Applied Neurobiology (Breathwork) · Founding Cohort
The Next Level of Your Practice Is Here
Two years of deep study, supervised practice and neurobiological grounding for your breathwork, with Eleanor, in a founding cohort of 24.
This is the first delivery of the program we are preparing to submit to ASQA for accreditation as a Diploma. If accredited, it would be the only active accredited breathwork qualification in Australia.
For holders of the International Certificate in Breathwork Mastery (RBM)
Begins February 2027 · 24 places · Applications open November 2026
This training is not yet an accredited qualification. Our accreditation application is being prepared for lodgement with ASQA in early 2027, and accreditation is not guaranteed. Founding cohort graduates receive a School of Breathwork certificate of completion.
From 2004 to now...
My first breathwork experience, back in 2004, was Holotropic. Fast, dynamic, hyperventilating. I had a huge breakthrough. Life-changing insights. And then it didn’t really stick. It was a signpost of what was possible, not lasting change.
I became obsessed anyway. I looked up the nearest breathwork training, which was Alakh Analda’s Diploma in Rebirthing Breathwork Mastery, and dreamed about doing it one day.
In early 2009 I finally had a session with Alakh. It was completely different. A gentle, parasympathetic breath. Almost unremarkable, at first. I felt peaceful, saw a picture of my childhood fridge, felt some guilt, had a bit of a cry, and left not expecting much.
That evening I had a real adult-to-adult conversation with my parents. Something had shifted at a level I couldn’t explain. When I went back a month later and Alakh asked about the intentions from my first session, I realised everything that had been a problem was simply gone. I had forgotten they were ever issues.
I was hooked, and I was intrigued. How does this happen?
That question took me through practitioner training, then a psychology degree, then years of research into the nervous system and breathwork, then a thesis, and many years working as a counsellor with trauma. The more I learned about the nervous system, the more I recognised that every detail of Breathwork Mastery (RBM), from the breath itself, to the ratio of sitters to breathers, to the pace a breather is allowed to set, is the embodiment of what the science now says creates safety in a nervous system so that integration can happen.
Two years, four trimesters, built unit by unit so that you can geek out on the science, understand the mechanisms at play in a Breathwork Mastery (RBM) session, and explain to your clients what is happening in the language of the nervous system.
Not all breathwork regulates, and not all breathwork integrates
All breathwork works with the nervous system. The nervous system and the breath are intrinsically linked. But not all breathwork regulates the nervous system, and not all breathwork is integrating.
I’ve been doing breathwork since 2004, and in that time I’ve watched conscious breathing go from something nobody had heard of to something GPs and psychologists recommend. That’s largely thanks to nervous system science, which took the conversation beyond the brain to the whole body, and in the last ten years the research on how breath shapes emotion, mind and physical health has exploded.
It has also created a trend. Almost every breathwork style now says it creates “nervous system regulation” and is “trauma informed”. Not long ago I was chatting to someone new to breathwork who had done a large group session in a hard, fast, mouth-breathing style, with loud music and one facilitator for a room full of people. The facilitators had described it as trauma informed and regulating. This is common now, and it’s understandable. But is it accurate, and does it serve us as breathwork practitioners to have our distinct practices under these umbrella terms?
After more than 15 years practising Breathwork Mastery (RBM), and personally sessioning or supervising well over 25,000 breathwork sessions, my own, my trainees' and the client sessions I've supervised, I have always observed the same thing: Breathwork Mastery (RBM) inherently tracks with what the science is now showing us about trauma integration, regulation and interpersonal synchrony.
Alakh built it that way before any of these words existed. It is, at its heart, a self-generated, supported practice of self-mastery
This program expresses a lifelong passion of mine: bridging the two worlds of science and metaphysics. It is the first step in expressing the Self-Mastery model as a therapeutic framework, and in developing the procedures that make Breathwork Mastery (RBM) measurable and researchable.
My biggest vision for Breathwork Mastery (RBM) is that alongside its metaphysical truths, its psychotherapeutic framework finds its way into mainstream spaces. My greatest hope is that, as a community of practitioners, we can develop a solid and reliable evidence base that supports widespread understanding of the value of this work. That starts with the founding cohort.
OUTCOMES
What you'll be able to do
This is the applied qualification: it takes the Breathwork Mastery (RBM) practice you already have and gives you the neurobiology underneath it, through study, peer exchange and your own practice.
By the end of the program you will be able to:
Explain why Breathwork Mastery (RBM) works, in the language of the nervous system: how early development, attachment and birth shape breathing patterns and autonomic regulation
Recognise nervous system patterns in yourself and in a breather during a session, including your own nervous system as part of the relational field
Understand fascia and interoception as the biological basis of “what is happening in your body?”
Track collective nervous system dynamics in a group, and use co-regulation as a resource
Read and evaluate research in breathwork and neuroscience, and complete a literature review
Document what you observe across sessions, and develop and present a case study
Clinical work with clients, specific clinical presentations, and integration into therapeutic and medical settings belong to the Advanced program, which builds on this one.
The program
Four trimesters over two years
Each theory unit combines a substantial written workbook, three to four live two-hour seminars with Eleanor, and a small amount of video. The practical units are taught live on Zoom, in groups small enough for everyone to be held.
The units
Eleven units. Around 880 hours of structured learning within roughly 1,500 hours of total study over the two years, including reading, practice and reflection. The Advanced program adds a further eleven clinical and research units on top of these.
Unit titles and sequence are being finalised as part of the accreditation application and may change before we begin. You’ll receive the confirmed program guide before you enrol.
The practicum. Unit 8 runs as supervised sessions across six full group days in trimester two: you breathe, you sit for a partner, and each session is supervised and debriefed immediately afterwards, with Eleanor. Twelve cycles in all, so 12 sessions as breather, 12 as sitter, and 12 supervised reflections. These are not breathwork sessions for their own sake, and they are not personal process work. They are observation in practice: tracking your own nervous system and your partner’s, as breather and as sitter, through the lens of the units you have just studied, then bringing what you saw straight into supervision and into your journal as case material. Units 9 and 10 carry that observation into group settings and into documenting what you see, ready for the case study.
Supervision. Group supervision with Eleanor throughout the program, so the learning lands in your own practice and your peer exchanges.
The two years, trimester by trimester
Two trimesters a year, each about five months, with December and January off. Feb 2027 to Nov 2028. Theory units run as a workbook plus three or four live two-hour seminars each; the practice units run as supervised sessions on group days. The line under each trimester is the live time you commit to being present for. Everything else is yours to schedule: the workbooks, the reading, your own practice and reflection.
Trimester 1
Feb to Jun 2027
History and Evolution of Neurobiology and Breathwork
Units 1 and 2 · 7 two-hour seminars · about 14 live hours plus supervision
Trimester 2
Jul to Nov 2027
Units 3, 4 and 8 · 8 two-hour seminars · 6 full group days of supervised sessions · about 64 live hours
Trimester 3
Feb to Jun 2028
(after the summer break)
Units 5, 6 and 9 · 6 two-hour seminars · Unit 9 supervised group sessions begin · optional Gymea intensive (in person, at cost) · about 24 live hours plus supervision, Gymea extra
Trimester 4
Jul to Nov 2028
Units 7, 9, 10 and 11 · 4 two-hour seminars · Unit 9 completes · Unit 10 supervised process tracking · capstone supervision and presentations · about 30 live hours
About 140 live hours across the program, weighted towards trimester two when the practicum runs. Seminar days and times, and the group day dates, are set before each trimester begins and published in the program guide. Group days are full days. Unit placement follows the delivery plan of August 2026 and will be confirmed in the program guide you receive before you enrol.
Format and start date
| Format | Trimester 1 · Feb 2027 | Trimester 2 · Jul 2027 | Trimester 3 · Feb 2028 | Trimester 4 · Jul 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online, live on Zoom | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| In person, Gymea intensive (optional) | – | – | ✓ | – |
One intake only: the founding cohort begins late February 2027. There is no mid-year entry.
Key dates
| Applications open | November 2026 |
| Founding price | Holds until applications close |
| Applications close | 31 January 2027, or earlier if the 24 places are filled |
| Trimester 1 begins | late February 2027 |
| Trimester 2 begins | July 2027 |
| Summer break | December 2027 and January 2028 |
| Trimester 3 begins | February 2028 |
| Optional Gymea intensive | March or April 2028, dates to be announced |
| Trimester 4 begins | July 2028 |
| Program completes | November 2028 |
Delivery
How it's delivered
Live on Zoom. Seminars, practice groups and supervision all run live online.
Supervised sessions. The cohort of 24 forms two practice groups of 12, and your group is who you practise, reflect and sit in supervision with. The task is to observe what you are learning during paired exchanges, observing your nervous system and your partner’s, with group supervision built in straight after each session. The details of how the days are structured are in the program guide.
Practice group days for the practicum: six full days in trimester two, with dates published before enrolment.
Optional 5-day intensive at Gymea. An in-person immersion linked to Unit 9, offered at cost for those who want it. The program is complete without it.
Time. Expect around 2 hours a week of live sessions on average (a two-hour seminar in most teaching weeks, and full group days in trimester two), plus around 12 to 15 hours a week reading and engaging with the learning materials, practising and reflecting. About 140 live hours across the two years, weighted towards trimester two when the practicum runs.
Who teaches
Thirty years of practice,
one first cohort
Alakh Analda founded Rebirthing Breathwork Mastery in the early 1990s and has trained practitioners around the world ever since. Her Diploma of Rebirthing and Breathwork Mastery was accredited in 2011, the first breathwork qualification of its kind in Australia. That accreditation has since lapsed, and today there is no active accredited breathwork qualification in the country.
I trained with Alakh from 2009, and I am licensed by her to deliver her practitioner training. Since then The School of Breathwork has graduated 100 practitioners, with 267 more at every stage of training, and I’ve worked as a counsellor since 2012, alongside my breathwork practice.
Alongside all of that, I went back to study. A psychology degree, a research focus on neurobiology and breathwork, and a research thesis. What came out of it is a neurobiological model of Breathwork Mastery (RBM): an explanation of the mechanisms behind what Alakh discovered through practice, decades before the science caught up.
This program is where that model becomes a curriculum. It is being prepared for submission to ASQA for accreditation as a Diploma, and the founding cohort is the first group who will ever move through it. You will be learning from the person who wrote it, in a group small enough that I know every one of you, before the paperwork has finished its journey. That is why it’s called the founding cohort, and it’s why the price is different.
Eleanor holds the licence for this training and teaches the core curriculum and supervision throughout, alongside School of Breathwork trainers Jess and Sarah.
The pathway
Where this leads: the Diploma,
and then the Advanced Diploma
This founding cohort · Feb 2027
Applied Neurobiology (Breathwork)
Being submitted for accreditation as a Diploma. Its intention is neurobiological literacy for the practising Breathwork Mastery (RBM) practitioner. You finish able to explain what happens in a session in the language of the nervous system, observe it in yourself and your breathers, track it across a series of sessions and in groups, read the research, and document a case study. The practice stays what it is: a self-generated, supported practice of self-mastery. What changes is your capacity to see it, name it and hold your ground with it.
The pathway beyond · not yet open
Advanced Applied Neurobiology (Breathwork)
Put simply: the first program builds understanding and applied practice, and is complete in itself. The second builds clinical and research capability on top of it, for those who want to go further.
Who it's for
This is for you if you hold the International Certificate in Breathwork Mastery (RBM), you are sitting with breathers now or ready to return to it, and you can feel there’s another level in your understanding of the nervous system, your confidence, and how you hold the deeper territory.
This isn’t for you if you don’t yet hold the International Certificate in Breathwork Mastery (RBM) (practitioner training is where to start), if you’re looking for a short course or a certificate to display rather than two years of study and supervised practice, or if you need a nationally recognised qualification in hand this year. This program is not yet accredited and we won’t pretend otherwise.
Entry requirement: the International Certificate in Breathwork Mastery (RBM). Before you enrol we’ll check that the program is the right fit for where you are.
The founding cohort
Why now, and why the price is different
We’re delivering this program while our accreditation application is being prepared. That means two things.
You get the full curriculum, early. Every unit, the practicum and the supervision, delivered in full from February 2027, rather than waiting for the accreditation process to run its course.
$10,945 including GST
The complete two-year program, for this first cohort. If accreditation is granted, we expect the accredited qualification to be priced at around $15,000. Founding members do the same work at a substantially lower investment, because you’re helping us build it, and that deserves to be honoured.
What’s included. All workbooks, all live seminars, all practice group days, all supervision, and your place in a cohort of 24 that will only ever exist once. About 140 live hours with Eleanor across the two years.
Payment. Two ways to pay. Pay in full: $10,945. Or a payment plan: a $2,200 deposit to secure your place, then 18 monthly payments of $548.90 from the month the program begins. The payment plan total is $12,080.20. All prices include GST.
Optional Gymea intensive. For those who want the in-person immersion, the 5-day intensive is offered in addition to the program fee, at cost: approximately $3,113 (twin share) or $3,663 (single), including GST, covering accommodation, meals and venue. The Unit 9 teaching itself is included in your program fee whether you attend in person or online.
What you receive on completion. A School of Breathwork certificate of completion for the Founding Cohort program. This is not an AQF Diploma or any other nationally recognised qualification. If the program is later accredited and The School of Breathwork is registered to deliver it, you will be able to apply for recognition of prior learning (RPL) towards the accredited Diploma. RPL is decided on evidence, so we keep full records of your practicum, journals and assessments to support that application.
Dates. Applications open November 2026. The founding price holds until applications close on 31 January 2027, or earlier if the 24 places are filled. We begin late February 2027.
Accreditation timeline
The School of Breathwork is preparing an application to ASQA, the national VET regulator, for accreditation of a Diploma in applied neurobiology (breathwork). ASQA approved the course concept in mid-2026 as the first stage of that process. The full application is being prepared for lodgement in early 2027. Accreditation is not guaranteed, and the timeline is set by the regulator, not by us.
Until accreditation and registration are granted, this program is professional training offered by The School of Breathwork. It is not an accredited qualification, and The School of Breathwork is not a registered training organisation. We’ll tell you where things stand at every step.
From Eleanor
This program is the thing I’ve been building toward since a session in 2009 changed how I spoke to my parents that same night. Everything since, the training, the degree, the research, the years of sitting with clients and trainees, has been about understanding why that happened and how to teach it. Taking the first group through it, start to finish, is something I’ll only get to do once. If you feel the pull, I’d love you to be part of it.
With love and gratitude,
Frequently Asked Questions
No, and we want to be completely clear about that. We are preparing an application for accreditation to lodge with ASQA in early 2027, and accreditation is not guaranteed. This founding cohort completes the full curriculum ahead of that outcome, at founding pricing, and receives a School of Breathwork certificate of completion.
If accreditation is granted and The School of Breathwork is registered to deliver it, you will be able to apply for recognition of prior learning (RPL) towards the accredited Diploma, and we keep the assessment records to support that.
Yes. This is advanced training for practitioners who hold the International Certificate in Breathwork Mastery (RBM). If you trained in another lineage, get in touch and we’ll talk about where to start.
Each theory unit combines a self-paced workbook with three to four live two-hour seminars, plus practice group days for the practicum. Expect around 2 hours a week of live sessions on average, plus around 12 to 15 hours a week reading and engaging with the learning materials, practising and reflecting. Trimester two is heavier, because the practicum group days run then.
Yes. A part-time pathway is available for those who need to spread the program over a longer period. Tell us in your application and we will work out the shape with you.
Yes. Live on Zoom, in two practice groups of 12, small enough for real depth. The 5-day Gymea intensive is the optional in-person element.
Seminars are recorded and the recordings are available to enrolled students, so a missed seminar can be caught up. The practicum group days are live only and attendance is required, because the supervised sessions are the assessment.
Eleanor holds the licence for this training and teaches the core curriculum and supervision throughout, alongside School of Breathwork trainers Jess Miller and Sarah Mann, with guest contributors to be announced before the program begins.
Eleanor holds the licence for this training and teaches the core curriculum and supervision throughout, alongside School of Breathwork trainers Jess Miller and Sarah Mann, with guest contributors to be announced before the program begins.
We review every application and reply within five business days. If we have questions, we’ll email you first. If it’s a yes, we’ll send your enrolment pack, which includes the program guide and the enrolment agreement to sign, and your first invoice, either the full fee or the deposit. Your place is confirmed once both are done.
The enrolment agreement we send you before you enrol sets out the withdrawal and refund terms in full, so you can read them before you commit to anything.
Supervision with Eleanor is built into the program, and between live sessions you have a private online space for the cohort and the School of Breathwork team by email, who reply within business days. Breathwork can open things up, and this program asks you to observe your own nervous system closely, so if something arises that needs more than the program offers, we will help you find the right support. If you need adjustments to take part fully, tell us in your application and we will work them out with you.
Apply
24 places. February start. The
first cohort there will ever be.
Applying takes about five minutes. It isn’t a commitment; we review every application and come back to you. But until applications open, register your name on the waitlist below.