Do You Need A Breathwork Coach: 5 Things To Know
Breathwork has surged in popularity as people discover its profound effects on mental, emotional, and physical well-being. But with so many practitioners offering sessions, you might wonder whether working with a trained professional truly makes a difference. The truth is, breathwork is incredibly powerful—and that’s precisely why proper training matters. Not all breathworkers or styles of breathwork teach about the nervous system, and many facilitators haven’t learned how to identify when a client is subtly moving into a traumatic state. The answer to whether you need a certified breathwork coach lies in understanding what distinguishes someone with comprehensive training from someone who’s simply practiced a few techniques. Here are five essential things to know before you decide.
1. Nervous System Education Isn’t Standard—But It Should Be
Here’s something most people don’t realize: many breathwork training programs focus primarily on the breathing techniques themselves without deeply exploring how these practices affect your nervous system. You might work with someone who can guide you through a powerful breathing pattern but doesn’t understand the physiological signs that you’re becoming dysregulated or slipping into a freeze response.
A certified breathwork coach who has invested in comprehensive breathwork coach certification—particularly one that includes nervous system education—can recognize the subtle cues that indicate you’re moving from a healing state into a traumatic one. They understand the difference between productive emotional release and retraumatization. They know what vagal tone looks like, how to identify a dorsal vagal shutdown, and when to help you apply the brakes rather than pushing deeper.
This knowledge becomes especially critical when working with Somatic Breathwork, which directly engages the autonomic nervous system and can trigger powerful physiological responses. Without this understanding, well-meaning facilitators might unknowingly guide clients into overwhelm, mistaking signs of trauma activation for “breaking through resistance.”
2. Look Beyond Breathwork: What Other Training Does Your Coach Have?
When evaluating whether you need a breathwork coach—and which one to choose—ask about their background beyond their breathwork certification. The most effective trauma-informed breathwork facilitators often bring additional credentials and experience to their practice.
Some certified breathwork coaches also hold certifications or degrees in:
• Counseling, therapy, or social work
• Somatic therapy or body-based healing modalities
• Yoga therapy or other movement practices
• Energy healing or other holistic wellness approaches
• Life coaching or spiritual direction
This multidisciplinary background matters because breathwork doesn’t happen in isolation. A practitioner with training in somatic therapy, for example, understands how trauma stores in the body and can help you work with physical sensations skillfully. Someone with a counseling background might be better equipped to help you process difficult emotions or memories that surface during sessions.
The key is finding someone whose combined training creates a robust container for your experience. A weekend breathwork training alone doesn’t provide the depth of knowledge needed to navigate the complex territory that can emerge during deep breathwork sessions.
3. Trauma-Informed Doesn’t Just Mean “Gentle”
How Does Breathwork Release Trauma?
Trauma lives in the body, not just the mind. When we experience overwhelming events, our nervous system can store these memories in our tissues, creating patterns of tension, disconnection, and dysregulation. Breathwork releases trauma by activating the autonomic nervous system and creating conditions for the body feels safe enough to discharge stored survival energy.
Through specific breathing patterns, particularly those used in Somatic Breathwork, practitioners can access states where the body can release what it’s been holding. This might manifest as shaking, crying, heat, tingling, or emotional waves.
But here’s the critical distinction: being trauma-informed isn’t about making everything soft and gentle. It’s about understanding the nervous system well enough to recognize when intensity is productive and when it’s harmful. A trauma-informed breathwork facilitator knows the difference between a client who’s actively processing and releasing trauma versus one who’s dissociating or becoming retraumatized.
They watch for signs like:
• Glazed eyes or a “faraway” look indicating dissociation
• Shallow breathing patterns that suggest freeze response
• Physical rigidity or collapse
• Emotional numbing after initial intensity
Without training in these subtleties, a facilitator might encourage you to “breathe through it” or “go deeper” at precisely the moment when you need grounding and regulation instead.
Ready to experience breathwork with a trained professional who understands your nervous system? Whether you’re healing from trauma, seeking emotional release, or exploring deeper self-awareness, working with a certified guide can accelerate your journey safely. Book a discovery call today to find the right breathwork coach for your unique needs.
Is trauma Holding you back?
Perhaps you experienced a specific event that left you feeling different, disconnected, or stuck. Or maybe you carry a sense of unease in your body, struggling with anxiety or a feeling that something isn’t quite right.
As a somatic experiencing practitioner I specialize in helping people process and release stored trauma through gentle yet effective methods.
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4. Emotional Releases Require Skilled Navigation
Why Does Breathwork Make You Emotional?
During breathwork sessions, many people are surprised by sudden waves of emotion—sometimes joy, sometimes grief, often feelings they didn’t know they were carrying. This happens because conscious breathing techniques alter your blood chemistry and activate different parts of your nervous system, creating a bridge between your conscious mind and stored emotional material.
When you change your breathing pattern, you shift out of your typical mental state. This altered state allows suppressed emotions and memories to surface. What you’ve been unconsciously holding below your awareness suddenly becomes available for processing and release.
Why Do Deep Breaths Make Me Cry?
Deep breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system, signaling to your body that it’s safe to let go. In our everyday lives, we often hold our breath or breathe shallowly as a protective mechanism, keeping difficult emotions at bay. When you consciously breathe deeply and fully, you’re essentially telling your system, “It’s okay to feel now.”
What Is the Spiritual Reason for Crying?
Many wisdom traditions view tears as a sacred release—a way the soul cleanses itself and returns to wholeness. In breathwork, crying often signals a spiritual awakening or the dissolution of barriers between your conditioned self and your authentic essence. You might cry as you touch deeper truths about yourself, experience profound gratitude, or feel connection to something larger than yourself.
This is where having a certified breathwork coach with proper training becomes invaluable. They understand that tears, laughter, anger, or trembling aren’t problems to be fixed but natural expressions of your system recalibrating. More importantly, they can distinguish between healthy emotional release and signs that your system is becoming overwhelmed.
They can hold space for whatever arises without trying to stop it or make it more comfortable, while also ensuring you don’t become retraumatized or flooded beyond your capacity to integrate the experience.
5. Integration and Ongoing Support Make the Difference
A skilled trauma-informed breathwork facilitator recognizes both the psychological and spiritual dimensions of your experience. They can help you integrate insights that emerge during sessions, connecting the dots between emotional releases, bodily sensations, and spiritual revelations. This integration is what transforms a powerful experience into lasting change.
When you work with someone who has invested in becoming a certified breathwork coach—ideally someone with additional training in therapy, somatic work, or other healing modalities—you’re working with someone committed to your ongoing growth, not just a single intense experience.
Breathwork coach certification programs that are comprehensive typically require not only initial training but ongoing education, supervision, and adherence to ethical standards. This means your practitioner continues learning about nervous system regulation, trauma responses, and new research that can inform their work with you.
Without proper guidance and integration support, people sometimes have profound breathwork experiences that they struggle to make sense of afterward, or worse, that leave them destabilized. A certified breathwork coach helps you weave these experiences into your ongoing healing and growth journey, ensuring that each session builds on the last rather than creating disconnected peaks and valleys.
Making Your Decision
Choosing to work with a breathwork coach is an investment in your well-being and safety. While breathwork can be practiced alone or in casual settings, having a trained guide—particularly for deeper, somatic, or trauma-focused work—provides the nervous system knowledge, multidisciplinary expertise, and support that can significantly enhance your journey while protecting you from potential harm.
Look for practitioners who are transparent about their training (both in breathwork and in complementary modalities), who can speak knowledgeably about the nervous system and trauma responses, and who create a sense of safety and trust. Ask about their understanding of nervous system regulation, their additional certifications, and how they identify when a client needs grounding versus encouragement to go deeper.
Whether you’re addressing specific trauma, exploring emotional healing, or deepening your spiritual practice, the right certified breathwork coach can be a powerful ally in your transformation—one who knows not just how to guide you into powerful states, but how to ensure you can integrate and embody what you discover there.
Your breath is always with you, but learning to harness its full potential with skilled, knowledgeable guidance can open doors you didn’t know existed—safely and sustainably.
Brianna Anderson, SEP
If you’re ready to begin your healing journey I’m here to help so you can begin to live the life of your dreams
My private practice specializes in helping people who have endured trauma, resolve the symptoms out of their body, mind & spirit so they can feel comfortable in their skin, find inner peace and live the desires of their heart.
I am based out of South Orange County, Ca and offer online therapy sessions. Whether you are just starting your healing journey or ready to try something new, I am here to help.