Services
Our Services: Understanding Your Body, Building Better Function
Individualized care for breathing, oral muscle function, airway health, and the physiological foundations of recovery.
Does any of this sound familiar?
Most people arrive here because of something small they had stopped noticing.
- You snore, or you have been told you stop breathing at night.
- You wake up tired, with a dry mouth or a tight jaw.
- You breathe through your mouth more than you realize.
- Your child snores, mouth-breathes, or sleeps restlessly.
- You have been referred for a tongue-tie release and are not sure what happens next.
- You hold tension in your jaw, neck or shoulders and nothing quite shifts it.
- You had orthodontic work years ago and things have moved back.
None of this is a diagnosis. It is a place to start a conversation.
A different way to understand your health
Many people arrive at Breathe Colorado after spending considerable time trying to understand why they do not feel or function as well as they would like. Some are struggling with sleep, breathing discomfort, jaw tension, or oral muscle dysfunction.
Others have already explored medical, dental, or therapeutic care and are looking to understand how different aspects of their health may be connected.
Our work begins by listening. We take time to understand your experiences, review relevant history, and observe how your body functions.
Rather than focusing on one symptom or structure in isolation, we consider the relationships between breathing, oral function, airway anatomy, sleep, and recovery.
The purpose of an assessment is not simply to identify what is wrong. It is to understand what is happening, what may be contributing, and what can be supported.
Breathing Behavior Analysis
Understanding how you breathe and how your body responds
Breathing behavior training explores the relationship between your breathing habits, respiratory chemistry, muscular coordination, and nervous system.
We use capnometry to measure exhaled carbon dioxide while observing how you breathe during rest, movement, and other activities.
Why it matters
Breathing influences circulation, oxygen delivery, muscle activity, and the physiological responses associated with stress.
When breathing becomes unnecessarily effortful or poorly matched to the body's needs, it may contribute to discomfort and affect how easily a person adapts to daily demands.
Our work may include:
- Understanding your individual breathing patterns and carbon dioxide regulation.
- Improving coordination between the diaphragm, rib cage, and surrounding muscles.
- Recognizing unnecessary effort, tension, or breath holding.
- Developing more comfortable and efficient breathing habits.
- Learning to adapt your breathing to rest, movement, and changing demands.
What will be asked of you?
Breathing behavior training is an active learning process. You will be invited to notice how you breathe, explore unfamiliar patterns, and practice specific skills between appointments.
Home practice is typically brief, often around 5 to 10 minutes daily. The goal is not to spend your day thinking about your breathing.
It is to develop skills that become increasingly natural, so breathing requires less conscious attention.
Three Phases of Breathing Behavior Analysis
Breathing behavior analysis is a progressive process of developing awareness, understanding your body's responses, and learning how to influence your physiology.
We begin by establishing the foundations of comfortable, coordinated breathing and healthy respiratory chemistry. For some clients, Phase I provides the support they need, particularly as airway function and sleep improve.
Others may choose to continue into additional phases to better understand their responses to stress, develop personalized strategies, and strengthen their ability to regulate their physiology during everyday challenges.
Our approach follows three interconnected skills: Self Awareness, Self Intervention, and Self Regulation.
Breathing behavior analysis typically involves 4 to 12 sessions. Sessions are scheduled in blocks, one phase at a time, so each phase has a clear plan.
Phase I: Self Awareness
4 Sessions
Learning to recognize what your body is telling you.
We begin by exploring how you breathe, how your diaphragm and surrounding muscles work together, and how your breathing influences carbon dioxide levels.
Using capnometry and biofeedback, you begin to recognize the relationship between your breathing behavior, respiratory chemistry, physical sensations, and emotional responses.
We introduce a simple tool called Your Inner Compass, which encourages you to explore four questions:
- How are you breathing? Notice the rhythm, depth, and behavior of your breath.
- Where are you breathing? Notice movement, pressure, tension, or restriction in your body.
- What has been happening? Consider recent activity, rest, sleep, stress, and your environment.
- What is your body telling you? Notice physical sensations, thoughts, and emotions.
You begin learning to recognize these signals and how they may relate to your carbon dioxide levels, using biofeedback to develop a more accurate understanding.
At the same time, we work on diaphragmatic breathing, rib cage coordination, reducing unnecessary muscular effort, and establishing breathing patterns that support healthy respiratory chemistry.
The goal is not to breathe perfectly. It is to become increasingly familiar with the signals your body is already giving you.
Phase II: Self Intervention
4 Sessions
Learning how to respond to your body's needs.
Once you have developed greater awareness and foundational breathing skills, we begin exploring how your physiology responds to situations that are personally meaningful or challenging.
These might include public speaking, exercise, social interactions, relationships, performance demands, or situations associated with fear or phobias.
Using your Inner Compass, you learn to recognize how these experiences influence your breathing, respiratory chemistry, muscular tension, and physical sensations.
Rather than relying on a single breathing exercise for every situation, we explore personalized strategies that help you respond appropriately to what your body needs.
You learn when to make an adjustment, what kind of intervention may be helpful, and how to recognize whether your body is responding.
The goal is to move from simply noticing what is happening to knowing how to support yourself when challenges arise.
Phase III: Self Regulation
4 Sessions
Developing the ability to adapt naturally throughout everyday life.
The final phase focuses on integrating these skills into the activities and experiences that matter most to you.
As your awareness and confidence grow, you become less dependent on structured exercises or external feedback.
You learn to recognize changes in your breathing and physiology during work, movement, relationships, rest, and unexpected challenges.
With practice, you develop greater flexibility in how you respond, allowing your breathing and nervous system to adapt to changing demands and return toward a comfortable resting state when those demands have passed.
Self regulation does not mean remaining calm all the time or eliminating stress.
It means developing the capacity to respond when action is needed, recover when the challenge has passed, and recognize when your body needs additional support.
The goal is not to consciously control every breath. It is to develop greater independence, adaptability, and trust in your body's ability to respond.
“Laura taught me the science of breathing, which improved my quality of life in many ways… I wish I had this care sooner.”
Elizabeth Hardy, RN, BSN, CCRN
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy
Helping the muscles of the tongue, lips, jaw, and face work together
Orofacial myofunctional therapy is a program of individualized exercises and behavioral training designed to improve oral muscle function.
We evaluate how these muscles participate in resting posture, swallowing, chewing, and other everyday activities.
Why it matters
The tongue, lips, and jaw play important roles in eating, swallowing, speaking, and maintaining comfortable oral resting posture. These functions also interact with nasal breathing, airway anatomy, and craniofacial development.
When muscles are not coordinating effectively, other structures may compensate. Therapy helps identify these patterns and develop more appropriate movement and coordination.
Our work may include:
- Improving tongue mobility and coordination.
- Developing comfortable tongue, lip, and jaw resting positions.
- Addressing compensatory patterns during swallowing and oral movement.
- Supporting efficient chewing and swallowing.
- Preparing for or supporting recovery after tongue tie release when appropriate.
- Coordinating functional therapy with dental, orthodontic, airway, or sleep care.
What will be asked of you?
Myofunctional therapy requires consistent participation. During appointments, we introduce exercises, observe how your muscles respond, and refine your technique.
Between appointments, you will practice the movements at home, typically for 10 to 15 minutes daily. Each exercise builds upon skills developed earlier in the program.
We progress when you demonstrate the ability to perform a movement with appropriate coordination, rather than simply advancing because a certain number of sessions has passed.
The goal is not to become good at exercises. It is to help the skills you learn become part of how you function every day.
Phases of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy
Orofacial myofunctional therapy is a progressive process of developing awareness, improving muscular coordination, reducing compensations, and establishing healthy patterns of oral function.
Each phase builds upon the skills developed in the previous one, allowing new movements to become comfortable, coordinated, and eventually automatic.
Phase I: Intensive Foundation
8–9 Weekly Sessions
We begin by developing foundational tongue, lip, and jaw skills, improving oral resting posture, and identifying and gradually unwinding muscular compensations.
For clients preparing for a tongue tie release, this phase also focuses on developing the mobility, coordination, and functional readiness needed before surgery.
Surgical Preparation and Recovery
3 Sessions Surrounding Tongue Tie Release | Optional
For clients undergoing a tongue tie release, we coordinate additional appointments before and after the procedure to assess readiness, reinforce preparation, and support early rehabilitation.
The goal is to help the tongue adapt to its new range of motion while minimizing unnecessary compensations and supporting healing in coordination with the surgeon.
Phase II: Habituation
4 Sessions | Every Other Week
Once foundational movements are established, we focus on making these skills more consistent and natural.
This phase introduces more advanced swallowing exercises, reinforces appropriate tongue resting posture, and helps integrate improved coordination into everyday oral function.
For clients who have undergone a tongue tie release, this phase also supports continued functional rehabilitation.
Phase III: Generalization
2–4 Monthly Sessions
The final phase focuses on transferring learned skills into everyday life.
With greater independence between appointments, we assess progress, refine any remaining challenges, and help establish lasting habits for resting posture, swallowing, breathing, and oral muscle coordination.
Our goal is not simply to help you perform exercises correctly, but to develop comfortable, efficient patterns that become a natural part of how you function every day.
“Laura was instrumental in navigating the process of getting a tongue tie release and all of the associated therapies… My improvements in this area have been remarkable and couldn't have been achieved without Laura's passion and wisdom.”
J. Garza, Marine infantry combat veteran & endurance athlete
How these services work together
Breathing and oral muscle function are closely related, but they are not the same thing. Some clients benefit primarily from breathing behavior training. Others need focused myofunctional therapy.
And for some, addressing both provides a more complete understanding of the challenges they are experiencing.
A tongue may have adequate mobility but struggle to maintain a comfortable resting position because nasal breathing is difficult. A person may breathe through their nose but rely on excessive muscular effort or have breathing patterns that disrupt respiratory chemistry.
Someone preparing for a tongue tie release may benefit from learning to coordinate their tongue and surrounding muscles before the procedure. These situations call for different approaches.
The right starting point depends on understanding the person, not simply the diagnosis or procedure.
How we begin
Every new client begins with two appointments.
1
Initial Consultation
60 minutes | $150
Our first meeting is an opportunity to slow down, listen, and understand your experiences, concerns, and what has brought you here.
We take time to explore your health history, the challenges you have been navigating, the care you have already received, and the questions that may still be unanswered. Together, we begin connecting the relationships between breathing, sleep, airway health, oral function, and your overall well-being.
Just as importantly, we explore what matters most to you, what you hope to change, and how your current circumstances may influence your ability to participate in care.
This is a collaborative conversation, not simply a review of symptoms. You will have space to ask questions, gain a better understanding of your body, and consider what meaningful progress might look like for you.
The goal is not to rush into treatment. It is to help you feel heard, informed, and supported in deciding what the most appropriate next step may be, even if that means beginning somewhere other than therapy.
2
Comprehensive Assessment
2 hours | $450
Our comprehensive assessment brings together everything we have discussed about breathing, airway health, oral function, and recovery.
Through a detailed series of functional evaluations, we examine nasal breathing, respiratory chemistry, diaphragm and rib cage coordination, craniofacial development, tongue mobility, swallowing, oral resting posture, and patterns of muscular tension and compensation. We also consider how sleep and your health history may relate to these findings.
We are not simply looking for individual problems. We are exploring how these systems work together, where your body may be compensating, and what may be limiting comfortable, efficient function.
Together, we review your findings, help you understand their significance, and develop an individualized plan that considers your priorities, readiness, and any additional care that may be appropriate.
The goal is to give you a clearer understanding of your body, why certain patterns may have developed, and where meaningful change can begin.
3
Your Individualized Plan
Together, we review what we have learned and determine whether breathing training, myofunctional therapy, a combination of both, or another form of care is the most appropriate next step.
We also discuss the time, practice, and participation that your program may require.
Your role in the process
Therapy is something we do together. My role is to provide careful assessment, education, guidance, and the opportunity to develop new skills.
Your role is to bring curiosity, communicate openly about your experiences, and make space to practice what we learn.
Progress is not always linear. Some skills come easily. Others take repetition, patience, and time.
There is no expectation that you arrive knowing how to do any of this. We begin with your current abilities and build from there.
The most meaningful changes are often the ones you gradually learn to create and sustain for yourself.
A partnership in understanding
At Breathe Colorado, our work is intended to complement the care you receive from your medical, dental, and other healthcare professionals.
We do not replace medical diagnosis or treatment. Instead, we help you explore aspects of breathing and muscular function that may benefit from additional attention, education, and practice.
My hope is that you leave with more than a collection of exercises. I want you to understand why we are doing what we are doing, recognize the signals your body provides, and develop greater confidence in your ability to respond to its needs.
Because the purpose of our work is not simply to improve how you function during an appointment. It is to support how you live, recover, and participate in the world beyond it.