You’ve seen them before. You almost couldn’t take your eyes of them. They walked into a room, and you automatically turned your head to see. So did everybody else. They moved with a kind of grace and power that convinced you within seconds of seeing them that they were a movie star, or a powerful politician, or some kind of secret society member that lives behind the curtains of oz and pulls the strings of the reality that the rest of us mortals live in.

If you’re lucky, they came over and spoke to you. Perhaps shook your hand. Maybe gazed into your eyes, and exchanged a few sentences with you. And you noticed something about them. When they came and talked to you, it was like you were the only person in the room. The only thing on their mind. You felt the electricity coming from this person. A magnetic force that pulled you towards them, somehow making you forget the boring conversation you were having earlier.

This person had charisma. And after reading this article and practicing the tips, so will you.

The best definition about charisma is that it is the simple ability to make people feel better after interacting with them. The ability to leave people better than you found them. Ok, sounds good, but how do you do that? You can do this with two simple mindsets, that you can develop with one simple practice.

The first mind set is a complete and absolute appreciation for yourself. Not a false sense of ego, made up overcompensation for something that you think (mistakenly) that you are lacking. A clear and honest appreciation for yourself.

The second characteristic to develop is a slowness in the expression of your thoughts. When you think of the most confident people you’ve ever met, you will notice that they spoke slowly, and chose their words carefully. You can do the same.

You can develop both these traits through the practice of focused breathing.  What you do is sit or stand comfortably. Then slowly exhale all of your breath until your lungs are empty. Then you wait until you generate a strong desire, but not a desperation to inhale. Then you inhale slowly, not so fast that you fill your lungs up right away. You want to maintain that desire to fill your lungs until they are completely filled.

When your lungs are filled, feel a deep and honest appreciation for the air you’ve just breathed in. Feel an appreciation for the feeling that you have now. A desire that has been consciously filled by you. Hold the breath for a few seconds, and expand that appreciation into an appreciation for all the emotions and sensations that you are feeling. After a few seconds, exhale slowly, until your lungs are empty. As you slowly breath out, imagine that your out breath is your presence that you are slowly asserting onto the world. Once your lungs are empty, repeat the process again.

Breath in, feeling appreciation for the air, for life, and for yourself.  Breath out, slowly and powerfully asserting your presence onto the world. The more you consistently practice this, the quicker you will develop that unshakable confidence and charisma that we talked about above. The appreciation of your breath will transform into an appreciation of yourself and your thoughts, and your slow exhale will transform into a slow, confident expression of those same thoughts and ideas, drawing people and opportunities to you as if by magic.