What to Expect
in a Breathwork Session
If you’re preparing for your first breathwork session — or simply curious about what breathwork actually involves — this guide walks you through what to expect, from the moment you settle in to the integration that happens after. No prior experience needed.
If you’d like to understand what breathwork is before reading about how a session unfolds, you might want to start with What is Breathwork?
Setting Up Your Space
A breathwork session starts before the first breath.
Whether you’re joining online or in person, you’ll be invited to make your environment as comfortable as possible. That means: a surface where you can comfortably lie down if needed — a bed, a yoga mat, the floor with a blanket. A glass of water nearby. An eye mask or cushion if you’d like help turning inward. Your phone on silent.
If you’re at home and not alone, it helps to let people know you need uninterrupted time.
The intention isn’t to create a perfect setting. It’s simply to remove the small frictions that pull attention outward — so that for the next hour or so, your attention can be fully with you.
The Opening: Orientation and Safety
Once you settle in, the session opens with a brief orientation. This is where I cover the practical and safety essentials before any breathing begins.
You are always in charge of your own process. Throughout the session, I’ll offer guidance — invitations to visualize, to feel, to follow the breath in a particular way. None of this is obligatory. If something doesn’t feel right, you listen to yourself. The practice is entirely voluntary.
Emotion calibration. Breathwork can surface emotions — sometimes unexpected ones. A useful frame: imagine emotions on a scale from 1 to 10. In a guided session, the intention is generally to work around the 5–6 range — present and open to what arises, without pushing toward peak intensity. If you find yourself moving toward a stronger experience, there are tools available: refocusing on the exhale, bringing attention back to physical sensation, or signaling me.
Health considerations. Breathwork isn’t suitable for everyone. Before we begin, I’ll ask whether any of the following apply to you: respiratory or cardiovascular conditions, pregnancy or lactation, cancer, glaucoma or retinal detachment, diagnosed psychiatric conditions, active inflammatory processes, epilepsy, or high blood pressure. These aren’t meant to exclude — they’re meant to keep the practice safe and adapted to you.
The Breathing Practice
Once orientation is complete, you’ll be guided into the breathing technique for that session. The breath here is not an object of focus — it’s a shortcut to the unconscious, to a zone of creativity and inner experience that ordinary waking life doesn’t easily reach. You’re not observing the breath the way you might in meditation. You’re using it as a key to access what’s underneath: emotions, sensations, images, and insights that live beyond the thinking mind.
As the practice unfolds, I’ll guide you with my voice and with music. Music is not background — it’s an integral part of the session, carefully chosen to support the journey and help the experience unfold. You might be invited to visualize, to stay with a sensation, or simply to keep breathing. All of this is an offering, not a direction.
You can adjust the intensity at any time. Breathing through the mouth tends to deepen the experience; shifting to the nose softens it. Returning to your natural, comfortable breath is always available.
The session is designed to be responsive to you.
What You Might Feel in the Body
Because this is a full-body breathing practice, the body responds — sometimes in ways that feel unfamiliar at first.
Common physical sensations include tingling, warmth, vibration, heaviness, or lightness. Temperature can shift, sometimes several times within a single session — feeling suddenly cold, then warm, without obvious reason. Some people feel the body become very dense or still, almost like stone. Others feel the opposite: an expansive, almost electric aliveness.
One sensation worth naming specifically is tetany — temporary muscle contractions or cramping, often in the hands, jaw, or face. It can be surprising if you’ve never felt it before, but it’s common, well understood, and temporary. It happens because of shifts in the oxygen-CO2 balance during active breathing, and it passes on its own.
Some people temporarily lose sensation in parts of the body, or feel a sense of disconnection from it altogether. Dizziness or nausea can also occur, particularly at higher intensities.
Beyond the physical, you might notice visuals, images, or memories surfacing. Some people enter a dream-like state, or feel as though they’re drifting or floating. Occasionally someone moves through parts of the practice in something close to sleep.
Emotions may also move through — tears, laughter, a deep exhale, sounds. Emotional expression is welcome; it’s often how the body releases what it’s been holding.
There is no correct way to experience breathwork. Whatever arises is part of your process.
Coming Back: The Return to the Body
When the active breathing phase ends, the session doesn’t stop — it shifts.
You’ll be guided back gradually: into physical sensation, into the room, into the present moment. This return is part of the ceremony itself — not a formality, but a deliberate closing of the inner journey. The breath finds its natural rhythm again. The body settles.
Integration: Capturing What's Fresh
Once you’ve landed back in the present, the next part of the session begins: integration.
What surfaces in breathwork — emotions, images, realizations, a particular quality of aliveness — is still raw and unfiltered in the moments right after the practice. Within 10 or 15 minutes, that material begins to settle into memory. The window right after is when it’s most alive and accessible.
This is why integration isn’t an optional add-on. You’ll be invited to give form to your experience before it fades — through journaling, drawing, or simply writing down whatever is present: images, words, feelings, questions, things that surprised you. There’s no right way to do it. The point is to catch what arrived, while it’s still close to the surface.
Sharing and Reflection
After integration, if you’re in a group session, there’s usually space for sharing — an open circle where participants can speak to their experience if they choose. Listening is equally valid. Sharing is never required.
In a one-on-one session, this takes the shape of a conversation: unpacking what came up, making sense of it together with me.
Sometimes I’ll offer a home integration practice — something to sit with, reflect on, or return to in the days that follow. Because the work doesn’t end when the session does. What surfaces in breathwork often continues to unfold — in small moments of clarity, in how you move through the days ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Breathwork is an intense and deep breathing practice that can give access to the unconscious and may be accompanied by both physical and emotional responses.
Does this practice have any health restrictions?
Breathwork is suitable for most people, but if you have serious medical conditions, check with your doctor whether this practice is safe for you.
But I don’t recommend breathwork if you have any of the following:
- Respiratory disease.
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Cancer
- Glaucoma or retinal detachment
- Diagnosed mental illnesses
- Inflammatory conditions
- Epilepsy
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding
How long does the practice last?
The breathwork session itself lasts around 40–45 minutes, with introduction and closing, the whole session usually takes 1.5–2 hours.
What do I need for the practice?
For online sessions: a quiet and comfortable space where you can practice easily. Prepare a blanket and socks, comfortable clothing, a notebook and pen for notes, and a bottle of water or another drink. Inform relatives, children, partners, and pets 🐾 so you won’t be disturbed.
For in-person sessions: just come as you are. Clothing should be comfortable and allow you to feel relaxed and at ease.
Can children practice?
No. Breathwork is for adults 18 years and older.
Breathwork is ultimately understood through experience rather than description. The most useful thing you can bring to your first session isn’t knowledge — it’s curiosity. The practice tends to surface what’s ready to surface, breath by breath.
If you’re curious to try breathwork in a safe and guided setting, you’re welcome to explore the formats I offer.