What is Breathwork?

In my practice, breath is not just a tool but is a portal into the nervous system, a way of meeting what's alive in the body, and often, what’s been held there for too long.

The breath mirrors the nervous system.

Breathwork refers to intentional breathing techniques used to support regulation, presence, and healing. There are very different forms of breathwork, and it can get a bit confusing when people aren’t clarifying.

For me, breathwork can be understood across three categories as I refer to them below and I’m trained in and work with all, each with a different intention:

1. Activating Breathwork

This is the kind used in my trauma-resolution breathwork offering. It involves consciously activating the nervous system through rhythmic, connected breathing (circular breaths) to bring forward stored or stuck emotional patterns. When merged with somatic healing like in my offering, this type of breathwork supports deep release and transformation by helping the body complete unfinished responses to past overwhelm or trauma. It’s somatically powerful and taps into deep and pre-verbal layers of transformation. This type is also helpful for more deeply connecting with your physical body and becoming more confident in it. 

2. Functional (or Corrective) Breathing

This type of breathwork focuses on restoring natural, efficient breathing patterns. Notice how when you get very anxious, nervous, fearful, angry, or sad, your normal breath pattern changes? Well most of us are naturally breathing in one of those or other states without consciously even noticing. I’m trained in Buteyko Clinic Method to help restore natural breathing patterns and bring balance to the mind-body connection. This is often subtle but restorative work that helps reduce chronic stress patterns and supports overall presence and nervous system health.

3. Regulating Breath Practices

These are simple, in-the-moment techniques like box breathing or extended exhalation and are skills that everyone should learn. They help ground the nervous system, soothe activation, and bring you back into presence when things feel overwhelming. These practices are supportive for daily regulation, but they typically don’t create deep transformation on their own.

Learn more about my offerings here and book a free 20-minute consultation call here.

-Susan Reis