From burn-out to breathwork: A Virginia teacher’s journey

Burnt-out, lonely, overworked and isolated is how one Virginia teacher felt before he inevitably crashed and burned. But his journey has led him to publish his first book and embark on a new career as a therapist.

Niall McHugo began his career after college in the high-powered world of advertising in Dublin. Then, after a stint travelling in Australia he came home and decided to give primary school teaching a go and found he “loved it”.

“I was a substitute teacher so was in and out of various schools around Cavan and loved the vibe, the energy in schools,” Niall recalls. “I loved helping kids get the most out of school. It gave me great energy.”

After deciding to pursue teaching as his full-time career, Niall went to the UK as it was the quickest way to attain his teaching qualification and, when he returned home, joined the principal release scheme.

Working in different primary schools to give principals day release from their teaching roles and concentrate some time on admin gave Niall an insight into the role of the modern principal.

“I guess I saw pressure. Head teachers have to teach their class but then there’s all the admin and management they have to do as well,” Niall said.

However, when a principalship came up in the Model School, Bailieborough, Niall applied and got the job.

And he threw himself into the role. “You can cruise, do enough and that’s fine, it works,” Niall knows now. “But, if you want the kids to have every opportunity, then there’s a lot out there that you can tap into.”

He continued: “The children I taught had coaches come in for tennis, gymnastics, soccer. We entered the Junior Entrepreneur programme; we bought new musical instruments.”

The attendance record at Niall’s school was high. “The children wanted to come to school, they were well looked after. Thinking back, I would’ve loved it as a kid, so I wanted to provide all the opportunities that I didn’t get.

“Look, you want kids to get the best outcome from school,” is how he explains it today.

But all the best extra-curricular activities have to be organised by someone on the school team and a lot of that falls to the principal.

“Ultimately, it led to burnout,” Niall realises with hindsight. “People may not take into consideration all the admin, applying for grants, timetables and staff management that is part of the job.”

Then the pandemic happened. Principals had to split classrooms into pods, source security signage, erect barriers, draw up new timetables and manage the safe return to school for all staff and pupils.

At the same time, all was not good in Niall’s personal life.

“I think it’s not an exaggeration to say I hit rock bottom,” he recalls, “I felt lost, alone. Being a principal can be a lonely job; there’s no one above you or beside you and I was living alone at the time, too.

“People check in on you from time to time, but they generally don’t know how you’re coping but then how would they if you don’t tell them?” Niall says with the wisdom that comes from experience.

Niall’s teaching union offers free counselling sessions for head teachers and he took them up on the offer.

“Talking it out was a real start,” he says of counselling. “I went to a guy in Cavan who was brilliant. It was a big download. I felt better after every session for a few minutes and then after a while the counsellor said: ‘we’re finished’ and I couldn’t believe it.

“Something needed to give and that’s when I found breathwork.”

Niall explains the therapy that turned his life around in the following terms: “It’s a body up approach instead of from the head down one. It can work for students before exams, footballers about to take a free kick, and it can help with deep-rooted issues like repressed grief.

“I wouldn’t dream of knocking counselling because everyone knows it does great things for so many people but, if you want something more, if talking therapy isn’t getting you to the point you want to be at then I recommend breathwork.”

Niall tried “therapies, healers, everything” before he turned to breathwork under the expert tutelage of Pat Divilly. He got so much out of his therapy sessions that Niall travelled to Bali and trained with Divilly there for six months.

Now, he wants to share the benefits of this type of therapy with others.

Conscious connected breathwork is a non-verbal therapy, which through breathing techniques can enhance your physical vitality, improve mental clarity, and support emotional balance.

Through breathwork and somatic healing, you'll not only experience a deeper connection with yourself but could also gain valuable guidance and insights along the way.

Niall played football with his beloved Ramor United for many years and wishes he had known about breath therapy for sports sooner.

“Coaches are seeing more hamstring pulls, tight hips, and recurring injuries in players and athletes. But what if those injuries aren’t just due to training load or biomechanics?,” he asks. “What if they’re rooted in emotional stress trapped in the body? Many injuries aren’t just physical—they’re emotional.”

He cites Bressy who, as many will know, played rugby for Leinster and Ireland in the past and who practices breathwork now.

“Bressy has spoken about how he was always out with injury and he realises now his body was stressed with anxiety and tension, stress and emotion.

“If people knew how to breathe before a big game or taking a penalty, it could calm the whole body down in a few seconds,” he says.

Niall is a a breathwork therapist now working from centres in Skerries, Dulleek and Oldcastle.

Some of his local clients include a mother who couldn’t grieve for her daughter and a principal who had trouble sleeping at night.

He has also written a book called 'Never Give Up: There is Always a Way'.

Niall hopes others suffering any form of emotional stress or overload can find the peace breathwork therapy has brought him.

“In other therapies you talk and talk but breathwork is non-verbal,” he says. “You don’t have to tell your story in breathwork.

“People who are stuck don’t know where to go but I want everyone to know there is always a way", which also features in the title of his new book.

To find out more about Niall’s journey and breathwork therapy visit www.thebreathworkproject.ie or follow Niall on Instagram on @the.breathworkproject. His book 'Never Give Up: There is Always a Way' is available to buy in By The Book bookstore, Virginia or on Amazon now.