Change Your Breathing: Improve Sleep, Performance & Reduce Anxiety

We all breathe anyway, right? But do we breathe correctly and why should we care?

We don’t notice our breathing until things go wrong and that is what happened to me in 2016. I started
experiencing severe panic attacks and sleepless nights for almost 18 months. After being told by doctors there
was nothing clinically wrong with me, I was recommended a meditation retreat where I was introduced to a
breathing technique that changed the course of my life and career.

Fast forward to 2021, after researching breathing techniques to improve my health and spurred on by my love
of competitive freediving, I became certified as an Advanced Oxygen Advantage Instructor. I teach science-
based functional breathing techniques which incorporate nasal breathing and diaphragmatic activation to
retrain breathing muscles to perform optimally.

Just like other muscles in the body, our diaphragm (the primary breathing muscle) can also be trained. When
we don’t have full functionality, the negative impact on the body is experienced in poor mobility, lower back
pain, upper body tension and poor circulation, to name a few.

Nasal breathing is proven to support immunity, increase ventilation, enhance sports performance and aid
structural facial development in children. Habitual mouth breathing on the other hand, has a debilitating effect
on the body causing exercise-induced asthma, increased anxiety, snoring, sleep apnea and oral health issues,
amongst others.

By incorporating these techniques into daily practice and training programs, clients have transformed their
breathing habits to build confidence, eliminate insomnia, reduce stress, study for exams, train for marathons
and swim The English Channel. My specialised freediving training provides a unique insight into how to use
the breath to optimise performance, not only in sport, but in day-to-day activities.

We can alleviate, and in some cases, eliminate health issues by changing our breathing habits, and empower
ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally.

A gift for life!

Tracey Howes