Something no one really talks about, but almost all of us who practice connected breathwork regularly experience, is the plateau. It’s something I see with almost every student and committed breather who attends several sessions of conscious connected breathwork consistently over time.
In the beginning, breathwork can be intense and cathartic. Each session can feel like a big layer of the onion is being removed, a life changing insight occurs, or deep healing finally happens. Then suddenly, 5, 10, 15, or 20 sessions in, you start having really subtle sessions. You’ve almost developed an expectation of something big happening at this point, and a part of you can’t help but feel a little frustrated or disappointed when it doesn’t.
If this happens, first, know that it’s natural. Second, know that something can still be happening even when you don’t feel it in a massive way. A breathwork session doesn’t have to be intense to be beneficial.
Why Do You Hit a Plateau in Breathwork?
There can be many reasons your breathwork sessions start to feel different over time. Part of it may simply be that you’re different. Those early sessions can feel incredibly profound because everything is new, and if you’re new to bottom up therapies, your body and subconscious mind may be processing a lifetime of emotions and unresolved experiences. You may find yourself accessing buried grief, anger, sensations, memories, insights, and altered states you’ve never experienced before. As you continue doing the work and breathwork becomes more familiar, there may simply be less waiting beneath the surface demanding your attention, and the experience can naturally become less intense and more subtle.
But there’s another element worth considering that we don’t talk about nearly enough: set and setting. If you’re plateauing with online breathwork sessions, particularly if you tend to keep your camera off during live sessions, or even more so if you’re primarily doing prerecorded sessions, that could be a big piece of the plateau. Online and prerecorded sessions can be great and even life changing, but there are a few reasons why it can sometimes be easier to hit a plateau with them.
1. Accountability Can Change How You Breathe
With a recorded session, or a live one with your camera off, there is very little external accountability. Because of that, you may be much more likely to take a softer, more passive approach to the breathing practice without even realizing it. I always say the breath is the medicine, so if you’re microdosing it, you’re going to have a microdose experience.
Ask yourself honestly: Are you breathing with the same commitment and intensity you did when you first discovered this work? Or have your breaths gradually become a little softer, slower, or shallower? Having a facilitator overseeing you in a live session can be very different because that accountability often leads to you powering up the breath and really committing to the practice.
2. The Shared Experience of Group Breathwork
Another element that can be missing from prerecorded breathwork is the shared experience. Some people really benefit from the energy of a live container, and this can be felt particularly strongly in an in person group. Hearing everyone breathing around you and hearing others emoting can be a huge impetus for you to really go there yourself.
Research in other group settings has also found forms of physiological and neural synchrony between people sharing an experience. Whatever language you personally use for it, there can be something incredibly powerful about being immersed in an experience alongside other people who are also fully committed to the process.
3. The Attunement of a Live Breathwork Facilitator
So much of the magic that happens in live sessions comes from the facilitator being attuned to the needs of the individuals and the group in real time. They may suddenly feel inspired to say something, and those happen to be the exact words you needed to hear in that moment. Or they may feel a strong urge to change a song in the playlist, and that song ends up being deeply meaningful to you and creates a massive release because of that spontaneous switch.
In an in person session, there’s also the element of touch, when consented to, and the co regulation that a facilitator can bring to the experience. Again, I’m not saying prerecorded sessions can’t create massive benefits, especially if you really commit to the breath. But these elements that a live facilitator brings can be some pretty powerful icing on the cake.
A Special Note for Breathwork Facilitator Training Students: The Student Mindset
Something else worth mentioning, particularly if you’re training to become a breathwork facilitator, is that you’ll likely start experiencing your own breathwork sessions differently as your training gets underway. Instead of journeying purely in the role of the participant, you start to have your student hat on too.
You can’t help but notice and analyze things: “Ohhh, I love how she said that. I want to remember that for when I guide.” Or, “Yuck, this song feels way too slow or fast. I won’t do that.” Or, “I need to remember this song and save it to my playlist after the session!” Or even, “Wow, I love how he explained tetany.”
This is completely normal, and it’s actually beneficial. The reason we have our facilitator training students attend biweekly breathwork sessions throughout their training is twofold:
- For your own inner journey. To continue doing your own work and become more connected to your inner wisdom.
- To learn how to facilitate. Every single session teaches you something about facilitation. Even the sessions you don’t love teach you what not to do! You’re experiencing different facilitators, language, music, pacing, approaches, and styles, and all of that helps you discover the kind of facilitator you want to become.
So if you notice that part of your brain observing the session through the lens of a facilitator in training, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong or that you’re not going deep enough. It’s simply another layer of the learning process.
What to Do If You Hit a Plateau in Breathwork
If you find you’ve hit a plateau, there are a few things I recommend:
- Take heart in knowing you’re not alone. This is something many people who practice connected breathwork regularly experience. A quieter session doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong or that you’re not getting any benefits out of it.
- Consider how you’re breathing. Are you really giving it your all? Or, if you’re honest with yourself, are you breathing softer and slower than you used to? Sometimes we think the practice has changed when, without realizing it, the way we’re approaching the practice has changed.
- Change your set and setting. If you’ve primarily been doing prerecorded sessions, try a live one. If you usually keep your camera off online, try turning it on. And if most of your practice has been online, consider experiencing an in person group session. If you’ve been breathing with the same facilitator or school for a long time, consider breathing with someone new. If you always do an equal inhale and exhale for your connected breathing, consider the two part breath – into the belly, into the chest and then out, all through mouth. Sometimes changing the container or approach is enough to change the experience.
A Subtle Breathwork Session Isn’t an Unproductive Session
Most importantly, try not to measure the value of a breathwork session by how dramatic it felt. One of my breathwork facilitator training students wrote a beautiful article about those seemingly “unproductive” breathwork sessions as part of her graduation requirements, and I felt it was worth sharing because so many people experience this stage of their practice and almost no one talks about it.
👉👉👉 Give her article on the breathwork plateau a read here.
And remember: a subtle session doesn’t mean an unproductive session. Sometimes the work simply changes as we do.
Ready to Go Deeper With Your Breathwork?
If your breathwork practice has started to feel a little stagnant, sometimes the best thing you can do is simply change the container. Breathe with a live facilitator, experience the energy of an in person group, learn a new approach, or immerse yourself in the work more deeply.
If you’d like to experience connected breathwork with me, there are a few ways we can breathe together:
- Join me for a free online breathwork session. Experience a live, facilitated connected breathwork journey from wherever you are in the world. Or if you happen to be in Sayulita, Mexico or Whitby, Ontario, you can breathe with me in person.
- Breathe with me in person at a retreat. If you’re craving the shared energy and depth of an in person container, our immersive breathwork retreats offer the opportunity to go much deeper into your own practice over several days.
- Train to become a breathwork facilitator. If this work has changed your life and you feel called to share it with others, our comprehensive Breathwork Facilitator Training combines your own personal journey with the skills, science, safety, trauma awareness, and hands on experience needed to confidently guide others.
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