From Stuck to Empowered: One Coach’s Journey Using Breathwork to Shift Mindset - Britnni Cosgrove

**Episode Intro: Transforming Lives – Breathwork, Mindset Mastery & Real‑World Change**

Welcome back to *Transforming Lives*, the podcast where we dive deep into the tools and mindsets that help ambitious souls step into their most confident, magnetic selves. I’m Sharmin Prince, your host, and alongside me is my co‑host Mitzy Dadoun.  

In today’s episode we sit down with **Britnni Cosgrove**, a certified mastery coach, breathwork facilitator, and transformational life‑and‑business strategist. Britnni guides clients through mindset mastery, overcoming self‑sabotage and breaking through limiting beliefs—using breathwork as a powerful, customizable catalyst.

We’ll explore:

* **What breathwork really is** – from soothing box breaths to high‑intensity, multi‑part cycles, and how the pace aligns with your intention.
* **Practical applications** – whether you have five minutes or a full hour, how breathwork can spark inspiration, calm the nervous system, and release stuck energy during major life or career transitions.
* **Real‑life success stories** – the tale of a former asthmatic client who moved from skepticism to daily empowerment, turning a simple 10‑minute practice into a habit that fuels her entire day.
* **Actionable advice** – Brittany’s step‑by‑step guide to getting crystal clear on what you want, rating your life’s areas, and taking tiny, value‑aligned actions that create momentum.
* **Rapid‑fire insights** – her biggest pet‑peeve about self‑sabotage, the book that shifted her perspective, why she picks breathwork over meditation, and the one word she wants every listener to leave with: **Empowered**.

Stick around for Brittany’s *Transformation Table* offer—a free, daily laser coaching call where you can experience her high‑touch guidance first‑hand. Whether you’re ready to launch a new business, navigate a sudden life shift, or simply feel “stuck,” this episode equips you with breathing techniques, mindset frameworks, and practical steps to ignite the transformation you’ve been craving. 

Let’s get centered, breathe together, and unlock the next level of your life. 🎙️✨

Sharmin Prince
Welcome to the Transforming Lives panel podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Sharmin Prince.

Mitzy Dadoun
And I'm your other host, Mitzi DeDune.

Sharmin Prince
And together we're here bringing you another exciting episode. But before we continue, just join us in a deep breathing exercise so that we can be centered and grounded together. by taking a deep inhale, holding it, and exhale slowly. Another deep inhale, hold it, and exhale.

Another deep inhale, And as you exhale, just let go of the things that didn't serve you today. Deep inhale. And let it go. Breathe normally.

Thank you. for joining us for that brief breathing exercise. And today our guest is Brittany Cosgrove, is a transformational life and business coach who helps ambitious souls unlock their most confident magnetic selves so they can create impact doing what they love. a certified mastery coach and breathwork facilitator.

She specializes in mindset mastery, overcoming self-sabotage and breaking through limitations.

Mitzy Dadoun
Can you elaborate on breathwork? Because when I think of breathwork, I think of kind of what we did at the beginning, where you sort of do some deep breathing, but then you talked about different types of breath work that you like for achieving different types of things. So could you please sort of educate a little bit more along that because there's probably more out there than just me who need a little bit more.

Britnni Cosgrove
Yeah, absolutely. It really is. There's so much to it. And so there's all different types of breath patterns that have names.

And I won't go into that, because that's super easy to look into. But I really think of it as the energy or intensity that I bring into it. So the quicker you go, the more intense it is. So the quicker your breathing is.

You can also bring in a multiple-part breath. So for example, breathing into your belly, breathing into your chest, and then letting it out. So it's like a three-part breath. And really, the intention is to just bring in the oxygen, and letting the oxygen come in at quicker speeds than regularly.

Now, what we did at the beginning, I also consider breath work, or something like the box breath, where you're, oh wait, that's what we did at the beginning, sorry. Mixed up there. But just like that slowing down the breathing, or being really intentional with how deep, how big of a breath can you take, or if anxiety's really present, making sure the exhale is a few seconds longer than your inhale. So all of this falls under the umbrella of breath work.

And to me, it's just using the breath to achieve your goal. Whether that is inspiration, whether it's peace, whether it's insights and downloads for something specific, or whether it's just to clear any energy that got stuck, no matter what the energy is. You can really bring any intention. It's just what do you want it for?

What do you want to do with it? And then from there matching the pace or yeah, I would say the pace is the matching that to the intention to bring it all together. And as a general flow, kind of starting slower, picking it up so that right in the middle is where you're breathing the quickest. And then having time afterwards where you're just in slower, more natural breathing to integrate the quicker breathing.

So that is, so that's kind of like how the full process might look when you're doing a breathwork session.

Mitzy Dadoun
When you're doing a breathwork session, is it like a five minute thing, a half hour thing, an hour thing? Like what, like when you're doing a full breathwork session?

Britnni Cosgrove
Typically, I stick to like the 60 to 90 minutes, which for a call, which looks like maybe 30 to 45 minutes for the shorter one, or like 60 ish minutes of active breathing. That being said, I have done breathwork like in a, in a more standard coaching call, I'll bring in a minute of breathwork or something like that, if I feel it would really I support the client in that moment, maybe a couple minutes during their normal session. And then I have like a four minute cycle that I do on my own whenever I am in low energy. And that just kind of fuels me up and invigorates me.

So it really is as customizable as anyone would want. And that's kind of how I've used it. When I work with clients, it's more in that 60 ish minute realm, but it can be used even one minute of intentionally breathing can make a huge difference.

Sharmin Prince
How important or impactful is breath work? If an individual is having like a major life or career transition, how would you introduce that and encourage it?

Britnni Cosgrove
Hmm, great question. So something that I really find powerful with breathwork is it gets you out of your head and into your body. So my little asterisk here is that if you are going through a big T trauma or have any unprocessed big T trauma, then breathwork might not be for you. And that's something to explore with your like a professional in that scope.

Um, as long as that's not the case, then I, like I said, it's getting out of the head and into the body so that you're not thinking through things you're feeling into like, what is my intuition saying? What is my nervous system saying at an innate level? What is it that needs to come through. So for someone that's stepping into a big transition, if it's something that they want and are excited for, then they can use that for inspiration and ideas and like downloads on what's next?

What am I bringing in next? So maybe it's someone that just launched their first business and they quit their corporate job. So maybe this will give them insights on how they want to market or about their messaging or about an offer that they want to bring into this world. But say maybe it's something where you didn't choose to leave your corporate job, or it's something of a more sudden, unexpected life transition.

You can also use breathwork to regulate your nervous system and create safety in your body so that you're not looking externally for safety. Your safety and security doesn't come from your job. It doesn't come from finances. It doesn't come from your spouse.

It can come from you. And so you can use something like breathwork to really integrate that at a cellular level over time too. And then in general, for anything and everything, if you just feel like you have stuck energy, you know, sometimes you just feel like there's, I almost want to cry, but I can't cry or don't have anything to cry about. There's just, you can just feel it sitting there stuck.

Something like breathwork can really create like this reverse vacuum of sorts. It's like a funnel where through the windpipes and it's just getting pushed out. It's just moving because you're not in your head recreating it. You're in the body and the body can just move that energy naturally.

And so even if you don't know like what you want to change, but you just know like, ah, I need something to move. I want to feel better. Just try it. Even a 15 minute breath work, session can feel expansive, you can feel that movement, you can feel the impact.

Sharmin Prince
Wow. Before I ask my next question, I mean, we interviewed a lot of guests here. One thing I have to say to you, because I believe in presenting flowers when you have the opportunity, you did the work. You just don't have the head knowledge because when you speak, it doesn't come from the head, it doesn't come from the heart.

It comes from somewhere deeper. And because of the work you've done on yourself, it's projected naturally. And I wanna highlight that and also commend you for all the work that you did so that you can present it in such a way that someone can be immersed into your world and your experience.

Britnni Cosgrove
I am so grateful for that reflection. Thank you for that. I, oh, and I have chills as I am thinking and saying this. I genuinely believe in embodying the work that I do.

Integrity is one of my core values. And so I don't just talk about this work. It's like, I live this work. But even past the integrity side of being a coach, it's just that, my way of living and my relationships in life and the way I approach life.

It's not that everything's gotten perfect or that all the problems go away or anything like that. It's just that there's this way of being that comes through. And I always, I tell my clients like, it is not easy to do this work, but it is so worth it. It is so worthwhile.

So I'm so grateful for that. Thank you.

Sharmin Prince
You're very welcome. My question is, Can you share an example of a client who was skeptical of birth work and needed, had no idea that this is what they needed to either cross over the hump on their path or to endure a challenge or a storm that they're in?

Britnni Cosgrove
Yeah. Oh, I'm thinking of one girl. Oh, she was so sweet. So when she was younger, she was an asthmatic.

So when I introduced breathwork, she was very resistant to it. And she, it was kind of that push pull. Like I want to try it. Like I, I trust that it's worth it.

I just don't think it will work for me. Funny enough, that little story was literally being projected everywhere that it's for others. It's not for me. I didn't pick up on that at the time.

That was something that we kind of saw later on, but I thought It was just one of those full circle types of things. So she wasn't sure about it, but was willing to try. And I said, let's just ease into it. Like at the end of the day, you listen to your body, you are in control here.

And I, I just really want to emphasize creating that safety around it, especially for someone like this girl who, because of her past asthmatic experiences, her nerves made sense. And at the end of the day, like, I'm not here to push your body, like, you know, your body best. And so anyone that's kind of newer to breathwork, or it's curious about it, own that no one knows your body more than you. So from that space, I just kind of let her into like, let's just play with it.

Let's just try we're gonna do like a 10 minute one with our first our um like our first time trying it together and I said we're just gonna we're just gonna play we're just gonna see how you like it and I said I've got you you know your body best so at any point you can ignore me and do what you need to do like a full permission do what you need to do I've got you I'm here um she even like brought out her inhaler and I don't I think at the time like she hadn't used it in a long time but just having it near her kind of creeped her like that that another layer of safety. Like, okay, it's here if I need it.

And then I said, okay, let's just set an intention, like just a light, gentle intention, putting that out there. And after that 10 minutes, she kind of comes back and we're just, we're just in the moment and just kind of integrating it. I said, so what's present for you? And she was just kind of shaking her head.

And she said, I, I don't, I don't know. I like it. She didn't quite have the words to put the energy that she was feeling into words. She just knew like she could feel the impact of the energy moving and the shifts.

And she had another a new layer of safety and trust in herself because she had committed to this experience. and her body handled it. She didn't have the asthma flare up. She didn't have any of those other concerns come up.

She's like, oh, okay, I did it. I can do this. And then we just built from there. And the next time, we tried like 12 minutes.

And then I gave her, there was one week where I said, okay, for each day this week, do five minutes on your own at one point during the day, just to kind of play with what type of breathwork was fitting for her. How does she want to use it? Now that we had built up the safety, where does she want to use it in her life? And she found that using it right, like as she's starting her work day, so she's getting to her desk, just tuning in for a couple minutes to invigorate the body, got her out of her head and into her body to start the day, and from that energy, it

sustained throughout the day. It was kind of like a natural habit stacking, but in an energetic sense of it. And it was, it's really funny cause it didn't feel like a massive thing at first, but just building that trust in herself a little by a little, but in a really tangible way that was kind of, it didn't seem like it had anything to do with her actual goals because it was kind of like this little side quest, but because how we do one thing is how we do all things.

The trust she was building in herself using the breath work was being felt in her other areas of life. And I think the breathwork practice wasn't something that she integrated on a daily scale over big picture. It's something that she'll hop onto my breathwork calls when I do host them now, but it's not a focus of hers anymore. But that was just a beautiful, yeah, like a beautiful opening into how something like breathwork It might seem unrelated, but it can be a beautiful stepping stone, or just a beautiful tool to use in conjunction with the work that you're doing.

Sharmin Prince
That was such a great example. And the reason is because you use an example of someone who had asthma, and usually, it's obvious that person is going to be resistant because of their, the mindset and breath work. No, I need my pump with me. And I think you mentioned that, but before I, I just have one final question and then I'll hand it over to Mitzi.

If someone right now is feeling stuck, and isn't sure where to start. What's your first piece of advice, encouragement, or even inspiration to them?

Britnni Cosgrove
And just starting with anything, right? Not just specific to breathwork. Yeah, I bring it back to what I did. Get crystal clear on what you want.

And if you don't know what you want, take what you don't want and start spinning it. Just get playful with that and it can start big picture like, okay, I want to live in a house by the beach. Perfect starting point. So let's get even more specific.

Let's get even more specific and really just getting, when I say crystal clear, I mean crystal clear. See your full dream as it's multifaceted, multi-potential entity. And then get really clear on what are your values. And I really enjoy something like a check-in where you're just rating things.

Like I love rating scales. One through 10, numbers are feedback. Their numbers are neutral. All it is is data.

So take the different areas of life, take a wheel of life and just rate it. One to 10, how do I feel about this different area? Scale of one to 10. How much am I bringing in my core values to this area?

And just start getting, like, opening the aperture. What is one thing I can do today to infuse this specific value into this specific area of life, even 5% more? And then follow through on that. That's right there.

It's a magic. Don't just think it, do it. Because as you are continuing to take those actions, it might feel like, okay, 5% with one value and one area of life. That might not sound like a lot, but in that first moment, it's going to feel like a lot because you're shifting.

The shift is beginning. And then over time, you just keep building from there. But In order to know, in order to go anywhere, you got to at least know the direction you want to go. You don't need to know the exact path.

You don't need to know all the twists and turns that are going to come up. The destination could even change. But what direction are you heading in? And things like scripting out a day in the life, a day in the life that you would love to be living right now.

and getting clear on what are your core values and specifically, what do they mean to you? We're not saying connection. Take connection and then define it on your specific terms and why that is the core value to you. Just doing that, you will feel the momentum naturally build.

So if you don't know where you want to go, my guess is you probably don't even know which direction it is. So let's start there. It doesn't have to be a big wake up call. It can just be like, oh, oh, I like there.

And then you just start taking one step at a time.

Mitzy Dadoun
You know, I think it was so great when you were saying that, you know, sometimes we're so wrapped up in the here and the now and what we're doing and we're, you know, on this busy path that we don't take that pause to, as you say, it's like, yes, I got everything I wanted and then I realized, oh my God, that's not what I really wanted, right? Like it's, you know, I was on this route and then I realized, oh my God, I'm on the wrong path. And your comment about looking at sort of what's going on and what you don't want, because sometimes it's easier to say, figure out what you don't want, and then that leaves space to figure out what you do want.

And almost flip it and look at reverse. And now we're at a favorite part of our podcast, which is Sharmin's rapid fire questions. Get ready.

Sharmin Prince
Finish the sentence, Brittany. The most transformative tool for mindset shift is?

Britnni Cosgrove
Deeper desire. What is the deepest desire of why your patterns are here, the deepest desire of why you're doing what you're doing?

Sharmin Prince
Biggest pet peeve when it comes to self-sabotage.

Britnni Cosgrove
Oh. Sorry, it's so funny because I have like the images and then I have to find like, what are the words that I'm seeing? On a personal level, I think about work more than I do work. That's how, one of my self-sabotaging ways, and it drives me crazy because then I have at least twice as much work to mentally go through.

Sharmin Prince
One book that changed your life?

Britnni Cosgrove
The Big Leap. I think it's by Gay Hendricks, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

Sharmin Prince
Pick one, breath work or meditation?

Britnni Cosgrove
Breath work. That was a hard one.

Sharmin Prince
Coffee, tea or something else to fuel your day?

Britnni Cosgrove
Coffee.

Sharmin Prince
If you could only give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Britnni Cosgrove
You define success for yourself.

Sharmin Prince
Final question. What's one word you want listeners to take away from today?

Britnni Cosgrove
Empowered. I want everyone to feel empowered to make the shifts, have the transformation that they're desiring.

Mitzy Dadoun
That is wonderful, Brittany. Brittany, how can our listeners get in touch with you so that they can get a more personal experience with you?

Britnni Cosgrove
Yeah, so I have something called the transformation table. And I offer it every day of the week. It's a free coaching call, where anyone can hop on, we take up to four seats per call. And it is laser coaching on anything that's present for you.

So that's how you can have the most like high-touch experience of what that looks like. And that's, we offer it every day, Monday through Friday. And then just come say hi either on Instagram or you can find me on my website, Brittany Cosgrove. Brittany's a little different, B-R-I-T-T-N-I.

And then Cosgrove is C-O-S-G-R-O-V-E. And I would just love to hear like any takeaways, any insights, if you try out breathwork or anything like that.

Mitzy Dadoun
Thank you so much, Brittany. This was wonderful. And I know so many things. I got to go back and listen to it again to pick up some of these wonderful nuances.

Britnni Cosgrove
Thank you so much for having me. This was, yeah, this was a delightful conversation. I loved it. Thank you.

Mitzy Dadoun
You're

Sharmin Prince
welcome.