Oxygen Advantage certified functional breathing coaching for professionals in Wellington and online across New Zealand and worldwide. Evidence-based breathwork for burnout recovery, anxiety, resilience, and sleep.
What breathwork coaching is
Breathwork coaching is not meditation. It is not relaxation. It is a systematic, evidence-based approach to retraining how your body breathes and, through that, how your nervous system responds to stress.
The way you breathe has a direct effect on your biochemistry. Breathing rate, breathing volume, and whether you breathe through your nose or mouth all influence the levels of carbon dioxide in your bloodstream, which in turn regulates oxygen delivery, nervous system tone, and your body's stress response.
Most people under chronic stress develop dysfunctional breathing patterns without realising it: mouth breathing, over-breathing, upper chest breathing. These patterns keep the nervous system locked in a low-level fight-or-flight state, making burnout, anxiety, and poor sleep worse and harder to shift.
Functional breathwork coaching changes the underlying physiology. Using the Oxygen Advantage method, we systematically retrain your breathing to improve CO₂ tolerance, restore nasal breathing, and give your nervous system a direct route out of chronic stress.
Wellington breathwork coach
I'm Simon Fogarty. I'm based in Wellington, and I'm an Oxygen Advantage Certified Functional Breathing Instructor and a former litigation lawyer.
I didn't come to breathwork through a wellness retreat or a yoga teacher training. I came to it through burnout: years of accumulating stress in a high-pressure legal career that eventually left me lying on the cold tiles of an office bathroom floor, unable to function.
What got me out wasn't talk therapy or medication, though both have their place. It was understanding what chronic stress was doing to my physiology and discovering that the way I was breathing was keeping my nervous system locked in survival mode.
I now work with professionals in Wellington and online across New Zealand and worldwide who are dealing with the same pattern: high-achieving, capable people whose bodies have started keeping score.
My background in law means I understand the particular pressures that come with high-stakes professional environments. I'm not going to tell you to slow down or take more breaks. I'm going to help you build a nervous system that can handle the demands you face and recover from them properly.
Certifications: Oxygen Advantage Certified Functional Breathing Instructor · Oxygen Advantage Breathing for Females · Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher · Former Litigation Lawyer
What I help with
Functional breathwork coaching addresses a wide range of conditions that share a common root: a nervous system that is stuck in chronic stress. If you are dealing with any of the following, breathwork is likely to be beneficial.
Exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix. Running on empty. Rebuilding from the ground up through nervous system retraining.
The low-level hum of dread, the tight chest, the racing thoughts at 3am. Breathwork breaks the anxiety loop at a physiological level.
Training your nervous system to recover faster from stress so it stops accumulating into burnout and exhaustion.
Dysfunctional breathing is behind many cases of chronic poor sleep. Fixing the breathing often fixes the sleep.
Tools that work in real time, not just in a quiet room, but under pressure at your desk, in difficult meetings, on the commute home.
Hormonal changes directly affect breathing patterns, which affects anxiety, sleep, and energy. Breathwork offers measurable relief.
The method
The Oxygen Advantage is a functional breathing system developed by Patrick McKeown, one of the world's leading breathing researchers. It is grounded in decades of research into respiratory physiology, autonomic nervous system function, and the relationship between breathing and health.
At its core, the method works by improving CO₂ tolerance which is your body's ability to maintain healthy carbon dioxide levels in the bloodstream. This matters because CO₂, not oxygen, is the primary trigger for the urge to breathe. When CO₂ tolerance is low, the nervous system is more reactive, sleep is more fragmented, and anxiety is more persistent.
The method uses a structured progression of breathing exercises that address:
Improving CO₂ tolerance to reduce nervous system reactivity, anxiety, and breathlessness.
Restoring nasal breathing and diaphragmatic movement to support the parasympathetic nervous system.
Slowing the breath to increase heart rate variability, which is the most reliable physiological marker of resilience.
In person & online
Sessions are available in person in Wellington or online via video call. Both formats work well. Breathwork is a practical, embodied practice that translates effectively to a video call because you're doing the exercises in real time during the session.
In-person sessions in Wellington are available for clients who prefer to work face to face, or for those who find it easier to stay focused in a dedicated space rather than at home.
Online sessions are available to clients anywhere in New Zealand and internationally. The majority of my clients work with me online.
Wherever you are, sessions follow the same structure: a breathing assessment, a tailored programme, and real-time practice so you leave with techniques you can use immediately.
Sessions are NZD $120.
Common questions
Do I need to be in Wellington to work with you?
No. The majority of my clients work with me online, from across New Zealand and internationally. Sessions are conducted via video call and work just as well as in-person sessions for most people. In-person sessions are available in Wellington for those who prefer them.
What is functional breathwork coaching?
Functional breathwork coaching is a systematic approach to retraining how you breathe at a physiological level. Using the Oxygen Advantage method, we work on your biochemistry, biomechanics, and breathing rate to improve CO₂ tolerance, support nasal breathing, and train your nervous system to recover faster from stress.
What is the Oxygen Advantage method?
Oxygen Advantage is an evidence-based functional breathing system developed by Patrick McKeown. It focuses on improving the body's ability to use oxygen efficiently through nasal breathing, reduced breathing volume, and CO₂ tolerance training. It is used for stress recovery, performance, sleep, and nervous system regulation.
How is breathwork coaching different from meditation or mindfulness?
Breathwork coaching works at the physiological level. It directly changes your biochemistry and nervous system state. Meditation and mindfulness work top-down, through the mind. Breathwork works bottom-up, through the body. Many clients find it more accessible and faster-acting, particularly if they struggle to quieten the mind during meditation.
How many sessions will I need?
Most people notice meaningful change within three to four sessions. Some notice a difference after one. 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. The aim is to build your skills so you have everything you need to manage your own nervous system.
Book a session and we'll start with an assessment of where your breathing is now and what changing it could do for you.
Sessions are NZD $120 · In person in Wellington or online worldwide.
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