Jenn Warwick spent most of her life in motion. A college athlete and longtime fitness instructor, she lived by discipline, drive and performance. On the outside, she appeared to be thriving. But inside, a quiet heaviness lingered—an unshakable weight that followed her from adolescence into adulthood.
“I didn’t even realize or could identify that I was struggling with depression,” she recalls. “But it’s been a thread in my life since my early teens.” Perfectionism, relentless standards, a persistent inner critic—these were familiar companions. And even after leaving a career in finance, the feeling persisted. It wasn’t until she became a mother that everything changed. “There wasn’t a specific trauma, but I knew I wasn’t really living. It wasn’t sustainable.”
That was the turning point. Motherhood surfaced the emotional toll she had long suppressed. She left her high-pressure job in finance and pivoted into the fitness and wellness world—a space that felt more aligned with her values but still didn’t fully address what was going on beneath the surface.
“That relief was good, but not enough,” she says. “I was still hypervigilant about the perfectionism. I felt like I was just spinning.”
Then she found breathwork.
Warwick was introduced to transformational breathwork through trainers she worked with. She dove into journey work—a deeply immersive style of breathwork that spans more than an hour, designed to access the subconscious mind. “It’s not like you just take a class and feel better,” she says. “It was the first time I felt any kind of real relief. Talk therapy didn’t touch it because I was masterminding my own story. But when I breathed, my body could finally speak.”
That distinction is key. While meditation asks us to quiet the mind, breathwork invites us to move through it—to physically alter our internal state through breath alone. “When you’re doing transformational breathwork, you shift into a different brainwave state,” Warwick explains. “You move into theta, a state of deep relaxation. That’s when the subconscious opens and the protective mind quiets down.”
Sessions are structured like a journey. Clients lie on yoga mats, wearing eye masks and headsets with healing soundscapes playing. Warwick guides them through conscious connected breathing—a circular breath technique through the mouth for roughly 45 minutes. Sound healing frequencies and binaural beats run through the headphones, creating a full-body immersive experience.
“There’s an arc to every session,” she explains. “We begin quietly, then activate the body. At certain points, people may audibly sigh, cry or even scream. It’s all about giving the body permission to release what’s been stuck.”
In her eight-session program, The Breath Shift, clients often experience powerful transformations. Some connect with long-lost parts of themselves. Others release stored emotional pain. “I’ve had people come out of a journey and feel like they let go of anger they’ve carried for decades,” she says. “They finally feel light.”
For those not quite ready to commit to a full journey, Warwick recommends starting with simple, daily breathwork to support nervous system regulation. “Three times a day, just take five slow breaths through your nose,” she advises. “Box breathing is great, too—inhale for four; hold for four; exhale for four; hold for four. It’s about giving your body a chance to reset.”
Even just nose breathing has an impact. “When you breathe through your nose, you signal safety to the body. It slows you down. Your nervous system reads that and shifts into a calm state.”
Ultimately, breathwork gave Warwick something she never found in all her years of movement and achievement: access to her own inner knowing. “It’s a nervous system regulation process,” she says. “And when you have that agency in your body, you can return to yourself. You can ask, ‘How do I feel? What’s off?’ And trust what comes up.”
Warwick offers private sessions, group classes, and her eight-session journey program in Darien and surrounding towns. She also has a new space opening in Old Greenwich at 26 West End Avenue, where she’ll be hosting small-group sessions. These one-off classes are designed for anyone curious to explore breathwork in a welcoming environment. Sessions are open to all, and you can learn more by visiting breatheforlife.net or following her on Instagram @breatheforlife_.