It was the unfathomable grief of losing his girlfriend to cancer which first inspired Stuart Sandeman to explore the art of breath work.
Unable to leave the house or speak to anyone, Sandeman was at rock bottom until he booked a last-minute breathing workshop with his mother and felt a sudden breakthrough where he could ‘work through my grief using breath’.
Eight years on, the wellness guru and Radio 1 DJ is being lauded as the man who could hold the key to England’s new-found penalty success thanks to his game-changing breathing sessions with Gareth Southgate‘s squad.
The Three Lions held their nerve to dispatch five perfect penalties in their dramatic win against Switzerland in Dusseldorf on Saturday night – setting up a semi-final showdown against the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Players including Ivan Toney, Bukayo Saka and Trent Alexander-Arnold – who fearlessly thumped the winning spot-kick into the top left corner – were seen calmly breathing as they stepped up with the weight of a nation on their shoulders.
It has since emerged that this may not be a coincidence – as the squad held a breathing session with Sandeman, author of the international best seller Breathe In, Breathe Out, at their luxury basecamp in Blankenhain, Germany, just days before.
The filmed session showed stars such as captain Harry Kane appearing to drop off as they worked on calmer breathing. All the players were lying down with their eyes closed and head propped up with pillows.
Sandeman, born in Edinburgh, told the team that breathing deeply – in for five seconds and out for five seconds ‘during high pressure moments’ – helps ‘let muscles, tissues, nerves and mind reset… so that when it’s time to switch back on, you’re able to perform at your best’.
Stuart Sandeman was with the England team in Germany last week and was given a shirt signed by the squad
Sandeman shared how he had tragically lost his girlfriend Tiff to cancer on Valentine’s Day 2016
He is now engaged to Nova Ayrton-Wright, who he says helped him ‘heal’ and ‘follow my dreams’
The breathing coach was even handed a signed shirt by the squad on the eve of their extra-time comeback win over Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen last Sunday, where Jude Bellingham scored his incredible overhead kick.
He said: ‘There’s no greater indication of the powerful link between breathing and performance than England including breathwork to aid the team’s recovery at Euro2024 after Sundays win. I’m humbled that they chose me to lead these sessions’.
Sandeman’s company Breathpod – which he set up in 2017 – has taught breathing techniques to the executives of some of the world’s biggest companies, including Google, Nike and L’Oreal.
During the lockdown, in a Joe Wicks-style approach, he held daily breathing sessions on social media which attracted hundreds of housebound workers looking for an outlet during the pandemic.
‘Everybody on the sessions just felt like they were there for a common goal, which was to feel a bit better and to have a better day that day,’ he told the Scottish Daily Mail last August.
‘It became this really supportive, lovely community online. That was never really the plan or intention but it just formed that way.’
The sessions led to Sandeman being signed up by BBC Radio 1, where he now presents an early morning show entitled the Decompression.
Before the age of 30, Sandeman left school, studied maths at university and worked in finance in London.
But he left the corporate world to become a DJ, travelling the world playing at festivals and nightclubs with his Taiwanese-American girlfriend Tiff.
This magical, carefree existence lasted until one day in 2014, in a treatment room in a Los Angeles hospital, when Tiff was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.
‘I always thought I could fix things,’ he previously explained. ‘I thought we were going to beat cancer, I was going to prove everyone wrong. It was part of that strength, like being a judo player.
‘Not taking the doctor’s words as gospel and saying let’s not listen to that diagnosis.’
Tiff tragically died on Valentine’s Day 2016, aged just 32, and Sandeman’s world collapsed.
‘It was like the rug was pulled from beneath me. It was really, really hard. The way I experienced it was complete withdrawal.
‘I didn’t even want to get out of bed some days and that scared everyone around me, especially my family.’
Sandeman returned home to Edinburgh and found himself living with his parents aged 33.
Bukayo Saka and Trent Alexander-Arnold noticeably took deep breaths before scoring their penalties
The breathing guru could be the secret behind England’s penalty success at Euro 2024, after the team scored 5 flawless pens against Switzerland
Stuart Sandeman, a breathing expert, was drafted in to help lead a recovery session
Players including Harry Kane (right) laid down on the floor and were taken through a number of breathing exercises
Breathwork is said to aid recovery for athletes and work on their fight or flight instinct, and the England team were seen relaxing during his lessons last week
‘I didn’t want to speak to anybody because I didn’t want to show my vulnerability.
‘I knew I might be upset deep down, so I just locked myself away. I had a lot of guilt. I really felt like in some way it was my fault.
‘I’d say to myself, ‘I should have listened to that person, or why didn’t we try that’, as if it was my fault. Everything played out exactly as the doctor said it would but I didn’t listen to them because I didn’t want to accept it when Tiff was alive, let alone when she passed away.’
Sandeman’s breakthrough moment came when, on Mother’s Day, he bought a last-minute gift for his mum.
‘I needed to get something for her and about an hour beforehand something popped up online about a breathing workshop. We went the following week and I really just thought I was going there for her, I didn’t think anything of it.
‘And then, in that session, it was like a lightbulb switched on. It was very powerful. It pulled away all the armour I had. It was a huge shift.’
During that first session Sandeman sobbed his heart out, finally recognising the magnitude of his grief. Hooked, he started attending more workshops, learning about breathing and its myriad benefits, while healing his broken heart.
‘I worked through my grief using breath,’ he said.
‘I started to get more and more excited about the potential of using our breath to unpack parts of ourselves and release the parts that aren’t actually serving us any more.’
Stuart Sandeman with his partner Nova Ayrton-Wright. A previous girlfriend, called Tiff, died from cancer in 2016 and it led to him looking into breathing techniques
England breathing guru Stuart Sandeman with Nova and Diary Of A CEO star Steven Bartlett
Sandeman and his fiancée work together at Breathpod and host a Radio 1 show
Breathpod was born the following year, tapping into the growing market for wellness, and he even appeared at Gwyneth Paltrow’s In Goop Health summit in London in 2019, giving breathing sessions to well-heeled yoga bunnies.
Sandeman has continued to rise to the top, no more so than joining the England team in Germany last week.
Sharing a photo with a signed England shirt he was gifted, he hailed the ‘incredible experience’ and urged fans to ‘get down to the bookies’ and bet on the Three Lions going all the way.
On Valentine’s Day, Sandeman emotionally reflected on the losing Tiff to cancer and said he never thought he could find love again until he met Nova Ayrton-Wright, now his fiancée who he says helped him ‘heal’ and ‘follow my dreams’.
He shared how they ‘toast to Tiff and remind ourselves to celebrate life’ every Valentine’s Day ‘because everybody dies, but not everybody truly lives’.
After Sandeman shared his post about working with England, Ms Ayrton-Wright commented: ‘Proud as punch. What an experience.’
Sandeman and Nova are engaged and often share pictures of them travelling the world together
Sandeman regularly pays tribute to the positive impact that Nova has had on his life
The couple, who often share photos of them travelling the world together, work together at Breathpod and both host the Decompression Session on BBC Radio 1.
Sandeman’s success with the England team comes after years of heartache from the penalty spot, with current boss Gareth Southgate himself seeing a penalty saved at Euro 96, but a renewed push to change the mentality in recent years has paid dividends.
Indeed, Southgate is said to have worked tirelessly to improve the psyche of his players ahead of shootouts.
A team of analysts, led by a sports psychologist, were first drafted in and now, breathing expert Mr Sandeman has also been hired. Stuart’s technique has been described as ‘distinctive… designed to disrupt negative thought patterns, release tension, and increase flow.’
Sandeman’s world came crashing down when he lost his girlfriend to cancer. But his life changed when he explored breath work
With the end goal of the work to help players take control of high-pressure situations surrounding penalties and avoid being scared of them, the squad have been tasked with taking deep breaths to regain calm and control before shooting.
Expert Geir Jordet believes the work was noticeable.
‘Some are told to do very deliberate conscious breathing, where they are focusing on deep diaphragmatic breaths that we know will bring on a cascade of constructive hormones and neurobiological processes in your brain and body,’ he told AP.
Sandeman’s technique has been described as ‘distinctive… designed to disrupt negative thought patterns, release tension, and increase flow.’
Breathwork can aid recovery and help athletes work on their fight or flight instinct.
‘The autonomous nervous system is split in two halves… how we’re breathing really affects that on switch,’ Sandeman told Misner.
‘Not only does breathing bring life into our body, but it triggers our state of being.
‘It affects how we feel, how we think, how our system works.’
Luke Shaw revealed after the win against Switzerland that Declan Rice had reminded his team-mates about the breathing techniques they had learned.
‘Declan was our speaker, he was calming everyone down and telling them to do their breathing techniques and manifest them,’ Shaw said. ‘It was needed.’
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