When I started on my personal growth journey, I was quietly hoping for a magic wand. One wiggle of the nose, Bewitched-style, and everything would be sorted. ✨
Breathwork for personal growth turned out to be the opposite of a quick fix, and I’m glad of it. In February 2025 I joined a panel on Lisa Williams’ Vision Board Blueprints podcast with two fellow coaches, Alison Dee and Karen Simpson. Lisa asked what personal growth means to each of us, what set us off on the journey, and the one thing we wish we’d known at the start.
Here’s what I’d still tell you over a cuppa.
[Or watch the episode on Spotify here]
Table of Contents
Where my personal growth journey really began
For me it started in midlife. I was juggling a corporate job, family life and everything else we quietly hold up, and I was running on empty. Then perimenopause arrived (that horrible P word) and I couldn’t make a decision to save my life. I went from being an outwardly bubbly, strong person to a blubbering mess in the corner, convinced I shouldn’t be doing my job and that the people who loved me deserved better.
I’d been a pagan practitioner for decades, so meditation, pathworking and journeying weren’t new to me. I’d just lost my way with them. Breathwork brought me back. I learned to slow down, tune in and find a bit of clarity in the chaos. Then I turned into a proper breathwork nerd, fascinated by the science, the neurology and the biochemistry of it all.
I’m not going to tell you it’s woo-woo joy and love every day. Bollocks to that. What I can tell you is what that conversation with Lisa, Alison and Karen reminded me of.
1. Personal growth and business growth are two sides of the same coin
If you run your own business, you’ve probably noticed that you can’t show up fully when you’re running on fumes. Personal life, work, spiritual life: it’s all one egg. We’re one big, magical recipe, and every ingredient affects the rest.
When your nervous system is stuck in a stress response, decisions feel impossible. I know, because I’ve been there. A body that feels settled gives you the headspace to tackle whatever life and business throw at you. If “just relax” has never worked for you, my post on why “just relax” is the worst advice might explain why.
2. Ask whose beliefs you’re carrying
With every client, I get down to the nitty-gritty. Where do you want to be? How do you see yourself? Then comes the gentle question: is that what you truly believe, or has it been superimposed on you by the media, society or the way you were brought up?
Alison put it beautifully on the panel. Personal growth, she said, is learning how you want to be, rather than how you’ve been brought up or how society expects you to be.
For some of us, certain beliefs are hand-me-downs we’ve never tried on properly. Try this: next time you catch yourself saying “I should…”, pause and ask, “Whose voice is that?” You might be surprised by the answer.
3. Why breathwork for personal growth includes the body
When I discovered breathwork, I called it the perfect combination of talk therapy and physical release. Talking helps us make sense of things. Breath gives the body a way to join in, and a body that has settled makes the talking easier.
Breath is also the first thing we do when we arrive in this world and the last thing we do when we leave it. Nothing else we do is quite so fundamental, yet most of us never give it a second thought until something goes wrong.
It’s the same order Dr Bruce Perry describes: regulate, relate, then reason. I wrote about it in my What Happened to You? book review. Trying to think your way out of overwhelm before your body feels safe is like starting at step three.
A gentle way to try it: breathe in through your nose at a comfortable pace, then let your exhale be a little longer than your inhale, as if you were slowly fogging up a mirror. Do five rounds. Any count that feels easy is the right count. If you feel light-headed or uncomfortable, go back to your natural breathing. Breathwork isn’t a cure-all and it never replaces therapy or medical care where you need it.
4. There’s no one path (and no 5am club required)
Alison made a point I loved. Plenty of gurus insist that you get up at 5am and follow their routine. If that goes against your natural rhythm, you’re crashing by 10 o’clock and feeling like you’ve failed. Her message was to start small and do it on your terms. Affirmations still work at 5pm, because it’s about rewiring neural pathways, not about the clock.
That’s how I see it too. We’re all beautifully unique, so there is no single path for everyone. That’s why I tailor every session to the woman in front of me. In my Breathwork for Wellness programme, the meditation I write is based on your nervous system, not a script off the shelf.
5. There’s no magic wand (and the joy really is in the journey)
Karen’s closing question was the one I enjoyed most: what’s the one thing you wish you’d known when you started? Mine was that there is no magic pill. I wish I’d truly realised it’s an ongoing process. At the time I wanted to wiggle my nose and have everything perfect.
Lisa reflected that people often expect to be fixed after one mindset book, and the work is continuous. I agree. It’s also not all butterflies and flowers. There are limiting beliefs and shadow work, and some of it is dark. Yet all of it is part of what lets us evolve into the person we were always meant to be. Progress beats perfection every single time.
Where breathwork for personal growth can start for you
If this stirred something, there are a few ways in:
- Breathwork for Wellness: two months of one-to-one breathwork, online or in Salisbury, with WhatsApp support between sessions. Read more about the programme or book a free suitability call and we’ll talk it through.
- A gentler first step: come along to a Breathwork Circle either here in Salisbury or online and see how it feels in your own body.
No pressure, just an open door. 💜
A huge thank you to Lisa for inviting me, and to Alison and Karen for such a generous conversation.
You can listen to the full episode on Spotify.
Which of these five spoke to you most? I’d love to hear.