The ABCs of Functional Breathing
A 2-Hour Workshop with Robin Rothenberg, C-IAYT
April 22nd, 4-6pm PST/ April 23rd, 9-11am AEST
The ABCs of Functional Breathing Where yoga's ancient wisdom meets modern respiratory science
We breathe our whole lives without ever really thinking about it. But, what if our established pattern of breathing is actually underlying chronic health issues, states of anxiety, sleeplessness, and brain fog? What if by changing our breath, we could literally change our state of wellness, physically and mentally?
Pranayama offers yoga's most direct path to health, resilience, and inner stillness — yet even experienced practitioners and teachers are often working with an incomplete picture of what breath actually does in the body, and why.
In this focused two-hour workshop, Robin Rothenberg — yoga therapist, author of Restoring Prana, and founder of Essential Yoga Therapy — breaks it down into the essentials: three interlocking principles that will change the way you breathe, practice, and teach. For good.
THE ABCs
Three Principles. One Complete Picture.
A — Anatomy: The Mechanics of a Functional Breath
What does a truly healthy breath actually look like? We'll explore the biomechanics of breathing, the central role of the diaphragm, and the dysfunctional patterns — mouth breathing, chest breathing, habitual breath-holding — that quietly undermine health even in long-time practitioners. You'll learn to recognize these patterns in yourself and begin retraining them in a single session.
B — Biochemistry: What Your Breath Is Actually Doing
This is the piece most yoga trainings never cover. We'll look at the Bohr Effect, the surprising and essential role of CO₂, and why breathing more can actually work against you. You'll understand why over-breathing is far more common than we think — and how it connects directly to anxiety, fatigue, and a wide range of chronic health challenges. Traditional pranayama will start to look very different from this perspective.
C — Consciousness: Awareness Governs Lasting Change
We can’t change what we’re not aware of. At a rate of 30,000 times a day, our habitual breathing pattern is deeply programmed within us. Changing that can’t happen in an hour or even a weekend workshop. To change your breathing pattern requires your consistent attention and practice. Robin will offer you quick ways of checking in with your breathing throughout the day, as well as mini-practices to insert while you shower, drive, or are taking a walk. In this way breath transformation becomes a part of your daily process, not something you do on the side. By sprinkling breathwork throughout your day, you will become intimately aware of how the breath impacts your emotional regulation, clarity of mind, sleep, and overall energy.
WHAT YOU'LL TAKE HOME
Every section of this workshop includes guided experiential practice — not just ideas to think about, but techniques to feel in your own body and apply immediately.
A clear, memorable framework for functional breathing you can return to again and again
Direct experience of three core practices: diaphragmatic retraining, subtle breathing, and developmental understanding of how to work with breath suspensions.
Practical tools for assessing your own breathing patterns — and those of your students
A fresh understanding of how respiratory physiology and the classical pranayama teachings illuminate each other
Concrete, usable shifts in how you cue and teach breath in asana and pranayama
A clear sense of where to go next if you want to go deeper
Application in process for 2 hours CE through IAYT.
$85/ $75 Early bird through April 8th
