265: Breath Control for Better Decision-Making: A Conversation with Samantha Skelly

improve it! Podcast – Professional Development Through Play, Improv & Experiential Learning

What if the secret to conquering chaos, leading with confidence, and transforming stress into ease was as simple as your next breath?

This week on the podcast, I sat down with breathwork expert Samantha Skelly to uncover the transformative power of intentional breathing.

As the Founder of Pause Breathwork, Samantha Skelly is on a mission to help others unlock their infinite potential though breathwork. And her next big focus is making breathwork accessible & affordable to humanity, worldwide.

From hilariously relatable mishaps (like sending a 10-year-old email to thousands) to life-changing strategies for managing energy and embracing joy, Samantha shared tools that could shift how we approach work, leadership, and even self-healing.

Here were some of my favorite topics that we covered in the episode:

1. Managing Emotions Through Breathwork

Samantha introduces the concept of consciously choosing your breath pattern to influence how you feel. Instead of letting anxiety take control, she suggests asking yourself what you want to feel, like confidence or clarity, and then adjusting your breath accordingly.

By using deep, intentional breaths, you can activate the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” state), helping you feel grounded, even in high-stress moments.

Btw, if you’re looking for another breathwork expert on the pod, I think you’ll love this one with Erin Telford: The Art of Breathwork: Mastering Self-Love and Living Fully with Erin Telford

2. Real-Life Example of Breathwork

Samantha recounts an intense experience right before recording this episode, where an old, out-of-date email was accidentally sent to her entire mailing list. She describes feeling an initial surge of rage, then using breathwork to regain her composure and approach the situation with clarity.

By taking two deep breaths and extending the exhale, she shifted from a “fight-or-flight” response to a calmer, problem-solving mindset.

3. Shifting Mindsets from Stress to Ease

I reflect on my own experience with stress in building my company, improve it!, sharing how I used to view stress as a badge of hard work. In response, Samantha offers a framework called LIFE: Lucrative, Impactful, Fun, and Easy.

She encourages business owners to allow success to feel easy and fulfilling instead of always hard-earned, emphasizing the importance of self-love and creating a business model that sustains rather than drains energy.

For all things breathwork and how to start incorporating it into your daily routine (and why you should!), listen to the full episode. It'll blow your mind with how simple it is + the impacts it can have.

No, You Hang Up First (Let’s Keep Connecting)

• Did today’s episode resonate with you? Leave us a review sharing your favorite breathwork insight and we’ll send you a free signed copy of I See You! A Leader’s Guide to Energizing Your Team through Radical Empathy.
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Show Links

• Purchase I See You! A Leader’s Guide to Energizing Your Team through Radical Empathy here and the Resource Guidebook that was built in conjunction with it here.

Connect with Samantha Skelly

• Samantha’s LinkedIn
• Samantha’s website
• Pause Breathwork website

Connect with Erin Diehl x improve it!

• Erin’s website
• Erin’s Instagram
• Erin’s LinkedIn