Breath as the Doorway Back to Yourself | Dr. Colleen Quinn

By Rachel Hupp Cline · June 17, 2026

Episode 35 · Radiantly Rooted with Rachel

What if the one thing you do thousands of times a day without ever thinking about it could become the doorway back to yourself? Most of us move through our days holding our breath without realizing it, pulled in a hundred directions, waiting for a moment of stillness that never quite arrives.

In Episode 35, I sit down with Dr. Colleen Quinn, whose relationship with conscious breath changed everything after two near-death experiences brought her to the end of her own strength. We talk about the subtle energy body in a way that finally clicks, even if you’ve never explored energy work before, how the words “I am” are shaping the life you’re living, the slow circular breathing that fills her cup each morning, and why nourishing yourself first is what lets you pour into everyone you love.

Whether you’re deep into your practice, just beginning to explore breathwork, or simply tired in a way sleep doesn’t fix, this conversation will meet you right where you are. You can watch on YouTube, listen on Spotify, or keep reading below.

Listen on Spotify

Editor’s note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability. Each turn is labeled with the speaker’s name, Rachel in teal and Colleen in brown.

In This Episode

• Colleen’s Story: Two Near-Death Experiences and One Plea
• What Is the Subtle Energy Body?
• How the Words “I Am” Shape Your Reality
• Quantum Physics and What’s Truer Than Truth
• The Morning Breathwork Practice
• The Book: Essence Merging
• Fill Your Own Cup First: The Rocks and the Sand
• What “Essence Merging” Really Means
• Sat Nam: A Mantra as a Bridge to Stillness
• Frequently Asked Questions

Colleen’s Story: Two Near-Death Experiences and One Plea

Rachel: Welcome back to Radiantly Rooted. I have a very special guest with me today, Dr. Colleen Quinn. Welcome, Colleen.

Colleen: I’m so grateful to be here with you, Rachel. I consider everyone as a face of God, and getting this unique opportunity to co-create with another unique manifestation of God is just a delight for my soul. Thank you for having me.

Rachel: Thank you so much. I’m going to share Colleen’s bio, and then we’ll get into today’s conversation. Despite her devotion to the practice of psychology, it wasn’t until her second near-death experience, coughing up massive blood, fighting to find a breath, that she finally got to the end of her strength, uttering the plea, “Let me be love in every moment.” I just got goosebumps. That plea led her halfway around the world to a Costa Rican retreat where she found breathwork, and her relationship with conscious breath has changed everything. Do you want to tell us a little bit about your story?

Colleen: Yes. Love always meets us exactly where we are, Rachel. It gives us the autonomy and the free rein to do it our way for as long as it takes. And then when we finally do get to the end of our strength, love is there, always waiting, because our hearts are finally open. It did take me two near-death experiences, even though I knew from a very young age that I was a spiritual being having a physical experience. But my ideas of who and what God was were very rooted in culture and the patriarchy and the church. I saw God as a being outside of myself, and I would pray, but it was really my list of demands of how I thought things should go.

The Tunnel and the Choice to Come Back

Colleen: My first near-death experience, I was in a car accident. My heart had stopped. I was literally in the tunnel with the light, and Rachel, the love that you feel in that moment, you’re being adored by love, you’re inculcated by love. It’s beyond words, really. And the love said, “We would like you to go back, but it’s your choice.” That was really powerful for me, because my brother had died about 20 years earlier, and a part of me died with him. I let that happen. That’s what our egos do. They sell us these delusions because they’re trying to protect us. They think it’ll hurt less. But they’re young, immature parts of us, and it always comes at a cost. So I really was feeling victimized going through life. Such a delusion. But in actively choosing to be here, that radically changed a lot.

Colleen: I thought that was the apex for me, but it wasn’t, because God isn’t this anthropomorphic being outside of us. Probably 20 years after that, after the pneumonia you described, I found breathwork. The irony isn’t lost on me that I’m fighting for a single breath, only to find that breathwork is the means to my own soul. In breathwork, it’s so intoxicating when you’re fully surrendered and fully in. Your subtle energy body loosens from your physical form, because God really is the electromagnetic field that runs through every cell, which is 99.99% space, and that very intelligent field is God. It’s in all of this world that seems so vibrant and solid, and our subtle body is magnetized back to the whole.

What We’re All Really Looking For

Colleen: I’ve come to see that the emptiness inside of us, well, a lot of people say, “I’m looking for purpose,” or, “I’m looking for love,” but what I really think we’re all looking for is that union we knew before time immemorial, before the Big Bang, when we were all together. There was nothing excluded. We were all unique manifestations of the one. And when we’re in that state of union, what we always feel is bliss, and we call it love. But what it ultimately is, is that union. That is intoxicating. Those bliss fill-ups are intoxicating. I do it every morning to remember who I am and to be filled by love, so that I can spill that love out, because energy really is everything. It’s the world that coexists alongside this material one, and it’s the one where all the meaning is.

What Is the Subtle Energy Body?

Rachel: For people who are not familiar with the subtle body, with the subtle energy body, could you go into that a little bit more, at a beginner level?

Colleen: Sure. The very first language we all knew as babies is energy. We didn’t speak words. They immediately take the baby skin to skin and put that baby on the caregiver’s body, the mother and the father. In psychology and somatic experiencing, we call that lending your nervous system. The baby can feel that the parents are in a natural state of bliss and love. You’ve just created this beautiful, perfect being, and you’re totally in remembrance of the power of creation, so you’re emitting that love energy to the baby. That’s the first example. Here’s another one most listeners can resonate with. Have you ever had really great news that you were dying to share with your significant other, and you walk into the room, you don’t say a word, but you feel the energy’s off, and you lead with what’s wrong instead?

Why We Stop Listening to Energy

Colleen: Because it’s energy. We feel it. When we’re in tune with our own energy impulses, energy speaks the truth far more than any words. It’s only as we become children and adolescents that we tend to overvalue words and tune out the energy, and that’s usually a recipe for being hurt. Because actions and energies ultimately speak far louder than words. So tuning into those energies that our body is sending up signals in every single moment, and often our body is screaming, “Listen!” The more we can tune in, the more we can look beneath those words, and that’s where all of the truth is.

Rachel: Thank you for that. I’ve been exploring energy work and energy modalities myself for quite some time, but I know some of our listeners are beginners and new to the process, and those were really powerful examples. You’re absolutely right that when somebody is in a certain state of energetic balance or imbalance, when you’re around them, you can sense that energy, you can sense that feeling. I tell my clients that we are responsible for the energy we are bringing into a space. I had a conversation with someone recently who had no idea how powerful their energy was, and that other people were feeling it and sensing it. So it really is so powerful.

How the Words “I Am” Shape Your Reality

Colleen: It for sure is. And like you said, we choose it. We choose the weather we bring. A great way to identify where your energy is, is becoming conscious of the thoughts in your head and the words you speak. Words are one of the most powerful energies in this realm. Biblically, God said, “Let there be light,” and then the light appeared. When Moses asked God, “What should I call you?” God said, “Yahweh,” which means I am. When we say I am followed by any words, we become that. So if I say, “I am tired,” I’ve taken a fleeting state and made it permanent. “I am a loser,” well, you’ve adopted that. That’s really powerful energy. But if you say, “I am radiant, I am in trust,” that’s equally powerful. So becoming conscious of our thoughts and words is the first step.

“

When we say I am followed by any words, we become that.

When You’re Stressed and Out of Your Breath

Colleen: If you become conscious of your thoughts and words for a week, and you only allow yourself to think high-frequency thoughts, it changes everything. And I’m not saying to bypass negative emotions. Feelings are feelings. We have to feel them, but that doesn’t mean we need to give them air time. So if you’re feeling frustrated and you’re out of your breath, you can always say to your inner children, “I hear you. I know you’re frustrated, and we’re going to talk about this later. I will give you your due.” But you’d better keep your promise. Those children have been disappointed so many times. Or if the moment calls for it, you can say, “Excuse me,” and go to the bathroom. We call ourselves hotheads when we’re angry because the temperature rises in your face and your hands. So run your hands under cold water, put cold water on your face, and then come back into your conscious breath, wherever you feel it, through your nose, or in your throat, or your belly.

Colleen: I feel it in my throat, so I imagine myself most of the day standing in my throat, breathing, and there’s nothing up here. There’s no monologue. It’s been a lot of practice to get these children to quiet down and just be in the moment.

Colleen: The first thing I notice when I’m stressed and rushed is that I’m out of my breath, and it’s the one thing in our bodies that can be involuntary or voluntary. That’s not random. When we breathe unconsciously, we’re giving air to ourselves. What a great gift. When we breathe consciously, we’re not only consuming air, we’re consuming that energy, that higher etheric energy, and we’ve found that it creates a greater level of interstitial fluid in your cells to amplify at a higher frequency. It’s a perfect example of how what we do in this physical realm influences the energy realm and vice versa. So it’s the one invitation. It doesn’t take any time out of our day. We can come back any moment we notice we’re out of our breath, tune in, and be the witness over what we’re thinking and what we’re saying. It changes everything.

Rachel: It truly does. That awareness, that self-awareness, the noticing, the learning to identify and catch it and choose what you want to invest your time and energy into in this precious day, this precious time we have. That inner monologue, I know so many people who are just overwhelmed by it going all the time, and having tools to calm it or slow it down or channel it where we want it are so helpful.

Quantum Physics and What’s Truer Than Truth

Colleen: I’d like to point to quantum physics. Einstein is really the leader of this whole quantum physics movement, and he said, “Imagination is a preview of life’s coming attractions.” There have been multitudes of studies showing there is a quantum field of possibilities, and thoughts become things. So you create your reality literally by what you’re giving airtime to in your brain. That’s a big power. We are the creators of our whole lives, of every experience, everything this body ingests. We have created it all, and that’s radical.

Colleen: It was radical when a breath worker said to me, years after my car accident, “Wow, you must have been swimming in some death energy to draw that to yourself.” She didn’t know that my brother died in a car accident, but when she said it, there was an instant resonance within my body. I knew it was true. I had swum in that death energy, so I magnetized it to myself, and I needed it. It’s what I needed to wake up.

Seeing Trauma Through the Eyes of Love

Colleen: When we go into these breathwork journeys where we hover over our traumas, we can start to see through the eyes of love, and it always flips the coin on its head. So for years, I’d say, “I was hit head-on. It wasn’t my fault. I’m a victim.” But the coin flipped. I did draw that to myself, and I needed it. Love was with me the whole time. I don’t have to fear death, because, like quantum physics says, energy cannot be created nor destroyed, and I had a visceral experience of that. So it doesn’t matter what anybody says. There’s an old Jewish saying, Rachel. What’s truer than truth? Do you know the answer?

Rachel: I don’t.

Colleen: It’s experience.

Rachel: Ah. That makes sense.

Colleen: When we experience something, like my experience in the tunnel, or any of these breathwork journeys I’ve been on, they rival psychedelics, with visual images and auditory downloads and sensory perceptions that are so vibrant and salient. It doesn’t matter what anybody says, because I’ve experienced them, and they’ve changed me for the better. What I want to say to your listeners is, if you can get in touch with bliss every day and fill yourself so that you’re overflowing, why wouldn’t you?

“

There’s an old saying. What’s truer than truth? It’s experience.

The Morning Breathwork Practice

Rachel: That brings me back to something you touched on earlier, your morning breathwork practice to fill your own cup before you head out into the day.

Colleen: Yeah. I believe that when we go to sleep at night, our subtle bodies leave our physical forms, and we surf in liminal space, whether we remember it or not. As I’m getting ready to wake up, I feel the thud back into this physical form, and I think most of us do. It’s like a denseness. So I need to remember who I really am, and breathwork is such a powerful way to do that. I do a very slow circular breathing, in through the nose, out through the nose, taking the energy in from the base of the spine all the way up to the pineal gland. Most of us usually breathe from half of our lungs. This is a full breath, where you cannot take in a drop more. Then there’s no gap between the inhale and the exhale, and through the nose you’re just letting it fall out, so the exhale becomes even longer than the inhale. My best advice for folks trying it is to get lost in the act. Just become the breath.

Colleen: When you become the breath, that is when the subtle body releases from the physical form. In Hindu, they call that samadhi, where your breathing is so slowed that you’re being breathed. Your need for energy becomes less, so you’re being breathed, and that’s where all the magic is. Physiologically, there are crystals in our cerebral spinal fluid. They get compressed up the spine, and there are ventricles on the side of the pineal gland, and they put a massaging pressure, and what gets released is dormant DMT. So, Rachel, do you know what DMT is?

Rachel: I have heard of it, but I cannot remember right now for the life of me.

Colleen: DMT is the chemical in these plant medicines that makes them psychedelic. The plant medicines have the biggest reputation for having DMT, but I have a hunch that it’s in every living being. It lays dormant in our pineal gland unless we massage it out. When that DMT comes out, it goes into every cell as a message of wellbeing, and that’s exactly how that interstitial fluid gets amplified and greater, to carry a higher frequency. It’s because of the DMT coming into the cells. So it is a bliss trip, but each trip is different.

Breathwork as the Middle Path

Colleen: What’s amazing about breathwork for me is that I call it the middle path. Psychedelics will plunk you into your soul, even if you’ve buried things so deeply that bringing them up could be traumatic. That is a risk, and I personally would not do that without a guide. But breathwork is the middle path.

Colleen: You’re always going to have these ascent trips where you’re magnetized to the field of love for a while, to woo you in, and then, at your ego’s pace of readiness, your soul will start to bring up memories from your subconscious. But you’re hovering over your body, looking through the eyes of love, while fully feeling, perhaps for the first time, something you were too overwhelmed, too afraid to feel for all of those years. So it’s really powerful. And then your body can tell you the impulses of the actions that needed to happen for you to feel victorious, no longer a victim, and you finally complete those actions. That rewrites your nervous system. Our nervous system is like the software of our computers. You’re getting a computer upgrade by rewriting it, and you’re finally bringing harmony to what was a previously disintegrated, diseased inner landscape. Very powerful.

Rachel: It is powerful, and I like the visual of the computer software update. You can really picture that and see what it means for yourself.

Colleen: Yeah. I have videos on my YouTube channel, free, step-by-step videos of how to do slow circular integrated breathing, that your listeners can tune into. If you don’t have that link, I’ll make sure you get it.

Rachel: Yes, I have that link, so be sure to check the show notes. They’ll be listed down below, wherever you’re listening or watching.

Watch Colleen’s Free Breathwork Videos

The Book: Essence Merging

Rachel: You’ve shared about your experiences, everything you’ve been talking with us about, in your recent book. Would you like to tell our listeners about that?

Colleen: Yeah. I did breathwork for about five years, with so many miraculous bendings of reality. And I was like, “Oh, love, I love these love gifts, but I know how this great playwright works. It’s never just for one person.” So I asked, “What’s the plan?” Well, I got a resounding, “Inspire,” which is interesting, because the word inspire shares the same root as inspiration. You can’t inspire without conscious breath. It’s clear from ancient traditions and astrology that we’re in a period of collective awakening globally. It’s an exciting time to be alive. We’re in a love revolution, but it’s rigorous, and I see this as the second birth pain. Gratefully, we all got here from these birth pains. It birthed us into something far greater than we were, but in between each birth pain, there’s a pause to integrate. We’re in the second birth pain now, and I was told to inspire, and that this book would play a role.

Colleen: There are many light bearers, many roles to play, and this book is really a primer of what you can expect in relinquishing the ego’s totalitarian regime over your experience. It can seem maddening at times, and also exhilarating. So I really wanted to lay out what you could expect on this journey. There’s a lot of my releasing of traumas in there, because you can’t find that higher frequency, that higher harmony, without integrating this inner landscape. Happiness is an inside job.

“

Happiness is an inside job.

An Unconventional Love Story

Colleen: It’s interwoven in a very unconventional love story. I experienced the highest form of love, platonic love, with my breathwork partner. Gazing into his eyes, touching hands, lots of energy transference. We’re all very stingy with gaze, touch, and affirmation. After childhood, we’re all touch deprived, whether we’re in a relationship or not. So allowing love to do its work from the safe container of conscious breath gave the safe space for a lot of traumas to be released, but also for these love fill-ups that I would come home and spill to my husband and my family. And I just want to say to all of your listeners that when we’re in a relationship and we expect one person to fulfill every need and desire and want for us, that’s too great a demand on the relationship. The highest love wants what’s best for us, even if they’re not included. I’m very grateful that my husband feels safe enough to realize that he was the beneficiary of this more transcendent way of being. I think that’s the highest love. So that’s in there as well. I think it can really inspire people that there is so much more.

Rachel: Yes, and I love that you shared that, because so many of us don’t prioritize taking space in our day for filling our own cup, for filling our own well, for whatever that means to us. And to your point, what we find when we do take that time is that it spills out into all of our relationships. So it’s not only benefiting us when we do, it benefits everybody around us. That’s a really powerful point.

Fill Your Own Cup First: The Rocks and the Sand

Colleen: Years and years ago, I was shown this visual of the sand and the rocks. Have you ever seen it?

Rachel: I love that one.

Colleen: If we put in all the sand of everything we need to do first, and then we think we’re going to put in the rocks of filling and nourishing ourselves, they won’t fit. But when we fill and nourish ourselves first, we put all the rocks in, and then we pour in the same amount of sand, the same to-do list, and the sand fits perfectly between the rocks. Everything in this material world points to the spiritual energy realm. That’s just the perfect example, and the whole day goes better. So if there was one takeaway, come to your breath, bring harmony to your inner landscape, bring the bliss, and spill it out everywhere.

“

Come to your breath, bring harmony to your inner landscape, bring the bliss, and spill it out everywhere.

What “Essence Merging” Really Means

Rachel: I’m not sure we shared the title of your book. It’s Essence Merging. Do you want to share what that phrase means to you?

Colleen: I’d love to. That actually came to me as an auditory download, looking into my breathwork partner’s eyes, where there was no him, there was no me, there was just this love. There was just the energy of love. And I realized in that moment that I could have that with every moment of my life. Whether I’m gazing at any face, whether I’m folding laundry, cooking dinner, or walking in the woods, every moment is a conversation with the divine, with life.

When the Mundane Becomes Sacred

Colleen: When I bring that merging energy, when there is no lemon and there’s no me, but we’re just totally merged, and I’m totally subsumed in the lemon, it becomes sacred. The mundane drops away. It elevates everything, and everything becomes this divine conversation. Love is teaching me and wooing me and blessing me and inculcating me, all of these things. So it just raises the frequency of everything. When you drop the delusion of a separate self and you just merge with the moment completely, it’s luscious.

“

When you drop the delusion of a separate self and you just merge with the moment completely, it’s luscious.

Rachel: Yes. Thank you so much. For those of us who meditate, we may touch on glimpses of it, but it’s hard to carry it into your day to day on a regular basis. So finding that pathway that allows you to stay in that state for longer periods, and to really be in that state of bliss and full awareness, and the preciousness of each moment we’re given to fully embody it.

Sat Nam: A Mantra as a Bridge to Stillness

Colleen: Maybe one of the parting things I’ll say is that a mantra is often a great bridge if we’re not in stillness in our minds yet. You can’t be in the diatribe of your head and be reciting a mantra. Our brains don’t work like that. So a mantra is a great bridge to the stillness, and one of my favorite mantras is Sat Nam. Sat Nam means I am that which I look upon. There is no me. There is no Rachel. I am Rachel, because you are what I look upon right now. It elevates my intention to remember that this is a conversation with God. I recite it, to this day, an hour here, an hour there, because it raises my frequency. That’s something you can do without taking time away from all the other tasks you have. Just repeating Sat Nam, breathing your conscious breath. If you just did those two things, your life would radically change.

“

Sat Nam means I am that which I look upon. There is no me.

Rachel: Yes. That’s for sure. Well, Dr. Colleen Quinn, thank you so much for joining us. And to all of our listeners, be sure to check out the show notes below for all of the resources she has provided, and I hope you’ll tune in next time for another episode.

About Dr. Colleen Quinn

Despite her devotion to the practice of psychology, it wasn’t until her second near-death experience, coughing up massive blood, fighting to find a breath, that Dr. Colleen Quinn finally got to the end of her strength, uttering the plea, “Let me be love in every moment.” That plea led her halfway around the world to a Costa Rican retreat where she found breathwork, and her relationship with conscious breath has changed everything. You can learn more and grab her free download, 9 Simple Steps to Presence, at essencemerging.com, watch her step-by-step breathwork videos on YouTube, find her on Instagram @essence_merging, and read her book Essence Merging.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is breathwork, and how is it different from regular breathing?

Breathwork is the intentional practice of conscious breathing, often using a slow, circular pattern with no pause between the inhale and exhale. Unlike the unconscious breathing we do all day, breathwork is a deliberate practice that shifts your nervous system, deepens presence, and can release stored emotion. Dr. Colleen Quinn describes it as a “middle path” that lets you gently access deeper states while feeling safe and supported.

How do I start a conscious breathing practice if I’m a complete beginner?

Start by simply noticing when you’re holding your breath, which often happens when you’re stressed or rushed. From there, practice slow breathing in and out through the nose, letting the exhale become longer than the inhale. The most important thing is to get lost in the act and become the breath rather than forcing it. Even a few conscious breaths a day can begin to change how you feel.

What is the subtle energy body?

The subtle energy body is the energetic layer of yourself that exists alongside your physical form. Colleen explains that energy was our first language as babies, before words, and that we constantly sense and transmit it, like walking into a room and feeling that something is off before anyone speaks. Tuning into that energy is how we access a deeper truth than words alone can carry.

What does the mantra Sat Nam mean?

Sat Nam means “I am that which I look upon.” It’s a reminder that there is no separate self, that this moment is a conversation with the divine. Dr. Colleen Quinn uses it as a bridge to stillness, because your mind can’t run its usual chatter while you’re reciting a mantra and breathing consciously at the same time.

How do I take this work deeper in my own life?

Listening is a beautiful first step, but lasting change usually comes from steady, supported practice. If you’re ready to come home to yourself with real guidance and a space that’s all yours, I’d love to walk alongside you in 1:1 coaching. You can learn more and reach out at radiantlyrootedyoga.com/coaching.