The Vegan Breathing Coaches

28/03/2026

How do you breathe when you meditate?

Learn the difference between Oxygen Advantage vs. mindfulness. Find out breathing exercises differ from mindfulness for better focus, sleep, and performance.

20/03/2026

Have you ever had the privilege of encountering an owl close up?

Owls are amongst the most curious and yet beautiful winged birds. What's especially striking is how silent they are, both perched and in flight.

Owls breathe softly through their nostrils —a steady, near-silent flow that doesn't rustle a feather. No panting, no drama, just efficient breathing for focus.

We can borrow this and reap the benefits, especially when we wish to relax and become calm.

Inhaling quietly and softly through our nose followed by a slightly longer soft exhale through our nose flips our nervous system to "rest and digest" mode—less stress, more peace, just like the owl in its natural element.

Why don't you try it, especially before going to sleep.

01/03/2026

If doctors don't learn about it, is it unimportant? You do it thousands of times a day. It affects your biochemistry, your nervous system, your brain. Does how we breathe matter? Yes, enormously.

26/02/2026

Fact: Women breathe differently from men.

Whilst it may seem fairly innocuous, this is actually worth knowing, as it can influence physical and mental wellbeing at different stages of a woman's life, affecting sleep, mood and cognition.

A question to all women reading this. How would it feel if you could turn how you breathe into your superpower and enjoy better sleep and experience more calm and joy in your life?

On 8th March, International Women's Day, Annette Henry will be hosting an online presentation to raise awareness of the important role breathing patterns play in women's health and how breathing can be affected by hormonal changes. Annette will introduce a range of interventions that can be applied to address issues as they arise as well as exercises that improve underlying breathing patterns.

To find out more and to book your place, click on the link.

The Overlooked Role of Female Breathing Patterns

12/02/2026

05/02/2026

If this was animated, maybe you'd see the leaves in the background moving, but probably little else.

A meditating monk is likely to be largely motionless, and this includes his breathing.

At rest, the most supportive breathing for physical and mental health is inaudible, slow, and so light and gentle that it's almost invisible.

02/02/2026

For a long time after discovering the healing benefits of whole foods (see the About Annette on our website), I thought I'd discovered the secret to good health despite some persistent health challenges. Nowadays, I'm no less impressed with the potential for whole plant foods to support and transform our physical and mental health, but I now know that it's part of a kind of jigsaw and for years I was missing other pieces, one of them a big one.

I typically eat 3 times a day, so with that frequency, it makes absolute sense to learn to love the foods that help me to thrive.

But I'd completely overlooked breathing, which, if I'm like the average person, I do 20,000 a day! With THAT frequency, moment by moment, I want my breathing to keep me well oxygenated, to help me to sleep, and to keep me as calm and resilient as possible. I have good reason to suspect that for a long time, my breathing was having the opposite effects.....all of them.

Are you missing any parts of the jigsaw? Why let good habits be undermined by missing pieces of the jigsaw?

~Annette Henry

24/01/2026

The answer is possibly all of them. I really don't know how I was breathing in my university days, but I do know my health was sub-optimal (and would later become worse). Poor health and poor breathing are often correlated, and once an unconscious habit is formed, it can only be amended by becoming aware of it and retraining it.

Shortly after the last photo, I became aware of my dysfunctional breathing and set about addressing it. Until then, the phrase 'dysfunctional breathing' conjured up images of someone visibly struggling to breathe, but in the majority of cases, it's not obvious.

Dysfunctional breathing may include
- breathing through a slightly open mouth. It doesn't have to be wide open.
- upper chest breathing. Your shoulders don't have to ride up to your ears for your breathing to be shallow.
- frequent sighing or yawning. You may just look tired or ..bored 😬
- breathing too fast. You don't need to be heading for a panic attack for your breathing to be too fast for your body's needs.
- unconsciously holding your breath. If it's unconscious, how will you notice?

So if it's not obvious, does it matter? It absolutely does. Sub-optimal breathing will hold you back. I had no idea my breathing was contributing to my insomnia, to my cold hands and feet, and to the background hum of anxiety that I assumed to be part of my personality 😔

Your breathing influences how well oxygen reaches your tissues, muscles, and organs. It influences your sleep. It influences your ability to cope with stress.

Do you want to know more? I'm happy to answer questions.

~Annette Henry

15/01/2026

Can you spot it?
Clue: you're seeing this on The Vegan Breathing Coaches page ... 🤔😄

13/01/2026

Have you read Breath by James Nestor? What did you learn? One of us discovered that there was a lot of scope for improving breathing patterns (in other words, dysfunctional breathing was present!)

The results of correcting the sub-optimal breathing patterns were noteworthy. Teaching others to restore supportive breathing then became imperative which ultimately led to both of us training with Patrick McKeown to become breathing coaches. It feels incredibly valuable and we hope that more and more people will reap the benefits of breathing as nature intended.

It is the most essential thing we do - yet many of us arguably breathe badly. The author of Breath explains how that can be changed

05/01/2026

If you wake up with a dry mouth in the morning, there's a strong chance you've been sleeping with your mouth open at least some of the time. 😴

Other signs:
* Snoring - mouth snoring is more likely.
* Bad breath in the morning - an open mouth becomes a dry mouth, and with limited saliva, there's nothing to combat the build-up of bacteria. This is an oral microbiome problem (and the oral microbiome doesn't exist in isolation; it's linked to the gut microbiome).
* ...this can also cause or worsen gum disease as less 'cleaning' can happen when saliva is low.
* Poor sleep and subsequent daytime fatigue.

Getting the mouth closed during sleep can be done, and not necessarily by taping your mouth shut, in fact we don't recommend it. There's a blog post on this very subject on our website: https://www.henryandhenryeu.com/post/to-tape-or-not-to-tape-that-is-the-question

30/12/2025

Our 'Breathing for Health' program is your invitation to rediscover the power of your own breath and restore balance from within.

Guided by Annette, this program gently helps you unlearn unhealthy breathing habits and replace them with calm, restorative patterns that support deep sleep, resilience, and renewed energy.

Through simple yet transformative practices from the Buteyko and Oxygen Advantage methods, you’ll relieve anxiety, fatigue, and tension while awakening a profound sense of wellbeing. Each session offers space to slow down, reconnect, and breathe your way back to lasting health and vitality.

For more information go to: https://www.henryandhenryeu.com/buteykobreathing