New Zealand breathwork institute HineHau has expanded its BreathWav practitioner training from four months to six, adding a longer mentorship period and small focus groups to its 200-hour certification pathway. The revised format began with a seven-day immersion at Lake Ōkataina, Rotorua, from September 21 to 27 and now continues online through March 2027.
Founded by Shannon Rose, HineHau trains women in breathwork facilitation through a framework grounded in Te Ao Māori and conscious connected breathing. The current cohort is the institute’s final 2026 intake and follows earlier trainings through which HineHau says it has trained more than 50 practitioners.
More time between immersion and certification
The training begins in person, where participants study facilitation, embodiment and the BreathWav method while also practising in small groups. A group practicum is built into the immersion so trainees begin facilitating before moving into the longer online phase.
The six-month certification then combines recorded learning, supervised practice, case studies and 90-minute focus-group support calls with a designated HineHau trainer. The extension is intended to give participants more time to accumulate practice hours and receive feedback while they begin applying the work outside the training room.
HineHau teaches several BreathWav templates, including Journey, DownRegulate, UpRegulate, CoRegulate and Ngā Hau e Whā. The curriculum also addresses the nervous system and facilitation safety while placing the work within Māori understandings of hauora and oranga. The certification is accredited by the International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine.
Mentorship becomes part of practitioner formation
The most significant change is not an additional technique but the training architecture. HineHau has moved away from a shorter post-immersion pathway and toward a model in which students remain connected to trainers while completing real-world practice. Small focus groups are intended to make feedback more specific and give trainees a consistent place to discuss facilitation experiences.
For independent breathwork schools, that shift highlights a growing question in practitioner education: how much supported practice should sit between learning a method and receiving a professional certificate. HineHau’s answer is a longer supervised period rather than a more compressed course.
The September immersion has concluded, and the cohort is now entering its online certification and mentorship phase through March 2027.
Source: HineHau
Web: https://www.hinehau.com/HineHauPractitionersTraining
