Breathwork is intentionally bringing your awareness to your breath and then exploring, allowing, and altering your breath to see what happens. Your breath is the quickest way to access your nervous system, to help your body relax or become more alert. Your breath is an incredible resource for you, and you always have it with you. Your posture and tension will impact your breath, therefore many of Nicole’s offerings involve some easy movement and other techniques to help soothe your nervous system.

At a very basic level, you bring your awareness to your breath and body. You could then focus on allowing and noticing the breath, or intentionally altering the breath to strengthen your respiratory stamina and resilience. These are two examples of a breathwork approach. There are many approaches to and styles of breathwork. Exactly what you’ll do are depending upon you goals or reasons for doing breathwork. Some reasons are about improving your breathing function or efficiency in how you breathe. Others work more on the emotional aspects of the breath. My style is to improve your breathing efficiency and function while helping you meet your performance, health, emotional, or other goals. Nicole blends modern and ancient breathing techniques together to offer classes and private sessions. Nicole offers a range of classes and class series focused on different goals and breathing approaches. During a private, Nicole would tailor the techniques to your situation.

Below I have grouped breathwork approaches into four general categories.  Within each category, there could be many different breathing techniques.  Below the approaches, I list many breathwork styles throughout time. The intent is not to overwhelm, but simply to let you know there are many layers of breathwork. You can get some benefit very quickly and you also can go much deeper overtime and continue to explore yourself through the breath, support your wellness, and increase your breathing function overtime.

Breathwork Approach Categories: 

There are many styles of breathwork, each style could utilize many breathing techniques and incorporate many approaches to breathwork. Some are geared towards improving your breathing function or efficiency in how you breathe. Others work more on the emotional aspects of the breath. My style is to improve your breathing efficiency and function while helping you meet your performance, health, emotional, or other goals. Nicole puts these styles together to create her own approach. She thoroughly enjoys sharing the world of breathwork through classes and private sessions.

Ancient breathwork traditions:

• North American indigenous communities have a strong nasal breathing culture.  The Apache tribe in the Southwest still have a practice of running while holding water in your mouth, to train and ensure nasal breathing. In 1869, George Catlin wrote a book Shut your Mouth and Save Your Life summarizing his observation of a strong nasal culture throughout the United States (please note this book is colonialist and racist). 
• Freedivers or ancient ocean harvesters tend to have excellent lung capacity and flexibility. They have the capacity to hold their breath for several minutes under water.  All mammals have the mammalian dive reflex which lowers the heart rate and makes it slightly easier to hold your breath underwater as opposed to on land. Freediving has been happening since humans have lived near the water. Today there is also recreational and competitive freediving.
• Pranayama is the branch of yoga focused on the breath.  Pranayama includes a variety of breathing techniques with a rich documented history.  Some of the more common techniques are:  Nadi Shodana (alternate nostril breathing), Kapalabati (forced diaphragmatic and abdominal contractions), Bastrika (bellows breath or quickly expanding and contracting the rib cage), Ujjayi (constricting the throat while breathing), Bramari (Humming Bee Breath), Kumbhaka (breath holds), Sitali (Cooling Breath), and Dirga (complete or 3 part breath).  In addition to the breathing techniques, yoga has a series of cleansing and healing practices to strengthen all the muscles related to breathing, posture, pelvic floor, and your airways. 
• Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice to improve health by optimizing the body’s energy, combining meditation, movement, visualization, and breath regulation.  Like Pranayama, there are a large variety of breathing techniques.   Long slow breaths using a relaxed belly is the most common, others involve sound and visualizations. 
•  Systema, Tai Chi and many Martial Arts involve developing your breath and coordinating breath with movement to increase power, awareness, and concentration. 

More recent breathing programs: 

• Buteyko Breathing Method.  The Buteyko breathing method is a breathing technique that involves breathing in through the nose and holding your breath. It was developed in the 1950s by Ukrainian doctor Konstantin Buteyko.   The Buteyko method aims to correct hyperventilation, which is when someone breathes more quickly and deeply than they need to. 
• Breathexperience or The Perceptible Breath is based on the work of Ilse Middendorf who founded the Institute for Breathing Therapy and Breathing Training (originally the Institute of Perceptible Breath) in Berlin, Germany in 1965. This work is less a technique about how to breathe, and more about how to experience the full sensation of breath as it travels throughout the entire body.  The approach includes sounding and vocalization.
• Coherent Breathing® method, Resonance Breathing, and Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback utilize a similar style of breathing.  Breathing at a slow rate, usually 4 to 7 breaths per minute to synchronize breathing and heart rate oscillations. 
• BREATH-BODY-MIND™ is a program to enhance physical and mental health using the healing power of the breath, utilizing resonance breathing with breath visualizations.  Founded by Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbarg who published the book The Healing Power of the Breath in 2012.
• Oxygen Advantage® is a series of unique breathing exercises for optimum health and sports performance, founded by Patrick McKeown who’s been teaching breathwork since 2002. The exercises focus on two pillars: functional breathing and simulation of high-altitude training.  The Oxygen Advantage® program builds upon the Buteyko Breathing Method and adds in high altitude simulation training.    The Oxygen Advantage® book was published in 2015. 
• The Breathing Class is a breathing assessment and improvement program developed by Dr. Dr. Belisa Vranich in 2012.  She also wrote the book, Breathing for Warriors.  Through her program you obtain your breathing IQ and then work through various techniques to improve your breathing IQ.  It’s focused on breathing biomechanics, location of movement, range of breath movement, and how you breathe during movement and exercise. 
• Low Pressure Fitness – Low Pressure Fitness (LPF) was developed by Dr. Tamara Rial and Piti Pinisch in 2014 and is a series of breathing and postural exercises that strengthen the core muscles.  It is a series of postural holds with a specific breathing pattern which strengthens and tones the inner core muscles, provides postural and breath re-education while simultaneously decreasing intra-abdominal pressure.  The hypopressive exercises that LPF is based on were promoted in the 1980s by Dr. Marcel Caufriez.
• Language of Breath is multifaceted breathwork and self-exploration program created by Jesse Coomer and outlined in his book published in 2023.   By learning the language of breath, you can begin to speak to and listen to your unconscious self, increasing the teamwork and cooperation of your entire self or philia. 
• The WIM HOF Method® comprises 3 pillars: breathing, cold therapy, and commitment.    Wim Hof breathing includes one to many rounds of hyperventilation followed by a period of holding your breath.
• The Rebirthing Breathwork  or Conscious Energy Breathing was developed by Leonard Orr in the 1960’s. This hyperventilation technique involves continuous, deep, rapid breaths with minimal pauses between inhale and exhale, aiming to access subconscious emotions and memories, potentially releasing past traumas and promoting personal growth.
• NeuroDynamic Breathwork®. Michael Stone created NeuroDynamic Breathwork™ and has been facilitating it online since 2009.   Using an nondirected format, NeuroDynamic breathwork encourages rhythmic, patterned breathing through a curated music selection designed to alter brainwave activity and help you release unconscious blockages.
• Holotropic Breathwork is a therapeutic breathing technique that combines accelerated breathing (hyperventilation) with evocative music in a special set and setting. Holotropic Breathwork was established in the 1970s by Dr. Stan Grof and Christina Grof. 

Be Safe.

While breathwork can be incredible valuable to your health, some breathing techniques carry risks that can be harmful to your health.   Hyperventilation Techniques will reduce the levels of carbon dioxide in your blood, have the potential for someone to pass out and/ or experience tetany.  No one should practice breathwork in the water without proper supervision.  Holding your breath will increase your blood pressure.  Extreme breath holding can cause your oxygen levels to temporarily decrease.   Strong breath holds are not advised if you have high blood pressure, Type 1 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular or kidney disease, or are pregnant. Please consult your doctor if you have any questions or concerns.   You are responsible for your own health.