00:00:06 Archita: Have you ever noticed how life can look fine on the outside, but inside you feel like you're holding your breath all day, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. And then one day, Something as simple as breathing on purpose becomes the doorway back to yourself. Today we are staying with that doorway.

00:00:29 Archita: Welcome to sacred Harmony, a space where healing doesn't need to be dramatic to be real. Where we explore what brings the nervous system down. The heart online and the self back home. Emma. And today I am joined by John Paul Creamy, a breathwork guide known for a direct, no fluff approach that makes breathwork practical, grounded, and accessible. Our topic is simple but powerful breathwork as a pathway to stress relief, emotional processing, and living a more fulfilling, purposeful life, especially when you want your healing to become service. If you have been carrying anxiety, heaviness, or a sense of I don't know what I am doing anymore, this conversation is for you. And just a quick note, we will talk about breathwork in an educational way. This isn't medical advice and it's always okay to go at your own pace. So, John, welcome to sacred Harmony. It's it's an honor to have you today.

00:01:31 Jon Paul Crimi: Thank you so much. I, I'm, I'm so grateful you have you've had me on today. I can't wait to speak with you.

00:01:37 Archita: Yeah. Me too. And this I can already feel that this conversation is going to be so insightful. So without wasting any time, let's dive into it. John, before before we get into methods and frameworks, I'm curious when you think about the version of you at rock bottom, what do you wish someone had told you about breath sooner?

00:02:01 Jon Paul Crimi: Wow. Uh, so rock bottom for me was with drugs and alcohol, and I had to get sober and through recovery, twelve step recovery. So I don't think breathwork would have done the trick for me. Um, first, when I hit rock bottom, I think I needed to get twelve step recovery as my foundation, as my base before the breathwork. Um, I don't think that I know that. And then the breathwork came later. So, um, I have seen people try that, you know, try to get sober with breathwork or yoga or whatever. And the difference is, is they don't speak the language of recovery from drugs and alcohol in yoga or breathwork or whatever. You need to hear that language. You need to be connecting to other people who are struggling, who went through rock bottom and then pulled themselves out of it, and they can show you how to. And then the breathwork, the yoga, all those incredible things. They come later as part of your daily routine to take care of yourself so that you don't go back to that lifestyle.

00:03:04 Archita: Um, yeah, that, that makes so much sense. That lands. It's, it's almost like the bread becomes the first honest relationship again, one, you don't have to earn one that already exists. It's just, you know, people need to acknowledge that. So the, this really sets the tone for this conversation. And that brings me to the point of breathwork has a reputation sometimes, you know, either it's just breathing, what's the big deal? Or it becomes super mystical and intimidating. So what do you think is the biggest misconception people carry into their first breathwork session?

00:03:42 Jon Paul Crimi: That's a great question. Well, so the first problem, the misconception is going to be that breathwork is an umbrella term. It's like saying fitness, right? Or it's like saying could you could say yoga, whatever. There's different kinds of breathwork. There's so many different kinds of breathwork. And just saying breathwork is just an umbrella term. You don't know which type of breathwork it is. It could be, you know, what I teach mainly is circular breathwork or conscious connected breathing, which is an intense practice where you lay down and you breathe very intensely for around thirty minutes, and then it releases all these emotions, stuck emotions, stuck, traumas, things, PTSD. So it's really good for stress, anxiety, depression, grief. It's really good for grief. That's the type of breathwork I teach. But there's all other kinds. There's this Wim Hof style where you do thirty breaths in and out, and you hold it and there's box breathing and there's breathing to go to sleep at night. And so there's so many different types of breathing out there. So it really depends on what someone needs in their life at that time. The most common statement after my classes is, Holy

00:04:45 Jon Paul Crimi: that felt like twenty years of therapy without saying a word. So if that's what you feel like you need, then I'm the right guy for you. If you need to learn sleep techniques, I have those too. They're on YouTube. You can go look them up. But you know, it depends on what you need right now in your life. You know, if you're dealing with grief, if you're dealing with anxiety or stress, this type of breathwork that I teach, that's the thing for you. Um, but if you want to get performance based breathwork, that's a different type of breathwork. Does that make sense?

00:05:17 Archita: Yes, yes, it makes a lot of sense. And when you say that it's an umbrella term, I think, yeah, that that that really clears things up a lot because that is one conception. People have that breathwork just means breathing in and out. But that's, that's, it's so much more than that. And it's, it's really important, you know, because the way you're describing it, um, makes it less about performing spirituality and more about learning how to be with yourself without running. So when someone says, I tried once and nothing happened, what's usually going on there?

00:05:54 Jon Paul Crimi: Uh, I mean, that's pretty unusual in my class because I approach it from a very, I used to be a personal trainer and a coach and a, like a sobriety coach. So I push pretty hard and it's hard to come to my class and, and have nothing happen. Uh, it's, it's almost impossible. It's rare it has happened, but it's pretty rare. Um, but what may be happening sometimes There's resistance there whether the resistance is conscious or unconscious people. You know, like you might have some trauma that's so deep. Breathwork is great for unlocking and and helping traumas be released or integrated into your body. Um, but you might, you might have some trauma that's so big that you're not ready to process it, you're not ready to release it or integrate it. So it could be that, or it could be that you just got uncomfortable and you stopped really doing it. That happens quite a bit where people are like, they think it's going to be this relaxing meditation. And it's not that it's more like a workout. And the first ten, fifteen minutes are hard, kind of like going to the gym and working out. And so there's resistance there and you have to push through that resistance to have this big, incredible transformational experience that people have. In my classes. You have to push through that. You have to do the work. There's a little bit of work involved in the breath work, right? And so some people will start to do it and then they'll feel weird Five minutes in or ten minutes in. They'll start to feel lightheaded, dizzy, nauseous, even. And they'll go, I don't like this. This is weird. And they'll stop. They'll back off. They won't push through and break through and have the big experience. So that can happen where someone's not willing to get uncomfortable. But if you're not willing to get uncomfortable, nothing's going to change. Everything worthwhile is on the other side of your comfort zone in life. So if you're not willing to do that, if you're not willing to get uncomfortable or do something different, nothing in your life is going to change. You're just going to stay the same or get worse.

00:07:54 Archita: And I think the biggest problem with people is that they expect results as soon as they start. And it's it's really not about the destination, it's about the process. So what you just said, it's, it's definitely correct. It's, it's not a failure. It's feedback. Like the body saying, we are just getting acquainted. Uh, now let's, let's go deeper because you're not just teaching technique, You're you're teaching access. So you've worked with CEOs, athletes, parents, people in deep pain. And it sounds like the breadth meets everyone at the same human place. So in your experience, what's the deeper pattern breathwork, uh, helps reveal under the stress, under the coping and under the I am fine.

00:08:42 Jon Paul Crimi: HMM. That's a great question. I just want to go back a second. You know, you were saying that everybody wants results right away and it's so true. But this actually does deliver results in the first session in the first time, first class, first session, you do breathwork. You will feel completely different afterwards. And so people want those results right away. And this actually does it. There's most things out there do not. You know, most things take a long time, but you will feel completely different in your first session. Session. Um, so you were saying, what is the deeper pattern underneath everything that people are resisting? Yeah. I mean, most people, I think a lot of people, they want to open their heart and they want to feel joy and love and gratitude and all these beautiful feelings, but they don't want to feel sad. They don't want to feel angry. They don't want to feel grief. They don't want to allow those other emotions. And the thing is, is that you cannot, you cannot feel joy and happiness and gratitude and love and all these beautiful emotions and shut yourself off from the other ones. And a lot of times what people have done is they've pushed all that stuff down and they haven't dealt with it because they don't want to feel it. And it's blocking them from feeling, you know, what, what they need to feel. You have to feel it to heal it. You have to allow the sadness to be felt so that you can get to the joy. And so people are kind of trying to shut themselves off from their emotions in that way, certain emotions, and it just doesn't work. It doesn't work like that. And so they push it all down and then they start reacting or overreacting. I say out in the world right there, something happens and they have this big, you know, explosion or this, their reaction is much bigger than the situation calls for. That's that's past trauma. That's old stuff that you've pushed down that you haven't dealt with. That's why you're overreacting to things out in the world. So you need to do the work and clear that stuff out and get free of it so that you can, you know, operate in your life. It doesn't mean you're not going to have situations happen to you. It doesn't mean that you're not going to have grief. People are going to die. It doesn't mean that you're not going to be angry or sad, but it just means that you'll have the appropriate amount of sadness or anger or whatever for that situation. And it's not coming out of all this old stuff that you haven't dealt with. Does that make sense?

00:10:57 Archita: Yes. And that is such a big truth because the bread doesn't just calm us. It sometimes it shows us what we've been carrying. And most of the time it turns out to be a lot. So, uh, when, when breathwork starts surfacing grief, trauma or old emotions, how do you help people understand they are not breaking. They're actually unfreezing.

00:11:23 Jon Paul Crimi: They're not breaking. They're actually unfreezing. Is that what you said?

00:11:27 Archita: Yes.

00:11:28 Jon Paul Crimi: Oh, uh, well, I mean, I just let people know at the start. Give yourself permission to cry. You know, a lot of us didn't get permission to cry growing up, and we have to give it to ourselves. And we have this negative idea of what crying means, that it's bad for us, but it's actually really good for you. It releases chemicals that strengthen the immune system. It completes the stress cycle in your body, and it's a necessary function. Otherwise we wouldn't do it. We wouldn't have that in life. Like you have to go to the bathroom, right? Or you're going to build up and die. So you have this crying is a natural, necessary emotion that needs to happen. And so I just say that at the beginning, before we even get started, to give yourself permission to cry, to allow that if it comes up for you. And it really, it really is that simple. Sometimes it really is like, okay, if I, I need to allow some of these emotions to be felt and the breathwork will deal. It will get in there like a surgeon and work on whatever needs to be dealt with first at that time.

00:12:34 Archita: Mhm. Yeah. No, that that makes a lot of sense because, you know, unfreezing is the right word because a lot of people don't realize that numbness is not peace. So let's, let's talk about what it looks like in real life and not just in theory. And walk me into a real world moment. So what tends to happen when someone is living in chronic stress, like their productive functioning, but their body is constantly on alert? How does breathwork change that? Day to day experience?

00:13:10 Jon Paul Crimi: Yeah. So I always joke with people, I have alopecia. You can't see me right now, but I have no hair. I have no hair in my head, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, no hair in my body. I lost my hair. Um, it's a condition that's brought on by stress or trauma. And so I always joke like, if you don't think that stress can affect your health, then go find my eyebrows because they're they're gone, right? And so all my hair fell out because I stressed myself out so much. So if you can only, you can only drive the car at the engine with the gas pedal all the way down for so long before something's going to happen to your health, whether that's losing your hair or having a heart attack or cancer or some autoimmune. Autoimmune conditions are through the roof right now, so you can only drive. You can only go so hard, so long with stress in your body. And it's going to affect your health at some point. So I say to people, do you think that stress will affect your health? And they say, yes, absolutely. And I say, okay, so then wouldn't the opposite be true if you were are working on yourself in a way to de-stress yourself, wouldn't that benefit you? Wouldn't that benefit your health? And they say, well, I don't know. I never thought about it that way. So everyone agrees that stress will affect your health in a negative way, but they can't wrap their minds around sometimes that like, if you start to focus on your health in a good way, that you can heal your body. So if you can stress out your body, you can heal your body. So breathwork will heal your body. But what it's doing, the type that I teach is it's actually putting you in a bit of a, an intense state to get to where the trauma lives and this and all the stress lives. It lives in your nervous system. And so we breathe through our mouth in a certain way to actually access that in our nervous system, in a safe environment so that we can clear that stuff out, so that we can allow it. And it kind of is like this near death experience in a way where you go, oh, I was so worked up about all these things in my life that didn't matter. I was stressed out about this situation and this work situation and this person and all these things. I was so worked up about that and that doesn't even matter. It's kind of like when someone has a real bad health scare, you know, where they almost die or whatever. They totally change what's important to them. And breathwork does that. It gets you to that place where you're like, oh, let me focus on what really matters, what's really important to me in my life, because I've been so worried about all this stuff that doesn't matter, that's insignificant. And allowing it to stress me out and ruin my health and interrupt my life. So this breathwork centers you back on what really matters, what's really important.

00:15:55 Archita: Wow, that that really sounds great. But it's also scary how, you know, all of that stress can do to our body. And people think it's, you know, it, it doesn't show up, but it shows up in the small things. And then one day you just realize that it has become too much. So, but breathwork, it becomes less about fixing your life and more about regaining agency inside your life. And I love that because it respects real people with real schedules. No fantasy healing, just honest and doable. And now I want to shift into your no fluff approach because that's part of your signature. So you're known for making breathwork practical and accessible, stripping away the mysticism. Now, if someone wants to begin today, what are the core principles you would want them to understand, especially around your circular breathing method without overwhelming them?

00:16:55 Jon Paul Crimi: Yeah, I mean, definitely, I would suggest that someone finds a teacher and works with a teacher for a little bit, and then they can do it on their own. Um, I'm not looking to build a cult or anything like that, but I, and I may not even be the teacher for everyone because some people don't like my style. I'm pretty intense. I'm pretty loud, I swear sometimes. And that doesn't work for some people. I'm not for everyone. So if I'm not for you, then like that doesn't mean it's not for you. Go find somebody that it might be that you might connect with more, but I, when I found breathwork, it was kept in kind of these new age woo woo circles. And it was the technique was amazing. It was profound, but I didn't like a lot of that stuff. I didn't like the new agey ness and I didn't like the music and the woo woo and all that stuff. But I loved how the breathwork made me feel. And I had this realization that there's a lot of people like me who need this work, who are really stressed out and they have trauma and they have anxiety and they really need it, but they're not going to these classes because they don't feel comfortable in them, because it's just the language, the music, the style, the teacher, whatever. So I thought if I taught this in a way that wasn't like that, if I taught this in sort of a modern way with modern music and I put some science. What's the science behind the breathing? What's happening? How does my brain turn off during this way? Like it turns off part of your brain. It's called transient hypofrontality. Part of the prefrontal cortex of your brain shuts off in this beautiful way. That's the area in your brain where the ego lives, where the critic lives. That tells you you're not enough, right? I'm not thin enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not pretty enough. I'm not rich enough. I'm not hairy enough in some way. And this breathwork can turn that off and it's the best feeling in the world. And so I explain that to people and, and, and I, and so I made it, I sort of took this ancient, credible technique and repackaged it and modernized it for people out there who wouldn't normally do this work. You know, someone who's a housewife, who's got kids, who's stressed out, uh, a doctor, a firefighter, whatever, all these people out there who wouldn't normally do this, I made it more accessible to them. And I've done, I think, the biggest class in the world in Switzerland. It was a thousand people. I've had, you know, classes in person of three hundred and fifty people all the time, regularly. My class online on Sunday mornings, um, is nine a m Pacific time, nine a m California time. I usually get around anywhere from thirty to one hundred people to the live Zoom, but then I have a replay for people in other countries with the time zone doesn't work for them. And so I have a replay of five or a ten day replay so they can a lot of people will sign up for my class and then they'll do the replay. Uh, and they can do it a couple times. So you don't just do it once, you can do it a few times. So, uh, I try to make it as accessible as I can to many people. And you know, that didn't exist when I found breathwork. There was nobody doing this time, this style of breathwork online. I was the first person out there to put this style of breathwork online. I also do teacher trainings where I teach other people how to teach this breathwork so they can change other people's lives. And it's incredibly fulfilling. And I have my teacher trainings online as well. So people sign up for my teacher trainings online and then they take this into their business or their practice, or they start a whole new business taking other people through breathwork. And, and it's incredible because it builds really fast because you get results in the first session. So anything that gets results in the first session is going to do really well. People tell their friends and their family about it. And so these business practices, they grow really fast because you're actually helping people right away.

00:20:38 Archita: Um, so, uh, the practice isn't complicated. It's, it's honest and honesty can be intense. It should be intense. And that's a really grounded answer. It's like you're saying, we don't chase catharsis, we build capacity. And that connects perfectly to purpose because purpose isn't a performance either. It's a relationship. So if people really want the result, they have to put in the work as well. So, uh, John, for the listener who feels tired of suffering but also scared to try something new. What would you want to say to them? Maybe not as a coach, but as a human. About taking the first breath towards change.

00:21:23 Jon Paul Crimi: Mhm. Well, sometimes, um, you know, fear is false, evidence appearing real. And so we have to push ourselves a little bit and walk through our fears if we want to shift something in our life. This is interesting study where, you know, some people like horror movies. I don't like horror movies, but some people like them because the fear inside of them is the same feeling you get when you're excited about something. They're exactly the same in your brain and in your body. That fear in a horror movie, and that excitement when you're going to do something you're excited about. So I try to tell people, and I've done this myself, when I was going to teach that class of a thousand people in Switzerland, they had this big stage and giant cameras, and it was massive. And I started to get nervous and I went, oh, I'm getting nervous. I'm like, you know what? No, I'm not nervous. I'm excited. I'm excited about this opportunity. So you can switch it in your brain where you go like, oh, I'm feeling the fear about doing this breathwork. No, no, no, I'm excited. I'm excited because this might bring a massive change in my life. This might change this thing that I've been struggling with for ten years, for twenty years, for thirty years, because I've actually seen that happen for people. I've seen people come in with issues that they've been struggling with for thirty years and change it in one class, shift it in one class. So I'd say, don't let your your fear stop. You switch it to excitement and get excited about the possibility of changing your life and walk through that and step in and, you know, honor that like, okay, I'm scared, but I'm going to do it anyways. That's how I change things in my life.

00:23:00 Archita: Thank you for saying that. That honestly felt like a hand on the shoulder in the best way. And thank you for all the insightful advice that you have shared today. It has personally helped me a lot and I'm sure our listeners feel the same way. So here's the heart of today's conversation. Your breath can become a daily bridge back to who you are. So you can live with more clarity, resilience, and purpose. All you need is the perfect coach for you. So, John, if people want to learn from you, your classes, trainings, or breathwork resources, where should they find you?

00:23:40 Jon Paul Crimi: Well, I'm on all the social media like Instagram and Facebook, but the best way to find out about the classes and trainings is on my website, which is breathe with JP. So it's B r e a t h e with W I t h JP dot com. Breathe with JP comm. You can find me there. I have a ten dollars discount on the first class, uh, online. So it's, I think it's nineteen dollars for the first class online. And like, you know, this sometimes there's a five day replay. Sometimes there's ten day replays for these classes, so come sign up for a class online, try it out. See if it's for you. And if you love it, great. It might just change your life. I had no idea when I went to my first breathwork class that it was going to change the course of my entire life. But it did. It has. And I've watched it change thousands of other people's lives. So, you know, it's funny because I had this reaction when someone said, you know, you need to go to breathwork. And I was like, that sounds so stupid. I already breathe, right? And then somebody else said it to me and I'm like, oh my God, I guess I have to try this. And so you have to have an open mind. If you're like, I'm not going to breathwork, then you don't have an open mind. And if you want to change anything in your life, you have to have an open mind to change it. So open your mind, get a willingness in there, try something different and see what happens.

00:25:06 Archita: Beautiful. Thank you. And we will make sure those links are in the show notes for anyone listening so that our listeners can reach out to you whenever they want. And if this episode stirred something in you, don't rush past it. Maybe after this ends, take one minute. Feel your shoulders unclench your jaw. Let one breath be a small return. And if sacred harmony is becoming a place you come to feel steadier, softer, and more human. Follow the show. Not for motivation, but for companionship. These conversations are here to remind you you are not alone in what you're carrying, and you don't have to heal in isolation. I thank you for being here. Until next time, breathe gently and keep choosing your way back.