The Inner Ascent is a 2.5-hour immersive workshop led by award-winning filmmaker, mountaineer, and five-time Everest summiteer Elia Saikaly.
Blending story, science, and somatic experience, it invites individuals and teams to reconnect with their breath as a tool for presence, performance, and self-leadership.
Through cinematic storytelling from the world’s highest peaks and guided practices grounded in nervous system science, participants learn to quiet the mind, reset the body, and rediscover the stillness beneath stress and speed.
This is not a talk. It is an experience that realigns body, mind, and spirit and reminds us that the greatest summits we reach are the ones within.
Every Inner Ascent begins with education and preparation, creating a foundation for the deeper experience ahead. Participants explore how breathing shapes the nervous system, mood, and mental clarity. Through functional breathing techniques such as slower exhales, nasal breathing, and diaphragmatic control, they learn how to regulate stress and restore balance in real time.
As part of this foundation, Elia leads the audience through simple, guided breathwork exercises – short, accessible practices experienced together in real time. These moments allow participants to immediately feel the impact of the breath on their focus, state, and physiology, bridging science with lived experience.
The session also introduces the science behind Conscious Connected Breathwork, a rhythmic, circular technique that calms the mind, balances the body, and opens access to creativity, insight, and emotional release.
In The Inner Ascent, Elia not only teaches the science of breath, he brings it to life through short film segments and stories captured on the world’s highest peaks. Participants witness how conscious breathing became a lifeline on Everest: how Elia used specific techniques to charge his body at 2 a.m. before entering the Khumbu Icefall, how he restored safety and balance after being hit by an avalanche, and how pre-sleep breathwork helped him program the subconscious and sustain focus through weeks of isolation.
These aren’t distant tales of adventure. They are powerful, visual reminders that the same breath that sustains life in the death zone also stabilizes us in the pressures of daily life in leadership, in transition, in the moments that test our composure. Through story and breath, participants see that clarity and strength are not found in conquering the external climb, but in mastering the internal one, one conscious breath at a time.
Through music, guidance, and breath, participants enter a Conscious Connected Breathwork journey, a profound exploration of body and mind.
As the rhythm builds, thought fades, tension releases, and awareness expands. In this altered yet grounded state, creativity, emotion, and insight flow freely.
The experience closes in stillness and reflection, a collective exhale that restores calm and clarity.
Participants leave grounded, energized, and equipped with tools for daily regulation and deeper presence.
The Inner Ascent is more than a workshop. It is an awakening through breath and a reminder that the highest peaks are always found within.
Practical breathwork tools to regulate stress, sharpen focus, and restore balance.
A clear understanding of how the breath influences nervous system health and performance.
Techniques for composure and resilience inspired by real experiences on Everest.
A guided journey into expanded states of awareness through Conscious Connected Breathwork.
Possible revelatory insights, visions, and a clearer sense of direction or purpose.
Somatic release and emotional processing that bring the body and mind back into alignment.
A shared experience of group flow that strengthens trust, unity, and collaboration among teammates.
A renewed sense of clarity, connection, and calm that continues long after the session.
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