Here Is What You Need To Know About Breathwork Therapy
Maybe you have tried the breathing apps. Maybe you have spent years in talk therapy, and you can explain every pattern you have, yet your chest still tightens and your body still braces like something is about to happen. Your mind understands. Your body just hasn't caught up yet.
That space between knowing and feeling is where breathwork does some of its most beautiful work. I have been in private practice since 2009, and breathwork has been one of the most profound doorways I have experienced, both in my own healing and in the healing of the clients I sit with. If you have been wondering what is breathwork therapy and whether it could help you, here is what I want you to know.
Breathwork therapy is a guided practice that uses a deep, connected breath to help the body gently surface and process unresolved experiences, while a trained practitioner tracks your nervous system and keeps the pace right for you.
What Is Breathwork Therapy?
The style of breathwork therapy I lead clients through is Biodynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release, which uses a deep, connected breath with no pause at the top of the inhale or the bottom of the exhale. So when someone asks me what is breathwork therapy, this is where I begin.
The purpose of breathwork is to allow, in a very titrated and gentle way, anything that is unresolved to begin to surface: anything the body is carrying, and any past experiences that are still alive in the body. As those pieces rise, they can be metabolized and processed.
This style of breathwork also has a beautiful way of helping clients get out of the thinking, analyzing, critical mind. As the breath takes over, we are able to make contact with unresolved pieces of our history and bring healing to them, often in ways that talking alone can't reach.
Breathwork Therapy vs Breathing Exercises: What's the Difference?
The biggest difference between breathwork therapy and breathing exercises is attunement: in a session, a trained practitioner is tracking what is happening in you and guiding the breath to fit it.
An app or a large group event can't do that. When I do breathwork with a client, I am attuned to them. I am noticing what is happening on a mind, body, and spirit level, and I guide and direct them so the experience is customized and personal. If you'd like a wider look at the different styles, from box breathing to Holotropic, I share more in What Is Breathwork and How Does It Impact the Body.
I am also tracking their nervous system and helping them pendulate, which means gently moving back and forth between activation and settling. That back and forth is what enables trauma resolution to happen.
How Does Breathwork Therapy Work?
Breathwork therapy works by using a connected breath to bring up activation in small, manageable amounts, so what the body has been holding can surface and be processed while the nervous system learns it can come back to safety.
The Breath and Nervous System Regulation
Biodynamic Breathwork incorporates aspects of Somatic Experiencing, which is why it felt like such an aligned style of breathwork for me as a Certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. My SEP training gives me more awareness of what a client is experiencing, so I can track what is going on and bring in Somatic Experiencing interventions when a session needs them.
That combination gives me a more expansive way to support someone's healing. Titration (working in small doses) and pendulation keep the process supportive of nervous system regulation rather than overwhelming. The breath can also begin to move the body, into spinal movements and the unwinding of fascia, where so many of our emotions are held. As the fascia unwinds, what has been stored there starts coming up to the surface.
Why the Body Holds What the Mind Can't Reach
I first experienced breathwork in a training program, and I had so many profound experiences. It helped me become more embodied and more aware of what was happening inside my body. It strengthened my mind-body connection.
It also began breaking up and melting the freeze I carried from my own trauma, from many surgeries, and from a lot of anesthesia. Moving through that layer allowed me to get to some of the deeper things that needed healing. If freeze is part of your story too, you may find this helpful: Understanding The Freeze Trauma Response.
Benefits of Breathwork: What Clients Notice
The benefits of breathwork often include more space inside yourself, a stronger mind-body connection, more stability and calm, and over time, more agency and grace in how you move through life.
Here is what I see most often in my clients:
More space inside. Clients stop feeling so tight and constricted from holding everything in.
A stronger mind-body connection. Sensations that felt far away become easier to notice and feel.
Melting freeze. Breathwork can gently begin to thaw numbness and shutdown. You can read more about functional freeze symptoms and what they mean.
More stability and calm. Feeling steadier within yourself brings a natural sense of calm.
More agency and voice. As stored emotions move, many clients begin to speak up for themselves.
Breathwork for Anxiety
Breathwork for anxiety helps many clients notice they have more space inside of themselves, so they no longer feel as tight and constricted from trying to hold the anxiety in or prevent it from happening.
As sessions continue, clients often start to feel a little more stable within themselves, and that stability gives them a sense of calm. They experience it more and more over time. Gradually, many find more peace and understanding around certain situations in their lives, along with a little more surrender, acceptance, and grace as they move through their days.
Breathwork for Trauma
Breathwork for trauma can be especially helpful for people who are very logical, who carry a lot of freeze, who have a hard time feeling their body, or who struggle to feel pleasure or joy.
For these clients, breathwork can bring up some activation in small moments, and then we move into Somatic Experiencing to work with what has surfaced. Breathwork is one part of my somatic trauma resolution work, not a stand-alone event. If you are curious how this kind of release happens, I also wrote about how the body releases trauma naturally and with help.
Breathwork: What to Expect in a Session
In a breathwork session, you can expect time to prepare and feel resourced, a guided period of deep, connected breathing shaped around what is happening in you, and a slow, unhurried return to stillness.
Most of my clients come in curious rather than afraid. They simply don't know what to expect. So before we even begin breathing, we spend a lot of time going over what we will be doing and what sensations might come up. Your heart rate will likely increase, and you may feel lightheaded or tingly. Knowing that ahead of time helps your body stay with the experience.
Here is the general flow of a session with me:
Getting resourced first. Before any breathing, I help you feel well resourced. You might share positive things with me, find pleasant things to look at in the room, or notice the contact your body is making with the chair.
Beginning the connected breath. We start by breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth in a deep, connected way, then move into breathing in and out through the mouth.
Following what your body needs. Depending on what is happening for you, I guide how you breathe. We might do a breath hold, or a fire breath of about 30 fast breaths. Sometimes I invite you to let the breath move your body into spinal movements that begin unwinding the fascia.
Slowing down into stillness. To close, I invite you to slow down whatever is happening and return to natural breathing through the nose. Some clients move into a posture like child's pose and simply stay with themselves and their body as they integrate.
Coming back at your own pace. When the moment feels right, you open your eyes in your own time and notice the room, the shading and the lighting. I don't rush you back into your thinking mind or into conversation. Dialogue comes naturally when you are ready.
The sequence is always different, because it depends on you and what is happening in the moment.
One Client's Story
I worked with a client who carried a lot of freeze. She couldn't really sense or feel her body, and she rarely used her voice. She was introspective and shy, and she often wouldn't say what she was thinking or feeling. With so much freeze, she also had a strong tendency toward fawning.
During our breathwork sessions, she became more embodied and could start accessing more of what was inside of her. Then she started making contact with some anger. When the anger came up, we used gentle processes, in a very titrated and pendulated way, to help her express it, through her body, through sound, and with words.
Little by little, she built more agency within herself. She began to speak up for herself in a particular relationship. Breathwork helped her become not just more embodied, but a little more empowered.
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.
Download my FREE guide “Get Unstuck! The Truth About Body Trauma and How to Break Free’ and learn how to create the future you deserve.
Why Do I Cry During Breathwork?
Crying during breathwork is a sign that emotions are rising to the surface and that you are allowing yourself to feel and express them.
When a client cries, sometimes I don't say anything at all. Sometimes I make sounds of acknowledgment and encouragement, so they know I am with them. I often see emotions come up and then watch someone start to shut them down, so I gently encourage them to let themselves feel what they are feeling and notice what is rising.
Sometimes we talk briefly. Other times, I invite them to stay with the feeling while also noticing their feet on the ground or the seat of the chair. I don't always meet the emotion with words, because I don't know every detail of what is moving through them, and I never want to say something that pulls them away from it. When it feels right, I will pause and talk with them.
Is Breathwork Therapy Safe for Trauma?
Breathwork therapy can be safe for trauma when it is paced to your capacity, which sometimes means shorter sessions or building stability with Somatic Experiencing before breathwork begins.
With some clients, we do smaller sessions of breathwork, about 15 minutes, to bring up a little activation before moving into Somatic Experiencing. When breathwork would be too much at the start, I don't begin there. We begin with Somatic Experiencing and focus on resources and resourcing, methods that create stabilization, and processes that dip into the experience of trauma and then come back to resourcing.
We continue that way until a client has expanded their capacity to be with more of the trauma. Then we might begin breathwork for trauma. If you are pregnant or have a heart, blood pressure, or seizure condition, please check with your doctor before starting any breathwork practice.
Breathwork Therapy FAQs
Do Breathing Exercises Reduce Cortisol?
Some research suggests that slow, deep breathing exercises can lower cortisol, the body's main stress hormone, though the studies so far are small. One 2017 study in Frontiers in Psychology found that adults who practiced diaphragmatic breathing over eight weeks had lower cortisol levels than a comparison group.
Connected breathwork is a little different. In a session, your heart rate often rises on purpose, because we are inviting activation so it can move and settle. What I see in clients is less about a single hormone and more about the body's felt sense of safety returning over time.
How Many Breathwork Sessions Do I Need?
The number of breathwork sessions you need depends on what you are coming in for, where you are in your healing journey, and the pace at which your body heals. Everyone heals at their own rate, so I don't give a set number. We find the next doable piece together.
What Working With Me Looks Like
I offer breathwork in person at my office in San Juan Capistrano and online. Every session is shaped around you, and breathwork is woven together with Somatic Experiencing so your nervous system is supported the whole way through.
Learn more about my breathwork sessions on my breathwork page.
Ready to begin? Book an appointment here.
Have questions first? Reach out through my contact page, where you can call, text, or email me.
Your Breath Already Knows the Way Home
Your body has been holding so much, for so long, and it has been doing its very best to keep you safe. Breathwork is not about forcing anything out of you. It is about giving what has been waiting a gentle, supported way to rise, be felt, and finally settle.
You don't have to know exactly what is in there. Your breath already knows the way. When you are ready, I would be honored to breathe alongside you.
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.