Navy SEALs, Box Breathing, and Stress

Happy Saturday!

The Navy SEALs are well known for being special forces soldiers tasked with the most demanding missions the US military has to offer.

Their training is legendary for how hard it is to complete.

As you might imagine, being a Navy SEAL can be a high stress job.

To help SEALs manage high-stress situations their instructors teach them to use a technique called box breathing.

This type of breathing involves inhaling, holding, exhaling, and holding again, all for equal counts, typically four seconds. 

This controlled breathing helps to slow down the heart rate and promotes relaxation, signaling the body to calm down and relax.

Just like Navy SEALs, we all face stressful situations in our everyday lives.

I'm 100% not a Navy SEAL.

But I 100% do get stressed working as a Salesforce consultant.

It could be before leading a training session for two dozen people.

Or just the day-to-day desire to get all my tasks done.

Sometimes we all just feel a little frazzled.

And so today's takeaway is that some simple breath work can be an awesome tool in the toolkit.

No joke, that GIF has been on my various computers for over 6 years.

• I've used it before difficult conversations.
• I've used it before interviews.
• I've used it when I'm stuck on a problem.
• I've used it for fun

Stress is normal and natural.

One of our responsibilities to ourselves is to manage it.

So why not give box breathing a try the next time you're feeling a little overwhelmed?

It just might become your go-to stress reliever!

Best,

Nick