Most breathwork retreats look like a sweaty guru with a gong and a room full of people crying into headphones — and it's exactly why so many people never try it. Charlotte Saunders runs Charlotte Saunders Breathwork and Fire, helping people process trauma physically instead of just talking about it, from guided breathwork that changes the acidic balance in your blood, to fire walks, glass walks and bending reinforced steel bars with nothing but your throat.In this Festoon 500 interview, Charlotte explains how trauma gets encoded at a cellular level (and why talk therapy alone doesn't shift it), walks through a real case study of curing motorway anxiety in two sessions, and shares the moment — after losing a close friend — that she decided to train as a fire walking instructor herself. She also gets honest about the risks of untrained practitioners running this kind of work, and why she caps her fire walk groups at 20 people.In this episode:What breathwork actually does to your nervous system · why 90% of us don't breathe optimally · the case for physical, ceremonial healing over “just talking about it” · what really happens on a fire walk · and how to know if a practitioner is safe to work with.About Charlotte SaundersCharlotte runs Charlotte Saunders Breathwork and Fire, working with people ready to move through trauma physically and reclaim their power through experiential, ceremonial work — fire walks, glass walks, bed of nails, board and flaming ball breaks.Website: https://www.lottiesaunders.comFree guide — Breathwork for Stress and Overwhelm: https://www.lottiesaunders.com/breathwork-for-stressInstagram: @charlottesaundersbreathandfireFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.saunders.96LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-saunders-ceibc-cebhr-cefc-4a91b0152TikTok: @csaundersbreathandfireCharlotte's next Firewalk is in Surrey — and in July she's launching a “Breathe With Me” Telegram group for daily guided breathwork. Follow her channels above for dates.This interview is part of the Festoon 500 network, an extension of The Big Festoon, taking our conversations from the arena stage out into the real world. Festoon 500 members get a Big Festoon pass, a ticket to Ideas Fest (if you apply before September), and access to our quarterly Beyond the Arena meetups. Apply / find out more: HighLevel.BigFestoon.com/Festoon500 ⚠️ A note on safety: breathwork, fire walking and related somatic practices are regulated and need a properly trained practitioner. Please don't try fire walking, glass walking or breath practices like these unsupervised — they're safe in the controlled environments Charlotte and other trained practitioners run them in.#Breathwork #FireWalking #TraumaHealing #Festoon5000:00 Trailer0:59 Welcome & Festoon 500 Intro3:34 Meet Charlotte Saunders4:44 Breathwork & Fire: Healing Trauma at a Cellular Level6:11 “I'm Not Doing That Anymore” — Charlotte's Turning Point7:11 Please Don't Try This at Home (Important Caveat)7:25 Why You Need a Trained Practitioner9:00 Case Study: Curing Motorway Anxiety12:11 What Breathwork Retreat Marketing Gets Wrong13:15 The Real Danger of Untrained Breathwork15:31 Breathwork vs. Acupuncture vs. Big Pharma16:32 Why Ceremony Matters17:40 Inside a Fire Walk: Arrow Breaks & Bending Steel19:34 Reclaiming Your Voice & Power21:02 What People Feel: Joy, Tears & Disbelief22:08 Feeling Fear Safely23:24 Charlotte's Story: Grief & Learning to Walk on Fire25:06 Why Charlotte Keeps Her Groups Small26:39 The Physical Release That Surprises People27:29 Keepsakes: Proof You Did the Impossible28:22 “I'm More Than Capable of Doing That”28:55 Corporate Retreats & Building Trust Fast29:42 How to Work With Charlotte31:13 Free Resource & Final Thoughts31:35 Festoon 500 Outro