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Get Yourself Centered
By Bess Gallanis
Deep Breathing
By Bess Gallanis
From Chaos to Calm Teleconference Series
November 5, 2009
© Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Developing stress resilience
When stress overwhelms your ability to cope you will feel distressed. Tight chest, headache, upset stomach and
lower back pain are your body’s response to the tidal wave of hormones unleashed by more stress than you can
manage at that moment.
Stress extracts its physical toll and it also gets in the way of your performance. Stress hormones effect your brain, too,
making it hard to accurately read the situation and to hear what other people really are saying.
Stress resilience is one of the most reliable markers of success.* More than education, more than training, more than
experience, a person’s level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. This is true a marathon and it’s
true in the workplace, too.
One key to improving your stress resilience is to manage stress in the moment. Deep yoga breathing is the quickest
way to activate your body’s relaxation response. Your pumping heart, damp brow and shallow breathing will slow
down to normal as you feel your body relax and your mind calm.
Underlying most stressful situations is the need for control. We can’t control the traffic, other people’s behavior or the
weather. Often the difference between feeling stressed out or calm is letting go of control.
Surrender meditation is letting go of what you can’t control and holding close to you what’s most important.
Both techniques, deep yoga breathing and surrender meditation, are simple enough to practice just about anywhere
– privately in your office or sitting at a conference room table.
Breathe deeply!
* Harvard Business Review, “How Resilience Works” by Diane Coutu, May 2002
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Breathe Deeply
Get in touch with your body
 Close your eyes, breathe
normally and completely
relax.
 Place your palm on your belly
and focus on your center. Feel
your belly rising and falling
with each breath.
 Surrender to the feeling of
calm.
 Note how your body feels:
heavy or light, stiff or supple,
closed or open.
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Breathe Deeply
Get in touch with what’s important
 Place your hand over your
heart and continue to breathe.
 Contemplate this question:
What is most important to you?
 Hold this thought close to your
heart.
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Breathe Deeply
Classic, three-part yoga
breathing technique:
1. Take a deep, controlled
breath through your nose.
2. On this inhale, let your
breath expand your
abdomen, then diaphragm
and rise to your chest.
3. Use your abdominal
muscles - the action is
pulling your belly button to
your spine – to control your
exhale.
4. Breathe in this manner for
about 30 seconds or until
you feel better.
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Surrender Meditation
Get in touch with your body
 Close your eyes, breathe
normally, and take some time
to completely relax.
 Place your hand, palm down,
on your abdomen, thumb on
belly button. Focus your
attention on your center.
 Breathe normally and
surrender to the feeling of
calm.
 Note how your body feels:
heavy or light, stiff or supple,
closed or open.
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Surrender Meditation
Get in touch with what’s important
 Place your hand over your
heart and continue to breathe.
 Contemplate this question:
What is most important to you?
 Hold this thought close to your
heart.
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Surrender Meditation
 Sit back comfortably, and imagine your
body is filled with sand, as if you were
an over-stuffed doll.
 Beginning with your left foot, imagine
the sand draining from your body, as if
your were deflating. Allow stress and
physical or mental pain to flow out of
your body with the sand. Fully
surrender and relax.
 Repeat this surrender on the right leg,
then the left arm and then the right arm.
 Finally, focus on your back. Allow your
back to completely relax as the sand
and stress drain away.
 Let go and surrender to this calm,
relaxation.
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Surrender Meditation
 Re-oxygenate your brain and
body by taking three deep
yoga breaths.
 Place your index fingers on
either side of the bridge of
your nose, in the corner of
your eyes. Apply gentle
pressure for a few seconds.
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Reconnect with what’s important
 Take this final moment to
reconnect with what’s most
important to you.
 Hold this thought close to your
heart.
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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About Get Yourself Centered
Bess Gallanis is an author, speaker and founder of “Speaking with Power and Persuasion,” an executive
communications consulting firm She integrates a broad range of perspectives to help executives
generate high impact in all dimensions of their lives through skillful communication. The author of
“Yoga Chick,” (Warner Books, 2006), Bess speaks to women and professional groups on the topics of
wellness as the source of high professional performance and sustained life satisfaction.
Recognizing that women and wellness is a leadership issue, Bess created Get Yourself Centered,
which challenges us to think differently about the work and life balance equation. Choosing priorities
rather balance is a way to stay centered, integrated with what’s most important in life and free of the
stress that robs you of the vitality and energy you need for high performance.
Get Yourself: From Chaos to Calm presents tactical tools and techniques to help women remain
balanced, centered and energized:
 Mindfulness training that sharpens your powers of concentration.
 Meditation, breathing and stretching exercises to reduce stress and manage energy.
 Body awareness exercises that open the door to greater perception and intuition.
 Mental scripting provides the tools to rewrite your inner talk track.
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

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Bess Gallanis Inc.
Bess Gallanis Inc.
Corporate Communications | Executive Communications | Women and Communications
bess@bessgallanisinc.com
312.659.7572
LinkedIn
www.bessgallanis.wordpress.com
Bess Gallanis Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.