BREATHWORK
What is Breathwork?
While breathing is essential for keeping us alive, it’s also a gateway to deeper self-awareness and wellbeing. It’s unique among bodily functions in that it operates both automatically and under our conscious control. Without a thought, we take around 20,000 breaths a day. But unlike other automatic processes—like our heartbeat—we can choose to slow down, deepen, or hold our breath at will. This makes breathing a powerful tool for transformation when practiced with intention.
Breathwork has been practiced for centuries across cultures, from meditation and yoga to techniques like pranayama. It’s a broad term that includes a variety of practices focused on intentionally changing the breathing pattern. There are many forms of breathwork practices that involve breathing in a conscious and systematic way, often performed to improve mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. No matter what you’re seeking, there’s a breathwork technique for it—whether it’s for mindfulness, deeper self-awareness, healing, performance enhancement, or relaxation. At its core, breathwork is about reconnecting to our own life force, getting out of our head, and back into our body with all its wisdom. By consciously altering our breath, we can shift how we feel and how we experience the world around us.
Benefits of Breathwork
Tuning into your breath offers a wide range of benefits for your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Some of the main benefits include:
Reduce Stress and Anxiety: Breathwork techniques promote relaxation, helping to lower cortisol levels and alleviate feelings of stress and anxiety.
Enhance Mental Clarity: Improved oxygen flow to the brain can boost focus, creativity, and cognitive function, allowing for greater mental clarity and decision-making.
Improve Physical Health: Regular breathwork practice can enhance lung capacity, improve circulation, and support overall physical vitality.
Support Emotional Release: Breathwork can help you process and release stored emotions, fostering a sense of emotional balance and healing.
Promote Mind-Body Connection: By tuning into your breath, you cultivate awareness of your body and its sensations, strengthening the connection between mind and body.
Encourage Personal Growth: Engaging in breathwork can open doors to self-discovery, helping you uncover insights and foster personal transformation.
“The breath is a mirror, reflecting our physical, mental,
and emotional states.”
- Dr. Andrew Weil
There are many ways to use your breath, and the approach often depends on your individual goals.
To give you an idea of the types of breathwork I can offer, please take a look at the following options.
And remember, there are many more possibilities—we can explore them together!
Breath Retraining - Return to Your Natural Flow
Many of us take breathing for granted, as it's an automatic function controlled by our autonomic nervous system. However, how you breathe when you're not consciously thinking about it can make all the difference. Poor breathing patterns can lead to unnoticed symptoms that significantly impact your health and wellbeing.
It can be difficult to recognise unhealthy breathing patterns, so the first step is to become aware of your breath in order to make meaningful changes. To improve your breathing, start by asking yourself these questions:
Do you breathe through your mouth instead of your nose?
Is your breath rapid or shallow during rest or light activities?
Are you using your upper chest instead of your diaphragm?
Do you wake up frequently or snore at night?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you may not be breathing at your best and could benefit from support in finding your natural flow. Retraining your breath requires honesty with yourself, and like with any other form of training, consistency is key. The goal is to help you return to a breath that is slow, low, and light.
Breathing for Stress Management and Focus
Do you ever feel like you're drowning in meetings, deadlines, and responsibilities, barely finding a moment to breathe?
In the corporate world, many of us spend hours behind computers, jumping from meeting to meeting, and dealing with various stakeholders. Things get hectic, especially when deadlines loom, and it often feels like everything piles up at once. If you're not careful, prolonged stress can lead to mental and physical fatigue and eventually burnout.
I've been there—neglecting my own self-care just to get the job done. Breathwork helped me noticing my body and recognising when I needed a moment to breathe. Taking small moments to breathe now can help prevent the need for a longer recovery later.
Breathwork is a powerful tool. It allows us to check in with our breath and state of mind. In high-pressure environments, breathwork helps reduce stress, sharpen focus, and find calm through simple techniques. Imagine offering regular group sessions or incorporating breathwork into your wellness program. It's about giving your team practical tools they can use throughout the day—whether to stay focused before a big presentation or to improve communication within the team. Breathwork goes beyond stress relief—it builds a more resilient, motivated, and connected team.
Ready to explore how breathwork can support you and your team?
“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it…Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness we will discover the infinite power of our light.”
- Brené Brown
Transformational Breathwork Journey
In a transformational breathwork journey you will be guided through different breathing patterns, from slow breaths to more activating ones. It helps quiet the overactive mind, allowing you to drop into your body and connect with its innate wisdom. As you breathe, you may access deeper parts of yourself, bringing shadows into the light and release unresolved emotions and trauma stored in your body.
During the session, as breathing intensifies gradually the sympathetic nervous system (your fight or flight system) is activated. This deliberate stress helps surface what has been locked away—whether it's past experiences, old emotions, or stored tension. It’s normal to feel some form of resistance during the session, whether this is through physical discomfort, emotional release, or mental blocks. However, true growth happens when you breathe through this resistance. The breath becomes your tool for healing, guiding you to move past old energy and emotions. By the end of the session, you will feel a profound sense of release, and relaxation. Each breathwork journey is unique and personal, and can offer you valuable insights, emotional breakthroughs, and a sense of deep connection to yourself and others. Whether you're looking to release stuck energy, heal past wounds, or simply reconnect with your body, this journey provides a powerful opportunity for growth. While these breathwork sessions are deeply impactful in a 1:1 setting, they can be just as powerful—and sometimes even more so—in a group environment.
Are you ready to explore what your breath can unlock within you?
Cold Water Immersion
Being cold is never really comfortable, and our minds often come up with stories of discomfort, fear, or doubt—thoughts like, "I can’t do this," or "It’s way too cold for me". These narratives create both physical and mental resistance. However, by focusing on our breath, we can calm the mind and prepare ourselves to face discomfort head-on. Through deliberate breathing, we can learn to push through that initial tension and anxiety, finding strength in our ability to endure. This practice not only helps manage our body's immediate reaction to the cold but also allows us to challenge the limiting beliefs that hold us back - not just in the cold water but in our everyday life, too.
The advantages of cold water immersion extend far beyond building mental resilience. Regular cold exposure can improve circulation, boost the immune system, enhance recovery from exercising, and increase energy levels. It has also been shown to reduce inflammation and relieve muscle soreness, making it a great recovery tool after exercising.
When we let go of mental barriers and embrace the experience, we often discover a profound sense of calm and peace. The release of tension, whether this is physical or mental, opens up new pathways for clarity and resilience. This journey teaches us that by confronting our mind chatter and breathing through the resistance, we can find both strength and stillness in the most challenging moments.
What thoughts come up when you think about trying an ice bath? Are you willing to challenge those doubts and see what you’re truly capable of in a session with me?
Breathing and Apnea Training for Surfers
How we breathe when surfing can make all the difference. But how we react when we can’t breathe is even more crucial. Getting wiped out and held underwater is part of surfing. Usually, it's only for a few seconds, but in bigger surf, those seconds can feel like an eternity, especially when you’re tossed around underwater. Sometimes, you may only manage a single breath before the next wave and hold-down hits.
Unlike freediving, where you have time to mentally prepare and find a calm state before diving, breath-holding while surfing can be sudden, unexpected, and stressful, often with a racing heart. Staying calm and holding your breath can literally be life-saving in these moments.
The goal of apnea training is to stay calm, relaxed, and become comfortable with being uncomfortable while building lung capacity. It also sharpens the mind, helping you shift into a meditative state that conserves oxygen compared to being in a hyperactive state. This translates to greater comfort and control in challenging situations; improving your stress management and enhances mental and physical conditioning—boosting willpower, cardiovascular health, and endurance for all aspects of life. Whether you’re tackling big waves or just caught off guard by a sneaky set, managing your oxygen isn’t just about comfort.
Are you ready to explore your limits and build more confidence in the water?
FAQs
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A typical session lasts between 1 to 2 hours and includes a quick check-in to set an intention, breathwork practice, and integration/closing discussion. Each session will be tailored to your needs but will leave room to go with the flow.
Here is an example of how a session might look like:
Discovery call and pre-session check-in (a couple of questions to get a feel for where you are at)
15-30 minutes check-in
30-60 minutes guided breathwork practice
15-30 minutes of integration and closing discussion
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The breathing portion of a session can last anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes, depending on your unique journey and what feels appropriate. You’re encouraged to stay open to whatever arises—this might include:
Emotional Experiences: Strong emotions (both pleasant and challenging), release of tears, laughter, scream or temporary emotional volatility.
Physical Sensations: Tingling, muscle contractions (tetany), temperature changes, or other temporary sensations.
Movement: spontaneous movement, shaking, changing position.
Resistance: It’s normal to encounter resistance during breathwork. Your mind may spin stories like, “This isn’t working,” or you might feel unfamiliar sensations. Leaning into and moving through this resistance often leads to profound breakthroughs.
States of Awareness: Deeply restful or ecstatic states, vivid reliving of past experiences, spiritual experiences, or experiences from other transpersonal areas of consciousness.
These sensations and experiences are temporary and a natural part of the breathwork process, especially in transformational sessions.
You can’t do it wrong! The only thing I encourage you to do is to keep breathing and see what unfolds. You’ve got this and I’ve got you!
The session may also include sound healing, music, scents, or (with your consent) touch and bodywork to support releasing stuck emotions or energy. I will clearly communicate and demonstrate any touch beforehand, ensuring you feel comfortable and informed at any point, if you prefer to remain in your own process without touch, you can easily signal this.
As your facilitator, my role is to guide you, hold a safe space, and ensure your wellbeing throughout the session. Your experience is my top priority.
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It depends! While breathwork is a great tool to incorporate into your daily routine—the majority of the techniques are simple and can be practiced every day—I don’t recommend doing transformational breathwork sessions daily.
Transformational breathwork can bring up deep, stuck emotions and energy, which can sometimes feel confronting. It’s important to take the time to properly integrate these experiences. This might include talking to someone, whether a trusted friend or a professional, journaling your thoughts, or grounding yourself through mindful practices.
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Yes, you can attend a breathwork session if you are under 18 years old, but only with the supervision of an adult. This ensures that the breathwork session is conducted in a safe and secure environment for everyone involved.
In addition to safety considerations, breathwork sessions (especially transformational journeys) are likely to be more appropriate for those aged 18 and above as for some experiences emotional maturity or life experience would be useful to understand or benefit from such a technique.
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Breathwork offers many potential benefits, but certain conditions may create risks for some individuals. There are some contraindications and breathwork may not be suitable for you if you have the following conditions:
Pregnancy
Detached Retina
Glaucoma
Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure
Cardiovascular Diseases (e.g., angina, previous heart attack or stroke)
Diagnosis of aneurysm in the brain or abdomen
Uncontrolled thyroid conditions and diabetes
Asthma (if you have an inhaler, please bring it)
Epilepsy
Prior diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or previous psychiatric condition
Hospitalisation for any psychiatric condition or emotional crisis within the last 10 years
Any other medical, psychiatric, or physical conditions that would impair or affect your ability to engage in activities involving intense physical and/or emotional release.
This list is not exhaustive. If you have a condition not listed, consult a physician before starting breathwork. If you have or have had any of the listed conditions, I strongly recommend consulting a physician before starting breathwork.