"The Trick Is to Keep Breathing" was first considered as a potential single from
Version 2.0 prior to the release of the album. After the third single release, "
Special", Garbage's European distributor
BMG chose "...Keep Breathing" as the follow-up for some of its territories. Preempting the single release, Garbage debuted "...Keep Breathing" live on October 19, 1998 at
USF Special Events Center in
Tampa,
Florida BMG sent a
radio edit of the track to
radio stations across Europe on January 7, 1999, six weeks in advance of the release date. The airplay and release of the single would coincide Garbage's return to the UK & Europe on their
Version 2.0 tour;
MTV Europe recorded the band's live show at
The Zenith Arena in
Paris,
France on January 27 to be broadcast as a five-song
MTV Live special. The recording included the band's performance of "The Trick is To Keep Breathing" from that night and was broadcast on MTV networks worldwide, from April 1. The following night from the Zenith show, Garbage performed "The Trick Is To Keep Breathing" and "Special" acoustically on
French Canal+ television show
Nulle Part Ailleurs. After the performance, Garbage were presented with gold discs for their French record sales. BMG released "The Trick Is to Keep Breathing" in Germany on February 15, 1999 on a
CD maxi format which contained the
B-sides "Tornado", a
cover version of
The Seeds' 1965 single "
Can't Seem to Make You Mine" and an
urban radio remix of "Special" by production duo Rickidy Raw. "...Keep Breathing" sold over 10,000 copies, making it the biggest selling German single of the
Version 2.0 campaign. In Greece, music channel
MAD TV heavily supported "The Trick Is to Keep Breathing", where the video reached #1 on their station chart. An episode of
One Tree Hill was named after the song. In 2000, "...Keep Breathing" featured on the
soundtrack of the
Bollywood movie
Split Wide Open. ==Track listings==