Burned Out But Still Performing? Breathwork Changed Everything: Izabella Soko (Transcript)

Read the full transcript of certified breathwork facilitator and trauma-informed executive coach Izabella Soko’s talk titled “Burned Out But Still Performing? Breathwork Changed Everything”, at TEDxPraça Gil Eanes, July 21, 2025.

Listen to the audio version here:

A Dark Winter Morning in Toronto

IZABELLA SOKO: It was one of those dark, cold winter mornings in Toronto, grey, slushy, and heavy, but the real heaviness wasn’t outside, it was inside of me. I woke up with that familiar tightness in my chest. I had gotten so used to this anxiety that it felt normal to me. I had to get to work, so I brushed it off, got dressed, and stepped onto an overcrowded tram, shoulder to shoulder with people, full tram, everyone’s heads were down, eyes staring at screens. All of these humans, yet no connection.

To my surprise, that morning, the tightness and the pressure in my chest kept growing. And by the time I got off the tram, I couldn’t breathe anymore. There I was, on a dirty, slushy, downtown sidewalk, surrounded by honking cars and people rushing by, having my first panic attack. And if you’ve ever had a panic attack, you know it can feel like a heart attack, like you’re dying.

I didn’t make it to the office that day, I messaged my team, “I’ll be working from home.” But the truth is, my body had just sent me a message I could no longer ignore.

The Body’s Silent Messages

That panic attack didn’t come from nowhere. It’s been months, maybe even years, that my body was whispering to me. Through pain, through tightness, through anxiety. There were days where I would wake up and I’d feel like I was dragging myself through concrete. I would smile in work meetings while quietly dissociating inside.

But here’s the thing, on paper, everything looked good. I had a great job, I had just gotten a promotion, I had a boyfriend, I had a lovely apartment, friends, community, it was all good. But on the inside, I was disconnected, disembodied, and terrified of what I would find if I slowed down enough to feel.

This isn’t just my story, this is the story so many of us are living. We are high-functioning and hiding. We are rushing through life. And the more that we speed up, the more we disconnect from the one thing that can save us all, our breath.

A Discovery in Hawaii

One of the first times I felt truly alive during this period of my life was on Maui, Hawaii. The island is full of life force energy, or mana, as indigenous Hawaiians call it. There I met a man who was heartbroken. He told me that his girlfriend had left the island to follow her kundalini yoga teacher. I was like, “Okay, what kind of yoga makes you leave your partner?” I got curious.

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So I googled it when I got home, and it turns out that I lived 20 minute walk away from the only kundalini yoga studio in Toronto. So I took myself there. I walked in skeptical. Everyone was wearing white, and I thought to myself immediately, “Great, it’s a cult.” But desperation is a very powerful motivator, so I stayed.

And we moved, and we chanted, and we breathed. And something inside of me shifted, not in my mind, but in my body. And as I started to incorporate breathwork into my daily life, that numbness inside of me started to thaw. As I started to breathe deeper, I started to live deeper.

Meet Your Unconscious CEO: The Autonomic Nervous System

Now let me introduce you to the part of you that’s actually running your life, this unconscious CEO of your life, your autonomic nervous system. Your autonomic nervous system is split into two main divisions. So this is very nuanced and complex, but we’re going to break it down just a little bit.

We’ve got the sympathetic division, which is like your gas pedal. This is the part of your physiology that triggers you into action. It’s your fight, your flight, your freeze response. The reason why you are sitting here right now is because your ancestors survived because of the sympathetic nervous system. It is primal. It dates back farther than our conscious mind does.

The parasympathetic nervous system is what we call the rest and digest side. This is where you are able to sleep, to repair, to connect with one another, to feel joy, to be present.

Now a healthy nervous system functions between these two. It’s flexible. So you have a stressor, and then you return to calm. Or you feel inner peace, and then you can mobilize and take action when necessary.

However, if like me, you have a history of trauma, chronic stress, burnout, or you’re just a human being living in a very modern, fast-paced world, your nervous system can get stuck in one of these states. In sympathetic overdrive, you might find it really difficult to relax. You might feel hypervigilant, on edge. In parasympathetic shutdown, you’re going to feel disconnected, tired, numb, maybe even depressed.

Breath: The Gateway to Your Nervous System

And the thing that changed my life was learning that our breath is in direct communication with our nervous system and our body. If you breathe fast and shallow and through the mouth, you’re sending a message to your body that you are not safe. You’re activating a stress response. When you breathe slow, deep, and nasal, you’re telling your body you are safe. You can rest. And all of these important functions, like our digestion, our immune system, our healing, have space and resources to function.

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Now, you don’t need a guru or a tropical island to feel this. All you need is your breath.

A Breathwork Experience

So, I want you to do this with me right now. If you’re sitting with your legs crossed, uncross your legs, place both of your feet on the ground, sit on the edge of your chair.

Press your sit bones down into the chair and sit tall. Lift through the top of your head. Good job, everyone. Well done.

We’re going to begin with an exercise, breathing through an open mouth. We’re only going to do this for 10 rounds. So, I want you to really go for it. Yes? Good. Beautiful. Place one hand on your belly, one hand on your heart. Big open mouth, exaggerated. We will all do a practice round together. So, we’re going to take one inhale into the belly, into the heart, and then exhale, you’re going to let it go. Okay? You got it. We’re going to do 10 of those, no space in between. All right? Just 10. Let’s begin.

Good. Keep going. That’s four. Even bigger. Five, six, beautiful, seven, as big as you can. Good. Eight. Last two. Even bigger. Last one. Close your mouth. Inhale through the nose. Hold your breath. Relax your body. Hold your breath. If you feel safe to, close the eyes. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Gently exhale. Keep your eyes closed as long as that feels safe for you. Just for another moment, just notice what you feel. Notice what sensations are present.

Now, we’re going to do five rounds of a nasal breath. We’re going to inhale for a count of four, exhale for a count of six. And we’re going to breathe down towards the lower area of our rib cage, which is the home of your diaphragm. Let’s begin. We inhale one, two, three, four. Exhale six, five, four, three, two, one. In two, three, four. Exhale three, two, one. In two, three, four. Out five, four, three, two, one. Last round. In two, three, four. Out five, four, three, two, one. Beautiful.

And just stay here for another moment. Just notice what you feel. Notice if you feel any sensations. Also notice if you don’t. Just notice what’s alive in your body. Beautiful. You can open your eyes.

Your Eighth Sense: Interoception

So this ability to feel these sensations, there’s a name for this. It’s interoception. Interoception is the body’s ability to sense itself. It’s your eighth sense. Meaning, your heart, your muscles, your gut, your lungs, send signals to your brain that shape your perception of what’s happening. Now, the problem is, when our mind gets involved, we often misinterpret those signals. Or, we actually don’t feel them at all because we’re so disconnected.

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This again is where breath comes in. Breath is the communication that happens between your body and your mind. It is the gateway between the conscious and the unconscious. Your breath brings you back to the present moment. Your breath takes you out of mental chaos and brings you into clarity. Your breath takes you out of survival into possibility.

Eight Years of Study and Transformation

I spent the last eight years studying breathwork. Eight years. And for me, it wasn’t just about how it felt. I didn’t want to just keep catching this high that it can feel like sometimes. I wanted to deeply understand how it works. I studied with monks. I studied with yogis. I studied with doctors. And I studied with scientists. I wanted to have a full picture. Both the ancient traditional knowledge as well as the modern science.

It gave me a whole new career. As a coach and a breathwork facilitator, guiding folks through their own journey of healing and empowerment. But I didn’t study it just as a tool. I studied it as a way back home to myself.

It wasn’t easy. I had to face fears on this journey. The fear of disappointing others. The fear of leaving behind a life I was supposed to live. A career. A relationship. My family. Of no longer being the version of myself that people expected. But as I continued to breathe, I started to trust the wisdom within me. I started to open up to a deeper life with every breath that I took.

Coming Back to Life

So here’s what I want you to understand. More than anything. If you feel stuck. If you feel numb. If you feel anxious. If you feel like there’s something inside of you that wants to wake up. Don’t look outside. Look within. Close your eyes. Feel your body. Come back to your breath. Because the moment you come back to your breath, you come back to your life.

And the thing I want to leave you with is this. Your breath is the first thing that you did when you entered this world. And it’s the last thing that you will do when you leave. Everything in between is an opportunity to remember who you really are. Thank you.