Advanced RTT, MPM Clinical Hypnotherapist & WIM HOF Method Lv2 Instructor

28/08/2026

I’ve just returned from a few days by the sea in Devon.

The horizon. The rhythm of the waves. Children playing. Surfers running towards the water. That first shock of cold as you step into the sea.

And something changes. Your attention comes back to your body. The noise quietens. You breathe differently. You remember what it feels like to simply… be.

Then we go home.

Back to work. Messages. Families. Decisions. Diaries. The endless mental tabs we somehow keep open.

And before long, we’re longing for another escape.

But what if calm wasn’t somewhere you had to go?

Perhaps we don’t need to bottle the sea. Perhaps we can learn to create that feeling within ourselves.

That’s what Mind Body Breath is all about.

From 25–28 September, and I will be at St Michaels Resort in Falmouth for three nights of breath, movement, nervous-system practices, cold-water immersion, rest and reconnection.

Not simply to help you relax for a weekend. But to help you leave with:

✨ A body that remembers what deep relaxation feels like
✨ Practical tools to change your state when life gets noisy
✨ Practices you can take into autumn and winter to support greater resilience, energy and wellbeing

And yes, there’s also the sea, the spa and that rather magnificent hydrothermal pool. We’re not complete barbarians. 😂

I’ve also managed to blag our group 20% off the retreat. Use the code RETREAT when booking online, or call St Michaels and mention the retreat to receive the discount.

Places are filling.

If your body has been quietly whispering I could really do with this, perhaps it’s worth listening.

🌊 Mind Body Breath
📍 Falmouth, Cornwall
📅 25–28 September 2026
✨ 20% retreat discount with code RETREAT

Follow the link in my bio to book

Or DM me “CORNWALL” and I’ll send you the details 😉

Cat x

17/08/2026

Getting high on your own supply?

Clients often tell me they see colour during breathwork.

Vivid purples. Blues. Bursts of light. Geometric patterns. Sometimes entire landscapes behind closed eyes.

For years, one explanation has circulated in breathwork circles: DMT. The theory that intense breathing releases our own psychedelic compound and the colours are the proof.

Brilliant story. Trouble is, we don’t have good evidence it’s true.

Here’s what the emerging science actually points to.

During high-ventilation breathwork, CO₂ falls, blood pH rises and cerebral blood flow can drop dramatically.

A 2025 study found the size of that CO₂ drop predicted how deep the altered state went, and how much people’s wellbeing improved a week later.

No drug required.

Changes in perception. Colour. Dissolving sense of self. Emotional breakthroughs. Extraordinary feelings of connection and spaciousness.

Remarkably like psychedelic states. Except the brain got there on its own.

Exactly how those colours and patterns arise isn’t fully understood yet.

And I rather like that we don’t know.

Because perhaps the more interesting question is: what might these altered states allow the brain to do?

Could disrupting our ordinary patterns of perception change our relationship with memory, emotion or deeply rehearsed ways of thinking?

There’s intriguing research here. But we’re not yet at the point where we can say seeing purple light means your trauma is being processed.

Neuroscience deserves a little more respect than that.

And here’s the strange thing about my own brain.

I never see the colours.

While everyone else runs their own private psychedelic cinema, I disappear somewhere completely different.

Into an enormous ocean of blissful serenity. No pictures. No fireworks. Just spaciousness, where I could happily float forever.

Same breath. Different brains. Completely different inner worlds.

And we’re only beginning to understand why.

Where does your mind go when you close your eyes and breathe? Upcoming retreats held at Kemble & Falmouth check out my links in my bio

04/08/2026

I think it's safe to say that the Wild Women retreat, which Gemma Kelly || Wellness Coach & Breathwork Facilitator and I hosted over the weekend, was a success! We had the most perfect weather and such a beautiful day of breathwork, meditation, ice baths, and connection. I absolutely love hosting these retreats, and knowing that the women who have been brave enough to step away from the known and join me on their own journeys of discovery, have found value in the experience, brings me the greatest joy. I'm still buzzing from this one, and I'm trying to let myself just be with that feeling for now, but I also can't help but be excited for the next one! I've got one more day-retreat lined up for August - Beyond the Breath with Aldina Gomes, in Kemble on 19th September 2026. And then Gemma and I will be collaborating again in September, when we return to the gorgeous St Michaels Resort in Falmouth for our Mind Body Breath retreat from 25-28th September 2026. I'll be sharing more about these over the coming weeks, but if you're already curious, you can find out more about them on the 'Events' page of my website, catjpaterson.com . Cat x

03/08/2026

Is resilience your greatest strength, or the story of what you had to survive?

I asked a group full of extraordinary women one simple question:

“What’s your greatest strength?”

Almost every answer was the same. Resilience.

I smiled. Then I wondered whether I should.

We’ve turned resilience into a medal of honour: admired in boardrooms, applauded online, quietly expected everywhere else. Keep going. Stay strong. You’ll get through it. (Very British, all three.)

But watching these women prepare to step into an ice bath, a different question surfaced.

Is resilience always a strength, or sometimes evidence of what we’ve had to survive?

Some resilience is earned wisdom. It comes from falling, recovering, learning to trust yourself again. It bends without breaking.

Then there’s the other kind. The resilience that whispers “you don’t have a choice.” The one that’s carried families, businesses, relationships and impossible expectations. It keeps moving because stopping has never felt safe.

From the outside, it looks remarkable. From the inside, it can feel exhausting.

As each woman stood before the ice bath, I gently tested how grounded she was. Many weren’t.

So I asked them to try something different: not to think about their strength, but to become it. To say it aloud. Three times. With conviction.

Something shifted. Posture. Breath. Steadiness.

They hadn’t become more resilient. They’d become more present.

Resilience lives in the story of what we survived. Presence lives in this moment.

The ice bath doesn’t ask you to relive every challenge you’ve overcome. It asks you to meet this breath. This sensation. This moment.

What if resilience is the first answer, but not the deepest one?

“Tell me more.”
“Where did you learn to always be the strong one?”
“Who needed you to keep coping?”
“What happens if you stop?”

Because maybe resilience isn’t who you are. Maybe it’s what you learned to become.

Who might you be, when you no longer have to survive?

That’s where curiosity begins.

Tell me below: resilience, or something deeper? 👇

Breathwork

19/07/2026

19/07/2026

Sometimes, the best days don’t need a grand plan. Just good friends, sunshine, music, delicious food, and time to simply wander. 🌿☀️

Today was exactly that at the Foodies Festival in Wi******er.

A definite highlight was discovering Mischief Rosé. Crisp, refreshing, and dangerously easy to enjoy. And honestly… who could resist a wine called Mischief? The name alone deserves a toast. 🍷

Another little gem was chatting with the lovely team at Freddie’s Flowers. We met the most vivacious young woman, an architect in training, who was every bit as radiant as the bouquets she was surrounded by. It was wonderful to learn that their flowers are sourced here in the UK and last up to two weeks. Beautiful, natural, gentle, and full of life… much like she was.

The rest of the day was spent exactly as it should be. Sitting on the grass listening to live music, sharing delicious Greek food, tasting wonderful wines and liqueurs, discovering new favourites, and putting the world to rights with good friends.

Life can get wonderfully full, but every now and then it’s important to make space for days like these. No agenda. No rushing. Just slowing down enough to savour good company, good conversation, and the simple joy of being present.

Here’s to more days of a little sunshine… and just the right amount of Mischief. 🍷💚 ❤️

09/07/2026

WILD WOMEN 🐺🔥
Forest of Dean | 1st August

There is a version of you that has been waiting.

Not lost. Just quiet, buried under to-do lists, roles, responsibilities, the endless doing that powerful women are so good at carrying.

This retreat is the invitation home.

Back to breath. Back to body. Back to the wild, instinctive parts of you that know how to feel, how to play, how to rest without earning it first.

Gemma and I are holding space for a small circle of women ready to come back to themselves, because the world doesn’t need more women running on empty. It needs women who’ve remembered their own power, and are ready to bring it.

Joyful. Blissful. Utterly necessary.

⏳ THE EARLY BIRD ENDS SUNDAY
Join us live with Gemma this Sunday, it’s your last chance to lock in the early bird price of £145 before it rises to £165.

Only 3 places left.

If you’ve felt the pull, this is your nudge.

Comment WILD or DM me to claim your place. 🕊️

Cat x

NervousSystemReset

04/07/2026

Breath of the Wild: The Deer

There are some experiences that are difficult to explain.

This is one of them.

It begins with the breath.

It unfolds through story.

It speaks the language of the imagination.

And somewhere between an ancient forest, the quiet presence of the Deer and the child you once were…

Something begins to soften.

Not because anyone tells you what to think.

Not because you’re trying to fix yourself.

But because experience has a remarkable way of revealing what words alone never can.

The Deer has long been a symbol of gentleness, guidance and crossing life’s thresholds.

In this immersive journey, it becomes a companion.

A quiet presence that walks beside you as you rediscover courage, compassion and perhaps… a forgotten part of yourself.

This is not simply meditation.

It is not simply breathwork.

It is an experience.

One that invites you to pause long enough to hear what your heart has been whispering all along.

If that speaks to something inside you…

Come and walk with us.

📍 [zoom]
📅 [5.7.26] · [Time: 9-10:15 am]
🎟️ [catjpaterson.com link in bio]

01/07/2026

What if none of this exists?
Someone asked me a question over dinner recently.
"What was your first intelligent thought?"
I smiled. I knew immediately.
I was four years old, sitting on the top bunk I shared with my sister, looking down at the room below, when an extraordinary thought appeared.
What if none of this exists? Not my bunk bed. Not my sister. Not my family. What if this is simply my experience of reality?
I had no idea what consciousness was. I'd never heard of philosophy or neuroscience. I wasn't trying to solve the mysteries of the universe.
I was simply curious.
That same curiosity later convinced me I could fly. I balanced on a balcony rail, imagining becoming a bird. My mum arrived just in time.
Shortly after, inspired by Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I built a flying machine from a cardboard box — complete with buttons, wheels, and enough Mars Bars to fuel an expedition. I climbed aboard in my pyjamas before sunrise, fully intending to fly to my friend Yvonne's house.
The only flaw in my otherwise impeccable plan? My aircraft was deeply unconvinced by the laws of aviation.
But those stories aren't really about flying.
They're about what children know instinctively. Children don't begin with certainty. They begin with possibility.
Somewhere along the way, the edges of imagination are quietly fenced until one day we mistake the fence for the horizon.
It rarely happens through cruelty. Usually it happens through love.
"Be careful." "Don't be silly." "That's not realistic."
Spoken with the very best intentions. But sometimes they become invisible limits we never realise we've inherited.
One of the greatest privileges of my work is watching people rediscover their curiosity, not because it gives us all the answers, but because it gives us better questions. Questions that loosen old beliefs. Questions that soften certainty.
So I'll leave you with just one:
Where in your life have you mistaken the fence for the horizon?
I'd love to know.
Cat x