Bringing a breath of fresh air to your experience of motherhood

I’ll help you find calm, confidence and connection in the chaos of motherhood & life.

What I believe

The struggles of modern motherhood have us at breaking point.

Everywhere I look I see women at capacity as they attempt to juggle all the things all at once.

Every second conversation I have with a mother is about burnout, the motherload or the lack of that mythical effing village.

And I am utterly bored of the narrative that mothers - especially in the early years - are expected to temporarily forget their needs, their desires, their passions, themselves and just get on it…

This is the kind of BS that has us collectively drowning under the pressure of the “motherload”, constantly on the edge of burning out and anxiously waiting for naptime/bedtime to roll around so we can just have a moment to ourselves to breathe.

I want to be part of rewriting this script.

This new script is one where mothers everywhere are deeply remembering and making space for themselves, their needs, their passions and their power. I want this for the world because I believe that women are here to change the world: we’re here to lead, to create and to shake things up in a way that only we can.

Because this I believe: motherhood gets to be a time of deep personal growth. A time of grounding into who we are, showing up confidently in the various roles we play and stepping into this new version of ourselves motherhood is shaping us into. But we simply cannot do it if we’re overwhelmed, overstimulated, overstretched and just generally over it.

We need to be rested, resourced and resilient if we’re going to rise.

Here’s where I come in…

I’m here to help mothers to tune out from this BS script on motherhood and connect to their inner wisdom so they can not only find their flow in this beautiful mess of a chapter, but also create space to grow into a more resilient, more grounded and more confident version of themselves. Breathwork and holistic wellbeing coaching are my tools of choice to facilitate this work.

My story

It all started with one breath.

Within the space of one breath, I became a mother. I passed through that portal of transformation into a new, exhausting, magical, beautiful, utterly chaotic shitshow of a chapter.

I waved goodbye to life as I knew it: adventuring around the world and into myself for over a decade leading up to 2019 as I carved out a path for myself. It was a beautifully messy chapter of finding my tribe and vibe as a surfer, learning foreign languages from scratch, falling in and out of love, solo travelling on a shoestring, trying on various professional hats and partying hard (zero regrets).

On this wild and wonderful journey, I’d curated my personal toolkit of practices to support my health and happiness. Yoga, journalling, visualisations, surfing, 2-hour-long morning practices… these were my go-tos to smooth out the kinks when the going got tough. So by the time I got pregnant in 2019, I thought I was pretty unshakable and there wasn’t much that some yoga, a bit of salt water and buying a plane ticket couldn’t fix…

But nothing could prepare me for the challenges of motherhood.

I quickly found - as many of us do - that new motherhood packs quite the punch: the bone tiredness, the constant worries, the relentless mess, the sheer incapacity to grasp the weight of responsibility when you take the baby home for the first time. And, yes, the love, the joy and the gratitude too. The intensity of new motherhood hit me like a tonne of bricks.

As I grappled with this upturning of my own internal world, the world was turning upside down around me. The first lockdowns of 2020 hit and, with my partner working on the frontline in ICU, things got scary and unpredictable overnight.

To add an extra layer of challenge to it all, after resigning from my corporate job due to being treated badly during pregnancy, I started working for myself as a freelance copywriter and coach with a baby on my lap and a vague plan.

To say that this village-void, anxiety-fraught, juggling-all-the-things experience of first-time motherhood took my breath away would be an understatement.

I felt torn between the absolute need for support but the complete lack of desire to give my baby over to anyone.

I felt like I was spending the long days just waiting for nap time/bedtime so I could get a moment to myself to breathe.

I yearned for the freedom my “old” life was full of and then felt guilty for feeling like that.

I felt judged for my parenting choices but wished I could just trust myself.

And I missed the essence of myself - that free-spirited, adventurous woman - that seemed to have disintegrated when I became a mother.

Desperate to “feel like myself again”, I grappled at my feel-good practices that had come to define me and hold me together so neatly before motherhood. But I quickly realised that a little yoga here and some journalling there took the edge off, but I needed to go deeper.

Enter breathwork

In amongst the mess of early motherhood, one of the only self-care practices I could find time and space for was connecting to my breath.

I started with simple relaxation and stress-relieving breathwork techniques and then moved onto Wim Hof-style breathwork paired with cold water swimming. When I was introduced to a transformative technique called conscious connected breathwork, I knew I was onto something game-changing.

Breathwork quickly became my go-to tool to give me the space to press pause on the busyness of mothering and life. And, honestly, to get to the end of each day in one piece.

But I soon realised that I wanted more: I didn’t want to just “survive” and feel like I was constantly bringing myself back from the edge of tears or burnout. I wanted to make space for me and my growth amongst the shitshow of it all. I didn’t want to forget about my needs, my passions, my desires, my dreams, myself.

As I delved deeper with breathwork, I found myself nurturing my connection with who I am deep down - my wisest, most authentic self - underneath all the stress, pressure and exhaustion of the motherload.

The transformation

Thanks to breathwork, I’ve been able to not only find my flow in motherhood but have the capacity to lean into the many opportunities for growth that this chapter is full of and step into the woman this chapter is shaping me into. This has looked like:

  • increased emotional capacity to hold space both for my daughters as they navigate all the big feelings and for my clients in my work.

  • finding balance and flow as I juggle work (freelancing and running a business), mothering and everything else that makes up life.

  • increased resilience to ride the waves of challenge that come hand-in-hand with being a mum.

  • navigating and compassionately bringing myself back from the brink of burnout while pregnant with my second daughter.

  • growing in motherhood: shedding layers of conditioning, becoming more unapologetic in who I am, feeling grounded and confident in myself, trusting my inner wisdom and - yes, absolutely - giving fewer fucks about what others think.

  • processing and healing from the experience of birthing my first daughter.

  • navigating second-time motherhood feeling like an entirely different person thanks to - in part - the wisdom and power I’ve accessed through breathwork.

Guiding other women on this path

Now - as a 400-hour trauma-informed breathwork facilitator and certified holistic wellbeing coach - it’s my mission to guide other mothers on this same path to finding their flow and growing in the mess of motherhood.

While breathwork can be for anyone (I work with non-mothers too), I am particularly drawn to support mothers because - in the current climate in which we’re mothering - we need all the support we can get.

I believe that if more mothers can connect to their inner wisdom underneath the never-ending treadmill of tiredness and worries and pressure of motherhood, then not only will it all just be so much more manageable and enjoyable but more of us will have the capacity to lean into the invitations for growth that motherhood offers up on a daily basis.

So here’s to breathing some fresh air into how we experience this shitshow of a chapter; here’s to finding our flow and growing in the mess of motherhood!

Learn more about my journey into the world of breathwork in this blog post.

Learn more about my story and what I stand for in these podcast episodes:

More Mojo Podcast: Breathwork, Motherhood and Self-Connection with Grace Chinn

The Second Spring Podcast: Interview with Grace Chinn

That One Thing Podcast: Wellness in the Surf with Grace Chinn

The Inner Pleaser Podcast: Introducing Breathwork with Grace Chinn

Meditation for Misfits on Kinda Sound: Breathing the Early Years with Grace Chinn

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You can also find me on Substack, where I write about finding magic and mindfulness in the mess of motherhood in my publication ‘Breathing Motherhood’.

Some fast facts

  • I’m Scottish but live in French-speaking Switzerland with my husband and our two young daughters.

  • As well as a breathworker and wellbeing coach, I’m a freelance copywriter and content writer.

  • I started working for myself in 2020 with a 6-month-old baby on my lap and a vague plan.

  • In my previous lives, I’ve been a Spanish-English translator, English teacher, project manager and retreat cook.

  • My husband is a nurse who works shifts so every week looks different in our house.

  • I speak Spanish (rusty) and French (imperfect but functional).

  • Human Design: 3/5 Splenic Projector.

  • Astrology: Pisces Sun, Virgo Ascendent, Capricorn Moon.

  • I travelled and lived (mostly solo) around the world for 10 years before settling down (for now) in Switzerland.

  • I’ve practised yoga for 2 decades but still feel like a beginner.

  • I love surfing and I know I’ll grow old by the sea, surfing until I can’t stand anymore.

Let’s work together…

  • Carve time out of your busy schedule to drop all the roles you play in life and just be with your breath and your body to connect with your inner wisdom. Choose from a one-off or a pack of sessions.

  • Come to an online or in-person group breathwork workshop to connect with your inner wisdom and explore a variety of themes in a group setting. Coming in 2024 to the Lausanne area and online.

  • Choose from 1 or 4-month packages of breathwork-based coaching. I offer tailored support to help you recalibrate your life so you can have the energy and capacity to show up fully for this chapter.

The values that drive my work

Connection

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Self-empowerment

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Growth

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Honesty

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Connection • Self-empowerment • Growth • Honesty •

My approach…

Holistic

Pairing the cognitive practice of coaching with the body-based practice of breathwork provides a unique and powerful combination that allows for true transformation.

Down-to-earth with a sprinkling of woo

Yes, breathwork can be quite woo but I share the practice in a relatable way that’s accessible to people who might be new to such practices of connection.

Grounded in experience

I cannot guide others on a path I myself have not walked. Having been own my own personal development journey for 15 years, I guide from a place of lived experience.

No BS

The wellness world has become a complicated, confusing space…I like to keep things simple, honest, accessible and down-to-earth.

Bespoke

There is no one-size-fits-all approach that works for everyone so I adapt my services to suit you as an individual, your needs, your lifestyle and your intentions.

Gentle & Intuitive

I believe that transformation unfolds in its own time without a need to push. My feminine approach to facilitation and coaching allows this unfurling to occur.

Wellbeing Certifications

Chakras Training Course, Emma Newham Fitness, 2024

Breathwork Teacher: Breathing Space, 2024

400-hour Trauma-informed Breathwork Facilitator Certification: Breathing Space, 2022

Holistic Health & Wellness Coach Certification: The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, 2020

Plant-based Nutrition Certificate: The Center for Plant Based Studies via eCornell, 2019