What does it feel like when your body starts moving before your mind has any idea why?

For Mike Maher, the answer came in the basement of a hotel in Poland — lights off, a room full of strangers, thirty rhythmic breaths — and then tears, trembling, and a release he couldn't explain. That single session with Wim Hof lit a fire that eventually became the Take a Deep Breath YouTube channel, one of the largest breathwork communities on the planet, and a decade-long exploration into what breath can actually do for the human nervous system.

In this episode, Alex sits down with Mike for a wide-ranging conversation about breathwork as a complete system — not a single technique, but a full toolkit for nervous system regulation. Together they trace Mike's journey from stressed corporate professional to one of the field's most trusted educators, exploring his RESET framework, what he learned from training breath holds underwater with the world record holder, the 90-day CO2 documentary he's launching, and why the simplest ancestral practices — bare feet on soil, morning light, quiet air — might carry more physiological weight than any sophisticated technique. And along the way, they wander into the territory closest to home for the NI community: the intersection of breathwork and TRE (Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises) — and what happens when the body starts tremoring during a breath session and you finally stop fighting it. If you've ever wondered how breathwork and TRE relate, or felt both practices pulling toward the same place in the body, this conversation is for you.

Mike Maher is a breathwork coach, educator, and content creator who spent 12 years in the corporate world before a sequence of transformational experiences — a Wim Hof retreat, Tony Robbins events, and walking the Camino de Santiago — set him on a different path. Drawing on a background in video production and storytelling, he built the Take A Deep Breath YouTube channel into one of the largest breathwork platforms in the world, with 300,000+ subscribers and 42 million views. His podcast has featured deep conversations with James Nestor, Patrick McKeown, Dr. Belisa Vranich, and many others at the frontier of breathing, trauma, and performance. He works with clients one-on-one, leads group programs, and teaches a full-spectrum approach that blends functional technique with nervous system science and genuine embodied practice. Mike is also currently a student in the Neurogenic Integration TRE Certification program, deepening his understanding of how neurogenic tremoring and breathwork can work together as complementary pathways to nervous system regulation.

⏱ KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• 00:00 — Welcome & Introductions
• 03:30 — Mike's Origin Story: Steve Jobs, Joe Rogan & the Road to Wim Hof
• 06:00 — The Poland Retreat: Tears, Trembling & an Unexplained Release
• 08:00 — When Wim Hof Was Making the Anxiety Worse
• 11:00 — The Podcast as Education: James Nestor, Patrick McKeown & Learning from the Best
• 13:00 — The RESET Framework: A Full Map of Breathwork in Five Categories
• 19:00 — Mike's Personal Learning Curve: From Oxygen Advantage to Rebirthing in a Hot Tub
• 22:00 — A Full Rebirthing Experience in Glastonbury
• 26:00 — Breath Holds, Willpower & Training with the World Record Holder
• 28:00 — The 90-Day CO2 Therapy Documentary: What Mike Is Testing & Why
• 33:00 — Ancestral Living: Earthing, Light Exposure & Things Too Simple to Ignore
• 40:00 — Discovering Neurogenic Tremoring
• 44:00 — Where Breathwork and TRE

🔗 RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED

• Mike Maher / Take A Deep Breath — YouTube, podcast & coaching: https://www.youtube.com/@TakeADeepBreath
• http://www.takeadeepbreath.co