Breathwork in Holborn, Central London

How a Session Works

What Happens in a Session

You remain fully clothed and seated or lying down, and are guided verbally through each technique. There is no need to force or exaggerate the breath. Your practitioner watches how you are responding and adjusts pace and technique accordingly, particularly if you feel light headed, which can happen briefly with some breathing exercises.

Techniques used vary between practitioners and may include pranayama practices from yoga, slower paced breathing, box breathing, or simple coherent breathing at around five to six breaths a minute, which is well documented as calming for the nervous system.

Pranayama and Modern Breathing Coaching

Pranayama is the breathing practice within yoga, and it includes a range of specific techniques developed over a long tradition. Deborah teaches this alongside her yoga practice. More contemporary breathing coaching, as offered by John Christian, tends to focus more directly on nervous system regulation and performance, drawing on modern understanding of respiratory physiology.

Both approaches share the same underlying principle: how you breathe affects your physical and mental state, and this can be trained. Which suits you better usually comes down to personal preference and what else you are hoping to get from the sessions.

What the Evidence Says

Slow paced breathing techniques have reasonably good evidence for reducing physiological markers of stress and for lowering blood pressure and heart rate in the short term. Evidence for breathwork as a treatment for diagnosed anxiety disorders or panic disorder is less established, and it should sit alongside rather than replace properly evaluated treatments such as therapy or medication where these are needed.

We are cautious about more intense breathwork styles that involve prolonged fast breathing, as these are not something offered here and can carry more risk. What we offer is calmer, slower paced practice suited to everyday stress and sleep.

Safety and Who Should Take Care

Slow, guided breathing is low risk for most people. Tell your practitioner if you have a heart condition, uncontrolled high or low blood pressure, epilepsy, are pregnant, or have a history of panic attacks, because technique and pace will be adjusted. Mild light headedness can happen with some techniques and settles quickly by returning to normal breathing.

Breathwork is not a regulated profession in the United Kingdom, so look for a practitioner with genuine, relevant training. Anything that feels wrong, or any chest pain or severe breathlessness, needs urgent medical attention rather than a breathing session.

Why Everyday Breathing Goes Wrong

Many people who come to breathwork are breathing shallowly and quickly through the mouth, mostly into the upper chest, without ever having noticed. Long hours at a desk, a habit of holding the breath while concentrating, blocked nasal breathing, and periods of stress all push breathing in that direction, and it tends to stay there once established.

The effects are easy to mistake for something else: a tight chest, frequent sighing or yawning, light headedness, tension across the neck and jaw, disturbed sleep, and a general sense of being on edge. Working on the mechanics of breathing, nasal rather than mouth, lower rather than upper chest, slower out-breath than in-breath, often changes how the day feels more than people expect.

Practising Between Sessions

• Five to ten minutes daily is more useful than an occasional long session.
• Attach the practice to something you already do, such as the end of the working day or the walk from the station.
• Use slower breathing before sleep rather than on waking if sleep is the main difficulty.
• Keep the breath comfortable. Straining or gasping means the pace is too ambitious and should be eased back.
• Notice your breathing at the desk once or twice a day. Simply catching the habit is half of the change.

Breathwork, Meditation or Yoga?

• Choose breathwork if you want a session focused specifically on breathing technique for calm and better everyday breathing.
• Choose meditation if you want to work more broadly on attention and a settled mind, with the breath as one tool among others.
• Choose yoga if you want to combine breathing practice with physical postures.
• Breathwork pairs well with either of the others as an ongoing practice.

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