40-Second Breathing Exercise for Calm and Clarity

Save this link for the next time you feel anxious, tense, or your mind won’t stop racing. A few minutes of diaphragmatic breathing can bring you back to calm and clarity. Read the instructions below to make sure you’re breathing diaphragmatically (many people think they are, but aren’t quite).

Why it works: When stress takes over, your body shifts into sympathetic mode — fight, flight, or freeze. That’s useful in real danger, but it leaves you tense, scattered, and forgetful in everyday life. Engaging your diaphragm sends a signal of safety that moves your body into parasympathetic mode — the rest-and-digest state where calm, focus, and memory return.

If you’re familiar with box breathing, you’re probably used to counts of 4. I used counts of 5 because it deepens relaxation and slows your rhythm just a bit more.

How to find your diaphragm:

It’s a dome-shaped muscle just below your ribcage. Place one hand on your upper belly (just under your ribs). When you inhale deeply through your nose, your hand should gently rise. When you exhale through your mouth, your abdomen should flatten again. This in-through-the-nose, out-through-the-mouth technique activates your vagus nerve — the key to calming your nervous system.

Try the exercise with me in this video, and notice how different you feel after just a few breaths.

This is just step one of my full Preparation Ritual, which I teach in all my programs. These quick steps help even people who fear public speaking feel confident and centered.

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