Discover the transformative power of breathwork, HeartMath, and EFT tapping as we interview Michael Purcell from BreathTap Wellness, a coach specializing in helping clients create greatness in their lives. Learn how these techniques can shift your mindset, improve overall well-being, and empower you to create daily rituals for lasting change. MysticMag has the pleasure.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your professional journey?
This all began for me back in 2017 when I discovered the Wim Hof Breathing method and it was transformational for me, specifically as it relates to my mindset, my awareness, and my ability to be mindful. The progress I made from the Wim Hoff breathing method alone was amazing, and it sent me down a rabbit hole of wanting to learn more about my mind, my emotions, limiting beliefs, and how the past such as trauma and fears impact my life. I was also anxious to learn why I was easily triggered by certain negative aspects of my life. It was transformational that I was able to develop this awareness, this consciousness of what was holding me back in life, and start to elevate myself and create more happiness, more health, and more wealth. Every aspect of my life improved when I started becoming more mindful and using different techniques such as breathwork, HeartMath, and EFT. As I said, I went down this rabbit hole learning more techniques, focusing on different aspects of my life, and I started to create daily rituals. People even started to notice the difference in me. It was pretty amazing. I was rewiring my brain and developing an expansive consciousness.
That’s what led me to wanting to share it with others and to work with others. I got certified in HeartMath, EFT tapping, different forms of breathwork, etc. I started working with clients and utilizing. All sorts of different techniques to help them also transform and create more greatness in their life. I started officially coaching back in 2022, and it was truly amazing. It has also been transformational for my clients. I’ve received some great feedback from some of the folks I’ve worked with and it’s been a wonderful journey up to this point. There is nothing more fulfilling than helping someone empower themselves to a greater state of being!
What services do you offer?
The services I offer are pretty straightforward. I offer coaching services, one-on-one at this point, with clients who are looking to create more greatness in their life. That could be in the form of happiness, health, wealth, letting go of fear, letting go of trauma, or letting go of limiting beliefs. Any aspect of one’s life where they’re trying to create more freedom, more health, more happiness, we can definitely work on that. As far as the services themselves, my coaching packages are tailormade to the client. I utilize numerous techniques. It could be EFT tapping, breathwork, journaling, meditation, different forms of mindfulness, HeartMath techniques, nutrition, exercise, etc. I utilize numerous techniques in my coaching practices to focus on all pillars of health and wellness.
For clients, I come up with a package of sessions that’s going to make sense based on their goals and objectives. Maybe it’s one session, maybe it’s a dozen sessions. It really depends on the client. Ultimately my goal is to get them to where they want to be as quickly as possible and teach them techniques they could use on their own. The idea is that after a few sessions with me, they could start to realize that they have what it takes to create greatness in their life on their own, and not have to constantly be working with a coach. Of course, I love working with clients and I want to continue working with clients, but my goal is to get them to a place of freedom, more health, more happiness, and more wealth, and have them doing this on their own as quickly as possible. It might be a dozen sessions, or it might be two sessions. The transformation could happen fast, so it just depends on the individual and that’s why we customize a package that’s going to work for the client.
What HeartMath techniques do you use?
I always start with heart-focused breathing. I use that with just about every client. I think it’s incredibly powerful, and it’s a great way to start or end the session. I like to teach my clients how to use this technique because it’s incredibly simple. I also think it’s powerful to use the HeartMath biofeedback devices such as the inner balance device for monitoring heart rate variability to see progress over time. There are some folks who really experience a lot of motivation from using a biofeedback device, and if that’s the case, I’ll refer them to purchase one of those devices from the HeartMath website directly and then use that as part of their own daily rituals. I also teach them how to utilize those devices.
Not all clients need or want to use biofeedback devices and that’s ok. I do use heart-focused breathing with just about everybody. However, I do use other techniques, as well, like the Heart Lock-In technique. HeartMath does have a lot of different techniques, but I don’t get too hung up on all the individual techniques. I like to combine numerous techniques, practices, and modalities that are going to work for the client and get them where they need to be. For me, its mostly about helping the client get out of their own way and utilizing whatever techniques will work for them. Everyone is different. Therefore, every coaching session tends to be different and that is exciting!
Can you explain what Emotional Freedom Techniques are to people who are hearing the term for the first time?
When it comes to Emotional Freedom Techniques, aka EFT or “tapping”. It is a powerful modality for most people and is backed by science and peer-reviewed literature. For someone who’s never heard of this before, the best way to explain it is to think of it as psychological acupuncture. It’s a very powerful science-based technique that’s been around for decades now, while acupuncture alone has been around for thousands of years. In EFT we’re utilizing different aspects of psychology of the mind, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and acupuncture meridian endpoints to create shifts in one’s life, to let go of limiting beliefs, to let go of trauma, triggers, fears, and phobias. It could be used in so many different ways. It could be used on anything and everything. It’ll even work if you don’t believe it will, which is powerful!
Like I said, it’s a science-based technique. There’s plenty of peer-reviewed research out there, hundreds of papers, and there are some incredible scientists continuing to do work and research on emotional freedom techniques. As far as how it works mechanistically, we’re using certain phrases that we’re vocalizing out loud. We’re consciously stating words and phrases, bringing up old memories, or things that trigger us, and we’re tapping on different acupuncture meridian points along the body. There is essentially an energetic dance that takes place because of the psychological and physical tapping aspects of it. You’re also working with the amygdala of the brain, the fight-or-flight response, because a lot of times an old memory such as an old traumatic memory can actually make you feel the same emotions of that experience, even though you’re just sitting here on a chair right now. That’s pretty powerful.
There is an energetic connection to old memories, traumas, and limiting beliefs. A lot of us have this negative baggage that just keeps us stuck. It prevents us from moving forward. However, by cognitively stating certain memories, certain fears, phrases, and words, while tapping on these acupuncture points, we’re freeing up energy, we’re allowing ourselves to let go of stuff that holds us back, that maybe we’re not even aware of. I’d say that it’s like this psychological dance with the energy of the mind and the body, and it’s incredibly powerful.
How do you combine HeartMath techniques with other techniques and approaches to get the best results for your clients?
I love to work with my clients in a customized format, meaning I’m going to utilize numerous techniques that are going to fit their personality, their goals, and their willingness to participate in these different techniques. Everybody’s a little bit different, all different personalities. I work with people from different walks of life and some techniques just don’t resonate as well with others as they do with some people. For that reason, I will utilize different techniques for all my clients, whether it’s heart math, EFT, journaling, meditation, mindfulness, etc. Some people really latch on to certain techniques more so than others, and that’s fine, but for the most part, what I’ve found is the HeartMath techniques are simple. They’re easy to explain, they’re easy to understand, and they’re easy to practice. The same with EFT, so those two tend to be the most popular for my clients, and also my clients experience the most shifts, and the most transformations. The most transformations I’ve seen in my clients come from those where EFT and HeartMath are used as primary techniques, but I will utilize all techniques at my disposal to help people get to where they need to be and start experiencing shifts and transformations in their life.
Do you have any special advice or “quick tips” for people looking to improve their overall well-being?
You need to change the way you think in order to change the way you feel, and you need to make a habit out of it. You could experience happiness at any point in time in your day or your life, but you need to understand how to shift your state of being and create more happiness in your life. It’s not hard to do, but it takes practice and that’s the biggest challenge. The techniques that I use are incredibly easy to learn, but getting yourself to sit down and spend a minimum of maybe 10 minutes per day could be incredibly challenging for anyone, and you need to build a habit out of it. It needs to become a daily ritual.
You need to set time aside, and if I can get you to do that every day, even just starting with 5 minutes, you’re going to experience amazing shifts. If I can get you to do it multiple times a day for 10 minutes each, you’re going to experience even more shifts. If I can get you to create your own daily ritual where you’re empowered to wake up each morning and spend an hour working on yourself, working on your mental hygiene, you’re going to be a completely different person after even a few months or a year. If you do this long-term, you’re going to be creating greatness in your life and the lives of others. It’s that simple. You need to change the way you think in in order to change the way you feel, and you need to create a habit out of that and create daily rituals that support it.
