My Philosophy
Body first, your mind will follow.
I’m Charlotte Grysolle—a breath and nervous system coach based in Lisbon, originally from Belgium.
I believe most of us dramatically underestimate what our own body can do. We reach for caffeine, apps, supplements, willpower—always looking outside ourselves for things we already have within. The ability to shift your energy, sharpen your focus, calm your mind, recover from stress. It’s all already in your system. You just haven’t been taught how to use it.
That’s what I teach. And the reason I’m so convinced of it is because I spent a very long time doing the exact opposite.
Qualifications:
I blend 13 years in global advertising agencies and online-education startups with extensive training in breath science and somatic coaching. My corporate background means I understand first-hand the high-pressure environments my clients navigate—and how body-based tools can support sharper thinking, steadier resilience, and sustainable performance.
- Certified Oxygen Advantage Facilitator
- Breath Science Practitioner (with sleep- and respiratory scientist Martin McPhilimey)
- Certified Body-Oriented Coach (ICF accredited The Somatic School)
My story
1990-2000
I spent over a decade in the advertising world— moving from Brussels to New York to Singapore to London. Running global campaigns for companies like GSK, Volvo, Dyson. An octopus with 10,000 arms. Always juggling, always delivering, always on.
2000 - 2005
I spent over a decade in the advertising world— moving from Brussels to New York to Singapore to London. Running global campaigns for companies like GSK, Volvo, Dyson. An octopus with 10,000 arms. Always juggling, always delivering, always on.
2023
I set up my breathwork coaching practice, and started working with globally recognised brands.
2025
I ran my first freediving retreat in Lanzarote.
Searching for answers
I spent over a decade in the advertising world— moving from Brussels to New York to Singapore to London. Running global campaigns for companies like GSK, Volvo, Dyson. An octopus with 10,000 arms. Always juggling, always delivering, always on.
I was good at what I did. I was also completely stressed.
I was living entirely from the neck up. Constantly thinking, planning, worrying. Completely disconnected from my body. I genuinely didn’t know there was another way to operate.
At some point, I got fed up. Fed up with the overwhelm, the jitteriness, the self-criticism. Fed up with having zero creative pursuits, zero stillness, zero space in my life that wasn’t about productivity or performance.
And underneath all of that, a set of questions I couldn’t shake: Why is my energy so low? Why is it so hard to focus? Why can’t I stick with new projects? And what’s up with this relentless, self-critical voice?
So I started reading—not just self-help, but biology and physiology. How the nervous system works. Hyperarousal. The brain areas involved in rumination. Why we get stuck in loops. Why willpower fails. I started writing about what I was learning, mostly to make sense of it for myself. That writing became a public newsletter—just my observations, my thoughts, my struggles. It steadily attracted readers who recognised themselves in what I was describing.
Breathwork is not about slowing down or learning to relax. It’s about capacity. You don’t need less ambition. You need a better nervous system to support it. Your body already contains extraordinary self-regulation tools — evolved over millennia, available to you right now. Most people have just never been taught how to use them.
Something started to change
This reflective work led me to start suspecting ADHD. I went through the lengthy testing process and whilst I didn’t get a formal diagnosis, the process taught me something more useful than a label. I learned about overstimulation, about how ADHD-like symptoms can show up when your nervous system is chronically activated.
And I started experimenting with my own inputs. Running without earphones to reduce the constant stream of stimulation. Walking 12,000 steps a day. Cutting out alcohol for a year. Cutting out coffee. Not because someone told me to, but because I’d become genuinely curious about what would happen if I changed what I was putting into my system.
Things started shifting. My sleep changed. My stress levels changed. My relationship with my own mind changed. I was starting to feel—not just understand—the connection between what I do with my body and how I think and feel.
The shifts were so significant that I finally had the courage to leave advertising. After years of doubting and feeling stuck, it became obvious: this was not the industry for me.
As soon as my sleep improved and my mind became clearer, I could actually hear what I’d been trying to tell myself for years. I joined an online education startup, then eventually went fully independent.
Most of us are unaware of the extraordinary capabilities within.
Why I'm such a huge advocate of breathwork
Breathwork made it practical
During that period of exploration, I went on a freediving course in Mexico.
That’s where I was properly introduced to breathwork. Before even getting in the water, I sat still and focused on my breath. Slow inhale. Slow exhale. Pause. Within seconds, the volume and intensity of my thoughts dropped. My shoulders released. My heart rate slowed.
Nobody told me to “let go” or find my inner peace. My physiology just shifted. That’s it.
What made breathwork different from everything else I’d tried was this: it was a practical toolkit. Things I could actually do. Every day. Throughout the day. Nasal breathing in meetings. Breathing slowly instead of spiralling when lying awake at night. A slow exhale before a difficult conversation.
All the reading, the experimenting, the running, the cutting out… it had been building towards something. Breathwork was the piece that pulled it all together. The thing that made the theory physical.
The lens that changes everything
The thing that surprised me most: learning about the nervous system didn’t just give me tools. It gave me an entirely different way of seeing myself.
For years, I thought something was wrong with me. I couldn’t switch off—that must be a character flaw. I was reactive in meetings—that must mean I can’t handle pressure. I’d crash every afternoon—that must be laziness. I knew all the right things to do and still couldn’t do them—that must be a lack of discipline.
It wasn’t any of those things. It was an untrained nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do.
When you start seeing yourself through the lens of your nervous system, so much of the self-criticism and guilt just falls away. You stop asking “what’s wrong with me?” and start asking “what does my system need right now?”
That shift — from personal failure to physiology — is the single most powerful thing I teach. Everything else follows from it.
And to be clear: this isn’t about slowing down or learning to relax. It’s about capacity. You don’t need less ambition. You need a better nervous system to support it. Your body already contains extraordinary self-regulation tools — evolved over millennia, available to you right now. Most people have just never been taught how to use them.
Now I’m endlessly fascinated by the science of how we function — nervous system regulation, breathing physiology, sleep architecture, systems thinking — and I spend most of my time finding ways to make that knowledge practical and accessible for people with demanding lives.
How I've tested my body before making suggestions to clients...
I also use my own body as the laboratory for everything I teach. Always have.
- I taped my mouth shut and ran a marathon breathing only through my nose
- I sat in total darkness for 67 hours (no phone, no light, no input) with no agenda other than non-judgmental curiosity.
- I freedive not for depth, but because it's the purest laboratory I've found for one question: can I stay calm while my body is under stress?
Who I work with
Ambitious, analytical professionals who’ve realised that the strategies that got them here—the long hours, the mental grit, the pushing through—won’t take them where they want to go next.
They’re operating at a high level. BUT something isn’t working. Energy is unreliable. Sleep is poor. They’re reactive when they want to be calm. They can’t switch off, even when they have time.
They’ve already tried everything cognitive—self-help books, productivity systems, maybe therapy or meditation apps. They want precision (“am I anxious or actually hyperaroused?”), not platitudes.
My clients include professionals at Google, L’Oréal, Mastercard, and fast-moving startups. Founders and creatives who want sustainable performance without the burnout.
What surprises most of them? How quickly things shift when they stop overcomplicating. Just slowing the breath during the day improves their sleep. A simple awareness of chest tension changes how they approach a tough meeting. They become fascinated by themselves and their biology. (That part always makes me smile.)
What I offer
Private Coaching
Nervous System Potential
A personalised program of 5, 7, or 9 modules to expand mental and emotional capacity.
Sleep Systems
A 5-week live group program
Get to the root of poor sleep through breath, nervous system regulation, and daily habit design. Small cohort, personalised approach, real results.
4 May – 5 June, 2026
Retreats
6-day freediving + breathwork retreats
Upcoming dates:
15-20 June, 2026
20-25 November, 2026
Team Workshops
Science-backed, experiential workshops
Designed for fast-paced environments, these sessions help teams understand and work with their nervous systems for better decision-making, collaboration, and resilience.