Access Calm Under Pressure: How to Activate Your Vagus Nerve For Stead, Confident Leadership
Simple daily practices to ground your nervous system, sharpen your thinking, and lead with assurance
By Suzie Thoraval
“Every cell in your body is eavesdropping on your thoughts.”
When calm becomes your greatest asset
Before I step onto a stage or into a room to lead a workshop, the most powerful thing I can do isn’t revise my notes — it’s steady my nervous system. A few deep breaths. A quiet moment to ground myself. That small reset is often the difference between racing through the performance with a high pitched, nervous voice and truly connecting with the audience.
I’ve seen it with my daughter, who’s currently preparing for her Year 12 exams. She’s put in months of study. But we both know that performing under pressure is its own skill. These practices — breathing, posture resets, rituals that settle the body — will help her walk into that exam steady, clear, and confident.
Performance in everyday leadership is the same. It’s not just knowing what to do, but learning how to steady ourselves when it matters most.
Your nervous system: the real performance edge
Behind the scenes of our sharpest thinking and calmest presence is a powerful inner system: the autonomic nervous system. It’s what primes us for action when danger arises — but it also holds the key to deep recovery, clear thinking and long-term stamina.
At the heart of this system sits the vagus nerve — the body’s longest cranial nerve, connecting brainstem to chest and abdomen. When activated, it slows the heart, deepens the breath and sends your brain a calming signal that helps you to calm your nerves.
The science is clear: activating the vagus nerve improves memory, increases focus, and enhances decision-making. These feel-good shifts can be an important foundation of sustainable performance.
The high cost of powering through
Too many high-performing leaders run on adrenaline until the wheels fall off. In the short term, it looks like grit. In the long term, it looks like:
Mental fog — memory lapses and slowed decision-making under pressure
Reactivity — short fuses, reduced empathy, and fractured collaboration
Burnout — no pause, no recovery, just a slow leak into exhaustion
We have seen this kind of breakdown in well-known leaders.
At the Tokyo Olympics 2021, Champion US gymnast, Simone Biles shocked the world by stepping back from competition, citing the “twisties” (a disconnection between mind and body under extreme stress). Her decision drew global attention to the role of nervous system regulation in performance.
And I have written before about Arianna Huffington's collapse at her desk from burnout — a wake-up call that inspired her to build Thrive Global and redefine success through wellbeing.
Former Chief Operating Officer of Meta, Sheryl Sandberg, offers another perspective. In her book, Option B, she described the mental fog after her husband’s sudden death — and how tiny daily rituals like walking, journaling, and mindful breathing helped her slowly return to strength. These micro-resets weren’t grand gestures. They were lifelines.
As leaders, we ignore the body’s signals at our peril — but we can also reclaim control, one small reset at a time.
Think of the vagus nerve as the keel beneath your leadership sailboat. The winds of pressure — board meetings, tight deadlines, personal challenges — will always blow. Without a keel, your boat is tossed around the turbulent ocean. But with one, you stay upright. You may sway, but you are unlikely to sink.
This is what I call Adaptive Stability: the ability to remain anchored while flexing with what comes. A steady core. A calm centre. A clear course.
Steadying practices that strengthen your calm
You don’t need days at a health spa. These micro-practices take just a few minutes a day — but their compound effect builds clarity, confidence, and capacity:
Resonant breathing: Inhale for 4–5 seconds, exhale for 6–7. Two minutes is enough to recalibrate.
Longer exhales: Even three slow breaths with a longer out-breath can move you out of fight-or-flight.
Micro-pauses: Drop your shoulders. Three breaths. Then begin again.
Cold splash reset: Cool water on your face stimulates the vagus nerve and shifts your state.
Cold shower finisher: End your daily shower with 30 seconds of cold. Resets the nervous system and builds resilience.
Cold splash reset: Activates vagal tone through vibration. One minute can work wonders.
Gargling or singing: Activates vagus nerve pathways — surprisingly effective and easy to integrate.
Mindful movement: Yoga, tai chi, or a slow walk outdoors naturally regulate your breath and build coherence.
Just like any muscle, the more you train your calm, the stronger it becomes.
Reflection for your leadership rhythm
When pressure builds, do I push through — or pause to reset?
What is my personal ritual for returning to steadiness before a key moment?
How might my decisions shift if I led from a calm, centred body?
What would change if my team saw calm as a strength — not a luxury?
The hidden lever of leadership
Watching my daughter revise for her exams reminds me: knowledge is important — but calm is what counts in the big moments.
The same goes for leaders. When you know how to help calm your system through your vagus nerve, you help to unlock composure and clarity, and support sustained resilience — not just for yourself, but for those you lead.
What daily practice could I use to help calm my system before big moments that will steady my nervous system before I act?
