Before you breathe

Breathwork is the deliberate use of your breath to change what’s happening in your body and mind. You breathe in a particular pattern, for a particular length of time, guided by someone who’s watching over you, and your physiology shifts in response.

What people usually notice is a kind of quieting, or a release of something they’d been holding without realising. You don’t need to understand any of it for it to work. You just breathe.

When you breathe faster and deeper than usual for a sustained period, you shift the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood. That changes your blood’s pH, which changes how your blood vessels behave and how your nerves fire.

Practically, that’s why people feel tingling in their hands and lips, why their muscles sometimes tense or cramp, why they feel hot or cold, and why emotion often arrives without warning. None of it is mystical. It’s chemistry, and it’s why the practice is powerful and why it isn’t right for everybody.

None. First Breath is built for people who have never done this before. It’s short, gentle, and the whole point is to give you a taste without asking anything of you.

Most people arrive having never done breathwork. You won’t be the only one.

No. You lie down. That’s the position.

If lying flat for a long stretch is uncomfortable for you, tell us. We’ll set you up with bolsters and props so you’re properly supported.

Not remotely. Scepticism isn’t an obstacle to breathwork the way it might be to something belief-based. You’re doing a physical practice, and your body responds regardless of what your mind makes of it.

Plenty of people arrive here dubious. You don’t have to believe anything, adopt anything, or say anything.

Breathwork has roots in a lot of traditions, and different studios lean different ways. We keep it grounded. No dogma, nothing you have to believe, nothing you’re asked to sign up to.

Some people have experiences they’d describe as spiritual. Others have an experience they’d describe as a very good nap. Both are fine, and neither is the goal.

Felt-sense markers are your body’s own signals during breathwork: tingling, warmth, softening, emotional waves, or a sense of inner spaciousness.

They aren’t goals to chase. They’re invitations to notice what’s moving through you. Each class level lists the markers most commonly reported at that stage, so you know roughly what territory you’re in, not so you can grade yourself on whether you got there.

Start with curiosity rather than interpretation.

When a sensation appears, name it gently: “heat in the chest,” “trembling in the hands,” “a wave of sadness.” Stay with it without trying to fix it or go deeper. Your breath is the guide; the body is the map.

If you can feel it, you’re already doing it right.

We can’t promise you that, and we won’t.

Breathwork isn’t therapy and it isn’t medical treatment. What we can say is that many people find it helps them feel more settled, sleep better, and meet difficult feelings with more space around them. What it does for you is something only you’ll find out.

If you’re working with a therapist or a doctor, keep working with them. Breathwork sits alongside that, not instead of it.

Breathwork is generally safe for healthy adults, but it isn’t suitable for everyone. Please check with your health professional before attending, and tell us at booking, if you have or have had:

• heart or circulation conditions: heart disease, high or low blood pressure, arrhythmia, aneurysm, stroke, blood clots
• epilepsy or any seizure history
• severe asthma or other significant respiratory conditions
• glaucoma, retinal detachment or recent eye surgery
• certain psychiatric conditions: psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder
• osteoporosis, or recent surgery or a significant injury
• pregnancy: our standard sessions are not suitable during pregnancy

This list isn’t exhaustive. If you’re unsure about anything, email us before you book.

Breathwork is generally safe for healthy adults, but it isn’t suitable for everyone.

The practice produces genuine physiological changes (in your blood chemistry, heart rate and blood pressure), and for some people those changes carry real risk. That’s why we ask everyone to complete a health declaration before their first session, and why we take it seriously.

Our standard sessions are not suitable during pregnancy. The strong, sustained breathing patterns change blood chemistry and blood flow in ways that aren’t appropriate in pregnancy.

Gentle, pregnancy-specific breathwork does exist, with a differently trained facilitator. Get in touch about a private one-to-one session.

Usually yes, if it’s well controlled, but tell us at booking so we know.

Bring your reliever and keep it beside your futon. Some people find the sustained breathing patterns fine; others find they need to ease off. Your facilitator will keep an eye on you, and you’re free to drop back to normal breathing whenever you want.

If your asthma is severe or poorly controlled, please talk to your doctor first.

It might, so please tell us, particularly anything affecting your heart rate, blood pressure, seizures, breathing or mood.

We’re not assessing your medication and we won’t ask you to change it. We just want to know what’s in play so your facilitator can look after you.

This deserves an honest answer rather than a reassuring one.

Breathwork can bring difficult material to the surface, sometimes suddenly and sometimes without an obvious trigger. For some people that’s exactly the release they’ve been unable to reach any other way. For others, it can be overwhelming.

What we’d say:

• Start with First Breath. Short, gentle, and you can find out how you respond without being three hours in.
• Tell us beforehand. It’s on the health declaration, and it stays confidential. Knowing changes how your facilitator holds the room for you.
• If you’re working with a therapist, talk to them first. They know your history and we don’t.
• You can stop at any moment. You never have to keep going, and you never have to explain.

Breathwork is not trauma therapy and we don’t present it as such.

Usually yes. Please tick it on the health declaration so we know.

Keep taking your medication and keep seeing your practitioner. Nothing that happens here should change either of those, and nobody at Breathation is qualified to advise you on them.

Stop. Come back to your natural breath. Open your eyes. Sit up if you want to.

A facilitator is present the whole time to support you, but your own consent is the rule. You can stop, rest, or signal for help at any moment, for any reason, and you never need to justify it.

Pause if you feel sharp pain, dizziness that doesn’t settle, or a rising sense of panic you can’t ground. Stopping isn’t failing. It’s the practice working: you listened to your body.

Completely normal, and more common than you’d think.

Tears, laughter, trembling, or old memories surfacing are all signs that the body is processing. You don’t need to perform them and you don’t need to explain them. The room is held so that whatever arises can move through and resolve.

Nobody will look at you. Everyone else has their eyes closed.

No. Our facilitators guide with voice and presence only. There’s no hands-on adjustment or physical contact at any point.

No. There’s no circle, no going around the room, no telling anyone anything.

You arrive, you lie down, you breathe, you rest, you leave. If you want to talk to your facilitator afterwards you’re very welcome to. If you’d rather not say a word to anyone, that’s completely normal here.

You need to be 18 or over, or have a parent or guardian’s written consent. Children and babies are not permitted in our studio sessions, as they are not covered under our insurance policy.

Please don’t. If you have a cold, flu, COVID-19, gastro or anything contagious, stay home.

You won’t be penalised for cancelling on health grounds, at any notice. In a small room where twelve people are breathing deeply for two hours, this genuinely matters.

No. Please don’t attend under the influence of alcohol or any recreational substance. It isn’t safe with these breathing patterns, and we’ll have to ask you to leave.