Discover Tess Graham (Breatheability) in 11 Questions

Tags

anxiety, asthma, breathe better, depression, feel better, panic attacks, roseline deleu, snoring

Roseline Deleu (Feng Shui Steps.com) interviews
Tess Graham (Breatheability.com)

1. Please TESS, tell our readers briefly WHEN, HOW, WHERE or in WHICH circumstances we met?
   I met Roseline through another business owner at the time when I was developing my breathing training centre in Canberra Australia – a unique physiotherapy practice in that all the focus was on helping people with breathing-related problems. It was a new concept and Roseline’s talents and intuition in making things work were a great help.

2. Since then, could you share what is the most interesting Feng Shui result that you have experienced?
Moving things (objects and furniture) around, allows new energy to come in and increased clarity of thinking. Things happen!

3. Let’s talk more about you now Tess… Tell us a little about yourself and your business
I had always wanted to work in an area that helped people achieve and maintain good health and fitness. That’s why I studied health sciences and physiotherapy.

20 years ago in my search to help two of my children who had chronic asthma, I came upon some fundamental information and research about breathing that was outside what is traditional physiotherapy practice. It freed my children from asthma. I studied several breathing methods, in particular that which was the development of a medical doctor from Russia -Prof Konstantin Buteyko. I then established my breathing training business.

4. What are the five words that people would use to describe BreatheAbility.com?
Commonsense – Education – Change – Relief – Life changing

5. What was the purpose on starting your BreatheAbility business and how has the concept come about?
I wanted to share the knowledge and skills of better breathing with as many people as possible. I wanted no other mother to experience what I had while I watched my children struggle to breathe. I wanted people to know that the key to true health, restful sleep and vibrant energy was getting their breathing right.

6. What are the most common issues of people who come to see you for advice?
The most common issues I help people with are snoring, sleep apnoea, insomnia, asthma, COPD, nasal problems, chronic mouth breathing, anxiety and panic disorder, fatigue conditions and athletes looking for enhanced sports performance. In the corporate world, the main issues are workplace absenteeism and poor productivity related to poor quality sleep.

7. Tell us more about your services that you provide to your clients?
The major part of my work today is speaking and training – public, professional association, healthcare organisations or corporate seminars and workshops. I also do training for health professionals wanting a career in breathing education. I only take a limited number of clients per year for one-on-one breathing retraining.

8. Tell us about your process for working with clients?
When a client comes to see me for the first time I take a detailed health and symptom history and assess and observe their baseline breathing pattern. From this assessment I can identify where their breathing pattern differs from the ‘physiological normal’ way to breathe and explain to my client the likely contribution their faulty breathing habits have made to the symptoms they are experiencing. There are usually several  ‘ah ha’ moments because for many this is a commonsense explanation of what is behind the breathing-related problems that trouble them, and explains the difficulties or failures they may have had with other approaches. I then decide what is the first change or two that are required and start on them immediately. Changing your breathing is actually relatively easy – you are breathing all the time anyway so you can start doing it in a better way immediately. It is as natural as taking your next breath… differently!

9. What advice can you offer to people who are just discovering BreatheAbility?
It is important that we value breathing. It is the most fundamental function of the human body and over 90% of people make a poor job of it. The simplest things in life are often the best : changing the way you breathe yourself, has to beat having a machine or medication do it for you. At Breatheability International, we believe that getting your breathing right is the foundation of true health and well-being.

10. Do you have a book/CD that you would like to recommend?
In 2012 I published a book “Relief from Snoring and Sleep Apnoea” : a step-by-step guide to restful sleep and better health through changing the way you breathe (Penguin Books). It is a practical guide to improving your breathing and getting relief from breathing-related problems. It has a 5 Day program that is quick, easy to follow and effective.

While it is specifically written for people with sleep-breathing issues, the information and strategies there for improving breathing may also be of help to people with asthma, breathlessness, persistent cough, nasal problems, insomnia, anxiety, panic attacks and other breathing-related disorders.

I have also produced an audio CD as companion to the book “Breathing Exercise Instruction CD” which guides you through the breathing retraining techniques. Although the instructions are also in the book, listening to those sections on the Audio is, as many have said, “Like having Tess in the room teaching you”>

The book and CD are available from my website www.BreatheAbility.com

11 . Where do we find your services? (list office, links websites & contact)
Those interested in one of our training courses and workshops (public or professional) or in having me speak at an event can contact us through the website or + 61 (0)2 81881343. Our office is based in Canberra Australia – we travel worldwide.

Thank you Tess! Roseline Deleu www.fengshuisteps.com