Why Breathwork Works Better Than Any Team Building Exercise You Have Tried

You have done the trust falls. The escape rooms. The cooking classes. The "fun" activities that HR books because someone read an article about team cohesion. Everyone smiles. Nobody connects. You go back to the office on Monday and nothing has changed.

I am not going to pretend breathwork is the answer to every team problem. It is not. But after facilitating group sessions for corporate teams, retreat groups, and friend groups over the last five years, I can tell you something with certainty: shared breathwork creates a kind of connection that most team building activities never touch.

And the reason is simple. Breathwork bypasses the social performance layer that every other activity runs on top of.

The Problem With Traditional Team Building

Most team building activities are designed around doing something together. A task. A challenge. A competition. The assumption is that shared activity creates shared connection.

Sometimes it does. But usually what happens is people bring the same dynamics they already have in the office into the new environment. The loud people stay loud. The quiet people stay quiet. The people who perform well in social settings continue to perform well. The ones who struggle with group dynamics continue to struggle.

The escape room does not fix that. It reinforces it.

Breathwork is different because there is nowhere to perform. You are lying down. Your eyes are closed. You are breathing. There is no leaderboard. No task to complete. No one watching how you handle it. The experience is entirely internal, and that is exactly what makes the group dynamic shift.

When you remove the performance layer, people drop into a space they rarely access around their colleagues. They feel things. Sometimes tears come. Sometimes laughter. Sometimes nothing visible at all, just a quiet internal shift. And when the session ends and everyone opens their eyes, something has changed in the room. Not because of anything dramatic. Because for the first time, everyone was in the same vulnerable space at the same time without performing for each other.

What a Group Breathwork Session Actually Looks Like

When a team books a private workshop, here is how it typically unfolds.

We start with a circle. Everyone sitting. I talk for a few minutes about what we are going to do and why. I keep it practical. No mystical language. No asking people to "set an intention" unless they want to. Just a clear explanation of what is about to happen in their bodies and what to expect.

Then we move to the breathwork. Everyone lies down on mats. I guide the breathing pattern with voice and pacing. The session runs 30 to 45 minutes. Some people go deep. Some stay surface level. Both are fine. The breath meets each person where they are.

After the breathwork, we transition to the ice bath. This is where the group dynamic gets interesting. Because watching your colleague face something they are scared of, breathe through it, and stay in the cold creates a kind of respect and connection that no ropes course can match.

People cheer each other on. Not in a forced way. Genuinely. Because they just went through their own version of that challenge lying on the mat, and they know what it took. The ice bath makes the internal experience external and shared.

The whole session runs about two hours. Breathwork, cold exposure, and a short closing circle where people can share what they experienced. Some people share. Some do not. There is no pressure. The experience speaks for itself.

What Teams Report Afterward

I do not have a clipboard with satisfaction surveys. What I have is five years of seeing the same pattern repeat.

Teams who come in with tension leave with less of it. Not because the tension was addressed directly. Because the shared experience of vulnerability dissolves barriers that talking about things never seems to reach.

People who barely spoke to each other in the office start conversations. Not deep conversations necessarily. Just the kind of casual, relaxed interaction that happens when walls come down.

Managers have told me their team communicated better in the weeks after a session. Not because breathwork teaches communication skills. Because when you have seen your boss in the ice bath, breathing through the cold with the same fear on their face that you felt on yours, the hierarchy softens a little. You see the human. That changes how you interact.

"We were a group of 8 in a private workshop with Diego, and it was absolutely incredible."

Or Benodis

Who Books This (and Why)

Corporate teams on retreat. Companies bring their team to Koh Samui for a few days, and instead of another dinner or a boat trip, they book a breathwork and ice bath session. It becomes the thing everyone talks about afterward. The shared reference point. "Remember when Sarah got in the ice bath and stayed for three minutes?" That story gets told at every team dinner for the next year.

Retreat leaders. Yoga retreat leaders, wellness retreat organizers, and personal development facilitators bring me in to run a session as part of their program. The breathwork and ice bath session often becomes the highlight of the entire retreat. It adds a depth that other activities do not reach.

Friend groups. Groups of friends traveling together who want something more meaningful than the standard tourist activities. They want to do something together that they will remember. Not a tour. Not a spa day. Something that challenges them and connects them in a way that sitting at a bar never will.

Event organizers. Weddings, birthdays, bachelor and bachelorette groups. People who want to mark an occasion with something different. Something that brings the group closer instead of just being another party.

Why the Combination Matters

Breathwork alone would be effective. Ice baths alone would be memorable. But the combination of both in sequence is what makes these sessions land differently.

The breathwork opens things up. It shifts the nervous system out of its habitual patterns and into a state of openness and reduced defensiveness. People are softer after breathwork. Less guarded. More present.

The ice bath takes that openness and gives it a focal point. A shared challenge. Something tangible that everyone faces together. The cold is honest. It does not care about your job title or your personality type or how you present yourself in meetings. Everyone is equal in the ice.

That leveling effect is something I have watched create connection between people who have worked together for years but never really seen each other. The CEO and the intern both gasping at the cold, both finding their breath, both choosing to stay. That shared experience of being human together, without the filters, creates something no amount of scheduled team building can replicate.

Practical Details

Private workshops run for two hours. The group can be 4 to 16 people. I bring all the equipment, including the ice bath, to your location anywhere on Koh Samui. Hotels, villas, retreat centers, even beaches.

The investment is a flat rate for the group, not per person. So the larger your group (up to 16), the more value you get.

No breathwork experience is required. I design each session for the group in front of me. If half the group has done breathwork before and half has not, the session accommodates both. The breath meets everyone where they are.

If you are planning a team retreat, a group trip, or any gathering where you want the connection to be real and not just polite, message me on WhatsApp and tell me your dates, group size, and what you are looking for. I will put together something that fits.

Keep Reading

• What Happens in a Breathwork Session
• Ice Baths in Koh Samui: What Actually Happens