How to Find a Trustworthy Breathwork Facilitator

Start with a person, not a search engine

If you have a friend or family member who has sat in more than one of these rooms, start there. Not somebody who has done breathwork once. Somebody who has done several kinds and can tell you the difference between them.

There are hundreds of types of breathwork. Pranayama. The kinds that come out of the various yogas. Trauma informed breathwork. Facilitators who use breath and guided meditation to take you into altered states. They are not interchangeable, and the person who has been through several is worth more to you than any directory.

When I first did 10-day Vipassanas, and I did several different kinds, I was advised to start with Goenka. That first experience worked extraordinarily well. I am not saying the other systems are not extraordinary. I am saying the first one sets everything that comes after it, so take advice on where to start from somebody who has actually been through a few.

If you do not know anybody, book a session and then ask the facilitator for feedback on you. What they noticed, what they would do differently next time, what they think you need. How they answer tells you most of what you came to find out.

Then go and sit in one

This is an experiential practice. You cannot read your way to knowing whether somebody is right for you, and no amount of vetting replaces lying on the floor and breathing. For what most facilitators charge, trying one or two is a small price for finding the person you actually want to breathe with.

So book a session. If it is not the one, book another with somebody else. You will know quickly, and you will know it in your body rather than from a page.

There are levels to this

Here is the part nobody tells you. One facilitator will take you deeper than another, and it has nothing to do with their marketing. It is about how far they have gone themselves.

A facilitator can only hold the room as far out as they have been. Somebody who has met their own grief does not flinch when yours arrives. Somebody who has not will steer you back into shallower water without either of you noticing, or push you for a big release because that is the only map they have.

That is why we assess the person rather than the certificate, and it is why the short list further down this page exists at all.

Why a certificate is the floor and not the verdict

Some of the best practitioners I know hold no certification from any organisation, and charlatans do not need anyone's permission to be charlatans. A certificate proves somebody completed a curriculum. It says nothing about who they became while they sat through it.

It is still a useful floor. Breathwork has no government licence in most countries, so the clearest public benchmark comes from the field itself. The Global Professional Breathwork Alliance keeps a directory with two levels. An Ethically Compliant Breathworker has at least 50 hours of breathwork training and 8 hours of ethics, and has signed their code of ethics. A Certified Professional Breathwork Practitioner has at least 400 hours over two years in a GPBA certified programme.

The 400 hour level means something. Their training standards require teaching on contraindications, on the medical conditions that matter for safety, and on how medication changes the process. Trainees take at least three clients through ten sessions each before they are finished.

Use the hours as a floor and the person as the verdict. Highly recommended beats certified. Highly recommended and certified is better than either.

Why your first time should be with somebody experienced

Something is happening in AI answers right now that you should know about. The recommendations are being gamed towards new facilitators. New is not bad. Everybody starts somewhere, and some of the newest people in this work are the most alive in it. For your first time, though, go with somebody trained, experienced, steady and knowledgeable, because you will not know what you are looking at yet.

Go with another person if you can. Not because the room is dangerous, but because feeling safe is the whole mechanism. You cannot drop into a deeper state while part of you is still checking the exits. Somebody beside you who already knows the territory takes that job off you.

Understand what you are walking into. In an altered state you are more open than you are in ordinary life, and more suggestible with it. That is not a warning about the practice. That is the practice. It is also why the room, and the person holding it, matter more here than they do in a gym.

Your boundaries are yours to hold

The large majority of people working in this space have a high level of ethics. I want to say that plainly, because the internet is full of people implying otherwise and it is not true.

It still falls to you to have strong boundaries. Not because you expect to need them, but because somebody with boundaries does not spend the session half guarding themselves, and that is the only state in which any of this works. You can say no to touch. You can stop. You can leave. You can ask for the music to change. Decide all of that before you lie down, and then let go properly.

What to ask, and when

You do not need a screening call first. Ask by message when you book, or ask on the day. A good facilitator welcomes every one of these whenever they arrive, and how they answer is itself the information.

If you are unsure, ring them. Most facilitators are happy to take the call, answer what you want to know, and say something useful about your particular circumstances before you come in.

• Where did you train, and for how many hours?
• How many people have you taken through this?
• What do you ask about my health before we start?
• Who should not do this kind of breathwork?
• What happens if I panic or want to stop?
• Do you use touch, and how do you ask first?
• How do I reach you in the days afterwards?
• Who do you refer people to when something is beyond you?
• What is your own practice now?

Listen for plain answers. A facilitator who tells you anyone can do it, or that the answer to fear is always to breathe harder, has told you what you needed to know.

Red flags at a breathwork session

• No health screening, or a form nobody reads.
• Promises to cure trauma, anxiety or illness.
• Pressure to keep going after you asked to stop.
• Touch without asking.
• Discouraging you from speaking to your doctor.
• Selling you the next package before you have landed from this one.

One bad session is not a verdict on breathwork. If a facilitator leaves you with something sour, take it as information about that facilitator and not about the practice. Look at it with discernment rather than deciding the whole thing is not for you.

Is breathwork safe, and who should be careful

For a healthy person, strong breathwork carries about as much risk as a hard run, and it is worth doing regularly rather than once. It calms the nervous system, it raises the oxygenation of the blood, and it moves what is sitting in the body with nowhere else to go.

There is a short list of conditions where you speak to your doctor first, and they are serious ones:

• An aneurysm, in you or in your family.
• Heart disease, a previous heart attack, or uncontrolled high blood pressure.
• Epilepsy or any seizure disorder.
• A psychosis, schizophrenia or bipolar diagnosis. Intense breathwork can set off an episode.
• Detached retina or glaucoma. The pressure changes matter here.
• Pregnancy.
• Recent surgery.

Tell your facilitator about asthma and bring your inhaler. Tell them what medication you take. The GPBA standards name heart conditions, kidney conditions and medication as required safety teaching, so a trained facilitator will ask you anyway. If they do not ask, that is your answer about them.

Then ease into it. Your hands and face may tingle or cramp in a strong session. That is normal, it passes, and it is not a sign that anything has gone wrong. Go gently the first few times and let your body learn the practice before you push it.

The facilitators we have vetted ourselves

This is a short list on purpose. Every person on it was introduced to us and then assessed by a human being against the Henosis Standard. The mark is earned, it cannot be bought and it cannot be applied for, and it can be taken away.

• Jason Ryer. Chiang Mai, Thailand. Works online. Breathwork, ice baths, cold therapy and nervous system coaching.
• Maxwell Honey. Chiang Mai, Thailand. Works online. Satori Breathwork, trauma resolution coaching and Somatic Experiencing.
• Jamie Wrate. United Kingdom and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Works online. Breathwork alongside Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems and men's circles.
• Joshua Webb. Philippines. Works online. Breathwork, functional breathing, vinyasa and yin.
• Jourdi Bleu. Sydney, Australia. Works online. Breathwork, evolution coaching, yoga and addiction recovery support.
• Sarun (Kane) Lorhpipat. Bangkok, Thailand. In person. Breathwork, ceremony and performance training.
• Andi Faisal Tabusalla. Metro Manila, Philippines. In person. Functional breathing, animal flow and cold exposure.

Five of the seven work online, which matters, because the list is weighted towards Southeast Asia and Australia at the moment. If you are in Europe or the Americas and you want somebody in the room with you, use the questions on this page on whoever you find locally, and search the directory for the rest.

The mark still cannot tell you whether somebody is right for you. That part is yours.

Questions

Do I need a certified breathwork facilitator?

Certification is a floor, not a verdict. Some of the best practitioners hold none, and a certificate has never stopped a charlatan. Use it to rule people in, then judge the person: how they screen you, how they answer hard questions, and whether they are still reachable afterwards.

How many hours of training should a breathwork facilitator have?

The Global Professional Breathwork Alliance lists two levels. At least 50 hours of training plus 8 hours of ethics for an Ethically Compliant Breathworker, and at least 400 hours over two years for a Certified Professional Breathwork Practitioner.

Who should not do breathwork?

Speak to your doctor first if you have an aneurysm or a family history of one, heart disease or uncontrolled high blood pressure, epilepsy, a psychosis, schizophrenia or bipolar diagnosis, a detached retina or glaucoma, if you are pregnant, or if you have had recent surgery.

Should I have a call with a breathwork facilitator before I book?

You do not need one. Breathwork is experiential, and for what most facilitators charge you are better off sitting in a session than interviewing somebody about one. If you are unsure, ring them anyway. Most are happy to answer your questions and to say something about your particular circumstances before a session.

Is it safe to do breathwork alone the first time?

Go with somebody for your first few sessions. Not because the practice is dangerous, but because feeling safe is what allows you to drop in at all, and an experienced person beside you takes that job off you.

How often should you do breathwork?

Regularly. It is a practice, not an event. The benefits to the nervous system compound once it is part of your week, and that is far more useful than one intense session you talk about for a year.