Chris Rapaport — A Life Rebuilt Through Breath

My name is Chris. I'm a dad, a husband, and a seeker often asking why we're here and what we're doing. I'm a breathwork facilitator, a wellness guide, and a community builder. But to understand who I am now, you need to know who I was, and the journey that brought me here.

The Invisible Struggle

Five years ago, I had what most would call success. A thriving landscaping business. Fourteen staff. Seven-figure turnover. On the outside, everything looked perfect. On the inside, I was drowning.

I was home every night, but I wasn't present. I was there physically, but my mind and energy were still at work. I was exhausted in a way that sleep couldn't touch. My body was running on cortisol and adrenaline the chemicals that fuelled my work ambition. Without them, I had nothing left.

What I didn't realise at the time was that I was stressed one hundred percent of the time. My stomach was dysregulated, constantly troubled, constantly signalling that something was wrong. But because stress was my baseline, I had no comparison. I didn't recognise it as stress. I thought this was normal. I thought I was handling it well.

I was incredibly good at hiding it. My office manager had no idea what was happening inside me. I was managing a busy business during its peak season leading up to Christmas. Everything looked fine from the outside. But my body knew better.

The First Glimmer

Earlier that year, I attended a breathwork event. Honestly, I went for the ice bath that was the draw. But during the breathwork session, something shifted inside me. Something intuitively called to that experience, though I didn't fully understand it at the time.

I didn't think much of it after. I went back to my life, back to the same patterns, the same stress, the same dysregulation.

Rock Bottom

By mid-November, as the Christmas rush intensified, I couldn't push anymore. My body shut down. I found myself in the fetal position, lost in my own life, unable to function. Some call it rock bottom. I call it the moment everything changed.

That's when the memory of that breathwork event surfaced. I reached out to the facilitator. Desperate. Willing to try anything. I wasn't thinking about becoming a breathwork facilitator, I just needed help.

He told me about a five-day breathwork training in the mountains at the end of January. He said it was exactly what I needed.

The First Training, Hope Without Integration

Those five days changed my perspective. They gave me a glimpse of what normal could feel like. I came back with clarity, hope, and a vision that things could be so much better. For the first time in years, I felt a lightness, a possibility.

But here's what I didn't understand then: a transformational event is just the beginning. It's not the transformation itself.

I came home with all this new energy and vision, planning how things would change. But I didn't change my daily habits. I didn't change my routine. I didn't integrate what I'd learned into my actual life. I went straight back to doing exactly what I'd always done, running the business the same way, maintaining the same patterns, pushing just as hard.

By the following Christmas, exactly one year later, I found myself in the same place. Fatigued. Burnt out. Desperate again. All the hope and vision had evaporated because I hadn't built a foundation to hold it.

The Real Work Begins

That's when I made a different choice. I sought out training that went deeper, not just a glimpse, but a prolonged commitment to embodiment and integration. I connected with Tim, the facilitator of Spiritus Breathwork and Somatic Healing, and something about his approach resonated deeply. He emphasised trauma-informed practice, holistic healing, and most importantly: embodiment over experience.

I committed to six months of training one day a week on Thursdays, stepping away from the business during its busy season. It was terrifying. It was out of my comfort zone. But intuitively, I knew this was where I needed to be.

During those six months, while still running the landscaping business, Alana and I began facilitating breathwork ceremonies together. We didn't wait until we felt "ready." We stepped in, and the community received it beautifully. But we also committed to checking in monthly, Is this where we're supposed to be? Are we aligned?

Through the Spiritus training, I learned that real change doesn't come from peak experiences. It comes from a combination of daily practice and deeper work. From showing up consistently. From embodying the work in your nervous system until it becomes who you are, not just something you do.

I learned that if you create space in your nervous system through breathwork but don't change the underlying patterns and habits, you'll end up right back where you started. I was living proof of that.

So I changed. I committed to daily practices. I held myself accountable. I reflected. I listened to feedback from those around me, how I was showing up for my kids, for Alana, for the people in my life. Slowly, gradually, new neural pathways began to form. My presence deepened. My anxiety softened. My relationships transformed.

The Purpose Reveals Itself

As I deepened my practice and embodiment, something became clear: the landscaping business wasn't my purpose. It never had been.

For a long time, I used muscle testing to ask: Should I step away? And the answer kept coming back: No. Not yet. This frustrated me. Why didn't I feel aligned with work I was so good at?

Then one day it clicked. The landscaping business wasn't the destination. It was the vehicle. Its purpose was to fund the studio, to build the space where Alana and I could facilitate healing work. Once I understood that once I connected the why to the what, the work became easy. The money flowed. The stress lifted.

And when the studio was finished, when everything was paid for, the answer changed. The muscle testing, my intuition, my inner knowing all aligned: It's time.

The Twelve-Month Break

One week before I turned forty the age I'd dreamed of retiring since I was younger, I stepped away from the landscaping business.

But retirement looked nothing like I'd imagined.

At first, there was rest. There was reflection. There was also unexpected challenge. I'd built my identity around work, around being productive, around having structure and routine. Without it, I felt untethered. There was doubt. What have I done? What am I doing? Where am I supposed to be?

I slowly rebuilt. I returned to physical training. I invested in my health. I started doing things purely for me. And slowly, Alana and I found our rhythm not balance (because balance implies equal proportions, and life isn't equal), but harmony. Harmony between time for myself, time with Alana, time with the kids, and time serving others.

It's been challenging. It's ongoing. But it's authentic.

Facilitating from Alignment

During that twelve-month break, and continuing now, facilitating breathwork with Alana has become the most fulfilling work I've ever done. It doesn't feel like work. It feels like purpose.

Every month, we check in: Is this where we're supposed to be? And the answer keeps coming back yes.

I started Settle and Breathe a weekly nervous system reset practice, four weeks ago. Last week and this week are both sold out. The community is showing us, through their presence and their commitment, that this is exactly where we need to be.

People are coming back to themselves. They're sleeping deeper. They're calmer. They're more present. And in holding space for them, I'm continuing to deepen my own practice.

My Purpose

I now understand my purpose clearly: to help people come home. Home to themselves. Home to their bodies. Home to presence. Home to connection, with themselves, with each other, with their community.

I want people to feel what it truly means to be regulated, to be in your body rather than trapped in your head, to experience the profound shifts that happen when you commit to daily practice and embodiment.

I want to be that light for people who are seeking and searching, just as the breath was that light for me.

Everlasting Olive

My wife Alana started Everlasting Olive on her own healing journey. Through creating dried floral arrangements, she reconnected to herself, to nature, to the simple things that matter. The name honours her nan, Olive, and carries the legacy of something eternal.

When our paths converged, it felt like coming home. We've built a purpose-designed studio on two and a half acres in Medowie, land we've called home for twenty-five years. We've owned this property for five years and purpose-built every detail of this space with intention.

Alana brings her gifts of energy work, quantum healing, and deep attunement to what people need. I bring breathwork and somatic facilitation. Together, we create ceremonies, circles, and practices designed to help people feel welcomed, accepted, and truly at home.

How We Work

Everything we do is grounded in safety and acceptance. Not as words, but as a lived, felt experience the moment you enter our space. We're trauma-informed. We're embodied. We're intentional. And we continue our own deep work daily so we can show up authentically for others.

We don't believe in peak experiences without integration. We believe in consistency. In daily practice. In the slow, deliberate rewiring of your nervous system and your life.

Whether it's Settle and Breathe, our weekly practice for nervous system reset or Breathe to Receive, our deeper therapeutic work, or the women's circles Alana holds, or the Legacy Foundry, the men's circle I facilitate, or the creative workshops we offer together, everything is designed with one purpose: to help you come home to yourself.

An Invitation

If you're feeling lost, exhausted, disconnected, or like you're living but not really present you're not alone. I was there. I understand.

If you're ready to come back to yourself, to your body, to your presence, to your community you belong here at Everlasting Olive.

Come as you are. You're so welcome.