We demonstrate the propagation dynamics of optical breathers in nonlinear media with a spatial nonlocality, which is governed by the nonlocal nonlinear Schrodinger equation, by employing the variational approach. Taking a tripole breather as an example, the approximate analytical solution is obtained and the physical propagation properties, such as the evolution of the critical power, the spot size, the wavefront curvature, and the intensity distribution of the breather, have been discussed in detail. The physical reasons for the evolution of the tripole breathers are analyzed by borrowing the ideas from Newtonian mechanics. It is found that the analytical results obtained by the variational approach agree well with the numerical results of the nonlocal Schrodinger equation for the strong nonlocal case, especially when the incident power approaches the critical power.