Breathing for Boldness! Harness the Power of Breath to Feel More Confident

Humans have been using the healing power of breathwork for thousands of years.

And it’s really a very recent phenomena that we (in the west) have disconnected from our breath and our bodies.

So, how can breathing help you with my confidence?

You breathe every day. You’re breathing now, and I’m guessing (because you’re reading this) that you’re looking to feel more confident. So, why aren’t you feeling confident now?

Like with everything, the power in your breath comes from intentionality.

Regulating your breath has the ability to move you from anxious and stressed to calm and collected.

If you’ve ever had a panic attack, or been breathing quickly and shallow because you’re scared, you might have been encouraged to take long deep breaths.

Deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for our bodies’ rest and digest state. The vegus nerve, is the longest nerve in our body (sometimes called the wandering nerve) and is responsible for our mind-body connection. It relays information from our inner organs to the brain and is activated by diaphragmatic (deep) breathing.

The Vegus nerve is responsible for our relaxation response. What this means is, that through deep belly breathing, using the diaphragm, you can activate your body’s relaxation response in times of stress.

However it also means that the opposite is true. Meaning, shallow chest breathing sends signals to the brain to activate the sympathetic nervous system, and our fight or flight response.

So that’s the science of breathing and the nervous system. And you might be thinking, okay, but what does that have to do with confidence?

Well, it’s hard to feel confident and self-assured if you’re constantly in a state of fight or flight. Deep breathing can help you feel more grounded and relaxed, which will help you feel more confident.

But breathwork can also have longer lasting effects on your confidence than just in the moment regulation. Some forms of intentional breathwork can help to induce altered states of consciousness. Meaning that you can tap into your subconscious mind.

Your subconscious mind is where a lot of the habits and patterns that play out through your life exist. It's where a lot of habits or ways of thinking that contribute to self-sabotaging behaviours live.

It's like the background music in a film. You might not notice it exactly; you're too focused on what's going on in the scene. But it sets the tone for that scene.

Using your breath is the quickest and easiest way of accessing this powerful part of your brain, that you can't access in day-to-day life. I love to use it in my coaching.

This is powerful when it comes to building absolutely unstoppable confidence, because it means you can start to smash through the blocks that are holding you back from being your most confident self - blocks that you might not even be aware are holding you back.

You’re probably be holding onto beliefs about yourself and the world that are stopping you from feeling super confident. They’re manifesting in self-doubt, comparing yourself to others, perfectionism, regularly apologising, feelings of low self-confidence. And those beliefs aren't found in the conscious part of your brain. They've made their home in the subconscious mind. In You’re not thinking those beliefs consciously on a daily basis, even though they are leaving signs in your action.

What breathwork (and specifically conscious connected breathwork) can do is access those parts of your subconscious that normal coaching, or talking therapy can’t. And helps to heal those beliefs from the root.

If you’re doing coaching, journaling, affirmations, talking therapy etc. that’s amazing for building confidence! But that stuff is only acting upon your conscious mind. So, everything in the subconscious is staying the same. And that might mean that you’ve been on a healing journey for a long time, working on your personal development, and working to build confidence, but you’re still struggling to feel unstoppable. And that’s because the subconscious brain isn’t feeling confident.

Breathwork can help to access that part of your brain, and transform those subconscious beliefs that are stopping you from feeling your most confident self.

I love it as an accompaniment to the coaching I already do with my clients. To really get to the root of what needs to be healed and released, to move forwards and create unstoppable confidence.

Breathwork can be used to build confidence in the moment, grounding and relaxing you. But it can also be used to transform limiting beliefs on a subconscious level, and release feelings of unworthiness and self-doubt for good.

Wait, who even am I?

I'm Jeannie, an introverted actor, empowerment coach and breathwork facilitator. I help high achieving, but exhausted and burned out, introverted women hold onto their energy, and build unshakeable confidence. So that they can show up as themselves, honouring their introverted nature, get noticed, and lead from the front, in a world that demands extroversion.

Are you an ambitious af introverted woman looking to make waves in your industry? Are you read to take off the extroverted mask? Get in touch! You can book in a free no-strings-attached call with me to discuss what you're struggling with, and what needs to happen to get you from where you are now to where you want to be. Click here.