Why I trained to become a certified breathwork instructor

And never looked back

It was my first time doing breathwork and the challenge was laid down before us – 10 minutes straight in the ice bath (!). I glanced around the room and saw equally nervous faces – was this guy serious? Most of us had barely done 3 minutes, let alone 10! Our master instructor and breathwork guru, Eugene, reiterated to us that there were little physiological benefits in spending this long in the cold and that this was purely a mental challenge using the power of our breath. Great.

I'd never really thought about the power of breath before that day. Even after years of competing in sports at a high level, breathing was just something that happened automatically - background noise to the real work of training and performance. But as I sat there in that ~5°C ice bath, halfway through what felt like an impossible challenge, I was amazed at how well my body was regulating this extreme stress. Yes, it was cold. Yes, it felt like an eternity. But I had been expertly guided to form a rhythm with my breath, and I completed the challenge with surprising ease.

That ice bath (and many subsequent sessions) became my gateway into a practice that has genuinely changed how I approach stress, performance, sleep, and mental health (among many others).

Modern breathwork is grounded in ancient science

Breathwork can get a lot of hype - for good and questionable reasons. Athletes can credit it as the secret ingredient to their improved performance, while sceptics dismiss it as mystical nonsense. But having now studied, practiced, and experienced breathwork in detail, I can tell you confidently: there is a lot of science behind it and the results can also be profound.

What many people don't realise is that breathwork has been around for millennia. It's a cornerstone of yoga (pranayama), the foundation of Tai Chi (qi cultivation), and a core practice in countless other disciplines that have thrived for centuries. There's a reason these traditions have endured - they work.

As we increasingly work in a high-pressure, ‘go-go-go’ existence, our ability to navigate stress has become crucial to our resilience. The relationship between breath and longevity is also fascinating. It's unlikely a coincidence that the animals with the longest lifespans are typically the slowest breathers:

• Whales: 100+ years, surface to breathe every 3-5 minutes while traveling

• Humans: 90-100 years, 12-20 breaths per minute

• Monkeys: 20-40 years, 30-50 breaths per minute

• Mice: 1-3 years, 150+ breaths per minute

While the exact mechanisms are complex and involve multiple factors beyond just breathing rate, this pattern suggests something profound about the connection between metabolic pace and cellular aging - something ancient practitioners understood intuitively and modern science is exploring through the lens of metabolic theory.

How I use breathwork every week

There are countless applications for breathwork, but here are some practical ways I integrate it into my weekly routine:

1. Down-regulating after stress

We all experience stress daily - some beneficial, some not. A challenging workout is good stress that builds resilience in our bodies. Speaking to a packed audience is another form. Even spending time in challenging weather conditions creates its own physiological demands.

While stress is essential for growth and peak performance, we also need to know when we are pushing it too hard. I use controlled breathing to re-regulate my nervous system after every ‘stressful event.’ This means slow, deliberate breathing after every workout and calming breath patterns after presentations. For me, this can change my entire day thereafter and rarely do I not take 5-10 minutes to hit the reset button on my stress response.

2. Priming for competition

Big wave surfers don't need to be convinced of breath's power. When you're trapped underwater for minutes at a time, your ability to hold your breath literally becomes a matter of life and death.

While most of us aren't pulling into 30-foot waves, we all face moments requiring peak performance. Fast-paced, energising breathing patterns can fire up your senses and prime your nervous system for those crucial moments when execution matters most. I use this type of breathing before any competitive situation where I need high energy and razor-sharp focus.

3. Transforming sleep

Meditation is often touted as the gold standard for pre-sleep relaxation, but for many people, it's too challenging to build a sustainable habit around - especially initially.

Gentle nose breathing with extended exhales can significantly improve your sleep quality, increasing both REM sleep and deep sleep phases. I have used apps like Next Step Collective to guide these sessions or doing my own slow, controlled breathing without a guide.

Taking it further, I tape my mouth while sleeping to ensure I'm breathing through my nose, which activates the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system. Without it, I default to mouth breathing, which triggers the sympathetic (fight or flight) response – meaning faster, shallower breaths and my sleep quality is not the same.

*Mouth taping is safe for most people but if you are going to mouth tape, ensure you don’t have any nasal obstructions that will limit your airflow.

4. Nervous system health, mental wellness and ‘getting in the body’

I used to race from one commitment to the next, always on the move, never truly pausing. When I learnt coherence breathing in my Breathwork instructor training, the impact on my mood was so noticeable that I return to it almost daily.

Coherence breathing (5 seconds in and out through the nose) has extensive scientific backing and is proven to improve mood, reduce depressive thoughts, and boost overall morale. When I'm operating at my best, I practice coherence breathing upon waking, at midday, and around 6 PM as I transition into evening mode. These are moments where I am actively calming my nervous system to deal with any stress that comes ahead.

Beyond daily wellness, breathwork can also be incredibly powerful for processing past traumas, accessing unconscious patterns and getting out of the head and into the body. The faster-paced breathing techniques or ‘breakthrough breathwork’ literally increase blood flow to the brain, bypassing the prefrontal cortex and allowing you to tap into the limbic system where deep-seated thoughts and challenges can surface in ways that traditional talk therapy sometimes can't access.

As someone who has been ‘head dominant’ for many years, breathwork has enabled me to quickly get in the body, which has allowed me to make decisions with greater confidence. Head and heart alignment can lead to such clarity.

5. Breath re-training for advanced performance

The most sophisticated level involves actively retraining your breathing patterns and increasing your tolerance to carbon dioxide. When done correctly, this can improve sleep quality, sharpen focus, eliminate excessive yawning, and stabilise mood.

I committed to three months of intensive breath retraining following my course and saw some measurable improvements in my sleep metrics while experiencing noticeably better energy throughout the day. I haven’t been practicing re-training for a few months now and it feels like I’ve taken a bit of a backwards step in my daily energy levels (time to restart!).

Something I wished I discovered earlier

These applications represent just a fraction of how I integrate breathwork into my daily routine. I cannot imagine now operating without it in my toolkit. The breath is far more powerful than most of us realise, and it has been transformational for me across multiple dimensions of health and performance.

If you're curious about breathwork and wondering where to start, I'd encourage you to reach out. There are countless techniques, and unfortunately, the industry sometimes gets a bad reputation due to unqualified practitioners who guide people through intense experiences without proper preparation or post-integration.

The breath is your most intimate companion - it's with you from your first moment to your last. Learning to harness its power isn't just about performance optimisation; it's about reclaiming agency over your nervous system, your stress response, and ultimately, your daily quality of life.

That ten-minute ice bath taught me something invaluable: the difference between succeeding or not often comes down to how well you breathe through the challenge. Same with dealing with life’s challenges. In a world that seems designed to keep us stressed and scattered, breathwork has helped me find a way back to the centre and a great way to stay grounded in all the noise.