Advanced Oxygen Advantage Instructor Training
Choose your training
What this training is
The Advanced Oxygen Advantage Instructor Training is a practical, evidence-informed programme designed to help you understand functional breathing and teach it with confidence.
The certification is Advanced Oxygen Advantage Instructor – “advanced” refers to the credential level you achieve, not your starting point. No prior breathwork experience is required. We cover everything from foundational principles to advanced teaching skills.
This is not a performance course or a collection of techniques to memorise. It’s a coached training that focuses on how breathing adapts to different physical, psychological, and environmental demands – and how to work with those patterns safely and effectively.
You learn the core Oxygen Advantage principles, but just as importantly, you learn how to apply them in real life. That includes working with different people, different goals, and different contexts – from everyday health and stress, to movement, sport, and workplace performance.
The emphasis throughout is on understanding, awareness, and appropriate intervention. Sometimes that means changing the breath. Sometimes it means observing it. This training helps you know the difference.
Who this training is for
You want practical skills you can use immediately – for yourself and the people you work with. Ideal for:
No prior experience needed. Curiosity is enough.
What you’ll learn
Foundations
Everyday breathing: Physiology, biomechanics, energy, and habit patterns
This pillar supports everyday wellbeing – calm, balance, and sustainable energy.
Awareness
Breath & regulation: Clarity, stress patterns, and nervous-system balance
This pillar strengthens your coaching – recognising patterns before applying techniques.
Application
Breathing under pressure: Performance in work, life, and sport
This pillar applies equally to physical training and high-pressure professional environments.
What makes this training different
Coaching skills
Teaching functional breathing is more than learning a set of techniques – it’s learning how to work with real people, in real situations.
Throughout the training you develop the skills to recognise breathing habits, understand what they tell you about someone’s state, and respond with appropriate guidance.
You learn how to pace sessions, offer safe progressions, and adjust for different personalities, goals, and levels of sensitivity.
Instead of relying on scripts or prescriptive routines, you build confidence in adapting Oxygen Advantage principles in real time, helping clients feel supported, understood, and ready for change.
Supportive Movement
Movement plays a key role in helping people sense their breathing more clearly.
We integrate simple mobility work, posture resets, and gentle rhythm-based movement to support regulation and improve body awareness.
These practices are always accessible and optional – they are not separate techniques, but ways of helping the breath and body work together.
You experience how subtle shifts in alignment, pacing, or tension change the breathing response, giving you a practical understanding of how to guide clients with clarity and ease.
Certification Pathway
A clear, supportive process
Attend your workshop or retreat
Complete the online modules
Build your case studies
Submit your assessment
Achieve certification
Why train with us
Learn in-person from two experienced master coaches
You’re guided by two OA Master Coaches, Gray Caws and Andrew Ritchie – both with years of experience across:
You see different coaching styles. You hear different perspectives. You learn to adapt – not copy.
You get practical, human, hands-on coaching support
Functional breathing is simple. Teaching it requires skill. We help you:
You learn how breath, posture, and movement work together
Breathing doesn’t exist separately from the rest of your body. We show you how it interacts with:
This is where movement and awareness practices add depth to OA.
You also learn directly from Patrick McKeown
You’re not choosing between us and and world-renowned breath expert Patrick McKeown. You also learn directly from him through:
You don’t just understand the method – you know how to teach it
The difference is simple: This training develops practical instructors – not just people who know the theory.
Your Coaches
This training is led by experienced coaches who work collaboratively rather than hierarchically. You’re guided by practitioners who teach breathing in context – shaped by years of coaching, movement practice, and real-world application – and supported by the wider Oxygen Advantage faculty.
Gray Caws
Master InstructorGray’s work centres on the belief that sustainable health and performance emerge when breath, attention, and movement are aligned with everyday life.
His teaching style brings clarity to complex ideas, helping people understand not just what to do, but why it matters and when to apply it.
He is a Master Instructor in both the Oxygen Advantage® and Buteyko methods, with a background as a specialist personal trainer and running coach.
His approach has been shaped by extensive training with internationally recognised teachers across breathwork, meditation, qigong, and movement, alongside many years of hands-on coaching with a wide range of clients.
Gray has delivered breathwork programmes for initiatives such as ASICS Movement for Mind, working alongside mental health researcher Dr Brendon Stubbs. That programme followed nearly 200 participants and demonstrated meaningful improvements in activity levels and wellbeing, reinforcing his emphasis on understanding over pressure.
He is a member of the EMCC UK, a professional body committed to maintaining and developing high standards in coaching and mentoring practice.
As founder and director of Adventures in Movement, Gray focuses on teaching that is grounded, adaptable, and human – supporting people to carry learning confidently into daily life.
Andrew Ritchie
Master InstructorAndrew brings a steady, practical presence to teaching, shaped by over 20 years working in outdoor health, movement, and resilience.
His work focuses on how breathing supports regulation, adaptability, and performance under real-world demands.
A Master Oxygen Advantage Instructor, Andrew has a particular interest in Heart Rate Variability and its role in stress, recovery, and decision-making. His teaching integrates functional breathing with movement and awareness practices, including qigong, to support both physical and mental resilience.
Through his work with Performance Breathworks, Andrew has supported thousands of people – from children to adults, beginners to experienced athletes – across corporate settings, sport, education, and individual coaching.
He also designs and leads retreats and adventure-based programmes that encourage learning through experience rather than instruction alone.
Andrew’s approach is inclusive and supportive, offering structure without rigidity and space without uncertainty. He helps participants develop confidence through clarity, thoughtful pacing, and practical application.
Patrick McKeown
Founder, Oxygen AdvantageThis training is delivered in collaboration with Patrick McKeown, the founder of the Oxygen Advantage method.
Patrick provides the foundational framework for the training and teaches a series of live online sessions as part of the certification pathway. These sessions connect reminders of core principles, deeper theoretical insight, and long-term perspective on the method’s development and application.
While the in-person retreat is led by experienced Master Instructors, Patrick’s ongoing involvement ensures the training remains aligned with the integrity, evolution, and original intent of the Oxygen Advantage approach – while allowing space for thoughtful coaching, discussion, and real-world application..
What’s Included
When you join the Oxygen Advantage Instructor Training, you receive a complete learning and support pathway – not just a workshop.
In-Person Training
You attend a live training delivered by experienced Oxygen Advantage Master Instructors. The curriculum covers functional breathing, coaching application, and real-world teaching skills, with time for practice, questions, and discussion.
Post-training integration
Three 90-minute live online masterclasses designed to help you integrate the material, work through real client scenarios, and build confidence as you begin teaching.
Learn Directly from Patrick McKeown
Unlimited access to the Oxygen Advantage online learning platform, including comprehensive video lessons, resources, and teaching materials. Plus live online classes delivered by Patrick McKeown, founder of the Oxygen Advantage method.
Personal Support
An onboarding call and a one-to-one coaching session with Gray or Andrew to support your case studies, assessment preparation, and early teaching experience.
Ongoing Community and Certification
Join an ongoing instructor community with regular coaches’ catch-ups, peer support, and guidance throughout your certification process.
Once certified, you’re certified for life. No annual recertification fees, no renewals, no hidden costs.