The School of Greatness - 1047 Three Simple Breathing Habits to Reset Your Mind

Episode Date: December 18, 2020

“We’re breathing all the time but we rarely pay attention to our breathing.”On today's 5-minute Friday Lewis guides us through three very helpful tips on the power of breathing.For more go to: www.lewishowes.com/1047Learn more about Greatness Coaching: www.lewishowes.com/coaching Mel Robbins: The “Secret” Mindset Habit to Building Confidence and Overcoming Scarcity: https://link.chtbl.com/970-podDr. Joe Dispenza on Healing the Body and Transforming the Mind: https://link.chtbl.com/826-podMaster Your Mind and Defy the Odds with David Goggins: https://link.chtbl.com/715-pod

This is 5-Minute Friday! Breath is the link between the mind and the body. Dan Bruhl Breathing is the number one thing to give your mind a reset. Breathing is the number one thing to give your mind a reset. When I'm feeling nervous or stressed out, overwhelmed, or catching myself overthinking about something, breathing exercises can help me get back to a calm and relaxed and in control state of being. The power of breath is that it lets you steer your energy.

That means it's guiding you towards your vision. When we are out of breath, we are out of control. When our mind is out of control, our breathing typically follows. But when I get on stage before a big speech, when I play in front of a big game with the USA National Team, even before my Monday meeting calls with my team,

I breathe. And even on our team calls, we do breathing exercises to guide us and steer us in the direction we want to go for that week. It's one of the most powerful things you can do every single day or in any moment of stress is to breathe. But breath is one of those topics that people love to overcomplicate and confuse. And that's why I want to share with you today three very simple breathing habits and tools. You can try them out here live as you're listening. But my hope is that

you go ahead and implement at least one of these habits in your daily life. The first thing is to bring awareness to your breath. Now we're breathing all the time, but we rarely pay attention to our breathing. By taking a moment to bring your awareness to your breath, just as it is, you can get out of your head and into the present moment. So really think about it in this moment. Pay attention to your breathing right now. This habit is great for when you catch yourself overanalyzing things. Instead of thinking about the thing you're analyzing, focus on your breath and temporarily let go of everything else. Just bringing awareness to your breath is huge.

Number two, focus on and lengthen your exhale. My high performance coach, Dr. Trish, who works as a head coach for our Greatness Coaching program, says trust your exhale. She's taught me that the exhale is just as important, if not more important, than your inhale. You see a lot of people do that deep breath in, but it's actually elongating exhale, a longer extended exhale. So in this breathing exercise, try to focus on your exhale and lengthening it, draw it out. Doing this will slow down your heart rate and can bring you into a calm state. So try it right now. Breathe in and then exhale twice as long as the breath in and see how that feels. By the way, guys, Trish, again, is my head coach for Greatness Coaching,

our brand new program for entrepreneurs looking to take their business, their health, and their life to the next level. So I'll be dropping a link to Greatness Coaching in the show notes. And if you want to learn more, go to lewishouse.com slash coaching and check out the application page to see if you're the right fit right now. And the third thing is to use a deliberate sigh. Everyone loves a good sigh. You know what I mean? It just feels good when you say, ah, and this exercise involves breathing with a double intake and an extended exhale. So try this like this, a double intake, an extended exhale. And doing this exercise for just two or three cycles can

steer you into calm. Dr. Andrew Huberman, who I interviewed recently, studies this very exercise at Stanford University, and it's proven to work wonders for athletes, entrepreneurs, and basically anyone who tries it. Again, double inhale, and then a longer exhale with a sigh. Try it for yourself right now. So there you have it. Three simple breathing tools to reset your mind on cue. Number one, bring awareness to your breath. Number two, lengthen the exhale. And number three, use a deliberate sigh.

lengthen the exhale. And number three, use a deliberate sigh. These breathing habits will be a game changer for your focus, stress levels, health, energy, and nervous system. I'm telling you the power of breathing can change your life. And I want to leave you with this quote as you breathe and soak in that beautiful breath and let it out. When the breath is unsteady, all is unsteady. When the breath is still, all is still. And as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.