I fell in love with everything breathwork after a realisation during an osteopath session a few years ago. Whilst on the table being folded and crunched, my osteopath asked me to take a breath in and then to breath out. So I did, and he stopped for a moment to point out I was breathing the wrong way around, and suggested how my body should move during breathing. It was that point that sent me on a path of experimenting and exploring my own breath.
This wasn’t the first time in my life that I had realised I was a dysfuntional breather, I grew up with asthma as a child and had to carry around an inhaler at all times. Fortunately for me, my mum worked in healthcare and enrolled me into swimming classes to help strengthen my breath. As I grew up it became less of an issue but during my teens I started smoking and continued to do so for about 10 years until one day I climbed a single flight of stairs and had to sit down to rest at the top due to breathlessness. I booked a session with an NLP coach and walked out with my head high after throwing away my lighter and cigs. I never smoked again.
The first part of my career was in construction where I trained as a carpenter and joiner. I spent 15 years building, renovating and creating. During this time PPE (personal protective equipment) was not always prioritised, at best we would use PPE during hazardous tasks. This meant spending huge parts of my life in a working environment breathing in hazardous materials for most of the day. I never even considered the long term effects this might have on me until one day I was working with a toxic adhesive that sent me home and later to the hospital. This scared the life out of me after realising what I was doing to myself at work. I soon bought the best construction rated mask I could find to minimise the damage I was doing. I started to learn about the toxic effects of different woods and how some increase in toxicity the more we are exposed to them, making sure I’d never have to be sent to the hospital again for breathing in the wrong material.
When I returned from that osteopath appointment I bought some books and started with the James Nestor book Breath, Wim Hof and The Oxygen Advantage. My mind was blown and it created an urgency for me to continue learning anything I could about how we breathe. When you start to learn about something that is clearly life changing, it is like someone has opened your eyes and you start to notice how it’s not just a ‘you’ issue, there are so many of us that are not breathing correctly.
I then started learning how to teach others, I received one on one coaching from Ed Harrold (American pro athelete and expert in breath) before learning about the Wim Hof fundamentals. I then found myself drawn to the Oxygen Advantage training and learned how to address dysfunctional breathing problems in a more practical way.
Learning how to breathe better has become a passion for me and I knew this was how I wanted to help people in the world.
In 2019 I left construction and joined my wife’s business Beam Development and Training where we deliver training and coaching on wellbeing and personal development for companies all over the world. Our core beliefs are:
Being kind to others
Be kind to ourselves
Be trustworthy
Use positive language
Make time for people
Chose our words carefully
Our mission is to help people overcome their challenges and be more anti fragile. One of my many roles is to bring breathwork into the lives of the people we help.