Irish Independent Interview with Dr. Cathy Scanlon

Breathwork – the guided manipulation of your breath – has many forms and can be used for a variety of benefits. Our reporter talks to Cathy Scanlon about how she started work in the field, and tries out some of the techniques. 

It’s a Monday evening and I’m lying on a bed at my in-laws’ house, listening while Dr Cathy Scanlon instructs me in breathwork.

My mouth is open, and I’m inhaling twice to exhale once. It sounds easy, but it’s not easy for me. I feel like an eejit. Nevertheless, reader, she persisted. Because Dr Scanlon, the breathwork coach, is no ordinary teacher. The 39 year old, who now lives in Kildare, is a former neuroscientist specialising in brain imaging.

Her doctorate is from the Royal College of Surgeons, her postdoc, the University of California, San Francisco. She has held lecturer/research scientist roles at NUIG and King’s College, London.

Her research looked for patterns in the brain structure to help predict patient outcome in neurological disorders. “We would analyse millions of data points in the brain and create beautiful images,” she recalls. She describes herself as an “accidental research scientist”.

“I was good at maths, physics and science-y subjects, so you drift towards certain areas. I did engineering initially and then moved to neuroscience. Neuroscience is fascinating, and I did love it for many years, until I didn’t.

“There’s a lot of external validation that comes with being a research scientist, but it was a very stressful time. It just happened that when I was finishing my PhD and doing corrections, I had moved to San Francisco and started a new job. I got through it, but my nerves were shot.”

She was in her early 30s, lecturing and researching in NUIG, when she took up a job offer at King’s in London. However, it wasn’t the fit she hoped it would be.

Dr Scanlon adds: “I felt stuck. I didn’t know what to do. I was aware that my nervous system was suffering. I started reading meditation and mindfulness books to calm my mind. Some days were fine, some days were not, but that became my normal. That’s not hugely helpful either.”

And so, she made a radical decision …. full article can be found here: https://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/health-features/the-magic-of-breathwork-i-started-releasing-tension-and-stress-it-felt-like-years-of-worry-left-my-body-40907805.html