Breathwork Principles

Home
Breathwork Principles

I help people to better manage their stress through conscious breathing.

29/07/2026

Everyone wants the same thing: freedom.

Most people just don’t know that’s what they’re missing.

This photo was taken just over a year ago at a men’s retreat. I was on the backend of a long stint of isolation.

Not the kind where you’re physically alone. The kind where you’re surrounded by people and still completely unreachable.

Why the isolation?

Because I was working through a heavy amount of guilt and shame, the result of certain actions I’d taken and decisions I’d made. I had broken my own moral code.
Not anyone else’s. Mine.

When you break your own code, there’s no one to answer to but yourself. No punishment handed down. No one checking in to see if you’ve made it right.

You’re the only one who has to face it when the lights go out.

I heard a quote once: “you’re the only one you’re stuck with, so you better try and get along with yourself.”

At that time, I really wasn’t getting along with myself. I could barely look at myself in the mirror.

So I stopped trying. I refused to engage with the world, because engaging with the world meant being seen, and I wasn’t ready to be seen.

To me, that felt like the only appropriate course of action. It made the most sense.

Was it the healthiest? Absolutely not.

But I’d rather sit in isolation than pretend I hadn’t lost myself.

If you’ve ever gone quiet on people for reasons you didn’t explain. If you’ve ever smiled through something you were falling apart over.

If you’ve ever avoided your own reflection because you didn’t like who was looking back.

You already know what I’m talking about.

This retreat was the first time in two years I let anyone see me again. Two days of near silence, then finally, an hour before this photo, I spoke.

That’s the moment in this photo. Not healed. Not fixed. Just finally willing to be seen.

Because that’s where freedom actually starts. Not with having it all figured out. With being willing to be seen before you do.

22/07/2026

One thing I see all the time when guiding breathwork, particularly high-intensity breathwork, is a complete lack of breath control.

This can be more a number of reasons;

- A behavioural drive typically from one who is a high-performer (Type A)
- Entering a sympathetic state typically results in faster more intense and forceful breathing.
- Moving from ‘flow’ to ‘goal’ focused AKA chasing the high.

In my experience it is of great importance to find a constant rhythm.

I frequently encourage folk to find a steady cadence in the form of rhythmical music and allow your breath to flow alongside it. Let the music guide the breath.

When we add force we tend to overexert, increasing intensity and inevitably speed - this only leads to more strain on both mind and body often leading to undesirable results.

One cue I like to give it breathe as if you’re making love to the breath. Pure presence, pure flow, fully intentional and just IN IT.

In this video I break this down!

16/07/2026

Are you a dysfunctional breather?

You may have tried different assessments with vague results or you may be curious if your breath is working for you or not.

Either way here is a super simple assessment you can do at home and it takes less than a few minutes.

See something you’re not sure or anxious about? Comment STATE and I’ll send you my accompaniment PDF which lays out what kind of breather you are and what you can do about it

14/07/2026

In short - make love to your breath.

It’s devotion. Not discipline.

Its process. Not goal.

It’s circular. Not linear.

02/07/2026

That test works for the physical stuff. But I’ve been sitting with how it plays out everywhere else, because emotional stress runs the same way and we understand it far less.

Everyone has a limit to what they can hold before they tip over, and when we push past it we don’t get stronger, we spill.

It comes out as the outburst, the snap at someone who didn’t deserve it, the reaction that scares people and cracks a connection that mattered.

This is where the current popular mantra of ‘do hard things’ falls sideways because it’s not universal. Doing physically hard things will not mean you can handle hard conversations with your loved one - and vice versa.

I’ve seen this in myself lately. I am someone who can hike for 5+ hours in

23/06/2026

The title sounds like a yes/no question. It isn’t. Keep going.

If a tool promises to fix everything, it usually fixes nothing in particular. Breathwork included.

Narrow isn’t a weakness. A tool that does one thing well beats a tool that claims to do ten.

This is the question almost nobody asks before they start. It’s also the one that decides whether any of it works.

If you’re here, breathwork is worth learning properly, not casually. This is the lane it was built for.

None of these mean you failed. They mean the tool was pointed at the wrong target. And if something deeper is going on, breathwork goes alongside real support, never instead of it.

Knowing what your problem actually is, that’s most of the work. The breathing is the easy part once you’re aimed right.

If you’re not sure which one you’re dealing with, that’s exactly what the three patterns breakdown is for. Comment or DM STATE.

15/06/2026

There really is very little we have genuine control over.

Focus
Thoughts
Reactions
Choices
Actions

That’s it.

We can leverage this by learning the most effective ways to play around with the k***s and levers of these to influence a short list of factors within our lives.

The problem is that so many of us try and control the uncontrollable.

Why?

Because the uncontrollable’s make us feel powerless.

The outcomes are undetermined.

And to our nervous systems; that can be a genuine threat.

To zoom out and look at it from the framework shown here, you can relax into the knowing that you and every other human on this planet past, present and future are playing the same game.

Understand the controllable.

Learn how to play the game.

And you’ll find peace.

08/05/2026

Breathing between sets might be the most overlooked variable in your training.

Pushing hard demands energy and focus that’s your sympathetic nervous system doing its job.

But the moment a set ends, your goal shifts: get into parasympathetic mode as fast as possible. That’s where recovery begins and energy expenditure drops.

Most people don’t think about this. They scroll, pace, chat all fine but their breathing is still signalling “stay on.” The body keeps burning energy it doesn’t need to, and by the end of the session, they’re more depleted than they should be.

The fix is simple: the second a set finishes, slow your breath down intentionally. Don’t force it, guide it. Start with an inhale through the nose and a longer exhale through the mouth to help clear the CO2 build-up. Gradually bring it to nasal in and out, let it soften, settle then go again.

Your breath is a dial, not just a reflex. Learn to use it.

06/05/2026

You do not heal from Breathwork

It may open the door, drop the veil, and shine a light on the parts of you that require your attention but the rest is up to you.

Long term healing takes intention, direction, trial and error and above all: time!

It is not a one-and-done process.

Breathwork releases the pressure built up within the system and if the actions / habits / behaviours that caused that pressure in the first place are not addressed then you’ll end up right back on the yoga mat breathing your face off to find the peace you felt before.

Address

Melbourne

Website

http://www.breathworkprinciples.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Breathwork Principles posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Breathwork Principles:

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic?

Country:

City: