When business journalists start writing about stress in the workplace and the power of the breath it’s time to take note says Joel Jelen
Scientists have understood the link between the breath and the mind since the 1950’s.
Now the likes of The Economist last month, Harvard Business Magazine, and The Times amongst others have begun publishing articles on how we can breathe stress away and employers are listening up.
“The mind controls the body, but the breath controls the mind,” says Joel Jelen, founder of Sniff Sigh Yawn which focuses on performance management in the workplace.
“There’s an increasing number of professional types participating in de-stress sessions, courses and workshops all around the country right now. They are all inspired by breathwork given its benefits for steadying the mind.”
Joel who learnt about the power of the breath back in 1995, maintains that it’s not just about the feedback from clients who say that guided breathing makes them feel better.
“There have been a large number of random controlled trials (RCTs) over many decades, one recent example including a meta-analysis in 2023, published in Scientific Reports which compiled the results of 12 RCTs including 785 participants. This highlighted in its findings, the many positive effects of slow breathing on stress.
“Researchers at Stanford University published a study in 2023 too showing how participants performing breathwork saw their mood consistently improve as the study progressed over several months.”
“Science has also shown that breathwork forces attention away from negative thoughts with slow breathing increasing heat rate variability – i.e. the fluctuations in the timing between heart beats.”
Military Precision
Joel points to how the military have long used breathing exercises to help their people under extreme duress.
You can imagine how similar techniques can help the rest of us with our more common workplace stresses.
Stress interferes with our ability to do our best work but, with the right breathwork knowledge and practise says Joel, we can learn to handle our stress and manage negative emotions.
He cites how ‘breath meditations’ can induce calm and resilience.
“They have also been shown in studies to have an immediate impact on stress, mood, and conscientiousness, with the effects growing stronger when measured over a three-month period.
“I also include more conventional, cognitive strategies for stress-management such as how to change your thoughts about stress. Both produce significant benefits but the impact of breathwork is more pronounced.”
Sports Coaching and Business Leadership
We know from sports coaches and CEOs in business too that leadership using emotional regulation is a key competence.
“One of the benchmarks of a strong leader is the ability to both manage and influence the emotional states of those they work with and be able to regulate their own feelings effectively.
“The most successful leaders use their reappraisal muscles when delivering difficult news to better able to help their people manage their team’s potential anger response.
“And guess how when a leader’s own stress level is high, they regain their cool to reappraise? Breathwork.”
Johann Berlin, CEO of the TLEX Institute insists: “By teaching executives how to manage themselves through something as easy as breathing better, you can make an enormous difference to their teams.”
Joel says “by better he means more functionally. Inhales increase your heart rate and blood pressure while exhales slow them down. Within Sniff Sigh Yawn programmes, I mention how we can double the length of our exhale compared with our inhale to immediately calm emotions.
“It enables us to deal with high-stake situations when we most need to regulate. I also encourage teams to practice these exercises in low-stake situations. Practice them daily. It helps you become well versed when things get stressful.”
Joel who is a Fellow of Buteyko Professionals Internationalhas put together a list of ten things that you may not know about breathing, as follows:
People with anxiety can dramatically reduce their anxiety by physically changing how they breathe.
Prolonged periods of stress change your breathing rate.
The rate at which you breathe governs your mood. Slow your breathing down, change your mood.
You can measure your breathing rate naturally via the control pause: Using a stopwatch, pinch your nose, hold your breath until slight air hunger, then release. Average score is around 20. Optimal breathers can achieve 40 with minimal effort.
Frequent sniffing, sighing and yawning with big breaths is a symptom of hyperventilation.
Dysfunctional breathing is the second biggest factor in common pain felt in the neck and shoulder girdle. Posture is first, both are interlinked.
Your tongue posture determines how healthy your breathing is and how healthy you are. Incorrect tongue posture narrows the airways and impairs regular breathing patterns.
A deep breath needs to be light, quiet, effortless, soft, through the nose, tummy-based, rhythmic and gently paused on the exhale. It is not a huge, loud, visible, mouth-exhale-based motion.
Breathing in for 2 seconds through the nose before speaking prevents taking large breaths through the mouth prior which causes hyperventilation.
You can eradicate negative thoughts by focussing on the breath, always through the diaphragm and the nose.
Reach out to Sniff Sigh Yawn via joel@sniffsighyawn.com to enquire about performance management workshops, events and courses for corporate, SME businesses, community organisations and private clients.
Copyright Sniff Sigh Yawn 2025. All rights reserved.
This A-to-Z book includes a glossary of new words for children and short notes about better breathing for parents. Slow down, relax and read this book with your children to find out how you can all breathe better and improve your health.
