Welcome

I’m so glad you’ve found your way here. It’s been a bumpy road, hasn’t it? Tell me about it… Today, I’d like to share a story about how I found myself here and how and why this space was created.

We live in a breathless world. We simply forget to breathe. We’re constantly overstimulated, and attention is now the most valuable currency. I didn’t realize this until my first panic attack a few years ago when my body forced me to stop. Until then, I was living what seemed like a dream life: born into a loving family in Poland, achieving perfect grades, studying for a European joint Master’s degree in three different countries, speaking four languages, traveling the world, and always chasing more. Because that’s what life is about, right? Being better, having more. I ended up in Australia to pursue my PhD in batteries, thanks to a government scholarship that covered everything, including my salary.

After working so hard, moving continuously, and living a fast-paced life—not only working and studying but also exercising, socializing, partying, and doing everything we’re supposed to do—I reached a point where I didn’t recognize myself anymore. Whenever I paused, I felt bad, extremely uncomfortable in my own skin. So why stop? It’s easier to stay busy and productive, keep striving and chasing. It feels much better being “comfortable” in uncomfortable moments. You know those times when we can’t push anymore at the end of a big day? But we have another coffee, another energy drink, maybe some sugar, and we push a bit more. We end up going for dinner with friends, have a drink or ten, and feel “happy” being around people.

The next day might be difficult waking up, but only if we allowed ourselves to turn off. But why would we do that? We don’t want to hit rock bottom. Remember, it’s much easier to be comfortable in discomfort and just stay on all the time. Maybe we’re overwhelmed and tired, but in the morning, when cortisol kicks in, we have another shot of coffee and maybe work out. You know, to stay fit and healthy, “take care of our body.” Go for a run, just to stimulate ourselves more and run, run, run away from the scariest place on the planet—our InnerSelf. Then we get straight back to our machines, where we have 100 notifications, emails, Instagram posts, and messages, and we’re ready for another big day at work. Sounds familiar? Constantly going, constantly chasing, producing more, and striving for more. In the meantime, maybe getting sick once or twice, dealing with the usual anxiety, insomnia, maybe ADHD (I’ll talk about the misdiagnosed mouth breathing as ADHD and in the following posts…). It’s all normal nowadays, and we have over-the-counter solutions. We can put one bandage on top of another and keep wobbling through life. Then one day, we wake up surprised: how did we get here? What just happened, and how did so many years pass? If we’re even lucky to wake up…

I’ve been there for most of my life, and when the first panic attack happened, I was terrified. My body ordered me to stop. I just froze, and my mind was all over the place, thinking I was dying.

Since then, I’ve seen various specialists and tried different healing modalities. They worked to a point, adding another bandage to keep me going and pushing, striving, being more, and being better every day. Still, I felt uncomfortable sometimes, especially when I should be happy—around friends, achieving my dreams—but why couldn’t I feel it? I was there, but I couldn’t feel it. This realization always made me uncomfortable, but I was told it’s normal. It’s part of being human. Life is not a movie.

Until one day, I tried breathwork. I touched something, parts of me that hadn’t been visited in a very long time. Since then, I’ve been practicing regularly, and oh, what a process it’s been. A beautiful journey. Not riding the highs every moment, but the lows are now much more conscious and feel safer. The highs I experience feel like the heights from movies. And yes, it is possible to feel like you’re in a movie and have this connection with others. But it all starts with ourselves. The conversations and connections I’m having now are of much better quality and depth.

And I believe we need and want more of that—more connection to ourselves and others. It’s time to make this change, to unmask ourselves and others. The world isn’t helping with all the political, economic, and social turmoil. We’ve gone too far, but it’s not too late. It all starts with us, and I aspire to create this community of healthier individuals and ultimately healthier relationships. And I promise, this will impact not only personal relationships but also business relationships. It’s not about working hard; it’s about working smart. But how can we work smart if we’re not in the right mental and physical space?

So why breathwork and not another type of therapy?

Don’t get me wrong, all therapies are good and have their place. But breathwork is one of the quickest and most effective. Breath is the bridge between the brain and body, heart and mind. In future posts, I will talk more about that and show you scientific evidence, if you are still skeptical, as I always was. The way we breathe directly changes which parts of our brain are active, which means it changes how we think.

Breath is also a remote control for our nervous system. The way we breathe defines how we feel, and how we feel defines the way we breathe. It's a vicious cycle—can you see it?

InnerSelf was created to help people breathe easier and feel better.