Dan Brulé, Breathwork Expert: 'Sweet Sorrow' Can Be the Sweet Spot for Moving Through Grief

After unexpectedly losing his 42-year-old son, Brulé says conscious breathing helped him move through profound emotional pain

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, August 31, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Grief can stop life in its tracks. For Dan Brulé, author, breathwork expert, and founder of Breath Mastery, losing his 42-year-old son became an experience that tested him in unexpected ways and deepened his understanding of how breathwork can help people navigate overwhelming emotions.

“Grief can be debilitating, and I know that pain firsthand after unexpectedly losing my son at just 42 years old. The power of breathwork helped carry me through that devastating heartache. When sadness becomes overwhelming, we often resist feeling its full depth. But by learning to channel emotions such as grief, fear, and anger through the breath, we can move through them instead of becoming trapped, pushed, pulled, or frozen by them,” says Brulé.

Brulé’s perspective comes as breathwork continues to attract attention as a practice for exploring emotional experiences, including grief. Recent research shows how breathwork is used to alleviate grief.

For millions of people, grief is an unavoidable part of life, but its effects can extend far beyond the initial loss. A 2024 study published in JAMA Network Open found that 20.4% of bereaved U.S. adults surveyed met criteria for a presumptive diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder.

For Brulé, the subject is not theoretical. When he received the news that his son had died, he experienced what he describes as the worst emotional shock of his life. His response, however, was immediate and physical.

“When I got the news, my breath exploded open, and I watched my body heave with each breath. In a short time, I was practically free of the pain. I had waves of crying and breathing as I traveled through four airports in the next 24 hours, and I was able to be present, clear, and supportive of his mother and brother,” explains Brulé.

Brulé says profound emotional experiences can sometimes feel too overwhelming for the body and mind to process, particularly when people resist feeling the full depth of what they are experiencing. He teaches that conscious breathing can offer a way to remain present with those emotions and channel the energy they create.

“When we allow ourselves to fully feel deep sadness, it passes remarkably quickly. And then we find there is a sweetness in the sadness—thus the expression ‘sweet sorrow,’” says Brulé.

That idea has become especially meaningful in how Brulé remembers his son.

Today, when he thinks about him, Brulé may feel a moment of sadness, particularly when he considers the time they could have spent together. But the dominant feelings are gratitude and warmth as he remembers how funny his son was and how fully he embraced life.

“Like a star, he burned bright for a short time,” Brulé says.

For those who want to learn more about breathwork, Brulé shares his techniques in his best-selling book, Just Breathe: Mastering Breathwork. He also offers courses and is currently on an international breathwork tour, sharing his techniques with practitioners around the world.

“Breathwork is the best tool we have to navigate powerful emotions and liberate ourselves from trauma and suffering,” Brulé concludes. "When we practice and train ourselves to breathe when we are angry, afraid, tense, or in pain, our training kicks in and the breath automatically works for us when stress or trauma occurs. Also, sadness naturally transforms into gratitude over time."

About Dan Brulé

Dan Brulé is an internationally recognized breathwork pioneer, author, and founder of Breath Mastery. With 50 years of experience teaching conscious breathing, Brulé has trained people around the world in using the breath as a pathway to greater awareness, emotional balance, resilience, and personal growth. He is the author of Just Breathe: Mastering Breathwork and The Power of the Breath.

To learn more, please visit: https://breathmastery.com/

Dan Brulé is available for interviews.

Amanda Kent
Boundless Media USA
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