Integrative Airway & Wellness · New Orleans

Where breath,
structure,
and motion meet.

A collective practice built on the belief that true wellness begins with how you breathe, how you hold yourself, and how you move through the world.

Align + Thrive Collective
Metairie, Louisiana
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Our philosophy

Whole-body
care for every
stage of life.

From newborns navigating their first breath to adults seeking deeper restoration, Align + Thrive Collective brings together specialized expertise in a shared, integrative model. This isn't a clinic. It's a collective — built on collaboration, curiosity, and the conviction that healing works best when it's whole.

01
Breathe
Airway function and nasal breathing are the foundation of systemic wellness. We help you understand and optimize how your body takes in air.
02
Align
Posture, fascial tension, and craniosacral rhythm shape how your nervous system regulates. We help you release tension so your body can settle.
03
Thrive
Through evidence-informed wellness modalities and daily ritual — breathwork, light, heat, and frequency — we support your long-term vitality.
The breath foundation

The breath is where
everything meets.

At Align + Thrive, we believe breath is the foundation that all other wellness work rests on. Our approach addresses breathing from the inside out — structurally, biochemically, energetically, and neurologically.

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Most people never think about the way they breathe. It happens 20,000 times a day, quietly in the background — and for many of us, it has been quietly working against us for years.

Chronic mouth breathing, upper-chest dominance, and over-breathing don't just affect the lungs. They dysregulate the nervous system, suppress vagal tone, fragment sleep, reduce oxygen delivery to the brain and tissues, and keep the body locked in a low-grade stress response.

Wherever your breath is today, it can change — and it starts with a single session.

Book a Breath Session
The Breath Retraining Method
A clinically grounded breathing retraining method that restores nasal breathing, improves CO₂ tolerance, and directly activates vagal pathways through slow, reduced, nasal-diaphragmatic breathing.
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Developed by Soviet physician Konstantin Buteyko, this method has decades of evidence behind it for asthma, sleep-disordered breathing, anxiety, and airway dysfunction. When breathing is retrained, the vagus nerve begins reading the body as safe rather than under threat — vagal tone climbs, and the whole system shifts out of stress physiology into recovery.
Reiki & Somatic Breathwork
Reiki and guided breathwork work at the energetic and nervous system level — releasing what the body holds in tension, stimulating vagal tone through intentional breath patterns, and supporting integration so that change actually sticks.
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The slow, extended exhales, humming, and diaphragmatic techniques woven into sessions are not incidental — they are direct vagal nerve interventions embedded within the energetic work.
Our Unique Edge
Cate's background as a speech-language pathologist and myofunctional therapist means she can identify why you breathe the way you do — oral posture, tongue function, nasal patency, swallowing patterns. Dr. Kelly, a Fellowship-trained orthopedic manual physical therapist, brings the structural piece that's usually missing from airway care — releasing the postural, fascial, and craniosacral restrictions in the jaw, neck, rib cage, and diaphragm that can mechanically limit the airway. Chris addresses the energetic and biochemical dimensions through breathwork and Reiki. Together, they offer a depth of airway and nervous system care — structural, functional, and energetic — that is simply not available anywhere else in New Orleans.
The vagus nerve
is your body's
recovery system.

The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in the body, running from the brainstem through the heart, lungs, and gut. It is the primary driver of the parasympathetic nervous system — governing your capacity for rest, recovery, digestion, emotional regulation, and resilience.

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Disordered breathing patterns — mouth breathing, upper chest dominance, chronic over-breathing — chronically suppress vagal tone and keep the nervous system tilted toward stress. The downstream effects are wide-reaching: poor sleep quality, low energy, heightened anxiety, brain fog, and a body that can never fully come offline. Most people spend years addressing the symptoms without ever reaching the source.

At Align + Thrive, we work at the source. Breath retraining, somatic breathwork, and Reiki integration all share a common mechanism: they directly restore vagal tone, giving your nervous system the signal that it is finally safe to rest.

What we offer

Services for infants, children & adults.

Our services span the full arc of life. Whether you are a parent seeking gentle care for a newborn, a child navigating developmental challenges, or an adult ready to address patterns that have been held in the body for years — there is a place for you here.

Breathing Retraining
Evidence-based breathing retraining to restore nasal breathing, improve CO₂ tolerance, calm the nervous system, and address the root patterns driving airway dysfunction.
With Chris · Adults
Reiki & Breathwork Integration
Guided breathwork paired with Reiki energy work to restore vagal tone, release held tension, and support deep nervous system integration. Available as breath-focused or somatic breathwork sessions.
With Chris · Adults
Postural Stability & Fascial Release
Hands-on bodywork addressing postural compensation patterns, connective tissue restriction, and structural imbalances that contribute to pain, fatigue, and dysfunction.
With Kelly
Craniosacral Therapy — Adults
Light-touch therapy that releases restrictions in the craniosacral system to relieve tension, reduce pain, and support nervous system regulation.
With Kelly
Infant & Pediatric Craniosacral Therapy
Specialized gentle CST for newborns and children — supporting birth recovery, feeding difficulty, torticollis, plagiocephaly, and developmental wellbeing.
With Kelly · Infant through teen
Post-Frenectomy Integrated Care
A collaborative care model combining Cate's airway and oral motor expertise with Kelly's CST — designed for infants and children in recovery from tongue or lip tie release.
Cate + Kelly · Co-session available
Wellness Modality Sessions
Standalone or stacked sessions with our suite of evidence-informed wellness tools: red light therapy, sauna blanket, PEMF mat, and vibration plate.
Individual & bundled sessions
Wellness suite

Restore at a cellular level.

Our wellness modality suite is available as standalone sessions or stacked combinations. Each modality has been selected for its evidence base, safety profile, and complement to the bodywork and breathing coaching we offer.

Book a Wellness Session
Red Light Blanket
Full-body photobiomodulation to support cellular energy, skin health, inflammation reduction, and recovery.
Sauna Blanket
Far-infrared heat therapy for deep tissue warmth, detoxification, cardiovascular support, and deep relaxation.
PEMF Mat
Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy to support bone density, circulation, pain relief, and nervous system balance.
Vibration Plate
Whole-body vibration therapy for lymphatic circulation, muscle activation, balance training, and bone health.
Signature sessions

Thoughtfully layered experiences.

Signature · 75 min
The Reset
  • Sauna blanket warm-up
  • PEMF mat grounding
  • Breathing coaching with Cate
  • Airway stability assessment
75 minutes · Adults
Signature · 90 min
The Restore
  • Red light blanket session
  • Fascial release with Kelly
  • Postural reassessment
  • Home movement guidance
90 minutes · Adults
Pediatric · 60 min
Newborn Reset
  • Infant CST with Kelly
  • Airway & oral motor screen with Cate
  • Feeding support guidance
  • Parent education & home plan
60 minutes · Newborn through 12 mo
Breathwork + Reiki · 60 min
Breathe & Restore
  • Guided breathwork — somatic or breath-focused
  • Reiki energy integration with Chris
  • Vagal nerve activation throughout
  • Take-home breath practice
60 minutes · Adults · With Chris
Immersive · 90 min
Airway & Energy Reset
  • Extended breath retraining session
  • Full Reiki treatment with Chris
  • Myofunctional perspective from Cate
  • Practice Better session notes + protocol
90 minutes · Adults · Chris + Cate
Series · 6 sessions
Align & Thrive Airway Series
  • Breath retraining arc with Chris
  • Myofunctional carryover coaching with Cate
  • Reiki integration sessions
  • BOLT score tracking + home protocols
6 sessions · Adults · Chris + Cate
The collective

Meet your practitioners.

C
Co-Founder · Airway & Breathing
Cate
CCC-SLP · Lactation Counselor · Myofunctional Therapist

Cate is a medically trained speech-language pathologist with deep specialization in airway function, orofacial myology, tongue-tie care, and infant and pediatric feeding. At Align + Thrive Collective, she brings her clinical expertise into the wellness space — offering breathing coaching, airway stability programming, and education that helps clients of all ages understand how the airway shapes the whole body. Whether she's guiding a newborn's first latch or retraining an adult's breathing pattern, her aim is the same: to restore function at the source rather than manage symptoms downstream.

Breathing coaching Airway stability Post-frenectomy care Oral motor education
K
Co-Founder · Structural & Somatic Care
Dr. Kelly
PT, DPT, FAAOMPT · Craniosacral Therapist · Fascial Release Specialist

Fellowship-trained orthopedic manual physical therapist blending craniosacral therapy, fascial release, and postural correction into a whole-body approach to chronic pain, EDS, MCAS, and complex structural patterns — including infant and pediatric CST. Dr. Kelly didn't come to this work to treat a diagnosis — she came to treat a person, building each session around your body instead of a protocol. Part intuitive listener, part movement expert, she works one-on-one to hold a healing space where your nervous system feels safe enough to change — because healing is relational, not just mechanical.

Craniosacral therapy Infant & pediatric CST Postural stability Fascial release
C
Practitioner · Breath & Energy Work
Chris
Breathwork Practitioner · Reiki Master · Breathing Coach

Chris brings a powerful dual expertise in breath retraining and Reiki energy work — a rare combination that allows him to address the nervous system from both a functional and energetic dimension. Drawing on Reiki Mastery and the foundational writings on breath retraining, he helps clients retrain disordered breathing patterns at their biochemical root, restoring vagal tone and nasal breathing habituation. His Reiki practice deepens this work by supporting energetic release, somatic integration, and the kind of stillness that allows the body's own healing intelligence to come forward.

Breath retraining Reiki Somatic breathwork Vagus nerve activation
Find us

Serving New Orleans
and the Northshore.

Location
3001 22nd Street
Metairie, LA 70002 · Get directions
Hours
By appointment
Ready to begin

Your first session
starts with a breath.

We'd love to be part of your wellness journey. Book online, or reach out if you're not sure where to start — we'll help you find the right fit.

Book a Session