COURSE

The Breath - Heal Your Life From the Inside Out

You can go for weeks without food, days without water & only minutes without the breath, yet where do you typically place the least attention? On the most important thing you do. Whether you suffer from anxiety, chronic pain or IBS, perhaps you often feel breathless or maybe you noticed that don’t take deep enough breaths and you just have a sense that your breathing isn’t ‘quite right’… Working with the breath, understanding its function and reminding your body how to breathe optimally is without a doubt a life changing practice. Unfortunately, the vast majority of humans will have some form of dysfunctional breathing pattern, that, left unattended can not only exacerbate health challenges but can also cause them in the long term. Your body wants to breathe in the way it was designed to, but for many, the breath has changed due to trauma, poor posture, sitting for prolonged periods of time and a variety of environmental factors. Once you’ve gone through this course, your breath WILL have changed. How much and how long term is down to you and how much you commit to these practices, but even a tiny change over the long term will have huge benefits on your mental & physical health.

Connection Relationships Grounded Health & Happiness Stress & Anxiety Science Science Breathing Meditation Concentration Stress

Meet your Teacher

Rachel Fearnley

Bali, Indonesia

Rachel is a somatic coach and breath work facilitator and is passionate about guiding you home to YOUR body, to connect with your inner healer and to harness the wisdom that lies within.

10 Days

7.0k students

4.9 stars

15 min / day

Connection

English

Lesson 1

The Importance of Your Breath

The breath impacts everything, from the way you think and feel to the way you digest your food, yet it is a function that very few people place importance on. In this lesson we look at the importance of the breath and the vital role of the diaphragm in the breathing process. This lesson culminates with a visualisation practice as you get more familiar with your diaphragm.

Lesson 2

Breathing Dysfunctions - The Basics

Breathing truly is the cornerstone of our health and vitality yet the vast majority of people have an underlying breathing dysfunction which limits their ability to not only breathe but also to experience life to its fullest. In this lesson we will look at an overview of the 4 main breathing dysfunctions, how they occur and how they impact our mental, emotional and physical health. At the end of this lesson I will take you through a practice that will deepen your relationship with your breath.

Lesson 3

Breathing Dysfunction 1: Shallow Breathing

Shallow breathing is probably the most common breathing dysfunction that impacts people. When the diaphragm weakens it creates a chain of reactions in the body that can ultimately manifest in a very shallow breathing pattern. At the end of this lesson you will learn a simple technique to begin to strengthen your diaphragm.

Lesson 4

Breathing Dysfunction 2: Paradoxical Breathing

Paradoxical breathing is a pattern of breathing where you are literally going against the natural flow of your body. People who paradoxically breathe can feel confused, indecisive, clumsy and often feel as though they are in a constant battle with life. This lesson culminates in a practice to help you to unravel this dysfunctional pattern of breathing and restore your breath back to homeostasis

Lesson 5

Breathing Dysfunction 3: Breath Holding

Breath holding, also known as ‘email apnea’ is a stress fueled pattern where the body goes into a ‘freeze’ mode during certain tasks. It can wreak havoc in the body if not addressed! At the end of this lesson you will explore a practice to help you to move out of freeze mode and to allow your breath to flow!

Lesson 6

Breathing Dysfunction 4: Over-Breathing

Over breathing is the 4th and final breath dysfunction we look at in this course, we will look at the connection of the inhale and the exhale to both our nervous system states and how both the inhale and exhale connects to how we relate to life! This lesson culminates in a practice that will help you to balance your breath.

Lesson 7

Posture & the Breath

Posture and the breath go hand in hand. If your posture is poor, as your breath will be too. In this lesson we look at the importance of a good posture, how it impacts not only our breath, but also our emotions and mood and we explore a practice to bring more awareness to how you hold yourself.

Lesson 8

Nose Breathing vs. Mouth Breathing

In today's lesson we will look at the difference between nose and mouth breathing and how constant habitual mouth breathing can have a devastating impact on our overall health and wellbeing. This lesson culminates with a breath practice which will facilitate a greater connection to nose breathing and build resilience to breathing through the nose more habitually.

Lesson 9

The Nervous System & the Breath

In today's lesson we will look at the connection between the nervous system and the breath and how we can use the breath to change our nervous system state, either adding more activation into our system or calming us down from states of activation. At the end of this lesson I will take you through a practice which allows you to experience both a state of calm and a state of activation, through the breath.

Lesson 10

Recap & Cultivating a Home Practice

In today's lesson we will recap on the most important lessons from this course and look at how you can cultivate a daily practice based on what your own unique body is needing. This lesson culminates in a breath practice that allows you to experience the full capacity of your breath.

Ask your teacher

This course includes 341 community questions and 15 audio replies from Rachel Fearnley. The community classroom and teacher audio replies are only available via the app.

341

4.9 (261)

Recent Reviews

Paul

January 21, 2026

This was a superb course and feels like the start of a new chapter for me. I've learnt so much about my body and how breathing is vital to do many functions. My dysfunction is holding my breath and I now feel I have a way forward to deal with it. Thank you so much for this excellent course

Omar

January 12, 2026

This is a brilliant course. Very useful

Dianna

January 11, 2026

Diaphragm knowledge, deep even breath in and out, alternate nostril breathing and its effect on the nervous system along with understanding the way your current breathing pattern has impacts on your nervous system and body. Achievable for all with dedication and understanding to the task. Thank you.

Jennifer

December 27, 2025

You are an excellent teacher! You explain things really well and very clearly. I also appreciate your calming voice. Thank you for new insights into the power of the breath! 🙏🙏🙏

Bonnie

December 16, 2025

Excellent course! I love how everything is so detailed and thoroughly explained, as well as being in a very lovely calming voice. It is simply amazing just how powerful and healing our breath is, particularly proper breathing! Thank you for sharing this course. Namaste 🙏🏻🤍✨

Rich

December 5, 2025

Thank you Rachel for an excellent primer on breathing. And for suggesting a daily practice focused on specific breathing irregularities.

GLORIA

November 27, 2025

Very well done!

Donna

September 26, 2025

Excellent presentation and useful information. I am looking forward to more courses from Rachel. Thank you!

Tina

July 4, 2025

Outstanding course, highly informative and very applicable.

Heidi

June 7, 2025

I think this is a brilliant introduction to understanding your own breath better intellectually as well as experientially and I love the combination, it is very well executed in this course. I would recommend it to anyone of a reasonably mentally healthy constitution who is curious about learning more about their own breath. If you tend to overthink a lot or be slightly hypochondriac, you might benefit from a more calming approach as this course does focus on “what can be wrong” rather than “what can be right”. Then again, you might find, as I did, that you have a healthier breath than expected and you will get some simple tools to improve the areas you find benefit from some exercise. As an example, I now know to focus on lengthening my inbreath and how to breathe healthily with the diaphragm when in stress. And I know that focusing on my posture and muscular blockages are the next steps in expanding my breath. Thank you for a useful and thoughtfully put together course!

Simon

May 16, 2025

A clear accessible overview of all things breathing. It is very well explained and set out in manageable chunks. I am very grateful thank you

Gina

April 25, 2025

Enlightening and practical guide to improving breathing- not just in breathwork practice as a part of meditation, but breathing in everyday life.

Mariane

February 17, 2025

Really really useful. I greatly recommend!

Linda

November 4, 2024

Extremely helpful to find out where I am breathing incorrectly

Mary

November 2, 2024

It was helpful to learn about the dysfunctions of the breath and how to correct them. I intend to include a short daily breath practice before meditation. Thank you

Helen

October 28, 2024

Very informative and easy to follow. Some great new information to work with

Karen

October 23, 2024

A really great introduction that covers so many topics. Thank you!!!

Alex

October 8, 2024

Really nice gentle course, with interesting insight into the breath, its impacts and how to breath well. Thank you x

Jacque

September 3, 2024

Excellent course. It helped deepen my understanding of breath dysfunctions, which ones apply to me, and how to address them. I look forward to exploring other courses by Rachel!

Rich

August 14, 2024

Excellent course, which I think most people would find useful. I had previously read a book on optimal breathing and still found this course useful

More from Rachel Fearnley

COURSE

4.9

• 10 DAYS

Rewire Your Nervous System

by Rachel Fearnley

COURSE

4.9

• 9 DAYS

The Breath - Your Inner Pharmacy

by Rachel Fearnley

COURSE

4.9

• 12 DAYS

Soulful Habits: Ayurvedic Rituals And The Neuroscience Of Change

by Rachel Fearnley

10 min

4.9

• GUIDED

•

Xi Breathing

Rachel Fearnley

8 min

4.7

• GUIDED

Sigh Your Way Out Of Anxiety

Rachel Fearnley

5 min

4.7

• GUIDED

Box Breath

Rachel Fearnley

18 min

4.8

• GUIDED

Meditation For Abundance & Manifesting

Rachel Fearnley

6 min

4.7

• GUIDED

Guided Breathing To Release Tension & Relax

Rachel Fearnley

13 min

4.8

• GUIDED

Guided Breathing To Calm Your Nervous System

Rachel Fearnley

20 min

4.7

• GUIDED

Yoga Nidra For Deep Rest

Rachel Fearnley

20 min

4.8

• GUIDED

Guided Breathing Practice For Stress & Anxiety Relief

Rachel Fearnley

10 min

4.7

• GUIDED

Guided Breathing For Relaxation & Inner Peace

Rachel Fearnley

19 min

4.8

• GUIDED

Breath & Body Scan To Release Stress & Tension

Rachel Fearnley

Trusted by 35 million people. It's free.

Get the app

Retreat categories

Top Retreats

Find Your Perfect Retreat

Blog categories

Top Articles

How to Meditate

Meditation Timer

The Breath - Heal Your Life From the Inside Out

Recent Reviews

More from Rachel Fearnley

Rewire Your Nervous System

The Breath - Your Inner Pharmacy

Soulful Habits: Ayurvedic Rituals And The Neuroscience Of Change