Not on purpose, just how it’s happening on its own.
as if the body never quite gets a full, nourishing breath. The jaw is tight. The inhale feels effortful or shallow. There’s a subtle sense of being “on,” even while sitting still.
This same pattern often carries into the night. The mind keeps moving. Falling asleep takes longer than it should, and sleep feels light or easily disturbed. In the morning, the body hasn’t fully reset, even if the day hasn’t started yet.
because it determines how effectively oxygen is delivered to fuel the brain and body. When breathing is fast or shallow, oxygen is delivered less efficiently to the brain and muscles, which can increase fatigue and mental strain.
Most people here are thoughtful and self-aware. They’ve worked on stress, mindset, and boundaries. What’s confusing is that understanding hasn’t changed how their body responds. Tension returns automatically. The breath speeds up under pressure. Small stressors land harder than expected.
This isn’t about willpower or awareness. It’s about how the breath has been trained over time. Stress shapes breathing patterns, and those breathing patterns, in turn, reinforce the stress response. Like posture or movement, breathing patterns adapt to what life asks of us. And like any functional pattern, they can be retrained so the body doesn’t have to work quite so hard just to get through the day.
Over time, living in this state quietly shapes how people relate to work, relationships, and themselves.
From a breathing perspective, this experience makes sense.
Under stress, the body naturally breathes faster or higher to stay alert. When that pattern becomes habitual, breathing starts to require more effort than it should. The body is taking in air, but it doesn’t feel replenishing.
Over time, this affects daily life in subtle but persistent ways. The mind stays busy at night. Sleep feels light or unrefreshing. Muscles hold tension even when you’re not consciously stressed. Small demands create outsized reactions, and recovery takes longer than it used to.
Research suggests that up to 70% of adults have breathing patterns associated with anxiety, poor sleep, fatigue, and heightened stress sensitivity. These patterns usually develop gradually, shaped by pace, pressure, posture, and long stretches of being “on,” not because something is wrong.
Many adults breathe 15–20 times per minute or more at rest, even while sitting or lying down. More efficient, functional breathing is typically slower and nasal, often closer to 6–10 breaths per minute. Faster resting breathing keeps the nervous system in a state of readiness rather than recovery.
When breathing stays fast or shallow, the body loses too much carbon dioxide (CO₂). CO₂ is required for oxygen to be released from the blood into the brain and muscles. When that balance is off, the system has to work harder to get the same result.
Fatigue, mental strain, brain fog, headaches, dizziness under pressure, or a constant sense of urgency are common signs of low breathing efficiency.
Functional breathing retraining is used by Olympic athletes, special-forces units, and trauma-recovery clinicians to enhance focus, endurance, and emotional regulation. The same principles that support performance under pressure also support everyday nervous system stability.
Because they were learned, they can be retrained. As breathing becomes lighter and more efficient, many people notice steadier energy, deeper sleep, and a nervous system that recovers more easily after stress.
As breathing becomes more efficient, changes tend to show up quickly in daily life.
Sleep is often one of the first things people notice. As nasal breathing becomes more consistent at night, oxygen absorption improves and breathing effort decreases. Many people fall asleep more easily, wake less during the night, and notice they feel more refreshed in the morning rather than already depleted.
During the day, thinking feels clearer and less urgent. You pause before reacting. Conversations feel easier to stay present in. This happens in part because your brain is no longer operating under a quiet oxygen deficit. As breathing efficiency improves, blood vessels can relax, heart rate and blood pressure tend to decrease, and the brain receives more consistent fuel to support focus, emotional balance, and decision-making.
In the body, tension begins to ease without conscious effort. As the diaphragm works more effectively, the jaw unclenches more often, shoulders drop, and the chest feels less tight. Breathing requires less work, which allows muscles to stop compensating and holding unnecessary tension.
Over time, many people notice they no longer feel like they’re just trying to keep up. Everyday demands require less effort. Light exercise feels steadier. Recovery between effort and rest improves, not because you’re pushing harder, but because your system is functioning more efficiently, using patterns that support the whole body and brain working together.
These changes emerge gradually as your nervous system learns breathing patterns that better support your body and mind, especially during stressful moments.
People often find they trust their body’s signals more and second-guess themselves less. Decisions feel clearer because they’re no longer being made from a place of urgency, fatigue, or survival mode. Energy that used to be spent just getting through the day becomes available for what actually matters.
People often describe feeling like they’ve stepped out of burnout mode. They’re no longer using all their capacity just to keep up. There’s more room for focus, connection, creativity, and follow-through, not because stress disappears, but because the body recovers more reliably after it.
Over time, this work supports a different relationship with pressure and desire. Instead of pushing through or shutting down, the breath becomes a steady reference point. With more of the body and brain working together, it’s easier to move toward meaningful work, deeper relationships, and a life that doesn’t require constant self-override.
As more efficient breathing becomes habitual, many people find they have more capacity available for life itself, no longer operating at the edge of their capacity.
This is functional breathwork coaching, grounded in respiratory physiology and nervous system science.
this work focuses on retraining breathing patterns the body can rely on in everyday life. Many people breathe in ways that quietly keep their nervous system on alert—mouth breathing, shallow or upper-chest breathing, over-breathing, low carbon dioxide tolerance, or restricted diaphragm movement. Over time, these patterns influence energy, sleep, stress reactivity, hormonal shifts, emotional steadiness, and physical health.
We assess how your breathing has adapted over time, then retrain it in ways your body can actually integrate, restoring nasal, light, slow, and deep breathing as a functional baseline.
Typically completed over four sessions
For most clients, four sessions are sufficient to address the core breathing patterns that affect sleep, stress reactivity, energy, and everyday regulation, assuming consistent practice between sessions. This timeframe allows enough repetition for the nervous system to begin reorganizing around more efficient breathing.
Some people choose to continue beyond four sessions when they want additional support integrating the practices into daily life, building habits more gradually, or working with more specific health-related breathing considerations. In those cases, we extend the work in a way that stays practical, paced, and responsive to what your system needs.
Pre-Session
Before Session 1, you’ll complete a detailed intake so I can get a clear picture of your health history and how breathing patterns are showing up in your daily life.
We use this information, along with an in-session assessment, to understand symptoms related to sleep, energy, stress reactivity, and nervous system load. This allows the work to be tailored to your specific needs and health considerations from the start, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.
Session 1
In the first session, we review your completed intake together and use it to guide the work from the start. This gives us a clear picture of your health history, current symptoms, and how breathing patterns may be contributing to sleep issues, anxiety, fatigue, or reactivity.
During the session, we complete several simple breathing assessments to understand your resting respiratory rate, how your breath responds under light demand, and your sensitivity to carbon dioxide. These measures help us see how efficiently your body is using oxygen and how quickly it reacts to stress.
We also identify any practical barriers to progress, such as nasal congestion, mouth breathing, or sleep-related challenges, and put basic supports in place so breathing retraining is accessible rather than frustrating.
A central focus of this session is training attention to the breath. A large part of functional breathing retraining is learning to notice what the breath is doing without immediately changing it. This awareness becomes the foundation for every practice that follows.
You also learn a simple, reliable recovery exercise to use when anxiety rises or the body feels keyed up. This practice helps reduce breath reactivity and gradually increases tolerance to carbon dioxide, making it easier to work with lighter, slower breathing in later sessions without feeling overwhelmed.
You begin to:
understand your breathing patterns, respiratory rate, and carbon dioxide sensitivity
identify which habits are contributing to your symptoms
improve nasal breathing and address congestion or sleep-related barriers
build foundational breath awareness skills
use a go-to recovery practice for anxiety and stress
establish a simple daily breathing practice to support the work ahead
Session 2
Each session begins with a brief reassessment so we can track progress and adjust the work. In Session 2, we reassess your resting respiratory rate and carbon dioxide sensitivity to understand how your breathing is responding to practice.
We also check in on consistency. Much of this work is about building habits and routines that fit real life, so we look at how practice has been going, what’s getting in the way, and how to make adjustments that are sustainable rather than idealized.
This session centers on two core practices: breathe light and breathe slow.
Breathe light addresses the biochemical side of breathing. We focus on reducing excess air volume so carbon dioxide levels can normalize, allowing oxygen to be released from the blood and delivered more effectively to the brain, muscles, and tissues. This supports energy, endurance, and physical resilience.
Breathe slow addresses the psychophysiological side of breathing. When the mind feels scattered or overwhelmed, slowing the breath and reducing respiratory rate helps quiet mental noise and settle reactivity. This practice gives you a direct way to regulate attention and emotional intensity in the moment.
We spend time practicing both approaches and creating a clear plan for using them in everyday situations—during work, stress, movement, and recovery—so they support both physical and mental performance.
You begin to:
monitor progress through reassessment of respiratory rate and carbon dioxide sensitivity
strengthen consistency with daily breathing habits
understand how carbon dioxide supports oxygen delivery
retrain breathing toward lighter air volume
use slow breathing to steady attention and calm mental overload
apply light and slow breathing practices in real-life situations
Session 3
Session 3 focuses on the biomechanics of breathing and how posture, diaphragm function, and breath depth work together to support stability, circulation, and nervous system regulation.
We look at how breathing interacts with posture and core support, and how efficient diaphragmatic movement helps create internal stability rather than tension. This includes understanding how diaphragmatic breathing supports vagal tone and contributes to steadier regulation across physical and emotional states.
The primary practice in this session is breathe deep, which is often misunderstood. This is not about taking bigger or forceful breaths. Instead, we work on drawing air deeper into the lungs using proper biomechanical techniques so oxygen absorption improves without increasing breathing effort or volume.
Practice focuses on coordinating the diaphragm, ribcage, and posture so breathing supports movement, digestion, pelvic floor function, and emotional steadiness. The emphasis is on efficiency and integration, not intensity.
You begin to:
understand how posture and breathing mechanics affect stability and regulation
improve diaphragmatic movement without over-breathing
reduce compensatory tension in the neck, chest, and jaw
experience how deeper, biomechanically efficient breathing supports vagal tone
integrate light, slow, and deep breathing together
apply diaphragmatic breathing to movement and everyday stressors
Session 4
Session 4 is focused on integration and application. The purpose is to make sure the breathing practices you’ve learned are working reliably in real life and feel natural rather than effortful.
We begin by reviewing the baseline from your initial assessment and comparing it with where you are now. We reassess your respiratory rate and carbon dioxide sensitivity and look at the progress you’ve made, both in measurable markers and in daily experience. This helps clarify what has shifted and what still needs support.
We revisit the practices from earlier sessions and refine technique as needed so you feel confident using them across different situations—sleep, stress, movement, and recovery.
This session also creates space to address specific health-related considerations that may benefit from additional education or targeted application. This might include women’s health concerns, sport or exercise performance goals, chronic pain patterns, or other ongoing health conditions where breathing plays a meaningful role. The focus is on applying what you already know more precisely, not on adding unnecessary complexity.
In most cases, we are not learning new practices in this session. Instead, we strengthen your ability to choose the right practice at the right time. If your goals include performance or taking the work to a more advanced level, we can explore additional strategies where appropriate.
You leave with:
a clear understanding of your progress compared to your original baseline
refined breathing practices that feel integrated and reliable
guidance for applying breathwork to sleep, stress, movement, and recovery
education tailored to any specific health or performance considerations
a personalized plan for maintaining and building on your gains
You may have seen a doctor for sleep, anxiety, blood pressure, or fatigue. A chiropractor or physical therapist for pain or posture. A therapist for stress or emotional regulation. The symptoms may seem unrelated, but the body has been asking for support at the level of physiology.
This work is a good fit for people who recognize themselves in one or more of these patterns.
The Anxious Overthinker
Your thoughts move quickly, especially under stress, and anxiety ramps up fast. Breathing tends to speed up or stay shallow, which sends more stress signals to the brain and keeps the mind stuck in overdrive.
The Restless Sleeper
You fall asleep tired but wake up feeling unfinished. Nighttime breathing patterns — mouth breathing, shallow breathing, snoring, or airway instability — disrupt recovery and carry into daytime fatigue, focus issues, and stress sensitivity.
The Jaw-Clencher
Your jaw, neck, shoulders, or lower back stay tight even at rest. Shallow chest breathing limits diaphragm support, so other muscles compensate instead of the core. Over time, this creates strain and makes it hard for the body to fully let go.
The One Lost in Fog
You’re functioning, but it costs more than it should. Inefficient breathing reduces oxygen delivery, contributing to fatigue, brain fog, and the sense that you’re always scattered.
The Winded Weekend Warrior
You’re active, but you get winded quickly during exercise or everyday movement. Your heart rate rises fast, and breathing often shifts to the mouth. This can make effort feel harder and recovery take longer than it should.
The Body that Carries it All
Stress hasn’t just been mental, it’s settled into your body over time. Habitual breathing patterns keep stress physiology switched on, contributing to pain, inflammation, nervous system dysregulation, or chronic health challenges.
This work doesn’t replace medical or therapeutic care. It addresses a common underlying factor — breathing patterns — that influence how many systems function together. When breathing becomes more efficient, many people find they have more capacity to respond to life and to the care they’re already receiving.
When breathing patterns become more efficient and reliable, the body stops working against itself.
You walk away with a practical understanding of how your breathing affects sleep, stress, energy, focus, and recovery, along with scientifically grounded breathing practices that show you exactly what to support your body. Instead of managing symptoms, you have clear, usable tools that work with your physiology rather than against it.
Over time, this changes how you move through daily life. You are less reactive and more steady under pressure. Recovery happens more naturally after stress, effort, or emotion. Energy that used to be spent compensating or pushing through becomes available for connection, movement, creativity, and follow-through.
The result is not perfection or constant calm. It is more capacity, steadiness, and choice, with breathing practices that support physical and mental health and allow you to live the life you want to live.
Pricing
60 minute sessions
Because functional breathing is a skill developed through repetition and progression, this work is offered within a four-session structure to support lasting change. A single session may be scheduled at the single-session rate and counts as Session 1 of 4. After the first session, you may continue paying individually or apply your initial payment toward the four-session series at a reduced rate.
You’ll have the option to choose the tier that works for you (learn more about pricing tiers here):
Earth — Rooted & Supported
For those with limited financial flexibility. This tier keeps the work accessible while supporting your growth and allowing you to be held by the greater whole.
River — Steady & Sustaining
For those who can consistently invest in their well-being. This tier reflects the true cost of the work and helps keep the system nourished and sustainable.
Sky — Expansive & Generative
An expansive contribution that helps make this work accessible to others who need additional support.
If this work resonates, the next step is a 30-minute Connection Call.
This call is a no-pressure space for me to learn more about what’s bringing you in and what you’re hoping to change. We’ll take time to get clear on your current symptoms, what you want support with, and what feels most important to address right now.
We’ll talk about how breathing patterns may be influencing things like sleep quality, anxiety or stress reactivity, energy levels, focus, tension, or recovery. We’ll also look at what you’ve already tried, what’s helped, and what hasn’t shifted things, so I can craft the most effective and tailored approach for you, if you choose to work with me.
I’ll explain how functional breathing coaching works, what the four-session pathway looks like, and how breath retraining could support your specific goals. We’ll also clarify whether this approach feels like a good fit for you at this point.
Breathing faster. Holding tension. Pushing through fatigue. Staying alert even when nothing is wrong.
You don’t have to keep living that way.
There is another way to move through life, one where your breath supports you instead of driving urgency, where your body recovers more easily, and where energy and clarity are not something you have to chase.
You do not need more effort or discipline. You need patterns that work with your physiology, not against it.
Give yourself permission to learn a different way of breathing.
Trust the part of you that knows something can shift.
Choose support that helps your body and mind work better together, so you can live the life you want to live.
If this resonates, you are welcome to begin with a Connection Call.
Testimonials
“As a trauma-informed life coach, I’ve done years of deep healing work—but working with Melissa showed me the piece I was missing: the body. Her somatic breathwork helped me understand what it means to complete the stress cycle and move trauma through the body, not just the mind. Every session was eye-opening and packed with practical tools I could immediately use. There’s NO WAY you won’t walk away with massive value and real transformation if you say yes to this work.”
“The information you presented was just what I needed at this time in my life. I especially liked the scientific connection between our physiology and breath work. I’m already using one of the breathing exercises to immediately squelch my tension headaches. Thank you!”
“At a crazy time in my life, this was probably the one thing I needed. I came in wanting to breathe better and feel more connected to my body—and that’s exactly what this work has helped me do.”
“Somatic breathwork with Melissa opened new and welcome doors within me by giving me new ways to sense the quality of my breath. The embodied shift I’ve experienced through practice has deepened my meditation and sharpened my cycling, making it both more disciplined and more fulfilling. Rather than just learning about breath, I learned to live it more fully.”
Disclaimer
This program is educational in nature and not intended to diagnose, treat, or replace medical or psychological care. Always consult your healthcare provider before starting new health practices.