About
Emily Clawson, BSDH
breathing pattern retraining & education
My path to this work
My path into breathing pattern retraining began with dental hygiene and orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT). The emphasis in OMT on nasal breathing made me want to go deeper into the physiology of breathing — why breathing has such far-reaching effects on health, and what it actually takes to change our breathing habits. These questions led me to the field of breathing pattern retraining, which has since become the center of my practice.
I trained in the BreatheAbility method in Australia and the Buteyko method in Canada. These approaches are complementary and rooted in respiratory physiology. BreatheAbility, developed by Tess Graham, emphasizes the restoration of healthy breathing patterns. It shapes the core of how I work, alongside the evolving clinical research on breathing retraining and OMT. I also hold a Master of Fine Arts degree that helps shape how I see the world, and how I engage with problems that resist solution.
For several years I ran a private practice in Redlands, California offering OMT and breathing pattern retraining. I now work fully online, offering breathing pattern retraining.
Client Outcomes and Reflections
Something always changes when the breathing pattern improves. What changes, and how much, depends on how central breathing is to what someone is carrying.
A client working in a stressful, high-stakes environment found that steadier breathing changed how he handled the stress. By the end of our time together he shared:
“The dread of looming deadlines no longer controls my thinking, I do!”
Our work together had shifted habitual patterns, including breath holding he hadn’t previously known was there:
“The increased awareness I obtained through the sessions helped me put an end to my habit of holding my breath in stressful situations. This has made me more able to keep a cool head and a calm mind throughout the day — allowing me to be more focused and productive in my work.”
A client whose snoring was loud and disruptive began sleeping more quietly and deeply within weeks.
Someone who had struggled with daily anxiety for years found that it began loosening its grip. A month after our sessions, she said:
“I’m only thinking about anxiety because you asked. It’s almost become a thing of the past.”
Over years of doing this work, one thing is clear: breathing well is one of our greatest resources, and how we breathe quietly helps shape how we feel and move through the world. I share these reflections not as promises — breathing retraining achieves varied results — but as a picture of what becomes possible when the pattern shifts.
Breath as I now experience it
My own experience of this work is subtle and valuable: breath became a resource.
Before this training, breathing just happened. In physical or emotional difficulty, it could become part of the storm. That has changed. Life continues to bring challenge — stress, physical strain, the moments that ask a great deal of us. What I have discovered is that I move through those times differently now. Breath has become a steady calm at the center of me. In difficult conversations, intense situational stress, and physical discomfort, I find my way back to it — not perfectly, but reliably.
Breathing pattern work will deepen your relationship with your own breath. Whatever brings you here, that change is available to you.
“Her approach is gentle; her mannerisms are calming… Emily makes it so easy. I can confidently and highly recommend her services to everyone who breathes!”
— Jessica, former client
Credentials
Breathing Retraining Certificates
- BreatheAbility — Level 1 & 2 Certificate (with mentorship)
- Buteyko — Level 1 & 2 Certificate
- Buteyko Breathing Educators Association — Continuing Education
Background & Training
- Registered Dental Hygienist (RDH), California
Education
- BS, Dental Hygiene — Loma Linda University, School of Dentistry
- MFA — Academy of Art University
Trauma-Informed Training
- HeartMath® Certified Trauma-Sensitive Practitioner
- Compassionate Inquiry (30-hour training), Dr. Gabor Maté
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy
- Qualified Orofacial Myofunctional Therapist (QOM) — Neo-Health Services
- Certified Specialist in Orofacial Myology (CSOM) — Graduate School of Behavioral Health Sciences
- Advanced Training (Sleep Apnea, TMD & Orofacial Pain) — Academy of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy