A powerful breathwork session can create insight, emotional release and a meaningful shift in state.

But what happens when Monday morning arrives?

In this episode of The Breath Science Podcast, I explore the difference between facilitating a breathwork experience and working with someone longitudinally as a practitioner.

Through the story of Julian, a high-performing professional struggling with anxiety, poor sleep and mounting pressure, I show why insight alone does not always create behavioural change. Sometimes a breakthrough opens the door, but the person still needs the skills, capacity and structure to know where to go next.

We explore:

• The difference between a breathwork facilitator and a practitioner
• Why a powerful experience does not automatically create lasting change
• How insight can sometimes increase distress when there is no clear path forward
• Why assessment should come before intervention
• How to separate physiological, cognitive and behavioural components of anxiety
• Why poor sleep, recovery and low capacity may need addressing before deeper psychological work
• The role of breathing as an assessment tool, regulation skill and resilience practice
• Why the breath can remain central without becoming the only intervention
• How restoration, regulation, resilience and reappraisal can provide structure for longer-term work
• Why the intervention should follow the person rather than forcing the person into a technique

This is not an argument that facilitators are bad and practitioners are good.

A skilled breathwork facilitator can create a safe and genuinely meaningful experience. But practitioner work asks a different set of questions:

Who is this person?
What is actually happening?
What do they need?
Where should we begin?
How will we know whether it is working?
And how does today's intervention connect to where they need to go next?

Because the goal is not simply to create a powerful experience.

It is to create meaningful change that still holds when Monday morning arrives.

For years, I’ve been known for breath science. But what happens when the thing you become known for starts to feel like a cage?

Welcome to Beyond Breath, a new series within The Breath Science Podcast where I step outside the usual science-led conversations and explore the wider ideas shaping my work, business and life.

In this first episode, I talk about how I became “the breathing guy”, why specialising can slowly become an identity, and the tension between having a clear niche and allowing yourself to evolve.

I also share what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has taught me about ego, failure, competition and becoming a beginner again. After years of academic and professional expertise, BJJ gave me an environment where knowledge meant very little, failure was immediate, and improvement required becoming comfortable with uncertainty.

In this episode, I explore:

• How I became known for breath science
• When expertise starts becoming identity
• The commercial reality of being known for one thing
• Why I started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
• Ego, losing and learning through failure
• What uncertainty can teach us about learning
• Business, fatherhood, behaviour, psychology and the parts of my life that sit beyond breathing
• Why I’m creating the Beyond Breath series

Breath science remains at the centre of my work. It just doesn’t need to remain the boundary of my thinking.

Beyond Breath is the more raw and personal side of the podcast. Sometimes that will mean business, BJJ, fatherhood, identity, psychology, behaviour or entrepreneurship. Sometimes I may finish an episode with more questions than answers.

If that sounds like your kind of conversation, follow The Breath Science Podcast so you don’t miss the next episode.

The Breath Science Podcast | Beyond Breath #1

I’m Martin McPhilimey, a respiratory and sleep scientist and founder of the School of Breath Science. I help health-driven people, and the coaches, therapists and practitioners who guide them, separate real breath science from wellness hype, drawing on more than 15 years across clinical, academic and coaching settings.

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This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for individualised medical or clinical advice.

Your breath changes with your emotions. Stress, frustration and anxiety can make breathing faster, more irregular and more effortful. But the relationship also works in the opposite direction: changing how you breathe can influence the physiological state in which those emotions are experienced.

In this episode of The Breath Science Podcast, I break down how breathing interacts with the nervous system, carbon dioxide, heart rhythm, interoception, attention and physiological arousal.

Importantly, breathing is not a magic switch for turning stress or anxiety off. Different techniques affect different people in different ways, and sometimes focusing on the breath can actually make things worse.

We explore:

• Why stress and anxiety change the way you breathe
• How over-breathing and falling CO₂ can amplify uncomfortable sensations
• Why “take a deep breath” isn't always good advice
• How breathing influences heart rhythm and blood pressure regulation
• The role of interoception and how the brain interprets respiratory sensations
• Why breathing techniques can help organise attention during stressful moments
• When focusing on the breath may increase anxiety rather than reduce it

I also walk through three practical breathing techniques:

1. Extended exhalation breathing
A gentle way of reducing breathing pace and supporting a calmer physiological state.

2. Resonant or coherent breathing
Around six breaths per minute to create a smooth rhythm between breathing, heart rate and blood pressure regulation.

3. Box breathing
A structured breathing pattern that can be useful for focus and composure under pressure.

We also cover some of the most common mistakes people make, including breathing too deeply, slowing the breath too aggressively, forcing long exhalations and using breath control to avoid difficult emotions.

The goal isn't to find the “best” breathing technique.

It's to understand your current state, understand what different techniques actually do, and learn to select the right tool for the right moment.