Hi! I’m Kristen. For years I looked like I had it all together on the outside…a college degree that opened many doors for a steady full-time career in the Technology field, newly married and living without college roommates for the first time, but inside I was quietly unraveling.
After college I followed what I thought was the “right” path in my life, but a couple of years in I started feeling deeply lost with myself. Not only did my previous passions no longer resonate with me as they had become mundane and unfulfilling—but I was also limited in exploring new interests as a military spouse who had to move every couple of years. I was endlessly searching for other passions and possible career pivots, all while battling a heavy depression fueled by multiple factors happening at once: fear during the COVID-19 pandemic, a major life change of moving to a new state with my husband—far away from family for the first time—struggling to make friends while he was deployed, which eventually triggered attachment anxiety in my marriage, and to top it off, I started experiencing panic attacks for the first time. These life circumstances led me to intense daily cannabis use and binge-eating as self-soothing mechanisms. Over time, these habits damaged my body as I became medically overweight, which in turn lowered my self-esteem and ultimately left me in an state of pure unhappiness.
During that time, I knew deep down I would never build anything productive or meaningful with my life that I would be proud of if I kept numbing out every evening. One day I decided: enough is enough. I got serious about kicking my cannabis habit; getting focused, and exploring what truly lit me up and what my alternative options were.
That’s when I came across people talking about vision boards. I made one, not thinking too seriously about it and pinning images of dream places my husband and I might be stationed in and live next. One of them — a long shot — was “living in Hawaii.” I was skeptical, but I left it up anyway.
About a year later (even after I’d tucked the board away in the closet), we casually asked the military if there was any chance of an opening in Hawaii. To our complete shock, they called back the next day and we were told there was an opening for us. It was one of those rare assignments most military couples only dream about. I immediately started sharing this story to my friends and family about how I had physically pinned a piece of paper about living in Hawaii on a cork board — and I never doubted the power of manifestation again.
Once we settled in Hawaii (a place I couldn’t have imagined living in my wildest dreams), I decided to revisit my previous studies on the Law of Attraction which used to peak my interest. I re-read the Law of Attraction book I already had owned and loved, quickly diving into the full Law of Attraction series after that, which most recently have been the "Ask and It Is Given" and "The Vortex" books by Esther and Jerry Hicks (The Teachings of Abraham in the Law of Attraction series). Their teachings on alignment, releasing resistance, and staying in the vibrational “Vortex” of well-being completely transformed how I’ve approached my life. These books overall assisted me in getting unstuck in a "victim mentality". I’ve now been practicing these principles for years, and I’m so grateful for the teachings of Abraham, Esther, and Jerry Hicks’.
How I Discovered Breathwork
But here’s the real talk: even after enjoying the fresh start of island life and becoming surrounded by Hawaii’s beauty, I still had to face the truth — I was still 30 pounds heavier than I wanted to be which developed a new diagnosis of sleep apnea, waking up most days with gripping morning anxiety, and pushing through on autopilot. There was more room for growth and healing, and I wanted more than anything to not have to use a CPAP machine for the rest of my life, or to be dealing with persistent anxiety that I have been experiencing on and off for close to 8 years. I decided it was time to explore new habits and challenges — trying different diets, meditation, re-joining CrossFit, experimenting with blogging about plant-based living, and even taking UX/UI design courses out of curiosity in the tech world. None of those paths fully clicked for me at the time — until one deadlift too heavy during a CrossFit class last year left me with a couple of stubborn bulging discs in my spine.
That injury forced me to stop…finally sit with myself, and patiently heal myself - not just to physically get my spine structure back into alignment, but also emotionally back in alignment with myself. It honestly ended up becoming the best thing that ever happened to me.
With more extra time on my hands I discovered the "Miracle Morning Routine" after stumbling across an interview with Hal Elrod on a spiritual podcast I listened to every week (the author and creator of The Miracle Morning book and Miracle Morning Routine). Shortly after I began incorporating the Miracle Morning Routine as a daily practice, I then came across an Instagram ad with a free trial to try out an entire month of online breathwork classes. During my first breathwork session (1 full hour of guided breathing + beautiful music), I released emotions I didn’t even know I was carrying — relief tears, not sad ones. For the first time in a while, my body and mind felt like they were on the same team again, and I immediately became wonderfully curious about the power and benefits of practicing breathwork.
I explored a few different types of breathwork practices, but SOMA Breath was the one that clicked deepest for me — their science-backed ancient pranayama, breath retention, and uplifting therapeutic custom melodies made breathwork sessions feel joyful, exciting, and easy for me to stay consistent with— seamlessly adding breathwork to my Miracle Morning routine, instead of it feeling like another chore I had to do. These beautifully guided breathwork sessions that intentionally focus on love, gratitude, manifestation, and many other uplifting intentions and themes supported my daily alignment practice from Abraham Hicks’ teachings: quieting racing thoughts, softening anxiety, and helping me stay in that high-vibe state where joy and manifestation flows naturally; staying in "The Vortex" as Abraham Hicks would call it. SOMA Breath sessions highlight and support the idea that we have the power to create our own reality.
Consistent practices like breathwork, movement, and gratitude actually allow us to enhance neuroplasticity in our brain, which is when we are able to build and strengthen new neural pathways in the brain linked to positive emotions, making it easier to feel more optimistic, uplifted, and enhance our overall well-being. Breathwork is the bridge that closes the gap between our mind and body, helping us rewire any past, current, or future negative beliefs — so that life is no longer happening to us, but happening for us.
My Own Transformation
The transformations kept unfolding as I continued my personal daily practice of breathwork. I had been dealing with generalized anxiety disorder on and off for almost 8 years. Just recently last year, I finally felt confident enough that I got the anxiety under control once I made daily breathwork a consistent part of my lifestyle. With my doctor’s support, I personally made a liberating decision to fully wean off the anxiety medication I’d relied on for years, and even my recent sleep apnea diagnosis reversed within that same year after losing the weight and changing how I breathed; no longer needing to wear a CPAP mask every night. Most importantly, I stepped out of survival mode and started trusting myself again.
Why I’m Passionate About Helping Others
After going through my own personal transformation, that was when I knew I wanted to become a breathwork instructor, so I could share with others the incredible benefits breathwork has to offer. As a certified SOMA Breath® Instructor — I hold a safe, supportive space for others who may feel exactly like I once did: high-functioning on the outside, quietly overwhelmed inside, searching for evidence-based holistic tools that actually work. Life is too short to be living with persistent anxiety and unhappiness, and if I can help others break free from that struggle sooner than I did, I’m deeply committed to doing so. My online sessions begin with gentle warm-ups that include light body activation — like gentle shaking or freestyle dancing — because movement and music naturally raise our vibration and change our current state. We then transition into breathwork guided by powerful, science-backed uplifting music tracks with my live voice-over guidance, so you always feel fully supported. These sessions I provide are wonderful to try out if you typically find meditation to be difficult or even boring. The techniques used in SOMA Breath sessions are the core ancient Pranayama techniques that have the most scientific evidence to support their function. Not only that, but SOMA Breath sessions are known for genuinely feeling uplifting and exciting, and not "woo-woo", painfully cathartic, or clinical. Breathwork in general is widely recognized for its powerful ability to help heal emotional trauma. However, some other breathwork styles and modalities that use intense, heavy mouth breathing (such as holotropic breathwork) can sometimes trigger re-traumatization. After personally experiencing holotropic breathwork in the past, I fell in love with SOMA Breath's technique because it exclusively uses techniques that deliver the same transformative benefits in a much more blissful and soothing way — without the painful cathartic experience.
