How I Became a Certified Breathwork Practitioner
Welcome to Breath of Chang
This didn’t start here. It started with a surfboard.
Yoga came into my life not through spiritual seeking, but through surfing.
I’m six foot five, not exactly designed for the water, but nobody told me that, so I carried on like the bumblebee that doesn’t know it shouldn’t fly.
Yoga was simply the ally in the pursuit of flow.
No grand intention.
No awakening.
Just movement, and a body trying to keep up.
What I didn’t know was that the surfboard was the door to everything else.
Arugam Bay - Where It Got Real
In Arugam Bay, The Yoga Shack was born.
Barefoot days.
Surf.
Salt in the air.
Rice and curry. Coconuts.
A place that, for a time, felt like home.It wasn’t perfect. It didn’t last forever.
But it gave me something I couldn’t have planned.
It was where I stopped running.
Where I dropped the version of myself I had been performing.
A tribe formed there. Different people each season, same energy, different expression.
Starlit swims. Fire dances. Full moon nights.
But beneath all of that, something quieter. A return.
Not to a place, but to something within.
A place where we breathed our way into a different way of being.
Miami - Where Breathwork Found Me
Breathwork had always been there as a part of yoga.
I just hadn’t really practiced it.
Until one random Thursday in Miami.
A friend pulled me into a session.
Lie down.
Breathe.
That was it.
What followed was something else entirely.
Release. Emotion. Stillness. Clarity.
It wasn’t subtle.
And like most people, I thought that intensity was the point.
It isn’t. Over time, I came to understand, the real power of breathwork is not in the peak experience.
It’s in the consistency. The awareness. The daily practice of something so simple it’s easy to overlook.
There is power in both - if you want to experience it for yourself
The Lesson
There’s a teaching in the Bhagavad Gita about non-attachment.
I thought I understood it.
I didn’t.
I had confused non-attachment with not caring.
Detachment from outcomes with detachment from effort.
They’re not the same.
Care is not attachment.
Care is the integrity of the action.
To show up fully with precision, presence, and intention, while letting go of the result.
That was the missing piece.
And like most lessons worth learning, it came through experience.
Not all of it easy. But all of it necessary.
The Ice Bath — Where It Comes Together
At The Yoga Shack, we built an ice bath out of an old ice cream freezer.
Nothing fancy. Just cold. Very cold.
And I’ve seen the same moment play out again and again:Someone standing over it, saying,
“I can’t do this.”
And then with a little knowledge, they do.
The shift happens in the breath.
Slow it down.
Relax the body.
Let go of the tension.
Breathe....
And something changes. Not out there, in here.
That moment, that suspended breath waiting in anticipation, clutching to something that may or may not be there...
Thats where the breathwork pays off, thats where the breakthrough happens as the reaction is transformed into a response.
Where This Fits in the Real World
This work doesn’t stay on the mat or in the Ice bath.
The same breath that carries you through an ice bath is the one you take into a boardroom, a deadline, a difficult conversation.
In high-performance environments, stress is constant.
Pressure is part of the game.
It has an effect on our body if we look for the clues.
What most people don’t have is a way to regulate themselves within it.
This is where breathwork becomes practical.
Through simple, consistent techniques, you can:
• manage stress and prevent burnout
• improve focus and decision-making
• regulate your nervous system under pressure
• show up with clarity, not reactivity
his isn’t about stepping away from life in a puff of incense and candles. No pressure No Stress.
It’s about showing up to Life, better equipped.
Whether you’re an individual or part of a team, these tools translate directly into how you work, lead, and perform.
Why the Breath
The breath is always there. In stress.
In stillness. In movement. In discomfort.
Most people just don’t know how to use it.
This isn’t about enlightenment.
It’s about awareness.
Emotional regulation.
Clarity.
Presence.
Tools you can actually use — in meetings, in traffic, in life.
The Shift
I’m back in South Africa now.
Building again. Not from scratch, but from experience.
The Yoga Shack wasn’t lost.
It transformed.
What started in Arugam Bay didn’t disappear.
It changed form.
That’s what this is.
Breath of Chang...
An evolution. An online space for breathwork, awareness, and practical transformation, accessible from anywhere.
Welcome
No spiritual credentials required.
No perfect body.
No performance.
Just you.
As you are.
Willing to show up, breathe, and begin.
Welcome to Breath of Chang
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