As we move into the holiday season, conversations about family tend to get louder. For some, gathering around the table is nourishing and familiar. For others, it can stir up tenderness, old wounds, anxiety, or the intensity of navigating multiple nervous systems in one space.
For all of us, it’s a potent moment to reflect on how we want to show up with the people we love.
I recently sat down with my dear friend, breathwork facilitator, Eliza Rose Kane to talk about her powerful new offering, Family Breathwork. This is a program designed to bring families together to regulate the nervous system, practice presence, and build deeper connection through breath and intentional togetherness.
This conversation felt so timely, so needed, and so resonant that I wanted to bring its essence here for those who prefer reading over listening.
Here is the link for those who would like to listen to the full conversation.
Why Family Breathwork, and Why Now?
We’re navigating life at a pace humanity has never experienced- constant stimulation, technology, pressure, and rapid change. Many people feel overwhelmed or dysregulated, and that stress spills directly into our relationships.
As Eliza shared:
“We don’t need more stimulation, we need capacity. And capacity comes from regulation.”
When we breathe, our system settles, and everything shifts. Communication softens, conflict dissolves, and we can meet each other with presence instead of reactivity.
Co-Regulation & the Family System
Something that struck me deeply in this conversation was the reminder that a child’s nervous system is wired to their caregivers’ nervous systems. Regulation isn’t taught through instruction, it’s learned through resonance.
If the parent is overwhelmed, activated, or shut down, the child absorbs that frequency. If the parent is grounded, steady, and spacious, the child feels safe.
Which means that tending to our own nervous system is not selfish, it’s a profound act of care for the entire family.
Eliza describes the shift from what she calls “frenetic chaos”, to harmonious energy, where the space feels calm, supportive, and emotionally safe.
The Power of Being Seen
One of my favorite parts of Family Breathwork is the element of intentional witnessing. The practice begins with a simple check-in, each person getting real, uninterrupted presence from the people who matter most.
Eliza describes it like this:
“Focused attention from a parent is powerful. Focused attention from an entire family is like a superfood.”
In a world of fragmented attention and constant distraction, offering our full presence is a radical act, and children feel it instantly. It nourishes their sense of belonging, safety, confidence, and identity.
And honestly? Adults need it just as much.
Breathwork as a Path to Purpose (Especially for Teens)
We talked about breathwork as a tool for young people who are growing up in a world drowning in instant gratification and overstimulation. Teens today are overwhelmed with comparison, internal noise, and external pressure. Many don’t have access to internal silence or the ability to sit with discomfort.
Breathwork offers a direct experience of inner power, a path back to the body, a way to learn resilience, a safe space for emotional release, and an opportunity to feel their true yes, their purpose, their essence.
And maybe the best part? Teens can do it on their own, in their room, with music they love, without having to explain anything.
Inner Child Healing Through Parenting
We talked about how parenting becomes a portal into our own healing. Our children often trigger old wounds not because something is wrong, but because something inside us is asking to be felt.
If we avoid it, the pattern continues. If we breathe into it, we transform it- for ourselves and the generation after us.
As Eliza said:
“Breathwork brings you back into the heart. And when your heart is open, everything that doesn’t matter falls away.”
A New Vision for Family Connection
Family Breathwork is not about perfection. It’s not about doing everything right. It’s about creating space, capacity, safety, and presence.
It’s about remembering that we are not meant to do this alone.
Whether you breathe with young children, teens, a partner, or your own parents- breathing together is a profound practice of cultivating connection and resonance with those you love.
Learn More & Explore the Course
Eliza has created a beautiful course that offers:
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A step-by-step guide to the breathwork practice
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Tools for co-regulation and nervous system repair
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Frameworks for leading group check-ins at home
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Guidance for working with different ages
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Playlists, demonstrations, and continued support
- https://elizarosekane.com/family-breathwork-course
Dancing Willow listeners get 20% off with the code: THEDANCINGWILLOW20
May we keep building families, chosen and given, where connection is the foundation and love leads the way.