In this conversation, Breathing Deeply Founder and Lead Teacher Brandt Passalacqua speaks with Sophie Perducat-Rubi, a certified yoga therapist and Breathing Deeply graduate, and her client Bill about a balance disorder so severe that he was left walking like ‘a drunk person for several months’.
Bill’s physician had ordered an MRI, ruled out a tumor, and sent him home with no treatment plan. Then he sought out yoga therapy with Sophie. What followed was two months of a 15-minute daily yoga therapy practice that resolved the problem completely.
When conventional medicine reaches the edge of what it can explain or treat, people are often left with a diagnosis that amounts to: we don’t know, and there is nothing we can do. For Bill, that meant months of severe balance problems, an MRI, and a physician who essentially said you are on your own.
Yoga therapy starts from a different place. Rather than looking for a structural cause to treat in isolation, Sophie assessed the whole picture, including Bill’s history of vertigo, a prior COVID infection he had not initially connected to his symptoms, and the specific nature of his balance dysfunction.
From that assessment, she built a practice centered on alternating nostril breathing and cross-body breathing patterns and a Prana Nidra practice. These techniques are designed to engage both hemispheres of the brain and support neurological reintegration through breath and intentional movement.
The practice took 15 minutes a day. Bill took agency over his health and did the practice daily without missing a single session.
Within two weeks, he noticed a measurable change. Within two months, his balance had fully returned, and unlike his previous experiences with vertigo, it has not come back.
Bill had done exercises to help his balance work before, such as holding standing poses with focus points. But it didn’t work. What was missing was the breath, the cross-body integration, and the engagement of the mind in the rebalancing process. Sophie identified that gap and designed a practice specifically for what Bill’s system actually needed.
For anyone navigating a condition that feels unexplained or unsolvable, this case is worth taking note of. Sometimes the missing piece is not a new diagnosis or a stronger medication; it is a different kind of attention paid to the whole person.
If you have a condition you believe is ‘unsolvable,’ consider working with a Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapist or join our Breathing Deeply Wellness Platform.
If you feel called to support others through complex physical and mental health challenges, our professional Yoga Therapy Training provides mentorship, clinical thinking skills, and whole-person education.
If you are navigating physical and/or mental health challenges, Breathing Deeply Wellness offers accessible programs rooted in yoga therapy principles to support meaningful change.
Breathing Deeply is a Yoga Therapy and Meditation School co-founded by lead teacher Brandt Passalacqua in 2011. Breathing Deeply offers two levels of certification: Foundations of Yoga Therapy and an IAYT-accredited Advanced Program, offering C-IAYT eligibility.
Other offerings include Breathing Deeply Wellness, a service-driven community of Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapists dedicated to helping the public optimize their physical, mental, and spiritual health, an annual online meditation teacher training certification, and specialized yoga therapy courses. Breathing Deeply is an active and thriving community of meditators and yogis, caregivers, therapists, teachers, medical professionals, parents & children with the same intention—to serve others, lessen suffering, and co-create a new paradigm in wellness.
Brandt talks about common questions applicants have about the Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy Program. Tune in to get the full program details.