Not the world, not what’s outside of us, but what we hold inside traps us. We may not be responsible for the world that created our minds, but we can take responsibility for the mind with which we create our world.
— Gabor Maté
Breathwork & Me
I came across breathwork after being blindsided by a panic attack which landed me in hospital. I was taken by surprise by the raw fear lurking beneath my calm organised life. During my attack I had to focus on each in and out breath without pause for hours at a time to stave off a full-blown relapse.
I realised that my breath was the key to my return to my relaxed functioning self and set out to find out more. I knew how to meditate; I had a spiritual practice; and I had often practised different kinds of pranayama before or after yoga but I was yet to commit to a daily practice.
When I came across an article about my teacher, Alan Dolan, the Breathguru, I followed my gut and quickly signed up for his next workshop. I still knew very little about the deeper dimensions of Conscious Connected Breathwork and lay on the mat at the beginning of the class wondering if I was going to be the only one in the room who wouldn’t get it!
I needn’t have worried as I soon released a tsunami of emotion which felt like an inner dam had broken as I let go of a back catalogue of grief and loss. I had been through a series of bereavements, including the death of my parents and my younger brother, plus two close friends, over a short period of time.
I thought I had processed; and was at peace with my trauma, but I had also been running a business and bringing up a young child, and had had to keep going to survive. As a result I had blocked, filed away for a non-rainy day and distanced myself from many of my feelings.
During the breath session, as my energy grounded, and my busy mind relaxed, I was able to release the log jam of emotion, which was like an App still running somewhere in the background.
Then as we returned to our normal breathing pattern at the very end of the session, I experienced an incredible sense of peace and connection both beyond myself and within myself. As I made contact with the expanse of the deeper parts of my mind I was suffused with a feeling of blissful limitlessness.
A few months later I dived in even deeper and signed up for Alan Dolan’s Facilitator Training Programme and am now a fully trained facilitator working both in London and Lewes, near Brighton, East Sussex, holding workshops and 1:1s in-person as well as online.
My Background
After a career in TV media as a news producer, I became disillusioned and began to explore alternative ways to resolve fatigue, headaches and recurrent eye problems. ‘Burn out’ was not ‘a thing’ in the 90’s, so I felt very much on my own as I explored alternative ways to help myself.
I found relief via meditation, yoga, time in Nature and acupuncture. I was also helped by vision training exercises taught by Self-Healing therapist, Meir Schneider. I decided to train with him, and when I completed his training, in 1998, began teaching in Portugal, France, and the UK.
However, I still felt a strong pull to study Chinese Medicine, which I felt, and still feel to be one of the cornerstones of holistic health. I completed my degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Five Element Acupuncture at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine in 2005 and since then have never looked back. I have been running an acupuncture clinic in London and Lewes, East Sussex, ever since which I still love.
I added to my specialism in women’s health, fertility and pregnancy with further training in Naturopathic Nutrition at the College of Naturopathic Nutrition (CNM) in 2018, which gave me the advantage of being able to offer nutritional support alongside my acupuncture practice.
I trained with Alan Dolan, the Breathguru, to support my own well-being but once you’ve learnt about the benefits for yourself it’s very hard not to want to share it.
