Integrative Breath Facilitator Training Review (2026)

A review of Integrative Breath, Dr. Rae Riedel's GPBA-certified breathwork facilitator training. We cover the $4,000 tuition, the real all-in cost, mentoring, and who it suits.

Integrative Breath is a small breathwork facilitator school that has been certifying facilitators since 2018. It was co-founded by Steph Magenta and Dr. Rae Riedel, and Riedel now leads the US and Canada program from Denver, Colorado. It is listed as a Certified School by the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance (GPBA), and its training combines live online classes with an in-person graduation retreat in the Colorado mountains.

The name causes confusion. Integrative Breath is not a branded technique like Transformational Breath or Holotropic Breathwork, and it is not connected to the several European schools with “integrative breathing” in their names. It is one specific school teaching conscious connected breathing alongside functional breathing, trauma awareness, and a strong dose of mysticism.

Our view in short: this is one of the better-structured trainings in its price range for people who want to be mentored rather than just taught. The tuition is published, the guest faculty is unusually strong, and the GPBA certification means something. The trade-offs are a small operation with low brand recognition, a spiritual framing that is central rather than optional, and long gaps between cohorts.

Who Runs It

Rae Riedel is the lead teacher. According to the school, she is a Doctor of Chiropractic and functional medicine practitioner with a master’s in spiritual psychology, is certified in somatic trauma therapy and behavioral breathwork, has trained in Hakomi and NARM, and is a certified Oxygen Advantage Advanced instructor. She has also been a student of the teacher and mystic Thomas Hübl for 12 years and assists in delivering his North American programs.

That mix explains the training. It reads as two curricula woven together: a physiology and trauma track that is more serious than most conscious connected breathwork schools offer, and a mystical track drawn from Riedel’s spiritual teachers. The school describes its own intention as a “mystically grounded, divinely inspired, science based and trauma informed” program. If you are comfortable with both halves, it is a coherent offer. If you only want one of them, you will spend time on the other.

The guest faculty is a real draw for a school this size. The school lists Rollin McCraty, director of research at the HeartMath Institute, on heart-brain coherence; Martin McPhillimey, a clinical respiratory and sleep scientist who founded the School of Breath Science; Sue Newsome on professional boundaries and ethics; and functional breathing content taught by Patrick McKeown of Oxygen Advantage. The school does not say whether McKeown’s content is live or recorded.

What the Training Covers

The published curriculum is broad. On the physiology side it covers reflexive versus learned breathing, the effects of over- and under-breathing, the role of CO2 in oxygen delivery, functional breathing, coherent breathing, and polyvagal theory (on which we have our own reservations). On the facilitation side it covers designing one-to-one and group sessions, reading group dynamics, consent around hands-on and hands-off work, contraindications and abreactions, when to refer to a therapist, integration and aftercare, and Reichian ideas about tension and character structure. On the spiritual side it covers energy centers, ritual and ceremony, mysticism and brain science, and breath as a gateway to expanded states.

Two things stand out. First, it teaches functional, CO2-aware breathing alongside conscious connected breathing, which most cathartic-breathwork schools leave out. A facilitator who understands why connected breathing produces tingling and cramping is safer than one who only knows that it does. Second, it covers both group and one-to-one facilitation, so you are not paying extra later to be allowed to run a group.

Format and Schedule

The group program runs about seven and a half months. According to the training page, it has nine classes and five mentor group meetings, 14 live calls in total, each typically three hours long, held about every two weeks on Saturday mornings US time. On top of that come five 90-minute guest speaker calls, pre-class videos, two required solo mentor sessions, and a final in-person practicum and graduation retreat at a hot springs venue in Colorado in early April. The GPBA listing describes that retreat as seven days. You need 80% attendance on the live classes.

Between classes you are expected to read two core books, work through The Presence Process, keep up a personal breathwork practice and journal, and keep written records of one-to-one and group case study sessions. The school does not publish how many case study sessions certification requires. You will need to request the curriculum for that.

Our rough count of scheduled live time is about 42 hours of classes and mentor groups, plus around 7.5 hours of guest calls, plus the retreat. The home page says the program “potentially” offers 400+ hours of training when you include extended mentoring and other opportunities. We cannot verify how that figure is calculated, and the word “potentially” is doing a lot of work. What you can count on is the scheduled live time, the mentoring, the retreat, and whatever practice and case study requirements the full curriculum sets out.

The next US and Canada cohort starts in fall 2027. If you are reading this in late 2026, that is a year’s wait. The site also mixes dates in places (one page describes a fall 2027 cohort ending in spring 2026), so confirm the exact schedule in writing.

There is also a one-to-one route. You meet Riedel on an agreed schedule, which suits other time zones, and it typically takes four to five months, with a six-month maximum. The requirements are the same as for the group program.

Integrative Breath Cost

The school publishes its prices, which deserves credit. Here is what the training page lists for the group program:

Item	Cost
Tuition	$4,000 (10% off if paid in full before the start)
Two required solo mentor sessions	$250 ($125 each, paid to the mentor)
Teaching fee for the in-person retreat	$350
Travel and lodging for the retreat	Not included, paid to the venue

That makes the realistic total about $4,600, or about $4,200 if you pay tuition upfront, roughly £3,450 or €3,950, before you get to Colorado. Flights and lodging depend on where you live and what accommodation you choose, and the school does not list lodging prices, so we cannot give a figure. For students outside North America, the transatlantic flight alone makes the retreat a significant extra cost.

A $600 deposit secures your place and is non-refundable. Monthly payment plans exist, as do a limited number of scholarship places worth $500 off tuition. The one-to-one route costs $6,000, excluding the graduation retreat fees, with an $800 non-refundable deposit. The school does not say whether the $250 in mentor sessions also applies on that route.

We found no ongoing license, membership, or renewal fee on the site. Graduates are listed in the certified facilitator directory, and the school notes that only certified and insured facilitators can join its mentorship program, so plan for breathwork insurance.

Accreditation

The GPBA lists Integrative Breath as a Certified School, its higher tier for training programs. That is a meaningful signal in an unregulated field, because it requires the school to meet minimum standards on training hours and ethics. It is still a voluntary professional association. It does not make you a licensed therapist or give you clinical credentials.

Community Feedback

We found no independent reviews of Integrative Breath on Reddit, Trustpilot, or similar sites, positive or negative. For a school that has been running since 2018, that mostly reflects its size. The testimonials on its site are from graduates and are uniformly positive, and one describes it as among the hardest and most emotional experiences of their life.

The facilitator directory is useful for vetting. It lists several dozen graduates, most of them in the UK, with others in the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, and Australia. Many list contact details, so you can ask two or three graduates directly what the mentoring was like before you pay a deposit. The heavy UK presence suggests the school has trained UK cohorts in the past. The website currently only describes the US and Canada program, and it does not say whether a UK cohort is planned.

Pros and Cons

Integrative Breath Market Comparisons

Integrative Breath vs. PAUSE Breathwork

PAUSE costs $4,000 to $6,000 for a six-month online certification in trauma-informed conscious connected breathing, built around founder Samantha Skelly’s brand. Integrative Breath costs about the same once its extras are counted, adds a retreat you have to travel to, and has far less brand recognition. In return you get smaller-group mentoring, a stronger physiology curriculum, and GPBA certification. Choose PAUSE if you want a fully online program and a well-known name. Choose Integrative Breath if mentored practice and a deeper science grounding matter more than brand.

Integrative Breath vs. ReWild Breathwork

ReWild covers similar ground: trauma-informed, somatic conscious connected breathing, delivered online. Its entry certification is $497, and its 200-hour practitioner training is priced on application. ReWild is accredited by IPHM, a membership-based holistic accreditor, while Integrative Breath carries GPBA certification, which is more specific to breathwork. Choose ReWild if budget is the deciding factor or you want to start small. Choose Integrative Breath if you want a defined cohort, mentoring, and a published price for the full training.

Integrative Breath vs. Alchemy of Breath

Alchemy of Breath costs $5,800 to $6,900 and also combines online learning with an in-person component, in its case residential training in Tuscany. Both have a strong spiritual layer. Alchemy’s is shadow work, Integrative Breath’s is mysticism and ritual. Alchemy is the bigger, better-known school. Integrative Breath is cheaper and puts more weight on physiology and functional breathing. Choose Alchemy for a larger community and a European retreat. Choose Integrative Breath for a smaller cohort, lower tuition, and a stronger science component.

Integrative Breath Verdict

Integrative Breath does the things we most want to see from a facilitator training at this price. It publishes its prices. It mentors you instead of handing you videos. It teaches the physiology of what connected breathing does to the body, not just how to lead it. It covers group and one-to-one work, ethics, contraindications, and referral. And it is a GPBA Certified School. The guest faculty would be strong for a school many times its size.

The limits are real too. It is a small operation built around one lead teacher, with little independent feedback and an infrequent cohort schedule. The 400+ hour figure is too vague to rely on, and the certification requirements are only in the curriculum document you have to request. And the mysticism is not a side module. It is half of what the school says it is.

Bottom line: A well-designed, mentored training for healing professionals and serious students who are comfortable with a spiritual frame, at a fair and transparent price. A weaker fit for anyone who needs a fully online program, a big brand, or a secular curriculum.

Before you put down the $600 deposit, request the curriculum, ask how many case study sessions certification requires, and talk to two or three graduates from the directory. If you are comparing trauma-focused options, our trauma-informed breathwork training guide puts them side by side.

Still deciding? Take our 2-minute quiz to find the certification that fits your goals and budget.