From antidepressants to breathwork, here's how this performance coach overcame depression and is channeling his learnings to help others.
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When you were 25, you left your career and hauled your entire life from London to Sydney to teach people how to breathe. What was the impetus for this massive move?
In London, I was working a nine-to-five corporate job and I was so miserable. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and prescribed antidepressants, but I wanted to find holistic ways to improve my health. I’d never heard of breathwork, but I loved the connection that came with yoga and breath. I went to my first session in 2018 and, without sounding too clichéd, it transformed my life. I was hooked on the euphoric feeling it gave me, something I hadn’t felt in years. So I started to think of other ways to make myself happier. Blue skies promote happiness, and the darkness of London is not very conducive to that, so I moved to Sydney.
You arrived in Australia just before the pandemic and our lockdowns were harsh. How did you safeguard your mental health during that time?
Yeah, I battened down the hatches and I sat it out in Sydney. I was also building a business around breathing and breathwork during a global respiration pandemic, which was incredibly challenging. But in a strange way, a lot of people were looking for tools to improve mental health so I grew my business online. I would host free sessions, which started off with my friends and family back in the UK and then it grew to having 500 people join these Zoom sessions. It was lonely, don’t get me wrong. But equally, I had so much excitement in what I was doing. I love to be able to help people and I could see the difference this was making. I hated that there was a reason for my service, but I was joyful that it could provide people with some value and benefit during a pretty challenging time. And what I do is still slightly different: it's niche. It's not yoga, it's not running, it's not strength training. It’s breathing.
You do a lot of work with athletes. Can you explain the link between our breath and physical performance?
Breath is vastly overlooked. If you’re not breathing correctly, you won’t sleep well, you’re likely to make poorer decisions and it’s linked to increased stress. I’ve worked with the Sydney Swans over the last three AFL seasons… supporting the players to perform at a high ability for as long as possible. Panting out of the mouth too fast and too shallow spikes your heart rate and causes a faster fatigue rate. Breathing through the nose brings more oxygen into the working tissues so the rate of fatigue is a lot lower. On top of this, deep breathing has also been directly correlated to decision making. So if athletes can breathe better, they’ll reduce the amount of unforced errors.
You’re also an ultramarathon runner, which means that you run 60-plus kilometres in one go. Tell us, does the ‘runner’s high’ really exist?
Long-distance running is a roller-coaster. When I’m running that far, there are so many highs and so many lows. For me, the runner’s high shows in tears, and it can happen anywhere between 20 to 100 kilometres. I’ll go through periods of laughter, then crying, then euphoria, then sadness. And these emotions make me think about what I am running for. Am I running away from my demons or into euphoria? Most of the time I’m not battling against anyone else. I’m battling against myself. My biggest demon is my own brain.
How do you fuel yourself before and after an ultramarathon? And any recovery hacks you can share with us?
It’s very much about carbs and volume. I’ll eat pasta the night before a race with a high-carb ‘dessert’, usually Weet-Bix. And then carbs again in the morning. Liquid sodium and electrolytes are also key. And I fuel every half hour during the race with gels, bars and more hydration drinks to make sure that I’m getting what my body needs to keep going. I’ll also have various mushroom supplements, too. My recovery starts the minute the race is over in the form of food, because the body’s pretty depleted in, well, everything. And then, a big focus is sleep. I also love saunas and ice baths.
A lot of people associate breathwork with a monk-like Zen mentality. What do you do for fun or to blow off steam?
I don’t really drink anymore, to be honest, but I love music, so I’ll go to music events with my mates and blow off steam by dancing. I also get so much joy from running and feel so free when I’m out there. If I’m having a bad day or a bad week, I’ll go for a run and come back as a new human.
You do a lot of work with large scale companies. What have you seen to be the biggest reward out of working with that kind of demographic where not many people in that field would be thinking about their breath, are they?
Breathing is vastly overlooked and undervalued in general, but I think of breathing and breathwork as the foundation of all human development. If you're not breathing correctly, you won't be sleeping well, you’re likely to make poorer decisions, and it’s also linked to increased stress. So breath is the foundation to all human performance. I think post-pandemic these corporate companies are giving a lot more attention to evidence-based practices, and there's an incredible amount of science in breathwork not only for mental health but for productivity too. After these sessions, I'll often ask people to tell me one word to describe how they feel, and the most common response is ‘empowered’ and ‘clear’. And then when the company sees this, they realise that their employees are finding the value in it.
Rapid-fire round
Guilty pleasure: Listening to Justin Bieber
Fave book: Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E Frankl
Go-to post-training meal: Burger and a chocolate milkshake
I can’t start my morning without: Cuddles with my dog Albert
Best running shoes: On Eclipse
My go-to podcast: Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson
How I let off steam: Dancing
