by Mike Mandel
About 25 years ago, my mentor, the late great Derek Balmer, brought NLP co-founder Dr. John Grinder to Toronto.
It was an amazing experience, and we students learned a wealth of powerful techniques that were literally life-changing. Although I was already trained and certified in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), this was a different variant known as New Code.
New Code is distinct from original NLP, or Classic Code, in that it uses breathing shifts and body movement to create high-performance states.
John Grinder taught something called Chain of Excellence, which enables a person to improve their performance in virtually anything, from playing chess to cooking a meal or practicing martial arts.
Chain of Excellence is based on the concept that your performance in any activity is determined by how powerful a state you are in. This makes complete sense if you think of state as the totality of your physical health, internal dialogue, current beliefs, in fact, everything that’s YOU at that moment in time.
So, in order to perform tasks at a higher level, we must put ourselves in more resourceful states, which is actually quite easy to do.
If you radically change your physiology, your state will also change, and your performance will immediately improve. This is easily achieved by standing taller, moving smoothly, letting go of tension, and basically taking on the kind of relaxed posture that helps create a powerful state.
But there’s another aspect to Chain of Excellence that is an absolute game-changer, and that’s shifting the person’s breathing.
Anyone who has attended our live training in Toronto has seen me work with a student in the front of the class to demonstrate the power of breathing shifts. Typically, the student would express a negative emotion that wouldn’t go away, often due to toxic people or past events.
To see the fear, anger, or sadness melt away in a few minutes is amazing, and it’s all accomplished with a simple shift to deep, relaxing breathing while focusing on the bad emotions.
That’s because deep, slow breathing changes physiology, and cascades down to changing state and performance too.
So how can you use this?
Simple! You can do something from New Code called Walking with Grace and Power.
Here’s how.
A number of years ago, I had a one-hour keynote in Boston and wanted to ensure I was in the most powerful state possible when I hit that stage. The event was several blocks from the DoubleTree Hotel where I was staying, so instead of taking a cab, I decided to walk.
I said the words: walking with grace and power, and strode to the event, head up, shoulders back, and taking energetic but relaxed strides. And most importantly, I focused on my breathing, making each and every breath slow, deep, and full.
A few minutes later, I arrived at the event, and the powerful state remained for a couple of hours at least, enabling me to ace the keynote, and receive a long and resounding applause.
So anytime you need to be powerful and focused, go for a walk.
Just make sure you’re relaxed, breathing fully, and striding with purpose.
It works like a charm.
