Mask on first
You own your breath. Let's put it to work for your performance.
The EmpowerGenix diagnostic
A read on where you're strong and where you're running thin, across seven areas of how you work. Start with a few minutes and go as deep as you like. Your answers stay with you.
Today's session
Two quick check-ins on your phone. Everything else happens in the room.
Check in
How do you feel right now? There's no right answer.
How steady do you feel? How focused do you feel?Check out
The same two scores, then one question for Angela.
How steady do you feel now? How focused do you feel now?Keep it going
This app is yours for the next 12 months. Your guided audio is added in the days after the session.
Every day: the two-minute Reset before your first meeting.
End of the day: Recover, five minutes.
Once a week: the full practice, about 20 minutes.
Your answer goes to Angela with no name attached. Your scores stay on this phone unless you tick the box.
Your practice
The breathwork from your session. Guided audio is added once the session has run.
Morning: the Reset before your first meeting.
Evening: Recover as the working day ends.
The Reset
About this pattern
When to use it
My notes
What did you notice? Kept on this phone only.
Learn
The why behind the practice.
You own your breath
It has been yours since your first moment. It goes with you into every meeting, every decision and every difficult conversation, and nobody can take it from you. Most leaders never train it. This is where you start.
Put your own mask on first
On every flight you are told to fit your own oxygen mask before helping anyone else. A steady leader steadies the team around them. Two minutes before you walk into a room changes how you walk in.
Why the out-breath matters
Slow breathing with a longer out-breath is shown to shift the body toward its rest state and lower stress. Many people find they think more clearly from that steadier state.
Every practice uses four parts: breathe in, a short pause, a longer breathe out, a short pause. The pauses are rests, never a strain.
What the evidence says
Slow breathing raises heart rate variability and shifts the body toward its rest state (Zaccaro et al., 2018). Exhale-focused breathing for five minutes a day improved mood in a month-long trial (Balban et al., 2023). A 2023 meta-analysis found breathwork lowers stress, with small to medium effects (Fincham et al., 2023). Results build with regular practice.
The seven edges
Seven edges, each pairing a breathing pattern with a focus aimed at one part of leading under pressure. Your session uses Edges 01 and 04.
Staying safe
If you feel light-headed, go back to normal breathing. Shorter counts are fine. If you're pregnant or have a heart or breathing condition, keep it gentle and check with your doctor. This practice supports performance and wellbeing; it is not medical treatment.
About Angela
Angela Johnston spent 27 years leading delivery and operations in global businesses, most recently as Chief Delivery Officer at Arcadis Gen. She founded EmpowerGenix and the 7 Edge Protocol® to help leaders keep performing at the top without it costing them everything.
