Best Testimonial I have received To Date!

Peter Kater hired me to facilitate a breath class at his last retreat. There were about 20 people in the room. As I do in all my breathwork sessions, I open the mic for anyone who wants to share their experience.  And no different from any class, the journeys were amazing and so different. Paul Robinson was the last person to speak and he said “That was the most incredible experience I have every had!” He then mentioned that he couldnʻt put into words his experience cause he was still trying to process it. We hugged and I went about my way.  A few days later I got this letter from Paul.  To me this is the strongest testimonial I have ever received and I want to share it.   Enjoy and thank you Paul!

But First! Breathwork hits the mainstream!

A Profound Awakening Through Breathwork – By Paul Robinson

Breathwork had always been something I participated in—an activity on the schedule, an

exercise like meditation or yoga. Something done without fully understanding why. At past

retreats, I had gone through the motions, enjoying the experience but never feeling anything

transformative. That changed entirely in Oahu, 2025.

The retreat setting was stunning, and the familiar rhythms of morning breathwork sessions

continued. But there was always a lingering question: What is this really meant to unlock? The focus seemed to be on breath-hold times, control, and endurance. But to what end?

Then came an evening session—a sound healing session indoors, the room dimly lit, the

atmosphere hushed and immersive. The retreat's owner guided the experience, setting the

stage for deep relaxation. Breathwork began as before, the familiar patterns of controlled

inhales and exhales. But something shifted. As the last breath was exhaled and held, a sensation started to build—subtle at first, then expanding rapidly. It wasn’t just physical. Waves of energy surged, moving from head to toe in a rhythmic, electric pulse. Vibrating. Expanding. A feeling unlike anything I had ever experienced. The moment lasted minutes, then faded, leaving behind a sense of exhilaration and confusion. Something had stirred, something profound, yet undefined.

The next day, another breathwork session was on the schedule, this time led by Eric. With yoga mats laid out, noise-canceling headphones ready, and blindfolds in place, the session felt designed for deeper immersion. There were new elements—small mouthpieces to assist with breathing, a brief explanation about surrender and release. Eric arrived with a relaxed energy, setting out the space with careful intention. He explained the

process, emphasizing the importance of surrender, of letting go, of allowing whatever emotions surfaced to be fully felt rather than resisted. Some of us, he said, might experience memories or deep emotions arising unexpectedly. If that happened, we were to lean into them, not fight them.

I heard his words, but I wasn’t overly invested. I had been to enough self-development

workshops to recognize the language. The themes of surrender, of "letting go," of accessing

deeper parts of the self—I had encountered them before. I wasn’t dismissive, but I also wasn’t expecting anything earth-shattering. Part of that was my learning style. I tend to orient myself first—I take a high-level view, analyze the patterns, look for structure before engaging deeply. I naturally seek high vantage points because when I can see the whole landscape, things become understandable. I process best when I can frame the entire picture first. Breathwork, on the other hand, wasn’t something that allowed for that kind of distant observation. It wasn’t something to step back and analyze—it had to be felt – Eric helped with explaining the territory.

Then, the breathing began. At first, it was mechanical—inhale, exhale, circular and controlled. Then, unexpectedly, something cracked open. A feeling surfaced. A feeling of having fallen behind. Not physically, but in life itself. All the ways I had not pushed myself. The times I had stopped short. The moments where I had settled for "good enough" instead of striving for excellence. I had always known this about myself, but never truly faced it. Memories surfaced—from grade school, unfinished projects, procrastination, the quiet resignation of "good enough." A truth I had long been aware of but had avoided fully confronting: I had never truly given my all. The realization was sharp, cutting through every rationalization, every excuse. And the weight of it was unbearable.

Eric’s words echoed: Go toward it. So I did. As I continued breathing, my body responded. My hands clenched involuntarily. A powerful energy began building, like an electrical charge growing stronger with each breath. My entire body started vibrating—not shaking, but humming with intensity, like a light being turned up, brighter and brighter. It felt as though my body was being agitated, much like a can of paint being shaken at Home Depot, the agitation increasing, the energy contained but undeniable.

Then came the final breath. The full inhale, the last hold. And everything exploded.

I felt as though I was being pulled through something, like the acceleration of a spacecraft

approaching a wormhole, or the warp-speed effect in Star Wars. My arms curled in, my hands locked into clenched fists, my muscles tensed—but I wasn’t afraid... Maybe a little

Then, emotion hit like a tidal wave. Love—unmistakable, overwhelming. Not just an abstract idea, but a living, breathing force. And suddenly, a presence—a deep, undeniable connection to my father. Not an image, but something real. A recognition of everything he had been, his relentless pursuit of excellence, his unwavering drive. And then, as quickly as it came, something else followed.

Self-doubt, limiting beliefs, the unseen forces that had dictated every hesitation—gone. Noteased, not lessened—completely eradicated. Perfect clarity emerged. The life I had dreamed of wasn’t a distant hope, but an inevitable reality. What made this so profoundly different from anything I’d experienced before was that it wasn’t intellectual. It wasn’t an idea, a motivational insight, or a reframing exercise. I had done all of that—future pacing, SMART goal setting, visualization. I knew how to construct the right thoughts, the right plans. But that had always been my conscious mind at work, the goal setter.

The unconscious mind (the goal getter), though—the part of me that actually gets me up and moving, that dictates whether I push forward or stall out—had often been the thing holding me in place. I realized, in that moment, how many times I had stopped short, not because I didn’t want something badly enough, but because something deep within me was avoiding the discomfort of breaking through.

The truth is, you can want something with every fiber of your being, you can visualize it in

crystal-clear detail, but if the unconscious mind is protecting you from pain, from failure, from risk—it will keep you in park. Worse, it will subtly sabotage you, stopping you three feet from gold, making you hesitate just enough that you never truly push through the barrier.

But this time, it was different. I wasn’t pushing through anything. I was already on the other side. It was as if something—not an external force acting upon me, but an external source I had always been connected to yet forgotten—suddenly flowed through me again. A reconnection to something vast, something I had unknowingly separated myself from.

Like an electric car running on reserve, I had been moving through life fueled only by what was already within me, unaware that a much greater energy source had always been there, waiting.

The moment I plugged back in, everything changed. A surge of clarity, truth, and power rushed through, dissolving every limiting belief—not one by one, but all at once.

It wasn’t about rewiring my thoughts or forcing myself to break through barriers. It was about realizing there were no barriers at all. No limitations. No doubt. For the first time, action didn’t feel like something requiring effort. It felt inevitable. Not as an idea. Not as something to maintain with discipline. Just truth. Pure, undeniable truth.

As the session came to an end, time seemed irrelevant. It took an hour, maybe more, to return to the present moment. The experience had been that powerful. That absolute.

Hypnosis, NLP, visualization techniques, motivational seminars—all had their place, but nothing had come close to this. Breathwork had unlocked something buried so deeply I hadn’t even realized it was missing. And now, the question wasn’t whether I’d return to it—it was how to integrate it from this moment forward. Because this wasn’t just an experience. It was an awakening.

The Science Behind It

Naturally, I wanted to understand—what exactly happened to me?

As it turns out, breathwork is more than just deep breathing. What I experienced wasn’t

random—it was a well-documented physiological and psychological shift. The controlled

breathing changed the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in my body, triggering a state

called respiratory alkalosis. This shift affects brain activity, temporarily quieting the default

mode network—the part of the brain responsible for self-doubt, overthinking, and reinforcing limiting beliefs.

At the same time, breath retention stimulated my autonomic nervous system, creating a

moment of heightened energy release, almost like a reset. Some researchers even speculate that breathwork can activate endogenous DMT production in the brain, explaining the surreal clarity and deep emotional breakthroughs people experience.

Most importantly, breathwork bypasses the analytical mind entirely. It goes straight to the

unconscious—the part of me that had been holding back all along. Unlike SMART goals,

visualization, or positive thinking, this wasn’t about what I wanted to do—it was about

removing what had been stopping me.

And that’s why it was so powerful.

Closing

Now that we’ve uncovered the science, one question still lingers—the part that can’t quite be measured, dissected, or fully explained. What exactly is this "source" we plug back into?

Energy? Consciousness? Something beyond our understanding?

The paradox is fascinating—the mind, for all its brilliance, has the remarkable ability to keep us disconnected. It creates the illusion of separation, allowing us to navigate life as individuals, yet the moment that connection is restored, everything becomes clear.

Whether it’s power, source, or something else entirely, I don’t know. But I do know this—

plugged in, life feels limitless.