How to Do Defensive Breathing?

Did you ever wonder how the world’s greatest singers such as Barbra Streisand or Luciano Pavarotti are able to hold those powerful tones for such a long time and still continue to sing so effortlessly? Did you ever watch a pregnant woman use the Lamaze Technique, using her controlled and repeated forceful mouth breathing to cope with the pain of childbirth? Have you ever heard the loud gut-level grunt when a professional tennis player serves a ball or a weight lifter lifts the barbell over his head?
Have you ever become completely mesmerized by a professional speaker, unaware that her melodic and effortlessly flowing tones were responsible for your added interest in what she was saying? How they breathe allows the professional singer to hold that note, the mother to deliver the baby, the athlete to hit the ball or lift the weight, and the speaker’s information to glide smoothly into your ears.
Most of us take our breathing for granted. We just know that without it we are dead. It is during times of extreme excitement or stress, however, that we become conscious of how we breathe.
When we are nervous—or, more commonly, when we don’t know how to breathe properly—several things can happen.

1. Our inability to focus and think calmly is impaired.
2. We begin to gasp for air because we have difficulty catching our breath as we speak, causing our opponent to perceive us as uncontrolled and desperate.
3. Without proper breath control, our voice sounds shaky and tremulous, giving our adversaries ammunition to perceive us as nervous, tentative, or unsure.
4. Finally, improper breath control can maintain or escalate increased heart rate and blood flow, which can affect the overall status of your health.

The following section on breathing will show you how to breathe to calm down and gain control of your inner being, your listening, and your talking.
If you don’t breathe properly the following things may happen:
• You may have trouble focusing and concentrating.
• You may be perceived as sounding desperate.
• You may be perceived as sounding nervous or tentative.
• Your heart rate may increase, thereby placing you in a more agitated state.