My guest this week is Megan Ashton, founder of Unity Breathwork and a leading voice for raising safety standards in the breathwork industry. Megan spent most of her adult life escaping herself, first through alcohol and bulimia as a teenager, then later through constant travel that let her outrun her feelings entirely. It took a devastating breakup, and a breathwork session in Bali, for her to finally crack open decades of unprocessed grief, so that she could start the long journey of finding a way back to herself.
In this conversation, Megan and Ash unpack what conscious connected breathwork actually is, why it so often brings up trauma the body has been holding for years, and what it means to build a practice around genuine safety rather than chasing catharsis. Megan speaks candidly about the childhood wounds that shaped her patterns of numbing, the importance of proper preparation and integration when facilitating breathwork, and her mission to make this kind of healing as accessible and understood as yoga. This conversation invites you to think about acknowledging the feelings you’ve spent a lifetime avoiding.
Episode chapters:
00:00 Introducing Megan Ashton
05:24 The Photo: Hiding Behind the Smile in Nicaragua
07:32 Travel as an Escape Strategy
09:33 A Sensitive Childhood and the First Time She Numbed Out
11:17 The Slow Slide Into Bulimia
12:59 The Breakup That Broke Everything Open
19:57 Trying Everything Before Breathwork
20:27 The Bali Session That Changed Her Life
22:17 Discovering Her Mission in Conscious Connected Breathwork
24:07 What Conscious Connected Breathwork Actually Is
27:08 A Year of Crying: What Processing Really Looks Like
28:07 Letting Go of Expectations in the Practice
00:18 Why Safety in Breathwork Matters So Much
02:28 The Risk of Retraumatisation Without Proper Preparation
04:33 Grounding and Integration After a Session
18:11 Three Non-Negotiables for a Happy, Authentic Life
Connect with Megan through the links below:
Website: (https://unitybreathwork.com/)
Breathwork Facilitator Training page: (https://unitybreathwork.com/breathwork-facilitator-training/)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/unitybreathwork/)
Retreats:(https://unitybreathwork.com/breathwork-retreat/)
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Upcoming Retreats
The Embodied Woman One Day Retreat | October 25th | Find Out More
The Embodied Woman 5 Day Retreat | April 21 - 25, 2027 | Find Out More
A Sacred Return | Bali | August 16 - 20, 2027
Email hello@ashbutterss.com for more information.
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Instagram @ashbutterss
TikTok @behindthesmilewithashb
Watch Ash’s TEDx Talk here!
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