Every time a cohort of the Breathwork Facilitator Training opens, the same questions land in my inbox. Is this the right time? Do I need a yoga background? Will it be too general for the work I already do? So here they all are, in one place, answered straight.

Is there ever a right time to train as a breathwork facilitator?

Honestly, rarely. The training runs over six months, live online, with a couple of monthly commitments that sit alongside whatever else is going on in your life. Most of the people who’ve come through it trained while working full time, raising kids, or both.

If you wait for the quiet moment, you’ll wait a long time.

Can I do it alongside another course or qualification?

Yes. It isn’t a full-time commitment. It’s built to fit alongside other training and a working week, not compete with them.

What’s actually inside the training?

Six months of live online training, with:

• Monthly live training calls
• Monthly peer-to-peer practice calls
• Regular public practice calls, so you facilitate real people before you qualify
• An online studio of bite-sized training videos you work through in your own time
• A 100+ page training manual with ready-to-use session scripts, templates and music suggestions, so you never start a session staring at a blank page
• The Business of Breathwork module, covering how to set up, price and market your practice once you’re certified, not just how to run a session

Is the breathwork facilitator training accredited?

Yes. It’s dual accredited through IPHM and CIMSPA, and it was CIMSPA’s first endorsed breathwork qualification. Ordinary People Academy has been running accredited training since 2009.

That matters if you want something you can explain to an employer, an insurer or a clinical supervisor. A weekend taster certificate is a different thing entirely.

What if I finish and still don’t feel ready to facilitate?

That’s what the Confidence Guarantee is for. If you complete the training and don’t feel ready to run sessions, you get extra one-to-one support until you do. Nobody gets a certificate and gets left to it.

Do I need a yoga or wellness background?

No. Gemma was an accountant. Numbers, not nervous systems, and no wellness background at all when she started. She went on to train with me as a yoga teacher too, then added a counselling qualification on top. She’s since left accountancy behind and does this full time.

You don’t need to be a wellness person. You need to be willing to practise.

I’m already an experienced teacher. Will it still help?

Michael was already an experienced yoga teacher when he trained with us. Now he delivers breathwork in care homes and community centres, rooms he could never have taught a yoga class in. The training didn’t repeat what he already knew. It opened up work he couldn’t get to before.

I’m a counsellor, nurse or social worker. Is breathwork in scope for me?

This is one of the biggest questions I get from practising helpers, and it’s the right one to ask. The training spends real time on safety and scope: contraindications, trauma awareness, and knowing exactly when something isn’t yours to hold and how to refer on.

Julie trained with us while working as a social worker at a children’s hospice. She needed to know her practice was safe, in scope and genuinely supportive. She now runs a government-funded breathing café. Laura, a counsellor, wanted to add bottom-up work alongside talking therapy and move more of her practice into groups. She learned how to hold group space, and did exactly that.

If you’re a practising helper, read how breathwork fits alongside counselling, nursing and social work.

I’ve tried something like this before and it didn’t stick.

Then you probably tried it without a proper system behind you. This isn’t about willpower or finding your inner guru voice. It’s a structured course, followed step by step, with people checking your work as you go.

Will it be too general for my situation?

Each cohort has twelve places, not hundreds. Small enough that your situation actually gets talked about, not smoothed over.

Are there different ways to do the training?

Yes, three:

• The Certification: the full dual-accredited training with a live cohort.
• The Mentored Path: the Certification with supervision built in. Small-group supervision, 1:1 supervision, supervised first sessions with real people, and a signed Supervised Practice Record you can use as CPD evidence. Most people choose this one.
• The Private Path: one-to-one training with me. Qualified in three months, earning in six, without waiting for the next cohort.

Full details and current prices are on the Breathwork Facilitator Training page.

How do I know if I’m ready?

Take Safe Hands: The Breathwork Readiness Check. It’s free, takes about three minutes, and gives you a score across the five areas that decide whether breathwork is safe in your hands, plus an honest next step. Sometimes that’s training. Sometimes it’s “keep practising on yourself for a while first.”

Got a question that isn’t here? Get in touch and ask me directly.

Victoria