Questions, answered plainly

No. Breath coaching is educational wellness support — you learn how breathing works, what your own patterns look like, and practical techniques to practise. It is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and it doesn’t replace care from a physician, therapist, or other health professional. If you have a health concern, that’s a conversation for your healthcare provider first; coaching can sit alongside proper care, not instead of it.

People who want practical tools for stress, sleep, focus, energy, or athletic performance — and who’d rather learn a skill than chase a trend. Louise works with professionals, parents, teens, athletes, teams, and workplace groups. It isn’t for everyone: if you’re looking for treatment for a medical condition, a healthcare provider is the right place to start, and Louise will tell you so in the consultation.

Both. In-person sessions run in Oakville, Ontario, and online sessions run over video for everyone else. Breathing coaching translates well to video — Louise can see and hear what matters, guide practice in real time, and you get to learn in the place where you’ll actually use the techniques. For online sessions you’ll need a camera, a quiet space, and a flexible sewing measuring tape — Louise uses it to measure how your ribs move as part of your assessment.

Your first session begins with a functional breathing assessment — the foundation of Louise’s coaching. It’s a set of simple, practical measures: how your body breathes (mechanics and where the movement happens), your everyday breathing habits, breathing cadence, carbon-dioxide tolerance, range of motion, and a maximum breath test. Nothing invasive, nothing to prepare for — together they become the baseline your progress is measured against. From there you talk through what you want breathing to support and learn your first techniques with live feedback, so you leave with tools to use right away. Sessions run about 60 minutes, and every later session opens with a shorter check-in version of the assessment.

It depends on your starting point and goals, and Louise will give you an honest read in the consultation — your functional breathing assessment results make that a grounded conversation, not a guess. A single session gives you awareness and a starter toolkit. The five- and ten-session programs exist because pattern change takes practice over weeks: each session builds on the last, reassessing as you go so progress is measured rather than assumed, with a progress review at the end. There’s no pressure to buy more than you need.

The first consultation is free — 20 minutes, no obligation. Individual sessions are $120 plus HST, the five-session program is $600 plus HST, and the ten-session program is $1,100 plus HST. Single workshops start at $450 plus HST, and most team engagements run $1,200–$2,500 depending on group size and format — ask for a quote. All prices in Canadian dollars.

Not at all. Breathing coaching works at any age and any fitness level — most exercises can be done seated, in regular clothes, with no equipment. Athletes come to Louise for performance, but most clients come for everyday things: stress, sleep, focus, and feeling less run-down. Your assessment and your plan are matched to your starting point, whatever it is.

A breathwork class is usually a guided group experience — valuable, but the same session for everyone in the room. Functional breathing coaching starts the other way around: with an assessment of how you personally breathe, day to day. From that baseline, Louise builds techniques matched to your patterns and goals, and re-measures as you go so you can see progress. Louise is trained in both worlds — coaching methods like Oxygen Advantage and Buteyko as well as breathwork facilitation — and will tell you honestly which fits what you’re looking for.

Comfortable clothes and nothing else. There’s no equipment, no floor work required, and no fitness prerequisite — everything can be done seated. For online sessions you’ll need a quiet spot, a device with a camera, and a flexible sewing measuring tape for the assessment.

It’s friendly with both, but it’s neither. Functional breathing coaching is skill training: how your breathing mechanics work, what your patterns are doing, and specific techniques for specific situations — before a meeting, before bed, between efforts. No spiritual framing, no philosophy requirement. If you already practise yoga or meditation, better breathing mechanics tend to travel well into both.

The techniques Louise teaches are gentle, and everything is adapted to you — nothing is forced, and nothing should ever feel like a strain. That said, breathing practices aren’t automatically right for everyone: if you’re pregnant or have heart, lung, blood-pressure, fainting, or seizure concerns, check with your healthcare provider first. Louise asks about relevant health context before you begin and will recommend medical review when that’s the right call.

You tell Louise your group size, format, and goals; she proposes a session and a quote. Workshops run as lunch-and-learns, 60-minute interactive sessions, conference breakouts, or multi-session programs — in person around Oakville and the GTA, or online for distributed teams. Every exercise works seated, in office clothes, with no equipment, so the whole room can participate. Start on the corporate wellness page or email [email protected].