Why I Breathe: My Story

Whether you've just found your way here or you've been with me from the very beginning — welcome, and thank you for being here.

This week I want to do something a little different. Instead of a theme or a practice, I'd like to share a bit more about me: who I am, why I do what I do, and how I became a breathwork instructor.

Because this work didn't start in a training room. It started at my desk, on a very ordinary day, with one honest question.

Where it all began

I was born in Poland during the communist regime, and I grew up watching my country transform around me. Maybe that's where I learned to strive. I always worked hard and always tried to do the next right thing, believing that if I got the good grades, went to university and found a good job, life would fall into place. And in many ways it did. I built a career, started a family, and became a mom. I had everything I had ever dreamed of, and I was deeply grateful for it. I still am.

From the outside, nothing was broken. But after my children were born, everything intensified. Work, kids, planning, organising, being everything for everyone. Nobody had ever taught me how to pause, how to truly recover after a long day, or how to take time for myself without feeling I was taking it from someone else. So I just kept going.

Slowly, without noticing exactly when it began, life started to happen to me instead of with me. Small tasks felt heavy and stressful. My days repeated like the same movie playing over and over, and there never seemed to be a pause button. I was living on autopilot, so disconnected from my body that I didn't notice how much tension and stress it was carrying for me.

Eventually I reached the point of burning out. Almost every day, something small would set me off: a comment at work, or one of my children misbehaving. In those moments I felt helpless and completely flooded, and afterwards I had to wait hours for my body to calm itself down. My nervous system never really switched off. I wasn't living, I was surviving.

The people closest to me could see it. "You should do something," they told me. "Look for help." But I was so used to being the strong one that I answered the way I always had: I can figure this out on my own.

The moment everything changed

I was sitting at my desk, trying to focus after another stressful moment. I looked around me — and my eyes landed on a picture of my kids. I was already searching inside myself, trying to figure out what would actually make me happy.

And then the question came:

If I died today — would I say I truly lived my life?

The answer was no.

I felt it in my whole body — a deep, strong knowing: I'm done. Done being a victim of my own life. Done living on autopilot. I have the power to change this.

In that moment, I made a decision. I was going to take action. I was going to look for solutions. And I did. I explored mindfulness. I worked with ikigai. I returned to meditation, which I had practised years before I had a family.

Finding SOMA Breath

And then I found SOMA Breath.

From the very first session, it felt different from anything I'd tried before. Meditation had always taken me up — into the mind, into the higher realms. Breathwork took me there too, and so easily. But it also brought me down — into my body. It was grounding. It was real. It was me, finally connecting with my own body through my own breath.

I didn't even know how much I needed that.

After that first session I felt deeply relaxed. And I wanted more. So I started breathing every day.

Slowly, things began to shift. I had more energy. I felt calmer. The things that used to trigger me so easily started to lose their grip.

At work, I'd always been afraid of making a mistake, even when nothing was wrong. That fear began to dissolve.

At home, when my kids misbehaved, I found I could pause before reacting. Sometimes just one conscious breath. And the reaction in my body, the rush and the tension and the flood, simply didn't come anymore.

I had my power back.

I felt peaceful. Connected. Joyful. Full of energy and excitement for my life. And for the first time in years, there was space for my heart to speak, so I could hear my own needs, my dreams, my inner guidance.

That's why I do this work now. Because if one breath could change that much for me, imagine what it can do for you.

Maybe you recognise a little of yourself in this story. The autopilot. The feeling that there's no pause button. The quiet voice that says I should be able to handle this on my own.

If so, I want you to know: you don't have to wait until you burn out to come back to yourself. Sometimes it really does start with one breath.

With love,
Gosia
SOMA Breath® Instructor
Brave Soul Thrive