The best year of my working life was also the worst one, and for a long time I could not hold both of those facts in the same hand. Everything landed that year. The work was good, the clients stayed, people told me I made it look easy. I remember one afternoon, a message arriving … Read more
While anxiety is a normal, healthy and in many cases useful “fight or flight” human reaction, extreme or disproportional anxiety can cause serious problems for the person affected. When anxiety gets out of control, and the worrying thoughts, the panic and the fear gains control over the everyday activities, the relationships, the work and school … Read more
Patrick McKeown and James Nestor finally sat down together in person. McKeown has spent twenty-five years teaching breathing, first to people with asthma, then to people with sleep problems, then to people with anxiety and panic disorder. He worked with roughly six hundred clients a year while doing it. Nestor is the journalist who wrote Breath, … Read more
You ran out of air halfway through the phrase again. So you did what everyone tells you to do. You took a bigger breath next time. And it got worse. I want to start there, because it is the most common thing I see in singers who come to me for breath work, and almost … Read more
Written by [Danail Donchev], breathwork and pranayama teacher. Last reviewed: August 2026. Two videos come up when you search this term. In the first, someone is sitting upright with a hand on their ribs, breathing so quietly you would not notice if you walked past. Nothing happens. The caption says somatic breathwork. In the second, … Read more
Breathing is the only thing your body does automatically that you can also do deliberately. Your heart beats without your permission. Your digestion runs without instruction. Your blood vessels open and close according to signals you will never consciously issue. But breathing sits on both sides of the line. It runs by itself when you … Read more
Written by [Danail Donchev], breathwork and pranayama teacher. Last reviewed: August 2026. Medical disclaimer: This article is educational and is not medical advice. Breathwork is not a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder or any other diagnosed condition, and it is not a substitute for trauma therapy. If you are in crisis, or if you have any … Read more
Picture a phone buzzing on the coffee table. A name lights up the screen, a message that is warm, a little too personal, from someone who is not you. Is it nothing? Is it something? You feel the question land in your stomach before your mind can answer it. Most people who go looking for … Read more
What Is Self-Sabotage, and How Can You Overcome It? You finally land the interview, then stay up so late the night before that you show up foggy and flat. You meet someone who treats you well, and within weeks you are picking fights over nothing. You start the new habit with real energy, then quietly … Read more
There is a particular moment when the body shifts its breath without thinking. Someone sprints up a flight of stairs, chest heaving, shoulders pumping up and down with each desperate inhale. A person in the grip of panic gasps, feeling their collarbones rise and their shoulders hunch as their breathing becomes rapid and shallow. An … Read more