The Transformational Effect: How to Use Breath for Maximum Impact Onstage

This article was updated in March 2026.

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In life, as a general rule of thumb, the bigger the thought, the realization, or the change we are experiencing, the bigger the breath we usually take to express it. 

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Some thoughts don’t require a lot of breath, like when you’re choosing what cereal to have for breakfast or which gum flavor to buy in the grocery store checkout line. 

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But the ideas you’re sharing onstage? Those are big ideas, ones you’ve worked hard to develop and refine. Deep-breath-worthy ideas. 

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Unfortunately, most speakers skip out on a powerful yet simple way to show their audience the grandeur and importance of their ideas onstage: breathwork.

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When you use breath as a catalyst for presence, authenticity, and engagement in your performance, you: 

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• Feel more relaxed and in control onstage; your confidence increases because you know how to effectively deal with pre-event nerves. 
• Connect more deeply with your audience because you’re less focused on what you’re going to say and more focused on the audience and their experience. 
• Deliver a performance that’s much more visionary; it seems like new ideas, discoveries, and connections are happening in real time onstage. And your performance is much more captivating, inspiring, and insightful. 

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But most speakers don’t know how to employ this powerful technique. Instead of strategically using breathwork to uplevel their performance, they deliver their speech without taking a single deep breath. 

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Instead of using deliberate pauses that make it look like ideas are spontaneously occurring to them in the moment, they drive through their speech without taking the breaths necessary to really let their ideas sink in. 

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The result? A performance that feels gum-flavor-sized rather than transformational. 

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What It Takes to “Change the Air in the Room”

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Have you ever listened to a keynote speech or watched an onstage performance that gave you goosebumps? Or heard someone say something that literally shifted the energy in the room? 

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In the acting world, we call this “changing the molecules” or “changing the air in the room.” It’s something you feel, perhaps on your skin or in the air, when someone delivers hard news, shares something really chilling, or says something extremely profound. 

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It’s what happens when you activate both your language and your breath to make the audience feel specific emotions. It’s transformational. You can tell you’re truly having an effect on your audience when you change the air in the room. 

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But let me be clear, changing the air in the room is not something you can strong-arm. You don’t have to go big, overplay, or overact to achieve it. In fact, often you’ll change your audience more effectively with a laser pointer rather than a searchlight. 

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How to Use Breath to Change Yourself and Your Audience

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You won’t be able to change the air in the room if you can’t control the air in your own body. That’s why breathwork is so important. Achieving this transformational effect is much more about connection than force. And anybody can do it, anybody can learn it. It’s actually quite simple. 

Try these practical tips for exploring the largeness of breath that is required to express the significance of your thoughts and ideas: 

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#1 Breathe in before you speak. 

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We often tell people to breathe in before they speak. Duh, you might think. But more often than not, the second a speaker steps onstage, their breath is hijacked by their nervous system. The nerves and fear take over. They start taking short, shallow breaths that stem from the upper chest rather than the diaphragm. 

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The ideal onstage is diaphragmatic breathing (more commonly known as deep breathing). This actually lowers stress and improves brain function. When you breathe like this, you consciously use your diaphragm to fill your lungs to full capacity. 

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Try it yourself: put one hand on your chest and one hand on your stomach, directly under your ribcage. Breathe in deeply and slowly so you feel only your hand on your stomach rise (rather than your hand on your chest). Notice how this deep breathing feels different from your normal breathing. 

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Research shows that deep breathing can also help you remember information. Perhaps that’s why taking a deep breath often helps performers remember their lines. In fact, when an actor blanks onstage, often the only thing a coach has to say is “take a breath.” Then, when they inhale and oxygenate the brain, they almost always find the right words. 

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This can also apply to professional speakers. Sometimes the reason you forget what to say is because amidst the nervousness and adrenaline, you stop breathing. When that happens, just inhale and let your next line come to you on the breath. 

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Taking a deep breath onstage opens up your body and relaxes you. It allows you to stay grounded and be in touch with your audience. And, technically speaking, if you don’t take strong breaths, you can’t support your vocal sound or project your voice properly.