Breathwork for Retreat Leaders: What to Know Before You Add It to Your Program
If you run retreats, you have probably thought about adding breathwork. Your participants ask for it. You have felt it yourself. You know it delivers something that a yoga session or a meditation class does not quite reach. The problem is finding someone you trust to bring in, understanding what the session actually involves, and making sure it fits your program without taking it over.
I have been running breathwork and ice bath sessions in Koh Samui since 2020. A significant portion of the groups I work with are retreat participants, not solo travelers. Yoga retreat leaders, wellness coaches, corporate event organizers, and tour operators regularly contact me to add a breathwork workshop to their program. This post is the answer to every question I get from them.
What a Private Breathwork Workshop Actually Looks Like
The format I offer for groups is two hours. It includes a guided breathwork session and a shared ice bath experience. That is the core.
I bring all equipment to you. The ice bath setup, the mats, the audio setup for the session. You do not need to source anything or set up a dedicated space beyond a clean, flat area large enough for your group to lie down comfortably. I have run workshops at hotel pool areas, villa gardens, beach resorts, rooftop terraces, and dedicated retreat spaces. The format adapts to the venue.
The session runs like this. We start together with a brief introduction, covering what breathwork is, what the experience may feel like, and how to navigate it. Then everyone lies down and we begin. The active breathing lasts 30 to 40 minutes. There is a rest period after. Then we move to the ice baths, which I facilitate one at a time or in small groups depending on the setup. We close with a brief group share for those who want to speak.
Total time from setup to close is about two and a half hours.
Who It Works For
The short answer is: almost any group that chose to be on a retreat.
People who come on wellness retreats are already self selecting for openness. They made a decision to invest time and money in going deeper into something. Breathwork meets that intention directly. It is not a passive experience. It requires participation. Retreat participants tend to be exactly the kind of people who want that.
Yoga retreat groups respond particularly well. The breathwork and yoga connection is not just conceptual. Many participants find that a breathwork session unlocks something in their body that months of asana practice did not. The practice deepens their understanding of what they have been doing on the mat. There is a detailed post on how breathwork and yoga relate if you want the full picture for your participants.
Corporate groups are often the most surprised by the experience. They come in more skeptical and leave more affected. The ice bath component particularly resonates with this audience. It is concrete, it is measurable, and it teaches the same mental skill that good performance under pressure requires: staying present and breathing when your instinct says fight or flee. That lesson lands differently when you have just lived it in cold water.
Friend groups and celebration trips work well too. The shared experience creates a bond that is difficult to manufacture through other activities. You have done something together that required something from each of you. That changes the texture of the day.
What Your Participants Will Experience
I explain this carefully to every group before we begin because people come in with varying degrees of expectation. Some have done breathwork before. Many have not. The session is designed to be accessible regardless of experience level.
During the breathing, most people feel tingling in the hands, face, and feet. This is normal, a result of changes in blood chemistry during the session, and it resolves completely during the rest period. Some people feel waves of warmth or cold. Some feel intense emotions surface and move through. Some feel deep relaxation. Some feel all of it in sequence. There is no wrong experience.
The ice bath is different from what most people expect. After a breathwork session, the nervous system is in a very different state. Participants regularly describe the ice bath as more manageable than they anticipated, not because it is easier, but because they have just spent 40 minutes practicing the exact skill they need: breathing through discomfort without fighting it. The breathwork is preparation for the cold, and the cold is the application of what was just practiced.
By the end, your participants will have moved through something together. That shared quality is part of what makes this work well as a retreat element. The group has a reference experience they built collectively. That changes how they relate to each other for the rest of the program.
Questions I Get From Retreat Leaders
Do participants need any experience with breathwork?
No. I run the session with the assumption that nobody has done this before. Experienced practitioners often go deeper, but the session is fully accessible to someone who has never heard of breathwork before today.
Are there any health restrictions?
Yes. Breathwork is contraindicated for people with epilepsy, cardiovascular conditions, detached retina, high blood pressure that is unmanaged, or who are pregnant. I send a simple intake form to all participants before the session. Anyone with a relevant condition sits out the active breathing and can still participate in the rest of the session. I handle this communication directly so it is not your responsibility to screen participants.
How many people can participate?
The format works for groups of 4 to 16. Below 4, a private individual session makes more sense. Above 16, the ice bath logistics become harder to manage in two hours and the quality of the facilitation drops. If your group is larger than 16, reach out and we can discuss a modified format.
Can you come to our venue?
Yes. I work anywhere on Koh Samui. Hotels, villas, retreat centers, private residences, outdoor locations. The only requirements are a flat space large enough for the group to lie down, access to water for the ice bath setup, and enough notice to arrange logistics. Most venues on the island can accommodate this without difficulty.
How does it fit into a retreat schedule?
The session works best in the morning before other activities. Participants are in a processed, open state afterward and benefit from time to integrate rather than immediately moving into something demanding. A two hour block in the morning schedule works well, followed by a meal and some unstructured time before any other programming.
Avoid scheduling the breathwork as the last thing on a busy day. Integration matters. The experience continues to work in the hours after the session ends. If participants immediately return to high stimulation, they lose some of what moved during the session.
What does it cost?
A private workshop for groups of 4 to 16 is 16,000 THB (approximately $500 USD). This covers two hours of facilitation, full ice bath setup and equipment, and everything participants need. There is no additional charge for travel within Koh Samui.
Why This Works Better Than a Drop-In Class
When you bring me in for a private workshop, I have context before I walk in the door. I know who your group is, what they came here for, what your program is doing, and what you want the session to add. That context changes how I open the session, how I hold the space during the breathing, and how I close. A drop-in class treats everyone the same because it has no choice. A private session can meet your group where they actually are.
It also gives your participants something that is genuinely theirs. Not a class anyone can book. A session built for this group on this retreat. That specificity matters to people.
How to Arrange a Workshop
The simplest way is direct contact via WhatsApp from the contact page. I respond quickly. We have a brief conversation about your group, your program, and logistics. Once details are confirmed, I send a simple intake form for your participants and we set a time.
Give me at least a few days notice when possible, more during peak season (December through April). Last minute requests sometimes work but are not guaranteed.
If you are planning a retreat on Koh Samui and want to understand more about what the island offers for this kind of work, this guide covers the full picture. For more on what happens during a breathwork session itself, this post walks through the experience in detail.
And if you are a solo traveler looking for an individual or small group day experience rather than a private workshop, the UNTAMED full day is what you are looking for.
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About Diego Pauel
I have lived in Koh Samui for 15 years. I discovered breathwork through freediving, which I have trained in for over a decade. When COVID hit and the island emptied out, I started offering breathwork and ice baths for free to help the local community feel better in their bodies. I was the first to offer this work on the island. Five years later, I have facilitated countless sessions for people from all over the world. No guru energy. No mystical language. Just the work.
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