Breath & Body: The Origin Story
I didn’t want to separate the different aspects of healthy movement and the mind the way conventional Western fitness often does: strength here, cardio there, leg day, stretching, mindfulness somewhere else. This compartmentalized approach might build certain skills in isolation, but it often creates imbalance or even injury.
The Problem
The conventional approach to exercise often disconnects us from how movement truly affects us. We put on music, repeat the same motions in a single plane, push to exhaustion, and use exercise as an escape from daily stress. We miss the opportunity to learn and create. Modern life encourages us to treat movement as something separate from our psychology, emotions, and way of living. We train our minds without involving our bodies, and our bodies without engaging our minds. Spirit and authenticity is repressed and ignored. We move on machines and in isolated spaces rather than in relationship with others and our environment. Movement becomes work or temporary relief instead of joy and exploration.
Contemporary fitness emphasizes aesthetics and metrics: how fast, how heavy, how many reps over how we feel and function in the world. We counter stress with more stress, layering tension instead of dissolving it. Sure we get a runner’s high and release from exhausting ourselves, but then our system needs that much more time for recovery and we end up encouraging a pain-pleasure relationship with our bodies. This fragmented mentality wastes our potential. It overlooks the chance to make movement a source of awareness, learning, vitality, and creativity. Something we can integrate into every aspect of life and wellbeing.
The Integration
I wanted an integrated, pragmatic approach where every dimension of health, performance, and creativity is positively affected. Taking things apart to understand them is useful, but something greater emerges when all parts work together. Movement is intrinsic to every aspect of health, so why not do it well?
My aim became clear: train skills that optimize well-being, transcend habits, and deepen embodiment free from rigid systems and narratives that try to fit everyone into the same box. I wanted movement to be practical: whether you’re training for a sport, dancing, practicing martial arts, playing with your kids on the floor, or lifting your suitcase into the overhead bin.
Personally I wanted an approach to get better at everything I love and be able to do it for the rest of my life.
If there’s a common thread running through it all, it’s the breath. It bridges mind, body, and spirit: our most direct and powerful means of regulating the nervous system, shifting mental states, aiding recovery, and enhancing performance. Monks, yogis, and martial artists (as well as health practitioners) have refined this wisdom for thousands of years, and modern science now confirms the undeniable link between our quality of breathing and our overall health.
Most people aren’t looking to dedicate their lives to an esoteric discipline, but we all want to feel healthier, less stressed, and more balanced. The principles of linking breathwork and movement make that possible for everyone and they translate seamlessly into daily life.
The Evolution
Breath & Body is the culmination of over 20 years of training and research across martial arts, yoga, dance, personal training, Eastern philosophy, neuroscience, and holistic bodywork. It also grew out of my own struggles with chronic injuries, pain, depression, violence, and stress. These experiences that forced me to question what “healthy” truly means. Most conventional programs and thinking have actually caused me more harm than good.
My goal was simple: to find an integrated, balanced way to train body and mind so I could stay pain-free, injury-resistant, and fully engaged with the things that bring me joy well into old age: martial arts, music, dance and holistic practices.
Now, as I hover in my mid-40s, I’m in better overall health and function than at any other point in my life. Yet maintaining that balance requires ongoing discipline and constant adaptation, a practice that evolves as I do.
The Principles
The foundation of Breath & Body is simple:
Authentic, appropriate, accessible training
A calm, resilient nervous system
Practical strength without fatigue
Power without unnecessary tension
Economy over effort
Responsiveness instead of reactivity
Principles that carry into daily life and relationships
Movement that’s fluid and adaptable to stimuli, not stuck in repetitive algorithms
Skills that translate directly into everyday function
And of course, constantly fun and engaging!
We also practice essential life skills that often fade when we stop using them—falling safely, crawling, getting up and down from the ground, regulating the nervous system, maintaining healthy posture, and staying present in the moment. We introduce new contexts and stimuli (balls, sticks, chairs, and each other) to teach the body to adapt to an ever-changing world. We learn to change with the changes. There is no rigid curriculum, and you never know what is going to happen. Watch the videos if you want to get a sense of what a class might look like, but know that the possibilities are endless.
Breath & Body is movement for life.