How breathwork can help directors handle high-stakes pressure

Stressful situations can lead to fight-or-flight responses, serving neither the individual nor their colleagues. There is a transformative potential in taking a pause by deploying breathwork techniques – the intentional, conscious control of your breathing pattern to improve your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

After decades in business development and corporate marketing roles, Emma Kelly came to respiratory therapy accidentally.

"I thought my daughter was taking me to a Pilates class, but when we got there she said, 'We're doing breathwork'," says Kelly.

"I was sceptical that breathing could make much difference, but it really impacted me. I realised my body was a bit cooked!"

She swiftly moved on to instructor training with Breathless Expeditions in Jindabyne, NSW, and in 2024, set up Breath Life Studio. As well as group programs for organisations, Kelly works one-on-one with leaders and directors.

"I've had some very experienced directors develop a stronger understanding of how they operate under pressure through breathwork," she says. "They're not necessarily coming to me because they feel stressed. The work might be about clarity, presence, performance, recovery – or simply creating some space in incredibly full lives."

Although based in Adelaide, Kelly takes Breath Life Studio around Australia.

"Usually, people arrive busy, slightly stressed, often sceptical and thinking about the 10 things they've just left behind," she says. "The training connects people back to themselves, and when you do it together, it creates an incredible connection between the people in the room."

Kelly wants to "create athletes in the boardroom" through breath exercises. "We put so much work into training athletes to perform under pressure, working on their body, recovery, breathing, mindset and capacity," she says.

"Then we put executives and directors into environments where they're responsible for people, money, risk, strategy, change and enormous decisions, without teaching them how to manage themselves physiologically under that pressure."

Kelly recalls one director being referred to her by a colleague, who could tell he was in a high state of stress. "I can make a difference in a one-hour session. I showed him techniques to manage his own system and regulate himself. It's then all about doing that before you step into a stressful meeting or get on a stressful phone call."

Practice builds capacity. "There are a couple of processes that will retrain your breathing, which you need to practise for 15 minutes every morning," says Kelly. "It only takes a few weeks to retrain yourself."

A technique for nervous-system regulation

Dr Yen Lim – clinical psychologist, breathwork facilitator and co-founder of BodyMind Corporate – treats depression, anxiety and workplace stress, and also works with teams in organisations. She saw a sharp spike in patients with these conditions during the pandemic, and noticed that even when life returned to normal, for many, the stress persisted. "People in my professional and personal life were still in a heightened state of activation," says Lim. "When our nervous systems should've come down from fight or flight, that sustained stress response was still really prevalent."

Beginner techniques include box (or square) breathing. It follows a four-step pattern, each lasting the same count (usually four seconds), forming a "box" shape. Inhale through your nose for four seconds. Hold for four. Exhale through your mouth for four. Hold (empty lungs) for four. Repeat the cycle.

Diaphragmatic (belly) breathing engages the full diaphragm to stimulate the vagus nerve and activate the body's relaxation response. More advanced practices include circular breathing - inhaling and exhaling without pause - as employed by didgeridoo players.

Lim acknowledges the way breathwork is practised varies widely. "I use the Oxford English Dictionary definition, which is when we consciously manipulate the breath."

She doesn't use the technique with clinical patients. "There is evidence to suggest that it's helpful in the treatment of some conditions [stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and some respiratory or chronic conditions]. But that research is still emerging. I'm training to be a breathworker, but at the moment, I see it as more for wellbeing."

That said, Lim believes respiratory techniques are a powerful tool for nervous system regulation. "Breathing is a physiological process that happens automatically, but it is also] one of the very few such processes we can consciously control or influence," she says.

Using the breath intentionally to bring calm to your body can also steady your mind.

"If we're breathing faster or heavier in response to something, we're going to perceive ourselves to be stressed, anxious or have a sense of danger, which influences how we react to a situation."

Lim says BodyMind Corporate programs teach slow-pace and conscious techniques, drawing on research by journalist James Nestor in his book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art (2020).

"He describes the ideal breath as being about five to six breaths per minute, the equivalent of about 5.5 seconds per breath, in and out."

The ability to de-escalate and disagree in a positive way is an essential skill for directors. "Slow-breathing research shows that pattern allows people to feel calmer, less stressed and have more attention over where their attention goes," says Lim. "It influences your heart rate and allows for the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous system to be in sync. You often feel more relaxed and if you're in a stressful situation, you have more capacity to think, listen with more curiosity and respond. Having a regulated nervous system allows us to stay open to what someone is saying."

Slow breathing also helps to regulate emotions, damping down reactive, defensive snapbacks and promoting the thoughtful, constructive responses that boardrooms require.

Beyond stillness to energy

Kelly says some of her clients need something akin to a swimmer's stroke correction for their breathing. "I've got a client who's retired at 62 and is really fit. He's made his money, he's on boards where he thinks he can make a difference and he loves his life. He's so not stressed, but he wasn't breathing right."

The client, a keen runner, was drawing breaths high in his chest, rather than deep down to his diaphragm. "I brought him back to basics to retrain his breathing," says Kelly. "You're trying to increase their capacity and CO, tolerance by getting them to inhale slower and lower."

Breathing lower from the diaphragm and reducing the number of breaths per minute activates the nervous system's relaxation response, making oxygen exchange more efficient.

Kelly loves seeing clients astonished at their progress. "Men particularly need stats and facts, and he tracks it on his watch," she says. "For him, it's all about performance and stamina, and now he thinks he's a rock star because he can run 5km while only nose breathing. He's more energised, sleeping better and feeling fitter. He goes into board meetings totally switched on, so there's a cognitive benefit."

However, for all the potential of mindful breathing, it's just one element of being fit for the boardroom.

"I don't want people to think it's a silver bullet," says Lim. "Appropriately selected breathing practices may help to create physiological conditions that support the cognitive and interpersonal capacities leaders rely upon when they're making complex decisions. However, healthy organisations also require good governance, psychologically safe leadership, manageable job demands and thoughtful organisational design."

Slow breathing ahead of your next board meeting could be a good place to start.

This article first appeared as 'Take a breath' in the Oct/Nov 2026 issue of Company Director Magazine.