Breathwork Foundations is a four-week ILMA programme for beginners, scheduled four times a week. Treat that as a learning frame, not as a perfect streak and not as proof that a particular result will follow.
ILMA's listing gives the programme identity, route, duration, frequency, public status and free access. It does not show enough day-level detail for this article to name the content of each week.
A four-week path with exits
Use each week as a check-in, not a pass mark
Four weeks, each with a decision at the end of it. Repeating a week is a use of the path, not a failure of it.
- Week one: learn the interface. Notice how the programme is organised. Stop if a technique feels uncomfortable. Not finished? Stay here.
- Week two: repeat before adding. If one practice still feels unfamiliar, repeat it or pause. You do not need to catch up. Not finished? Repeat it.
- Week three: keep the useful part. Choose by comfort and attention, not by a need to complete every session. Not finished? Keep the part that worked.
- Week four: decide what continues. Keep one workable practice, take a break or finish. Finishing is not a health claim.
Source note: the four-week shape is how the programme is organised. Completing it is not evidence of a change in health.
These are learning choices, not a description of ILMA's undisclosed day-by-day curriculum. The programme page remains the authority for the current session order.
Programme
Breathwork Foundations — 4 Weeks
Build a daily breathwork practice from the ground up. Start with diaphragmatic breathing, progress through box breathing and 4-7-8, and finish with Tummo power breathing. Each week builds on the last.
- Week 1: Diaphragmatic breathing basics
- Week 2: Box breathing (4-4-4-4)
- Week 3: 4-7-8 relaxation breathing
- Week 4: Wim Hof power breathing
If you miss a practice
Return to the next available slot. Do not double the duration or stack sessions to repair the streak. If you have forgotten how a practice works, repeat the last comfortable one or pause until the instructions are clear.
Missing a day is information about the schedule. It is not evidence that you lack discipline. Four sessions a week may fit one month and not the next.
Keep the breathing comfortable
This article does not prescribe a cadence, breath hold or intensity. ILMA's live Breathwork Without Holding Your Breath article gives a gentler technique entry point and stop boundaries. Read that first if you are unsure about holds or feel pressure to make the breath bigger.
Keep breathing comfortable and do not force the breath. Stop a practice if you feel dizzy, faint, panicky, in pain or otherwise unwell. Return to ordinary breathing and seek appropriate advice if symptoms persist or concern you. That boundary is deliberately plain. It does not diagnose the cause.
What four weeks can tell you
At the end, you can say which sessions you opened, which instructions were clear and which practices you want to repeat. You cannot infer that the programme repaired the nervous system, built resilience, detoxified the body or treated a condition.
Open Breathwork Foundations when a four-week, four-times-a-week structure fits. Wait when it does not. The plan will still be there after the streak you did not keep.
References
1. ILMA programme catalogue. Accessed 2026-08-25. 2. ILMA blog. Accessed 2026-08-25. 3. NHS breathing exercises for stress. Accessed 2026-08-25.