the full capacity of your breath, you're going to be limiting what's going on in your vocal tract

13:45

If you're nourishing your voice and your communication with these big full breaths, then you have so much more power. One of the biggest assets to full breathing is you are able to stand in front of people, and truly be present with them.

16:36

There are breathing exercises that you can learn by working with a coach. Breathwork is all the rage now, and they are finding that this is getting in front of anxiety, and just helping a lot of people. So self-awareness is one thing

17:30

Finding exercises that work for you is really important. You can work with the coach to find out what those are. They're pretty simple, but it's also habits.

19:45

High-stress moments are an opportunity that you have to practice those breathing techniques.

To improve your breathing, you need to: 

1. Be Self-aware - sometimes when we're thinking we forget to breathe. 

2. Build a Habit

 

KEY QUOTES:

2:00-2:10

“The quality of each breath can really paint a picture of the quality of your life”

14:50-15:10

“I have a lot of clients who really want to work as Executives. When it comes down to executive presence, the quickest way to improve it is by learning how to breathe and getting used to yourself and finding the power that your breath will give.”

18:20-18:25

“Whenever I catch myself in a moment of waiting, I check in to see how fully I am breathing right now.”

22:00-22:09

“Breath is life. When you're looking at the very basics, that's where I think true transformation begins.”

 

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST: 

·      Building Habits: An Interview with Leo Babauta

·      Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad One


If you want to get to know more about Aimee Bruneau and her services, visit https://www.stepstoadvance.com/ or book a coaching session at https://advance.as.me/aimee. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn and make sure to hit the follow button!