A weekend certificate does not make someone trauma-informed. Breathwork practitioner and clinical nutritionist Kathy O returns to Health Up to explain what actually separates a safe breathwork facilitator from an under-trained one — and the questions to ask before you lie down on that mat.
If you've had a breathwork session that left you shaken, dissociated or convinced the whole modality "doesn't work for you," this conversation may reframe it. The problem often isn't the breath. It's the room, the screening and the hours behind the person holding it.
WHAT WE COVER
- The difference between conscious connected breathwork and conscious controlled breathing (box breathing, Wim Hof) — and why the distinction matters for your nervous system
- Rebirthing vs holotropic breathwork: parasympathetic and gentle vs sympathetic and stimulating
- Why healing does not have to be forceful, and how "freeing the breath mechanism" changes how you live, not just how you breathe
- Contraindications, waivers and full disclosure — what a competent practitioner asks you before a session
- Panic breathing and freeze states: why a trauma response can look completely calm from the outside
- Group size and safety — why Kathy caps solo-facilitated groups at 10, and what happens at 50-plus festival sessions
- How to vet a practitioner: training hours, mentorship, recognised schools, the Australian and Global Breathwork Alliances
- Confidence vs arrogance, and why a safe practitioner will never call themselves your healer
- How many sessions before you notice a shift, and why integration matters as much as the breathing
HOW TO CHOOSE A BREATHWORK PRACTITIONER
Ask where they trained, how many hours, and who accredits the school. Ask what happens if you panic. Ask whether they screen for contraindications and medications. A two-day trauma-informed course is not equivalent to a 450-hour program with six months of mentorship — compare the pair.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome back, Kathy O
00:41 From dietetics to breathwork: the backstory
05:33 Finding breathwork through her explant journey
09:03 Rebirthing vs holotropic: two branches of conscious connected breathwork
11:26 Freeing the breath mechanism and why we chest-breathe
14:30 The breath as a bridge between conscious and unconscious
16:21 One-on-one vs group sessions
19:05 Waivers, contraindications and what you may experience
21:27 Panic breathing, freeze and flop, and the polyvagal picture
23:39 Where beginners should actually start
25:00 Credentials, training hours and vetting a school
27:14 Confidence vs arrogance in a facilitator
29:14 Healing can be gentle
32:06 Co-regulation, screams and large-group risk
38:49 How many sessions before you feel a shift
41:07 Why the effects continue after the session ends
43:17 Where to find Kathy O
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Kathy O is a clinical nutritionist, breathwork practitioner and NLP practitioner who blends Eastern and Western approaches. This is her fifth appearance on Health Up — earlier episodes cover gut health, thyroid, burnout and breast implant illness.
Connect with Kathy on Instagram: @kathyo
Hosted by Anthony Hartcher, clinical nutritionist and lifestyle medicine specialist at me&my wellness.
If this episode helped, share it with someone considering their first breathwork session.
Music licensed through Soundstripe.
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