Christian de la Huerta is an internationally renowned breathwork instructor who moved to Aspen recently. He is leading a breathwork class on Tuesday at Aspen Shakti at 5:30 p.m. Courtesy of Christian de la Huerta

Christian de la Huerta remembers exactly when he had his watershed moment, when his life changed direction completely.

He was on a track to get a doctorate in psychology when he took a breathwork class with a woman named Maida Riley in Miami in 1989.

“It just changed my life because it worked so fast and healed me so profoundly on so many levels,” de la Huerta said in an interview. “Within nine months, I’d quit my job and sold my condo in South Beach. I jumped tracks completely.”

After that class, de la Huerta went off on a spiritual journey with Riley. He studied breathwork

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