Breathwork App ‘Breathwrk’ Opens Studio in Venice

Note: This location is permanently closed, but don’t worry! Check out the Open studio in Venice. Just like Breathwrk, Open is also based on a breathwork + meditation app. I’ll write about it soon. 🙂

After a little more than two years of working out at home and going to a few in-person workout classes, I finally resumed my Classpass membership. As I was browsing different studios, I came across Breathwrk. I used to be a regular at the Den Meditation, but they closed with the pandemic and the owner also happened to move out of LA. The Unplug Meditation studio on Melrose Avenue also closed, although their location in Santa Monica still remains strong. In other words, meditation centers were one of the worst businesses to be affected by the pandemic, which is why I was excited to find Breathwrk. 

Completely unbeknownst to me, Breathwrk is a very successful app that has been around for a few years. I knew about other meditation apps like Calm, but I had never heard of or come across Breathwrk before. I emailed the studio and Ariana Pergola, the owner, got back to me and offered me a free class. 

The studio is located just a few steps away from the Venice Beach Boardwalk and right across from Little Lunch Coffee, which is an amazing location! Before I went there, I parked my car near the Venice Sign and since I had time to spare, I made my way to the studio via the Venice Beach Boardwalk. 

I signed up for the Rested class, which started at 8 pm. Before the class started, I interviewed Ariana. We talked about a bunch of things: LA, jobs, workouts and meditations. At the end of the article, I included a short bio of hers. Health has always been at the forefront of Ariana’s life. She’s a big advocate of Erewhon, so much that she used to work at the corporate offices of Erewhon in Downtown LA. 

By the time I went there, the studio had only been open for two weeks! For now, the classes are very limited because it’s still very new and they want to get the word out there first. Once they do that, they will hire more people and add more slots. If you’re reading this three months from now, the schedule will probably have changed. 

I wanted to try the Toned class, but it was at 6:45 am, a big no for me since I’m not a morning person AT ALL! I also don’t live in the area. Ariana said she would let me know about the future class schedule. 

How did you get involved with Breathwrk? 

I only joined the team recently, when they decided they were launching the studio. Breathwrk, the company, has been around for 3, almost 4 years now. It was founded by Max Gomez. He was going through a really hard period of his life as he was graduating college at USC, and needed something to get him out of the dark place he was in.

He was going to therapy at the time and his therapist gave him a short 3 breath breathing practice to do — he instantly felt like he had his mind back. He was like, “Wow, this breathing thing is really powerful”. He went to see if there were any breathwork apps out there. There were apps that did meditation, but none of them were really doing breathwork. Breathwork is a very expansive category, there are so many breathing styles that can give you different effects and feelings and that’s what he created.

The Breathwrk app has hundreds of research studies. Most of the sessions are 1 to 5 minutes long and they’re guided by audio and visuals that are really beautiful. It’s a fantastic experience. We have over 1.8M users worldwide, so it’s a really big community. 

And it’s only been 3 years since he launched it?

Yeah, if anything, the pandemic aided that because people at home were going through some of the worst mental health they ever experienced. This app came out at a really great time. The studio was sort of an idea and back in 2019 they had a house where they were doing one class a week. It was also sort of like an office space. Then, the pandemic came and that space closed. Now that we’re coming out of the pandemic, it was time for them to find another place. We found this location, which is right off of Abbot Kinney, which is an amazing location. I’m sure you walked along the beach just now. Beautiful, super close to the beach, the sun is now setting… It’s an idyllic location. We opened just two weeks ago and we’re hosting all different sorts of 1-hour long classes. 

Can you give me a breakdown of the classes?

The studio is primarily based on breathwork. Everything we do has emphasis on the breath. Several times a week, we have a class called Rested — that one is for calming the nervous system down and to tap into the parasympathetic, which is the rest and digest state. It’s based on Pranayama, a calming practice. There are sound bowls, an Ocean Drum and different instruments. You’ll feel really relaxed after the class. People have said they’ve had the best sleep of their lives after this class. 

The Toned class is our workout class. It’s a really great full-body workout class that combines strength, cardio and barre inspired movements. The whole time we’re being aware of our breath and we’re doing different breathing practices during the workout. By staying aware of your breath — one, it becomes a full-body experience — and two, you’re recovering faster because you’re using oxygen more efficiently, so you’re actually having a better workout. 

The Revitalized class is at 5pm. It’s meant to take you out of your work day and transition you into the evening, whatever those evening plans are. Whether it’s hanging out with friends or just relaxing for the evening. It’s a combination of light movement and breathwork. 

The class Expanded is a Holotropic style breathwork. It’s this two-part breath that goes (Ariana demonstrated the breathing) and you repeat that for about 35 minutes, so it can be really intense. Emotions can come up, you might feel tingly, your hands can clam up. That class has been really, really great. I’m excited about that one. 

Another class we offer is breathwork with ice baths. Have you ever done an ice bath?

I was going to ask you about that one! I’ve read a lot about it and its multiple benefits, but I’ve never taken one. It seems so scary! 

They’re incredible. Ice baths are actually a lot of people’s gateway into practicing breathwork. When you do an ice bath, it helps you to mentally and physically prepare by practicing breathwork beforehand. Ice baths on their own have multiple physical benefits: they boost your metabolism, they’re really energizing, they’re good for recovery and reducing inflammation. 

Doing breathwork beforehand, one, it helps to warm up your body, it’s easier to do, and two, it helps to calm down the fear response in your mind. Going into something that feels very threatening it’s much easier because you’ve calmed yourself down first. We also practice certain types of breathing in the ice bath to keep the body calm. 

How long are these sessions? 

The ice bath itself is about 3-minutes long. It can go for longer if you want, but we’ll do a good amount of breathwork beforehand. Those classes are very powerful, they’re selling out already even though we just opened. 

Sometimes when I’m in the shower and I turn on the cold water, my heart rate goes up really really fast. Am I not going to have a heart attack? 

(Ariana shakes her head no) It’s a fear response. You’re going to be fine. If you’re young and healthy, you’re going to be completely fine. If you have a heart condition or if you’re not in good shape, then it’s something to be aware of. 

But that’s why we practice breathwork, so that when you go in you don’t catch your breath when you go in. It’s so you can bring yourself back down. And somebody’s there helping you through that. They will have already trained you to prevent that from happening. So you’re completely safe when you do it. 

NOTE: At the moment, the ice bath classes are being held sporadically because Ariana is looking for an additional teacher, but it won’t be for too long! As you read, the classes are a huge hit! They’re done outside of the studio, which I find very intimidating. Getting into an ice bath is already a daunting experience, so I can’t imagine being in plain view of passersby and cars. However, Ariana assured me that people were very respectful, as in, they won’t honk or yell anything stupid. She said that the fact that they were done outside was a great marketing strategy. Someone who happened to drive by when the ice bath class was in session, pulled over and inquired about them. It was his first time ever doing an ice bath. He loved the experience so much that he ended up purchasing a 5-class pack. 

I’ve seen people wearing nose strips in the ice baths. What are they for? 

There’s a really great book that you should read, it’s called Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor. I think everybody should read this book. It emphasizes that breath is an absolute critical part of health, but we haven’t been told that. We’ve always been told about exercise, sleep, food, but not breath. Nasal breathing is the healthiest way to breathe. There’s all sorts of problems that happen when you breathe through your mouth and a lot of us are breathing through our mouths because we’re not conscious of it and we’re stressed out. The shape of our faces have also changed and a lot of people have deviated septums, which makes it harder to breathe through their noses. The nasal strips open your airways about 10% more, but it helps more oxygen go through your nose. You’re just breathing more efficiently. What’s interesting, is that if you’re not used to nasal strips it can almost make you feel a little bit high because you’re not used to taking in that amount of oxygen, even though it’s really healthy. Something that we do in the Breathwrk classes, and in the app too, we train ourselves to breathe through the nose because that’s how we should be breathing all day long. 

I’ve done mindfulness meditation and hypnosis meditation. How does breathwork differ from the traditional meditation styles? 

It’s a great question. A lot of people actually use breathwork to get into meditation faster. Just sitting down to meditate, with the number of thoughts that we have going on in our heads and the amount of stimulation in our day to day life… it can be really hard to sit on your seat and turn your brain off! Like, how do we do that? How do we just turn our brain off and stop thinking of anything? Breathwork has completely changed my meditation practice because I’ll do 5 to 10 minutes of conscious breathing, which is what I would call breathwork – being aware of your breath and following a specific pattern and then you can shut that breath off, return to your normal breathing pattern and then start your meditation. By the time you do, your mind will have really calmed down. I would say that they’re different, but they complement each other. 

It’s different from meditation in that there’s specific patterns that we’re following. Those patterns have different physiological effects. So, for example when you inhale longer, that’s more energizing, when you exhale for longer, that’s more relaxing. If you breathe through your nose, that’s more calming, if you breathe through your mouth specifically for breathwork, that’s more energizing. It’s a distinction that I want to make, sometimes in breathwork, we practice breathing in and out through our mouth, but that is only for the length of the class and for an intended effect, which is often energizing or stimulating. In your day to day life, you only want to breathe through your nose. Mouth breathing is used very intentionally and consciously. So, I would say breathwork differs from mindfulness meditation because these specific patterns are having effects in your body and it’s done for much longer than mindfulness meditation. I think both practices are fantastic, I think meditation is extremely useful. But, breathwork for me is more of an active experience and it’s easier for people.

Can you tell me more about the lights?

Philips Hue lights are an important part of our studio. They can provide physiological benefits. I don’t know what all of them are off the top of my head, but the different colors are associated with different feelings, so we’ll use them to add to your experience. 

Would you say it’s like LED therapy?

I need to look into that before providing a direct answer. My team literally just sent me a document today because I was asking more about it. I’ll send it your way. Other reason the lights are important in our studio is that we actually have a way of syncing breathing patterns to the lights. The lights can pulse based off of a breathing pattern that we program in advance. It almost direct people through the breath exercise and then it becomes this visually stimulating, inner body experience because you’re breathing with what you’re seeing. It’s very cool. 

So, are the classes done with your eyes open?

Those ones would be. We don’t have any of those on the schedule yet, but it’s a technology that we’re working on. 

The following day, Ariana provided me with these two links (Link 1, Link 2) that delve into the Phillips Hue lights. She said: “They’re very science heavy, but essentially the conclusion is that light has an effect on our mood — mainly with increasing relaxation, but that it can also be used to increase physiological arousal. It’s a way for us to add to the experience you have in the space.”

By 8 pm, the Rested class was completely sold out! Bianca Harris was our instructor. The first half of the class, we sat in a cross-legged position. It consisted of short sequences of different rhythmic breathing exercises. We did about 2 sets of each. In all the sequences, you’re actively using your diaphragm — sometimes we inhaled and exhaled loudly, other times we inhaled twice and exhaled for a longer period of time. Before each sequence, Bianca did demos on how to do the breaths. Then, we closed our eyes and music played while she guided us. 

The other half of the class is a singing bowl meditation session, where we had to lie on our backs. 

To be honest, I wanted the first half of the class to be over as quickly as possible. It was a little bit uncomfortable to use my belly so much. Bianca knew this beforehand and said, “I know what your mind is telling you right now: What is she saying? When is she going to shut up? I want to lie on my back already! That’s what your mind does, so keep breathing.”

It also felt very weird to exaggerate my breath so much. There were a few instances where I wanted to laugh because I felt so ridiculous exhaling that loud. In one of the breath exercises, our breathing pattern, like Bianca said, resembled a dog. The aim was to do the rhythmic breathing pattern without moving our shoulders. 

Once the challenging part was over, we finally lay on our backs, which everyone was quick to do. The girl next to me started snoring not too long after Bianca started playing the singing bowls. I half opened my eyes and I saw Bianca walking around the class with the Ocean Drum that had the sound of the ocean waves and chirping birds. She held it above each of us for a minute and it almost felt like you were in a waterfall! When I felt the sound right above me, she sprayed a few mists of rosewater, which felt very nice and soothing. We ended the class cross-legged on a grateful note. 

After I left the studio, as I was walking down to my car, I felt very sleepy and more relaxed. 

The following day, I downloaded the app and subscribed to the monthly membership, which includes a free 7-day trial version. The app offers over 75 breathing sessions and they’re grouped into different categories: Calming, nighttime, energizing, perform and health. 

Most of them are not longer than 10 minutes, but they’re very effective. Just like Ariana said, you’re following the visuals and the sounds. 

The app gives you a sneak peak into what you can expect at the classes, which are different breathing styles with music in the background — like I described in the paragraph above. 

If you want to get a sneak peak into what you can expect at the classes, I would recommend downloading the app. Otherwise, sign up for any of the classes and go in person. 

Check the class schedule here. Don’t forget that you can also book your class through Classpass!

Website and Instagram

Address: 904 Pacific Ave, Venice, CA 90291

When did you start using the Breathwrk app? What changes have you seen in yourself so far?

I started using the app about one and a half years ago, before I ever knew I was going to work for the company! It was one of my first introductions to breathwork. 

Breathwork has changed my life. In general, I feel so much calmer. I can feel that my nervous system is relaxed. I’m less distracted, and I feel less addicted to social media. 

My daily practice looks like 10 minutes of breathwork, before about 10 minutes of meditation — the breathwork helps me go deeper WAY faster and quiet the active part of my mind. 

I also feel that longer forms of breathwork, like what we practice at the studio, has helped clear a lot of stuck emotions from my body. Classes like our Expanded class help release anything that is really bothering me, so I walk away feeling lighter and with greater perspective. 

For someone who’s reading this, what session on the app would you recommend for a first-timer? 

Calm is the most popular on the app, so definitely start there! Recharge is also amazing — it’s inspired by the Box Breath technique used by Navy Seals to create a calm and focused mind. For more experienced breathers, I recommend Air Hunger which will teach you to tolerate higher levels of CO2 in the body. 

About Ariana:

I grew up in Long Island, New York and moved to California 7 years ago. I always felt called to come here. It was the healthy lifestyle and the community that drew me in and I don’t regret that decision at all. I love living here, I love that my career now is to improve people’s health, that was something very important to me growing up. I always loved nutrition and I love being active. More recently, over the last year and a half, mental health has become increasingly important to me. That’s why I feel so blessed to work for a company that really does improve people’s mental health. I remember telling a friend earlier this year, “If I’m ever feeling really anxious, can you remind me to go to a breathwork class?” — and that was before I even knew about the opening of the studio! The fact that just a couple months later, I’m running this breathwork studio and sharing this practice with so many people is really amazing. So yeah, I love living here. 

Some of my other favorite businesses are Erewhon. It’s the mecca (laughs) if you love your health, that’s the place to shop. It’s expensive, but it’s honestly worth it. Another favorite lunch spot is Flower Child in Santa Monica. I love Gjelina and Gjusta in Venice. For workouts, honestly, I just go to the beach and jump into the ocean, or I’ll go on a hike. Solstice Canyon hike is fantastic, Los Leones is also fantastic… beautiful water views. If I’m leaving LA, I like to go to Ojai, Joshua Tree and I love Laguna Beach. 

Follow Ariana’s Instagram @arianaplife