So, what *is* breathwork, anyway? I think the most helpful way to see it is this: Breathwork is a method of accessing the higher self in order to release emotions that would otherwise be difficult to reach when seeking them through the conscious mind. It doesn’t rely on your ability to connect to your past pain consciously in order to release that pain. It is compassionate, accessible and reliable. It asks only for your willingness to engage.
Breathwork or pranayama (prana = energy + yama = control), has many forms and has been practiced worldwide for millennia. The connected, spiral breath that I teach and use in my own practice is incredibly simple and available to anyone. The basic breath is a belly inhale, a heart inhale, and then an exhale, all through the mouth. The exhale is a surrender. It is not pushed — it is a release, a letting go. This Breathwork technique bypasses the analytical mind (which guards the Self from the incorrect perception that growth is dangerous and should be avoided) and talks directly to the body.
We allow this breath to spiral throughout the body, sweeping and lightening wherever it goes. As we enter the ecstatic state that the breath delivers, temporarily letting go of our earthly identity becomes effortless.
In session and in class, my job is to be the compassionate witness to your beautiful willingness to accept your entrenched patterns as they rise to the surface with the flow of the breath. Students report feeling incredibly emotional and can feel taken off guard by this if they are not aware that everything is in perfect accord. When our emotions are witnessed lovingly by someone else (the someone else can be your own beautiful observer consciousness!), they experience the acceptance needed to move out of our energetic biofield, and then those emotions are no longer experienced as obstacles in our lives.
We practice the breath in this circular way, and then we ground our energy for some time afterward in order to integrate the healing that we have generated within the body. The traumas of living life in the disconnected way that all humans do, tend to make the spirit want to withdraw from the body. This practice invites us to remember ourselves in our divinity and to know within our cells that it is safe to be here on this earth, and in fact, that it was a beautiful, divine choice that we agreed to and accepted.
Breathwork is a powerful technique for exploration, discovery, healing, and personal growth. It allows us to access negative, subconscious patterns and let go of what no longer serves us. All without having to puzzle through our tricky childhoods and painful adult experiences. Those painful patterns become stuck in our biofield, and the oxygen saturation created in a breathwork session helps to clear those patterns with ease.
Only a short time after starting a session, you will likely experience a tingling sensation throughout your body as the stagnant energy in your system is nudged forward. Your body will know what to do, and this vibration will resonate through every cell of your being, renewing your system with each breath. Many people report having profound spiritual and mystical experiences. Often students have an experience of profound love from a relative who has passed or directly from source energy. Your experience will be unique to you and your path.
Breathwork is different for everyone and is different every time you do it.
What You May Experience…
- Awareness of Kundalini Energy unfolding within you
- Ability to manifest greater abundance
- Deep healing of wounds, grief, and traumas
- Access to divine guidance and clarity
- Transcendence of the monkey mind
- Expanded Consciousness
- Release of undigested emotions and painful memories
- Release of cellular debris and toxins
- Deep relaxation with natural release of DMT
- Awareness of the truth of who you really are
- Greater self-love and more loving relationships
- Emotional Balance
- Relief from physical pain
- Increased connection to Source
- Overwhelming feelings of joy
- Deep inner peace
- Intense Connection to All that Is