Evidence-based breathwork coaching to calm your nervous system, reduce reactivity, and break the anxiety loop without medication or meditation apps.
Why anxiety persists
Most anxiety management approaches work top-down: change the thought, change the feeling, change the physical response. That can be an effective treatment for some people. But for many high-achieving professionals, the anxiety doesn't respond to rational thinking intervention, or the process takes too long and becomes frustrating. Anxiety is rooted in our physiology, and a bottom-up approach can be more effective at treating it while complementing other therapies.
When you're anxious, you breathe differently. Faster, shallower, more irregularly. This depletes carbon dioxide in your bloodstream, which, counterintuitively, reduces oxygen delivery to your cells and brain. This triggers more physical anxiety symptoms: light-headedness, heart palpitations, tight chest, pins and needles. This causes more anxiety. Which causes more dysfunctional breathing.
Breathwork interrupts this loop at the level of the body. Using the Oxygen Advantage method, we train your breathing patterns to change the physiological conditions that sustain anxiety. You switch to nasal breathing, improve CO₂ tolerance, and reduce your breath rate. The result is a nervous system that is genuinely less reactive.
Recognise this?
Anxiety might manifest as panic attacks or visible distress. It might also be quieter and harder to put your finger on.
You have a low hum of dread, even when everything seems fine. You never feel truly calm.
You scan emails obsessively, dread the phone ringing, postpone difficult work. The nervous system treats every situation as potentially threatening.
Your chest is tight, breath shallow, jaw tense, and you have persistent headaches. Your medical tests are clear but your body is telling you something is wrong.
Anxiety narrows your thinking. Your once clear judgement now feels murky and effortful.
You react to small things with disproportionate intensity. Your resilience is gone.
Your mind is racing at 10pm. You wake up at 3am thinking about work. Sleep is restless and non-restorative.
Common questions
Is this a replacement for therapy?
No, and I'd never position it that way. Therapy, medication, and breathwork coaching address different aspects of anxiety and work well in combination. Breathwork comes at the issue from a different angle: it treats your stress response at the level of the body.
I've tried breathing exercises before and they didn't help. Why would this be different?
Many breathing exercises people try are generic and don't build progressions. Some, especially breathholds, stimulate the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight), and that can make anxiety worse. Functional breathwork is a systematic training programme. It targets CO₂ tolerance, breathing mechanics, and breathing rate in a specific sequence.
Will it work for panic attacks?
Many of my clients come to me specifically because of panic attacks. Breathwork is particularly effective because panic attacks have a strong physiological component. We work on both the in-the-moment response and the underlying CO₂ tolerance that makes panic attacks more likely to occur.
How many sessions will I need?
Most people notice meaningful change within three to four sessions. Some even notice change after one breathing exercise! How long you continue depends on your goals. Some clients work with me for a specific period and then practise independently, while others prefer ongoing check-ins. There's no pressure either way. The aim is to build your skill set so when you're ready, you have the knowledge and skills to respond to whatever life throws at you.
Does this work for generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)?
Functional breathwork is particularly well-suited to GAD because the condition involves a persistently activated stress response, exactly what breathing retraining addresses at a physiological level. Many clients with a GAD diagnosis find that improving their CO₂ tolerance and establishing nasal breathing significantly reduces background anxiety. Breathwork won't replace any medical treatment or therapy you're already receiving, but it works well alongside both.
What does a typical session look like?
Sessions are conducted online via video call and run for around 60 minutes. We'll start by reviewing your BOLT score and any practice since the last session. Then I'll introduce new techniques or refine existing ones, working through them together in real time so you leave with something you can practise immediately. You won't just be told what to do, you'll actually do it in the session, so there's no guesswork when you get home.
Reach out, and we'll talk about what's happening for you and whether breathwork coaching is the right fit.
Anxiety coaching sessions are NZD $120
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