Hi, I’m Paul, the founder of Expansive Breath. I view my life split into four phases:

Phase 1: The Young Aspiring Professional Basketball Player and Academic

Combining professional sport and academia is never easy, this required a lot of discipline, motivation and focus. From the classroom to the basketball court, I was able to find my balance in a way that brought me success. Graduating Durham University with a BA (Hons) Degree in Sport and Exercise Sciences, and Masters in Management, while also finding success on the basketball court in the way of Sportsman of the Year at University, Honoury Life Time Member, National Basketball Player of the Year, League Titles, Playoff Championships, and at one point honoured to wear the uniform of my country.

Phase 2: Ten Year Corporate professional

The transition from professional sport to corporate world can be complex and eye-opening, one day you’re playing basketball for a living and the next you’re thrown into the deep end to project manage an acquisition project and data migration at one of Australia’s biggest Telco’s, and then to spend the next ten years honing your crafts and building a career in software engineering as a Lead.

Phase 3: A Heartbreak that Changed Everything

The tragic loss of my partner to suicide in 2019 resulted in the biggest challenges I’ve ever faced. Before then, I lived with challenges like you all when driving for success - self-doubt, ‘am I good enough’, bits of stress and anxiety always crept in, and limiting beliefs that had been shaped since entering this world lingered. However, after December, 2019 - I found myself completely broken, it was like I was starting from scratch again. All the strength I had went into navigating my loss and the lost freedom we all experienced during covid. I was surviving work and daily life but I wanted, or even needed, to get better and held curiosity on how I could overcome my challenges of: chronic stress; anxiety, complex PTSD and trauma; and bouts of depression.

Phase 4: The Breathwork Coach

Then came breathwork. It would be no surprise that to be able to support others, I would first have to overcome my own challenges. This is what I spent four years doing, I educated myself in Trauma (this is what underpins the majority of our challenges in my experience), anxiety and stress, the Mind and Body connection, the nervous system, and Breathwork. I developed myself through the certifications mentioned above and practical experience gained over the last 12 months. I continue to expand my knowledge and implementation to ensure I am providing safe, proven and effective coaching methods. I have four years of experience in Breathwork practices, am a certified Breath Coach with Oxygen Advantage, and Breathwork Instructor with Yogalap, a Trauma Informed Coach, and currently expanding my studies in Breath Science, and Embodied Processing.