Breath Therapy was started by Alissa Powell, a certified Nutritional Therapist, after seeing the positive impact breath work was having on her clients’ health and well-being.
“During the pandemic stress was the overwhelming factor preventing my clients from improving their health. With little physical contact from friends, family and coworkers, gyms being closed, children needing home schooling, and lives being lived often in isolation, there were few outlets for keeping health in check. I often discussed with my clients that although we can’t change a stressful situation, we can improve how we deal with that stress. Breath work is a simple solution to coping with stress which can be done by nearly everyone, and it can make a tremendous difference to our health and well-being, sleep, and overall quality of life. Teaching breath techniques became a regular feature of my client sessions, but I knew I could help them significantly more with the right tools and so I became certified in breath retraining and coaching. I practiced on my own breath work daily and became much more aware of my own breathing dysfunction.
Alissa Powell, Founder of Breath Therapy
What started as a simple desire to learn new techniques to help my clients developed into a personal journey of breath retraining and stress/anxiety management. What I learned about my own breathing was that I often fell into a pattern of chest breathing, which may be due to a lifelong bad habit of holding in my stomach in order to have good posture and a flatter stomach. I wasn’t allowing my diaphragm to move freely. I also have had a life-long tendency to breathe through my mouth during sleep, which caused occasional snoring, and not-so-occasional embarrassment if I fell asleep in public. Lastly, I learned that if I was in an uncomfortable situation I had a tendency to hyperventilate, which on several occasions led to panic attacks or general feelings of anxiety.
The human body has the wonderful ability to create new neural pathways to form new behaviours through repetition…
It’s not easy to change your breathing habits, but it’s not difficult either. As with any form of exercise or new activity it takes knowledge, training, and practice. The more you practice the easier it becomes until eventually it becomes second nature. The human body has the wonderful ability to create new neural pathways to form new behaviours through repetition, just as our muscles also learn new ‘muscle memory’ with repetitive movement.
Let me help you retrain your breathing. Book a video or in-person appointment with me today.”
–Alissa Powell, BBA, DipCNM, mBANT
