Hi ,
Last time, we explored what it means to truly see the person speaking to you — to listen behind the words.
Today, I want to share one small but powerful practice you can start using right away:
It’s called a Centering Breath.
And it’s not just taking a deep breath.
It’s an intentional, on-purpose pause where you reconnect with your body, your awareness, and your center — even for just a few seconds.
Here’s how:
- Take one slow, conscious breath
- As you breathe, quietly say the word center to yourself
- Feel your body supported by the ground or chair
- Let your attention gather into a sense of yourself — grounded, aware, here
Even one intentional centering breath can shift you — especially in moments where you might otherwise react automatically.
And in professional life, the ability to stay centered under pressure is crucial.
The leaders people trust and follow aren’t the ones who never face stress — they’re the ones who meet stress with grounded presence.
Even one intentional breath can change the tone of a meeting, a negotiation, or a critical conversation, creating space for wiser choices and stronger leadership.
I’ve been in more than one meeting at Microsoft where taking this breath helped me speak with more authority.
Before I joined Microsoft, they often hired me to consult on specific topics. I once flew to their HQ to meet with the team creating a certification quiz on their web server product, which was my expertise.
At one point, I was providing feedback on the technical accuracy of one of the questions — which is exactly why I was there.
The program manager pushed back, saying, “I don’t think that’s right. I think it works differently.”
In that moment, I was bristling.
They had brought me in as the expert, and now my expertise was being questioned — publicly, by someone I didn’t know.
But I knew with absolute certainty that I was correct.
That’s how I built my career — certainty not from book knowledge, but from hands-on experience, practicing and confirming what actually worked.
My impulse was to be defensive — and somewhat aggressively so.
But instead, I took a centering breath.
Paused.
And calmly said, “I see. Why don’t you check it out and let me know what you find?”
To which he simply responded, “I will do just that.”
And that was the end of it.
No escalation.
No need to embarrass anyone publicly.
No derailment of the conversation.
This is just one real-world instance of many.
Imagine being on stage with 400 people watching — and your live demo crashes because the hotel internet goes down.
Centering breath to the rescue.
(Plus, I learned to always have a video backup of every live demo ready just in case.)
The key value here is that over time you become:
- Less reactive
- More grounded and thoughtful
- More able to hear what’s actually being said
- Less caught up in trying to control or perform
- More naturally curious and open
Centering Breath is a practice for building non-reactivity.
It’s about creating a small but powerful space between stimulus and response.
It’s about giving yourself the chance to choose — rather than just react.
And there’s a deeper layer too.
When practiced regularly, even when you’re not under stress, the Centering Breath strengthens your inner resilience — a topic I explore much more deeply in my training programs.
But it all begins here.
With intention.
With one breath.
In the middle of real life.
This week, I invite you to try it:
One intentional centering breath — especially when you notice tension rising.
Notice how it shifts your experience.
Notice how it changes (or saves) the conversation.
More soon.
Stay present — and remember:
Presence creates choice.
Choice creates resilience.
– Brett