Breath is Medicine and you are the one who holds it

What is Breathwork?

Breathwork is a therapeutic technique and a body-centric practice that involves the conscious alteration of natural breathing patterns that lead to non-ordinary states of consciousness, where unconscious and previously repressed thoughts, sensations, energies and emotions, that are held in the body, can more easily rise to the surface for integration.
It is a major tool to use when practicing reconnecting with your own body - dropping from the mind space to the realm of your body to eventually, with time and practice, repattern the mind-body system, fostering healing and forming deeper, more meaningful connections to self, others and life itself.

Breathwork reaches below the resistances of the mind to help uncover and address root causes of problems from a different angle, then talk therapy, that taps into our innate ability to heal ourselves, creating significant and long lasting shifts. It opens the door to self-discovery, transformation, and self-healing of the emotional, spiritual, and physical body creating significant and long lasting change.

Breathwork is a self-empowering therapeutic technique, where you build a connection to your own source of power and healing, through the support of your own breath.

What is Conscious connected breath?

Conscious Connected Breathwork implements a continuous circular breath, done through the mouth, while giving full conscious awareness to the breath. Throughout the session, the Breathwork Facilitator creates a safe container to hold space for emotional releases, providing breath guidance, prompting self-inquiry, and supporting the process with music and touch (if requested). I am certified by Alchemy of Breath, the most the most comprehensive and widely accredited breathwork training at present (2022). 

When we breathe consciously, we are re-connecting with an already existent part of ourselves that knows. Each connected breath brings us closer to our core, the essence who we are, underneath all the layers of protection we have created to survive through the challenges of life. Nature is always seeking to restore and resolve. This is also our true nature as humans, and we are able to restore through the wisdom of our bodies.

who is it for?

Breathwork is an extremely versatile tool that has a wide range of therapeutic applications.

For those who are feeling stuck, burned out, over stressed, or stagnant, Breathwork can be an incredible tool to promote deep relaxation, boost creativity, and open the doors of self-discovery.

For those living with Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, Addiction, Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, and many other psychiatric conditions, Breathwork can be a game changer when added to your current treatment.

For those living with various chronic physical conditions such as chronic pain, ibs, migraines, etc., Breathwork often brings physical as well as emotional relief. The mind and body are intimately connected and the practice of Breathwork strengthens and heals that connection, creating a safe space within one’s self to feel and release difficult emotions and memories so that they no longer manifest as physical symptoms.

What are the benefits?

Breathwork offers many benefits. It can nurture the ability to manage stress, improve sleep, relieve physical discomforts, increase self-compassion, release limiting beliefs, access inner wisdom, make new connections, gain new perspectives and reach clarity. Main benefits can include:

  • Processing emotions, healing emotional pain, and trauma

  • Toned vagus nerved and increased resilience of nervous system

  • Embodiment - mind and body connection

  • Reduced stress and anxiety levels

  • Released negative beliefs and changed thought patters

  • Accelerated self-development

  • Increased self-awareness

  • Increased level of presence

  • Increased confidence, self-image, and self-esteem

  • Increased joy, happiness, clarity and creativity

It can bring significant improvements in mood, anxiety, sleep, and dysfunctional thought and behavior patterns. In the context of grief, trauma, and PTSD, Breathwork offers a safe container in which to experience, process, and ultimately release traumatic or difficult memories stuck in the body, through the body. Increased level of presence, shifts in perspective and release of trapped memories and emotions, all lead to a dramatic reduction of stress and anxiety levels.

Breathwork help develop neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to develop new neural pathways to reorganise itself. By changing the way we breathe, we can change the way we think, act and behave through strengthening a new pathway.

My personal favourite benefit is the reconnection of mind with and body. Most of us disconnect from our bodies at a very young age. I myself have been dissociating from my body without knowing it until I discovered breathwork, which was one of many breakthrough for me and a gateway to experiencing embodiment. When you practice Breathwork regularly, you become (re)embodied which is important because it is our thoughts that produce our anxiety and distract us from finding solutions. But when we learn to drop into our body and listen to the messages it is sending us, we become emotionally grounded, open to solutions and possibilities, and far less prone to waves of fear and anxiety.

Finally, Breathwork helps is by toning the vagus nerve. With repeated practice, your parasympathetic system becomes strengthened and sympathetic activation becomes less frequent, leading to an inner calm and increased resilience. Every breathwork widens our window of tolerance for our nervous system to gradually hold more and more charge.

Physical sensations
In consciously increasing the depth and rate of respiration, there is a temporary activation of the nervous system / arousal to support the release of accumulated stress in the body which are energies of the fight/flight/freeze response. Oxygen and carbon dioxide levels also temporarily shift, and the circulation of life force in the body is increased. It’s common to experience a feeling of “buzzing” as a result, as well as energy that can be released in the forms of involuntary body movements such as shaking, trembling, yawning, etc. and body temperature changes.

Tetany is something that can occur, especially in first time breathers and is characterised by cramping, tightening, tingling, paralysing, or numbing sensations of the hands and/or feet. It is a very common to experience and it is nothing to fear. It is caused by the drop in Co2 levels, which results in less oxygen being released into the bloodstream, tissues, and vital organs; and causes the blood pH to become more alkaline. The combination of lower Co2 levels and a rise in blood pH levels is what leads to tetany. The sensation will disappear after the session.

Emotional sensations
It’s common to experience a whole range of emotions during a session, such as grief, joy, love, sadness, anger, and even fear. Within a safe container and power of breath, we can allow these energies to move through the system. Breathwork accesses suppressed and trapped emotions and brings it to the surface for healing and integration.

Visual & transpersonal experience
Breathwork quickly takes us out of the “default mode” of the brain and reduces the mental chatter. We can reach a state of “transient hypofrontality", when the prefrontal cortex goes offline. In this state, insight, memory, or visions may arise accompanied by feeling of timelessness, transcendence and drifting in a lucid space between wakefulness and sleep. In that state it is common to receive messages, inspirations clarity and creative impulses.

What Might I experience during breathwork?

How to make the most of breathwork practice?

Before our session you will receive a form to fill out that will already start preparing you for the session. At the beginning of the session I will frame your experience and during the session you will be held and guided. Below are some reminders and helpful tips to consider, especially if practicing at home or without guidance.

1. Set an intention

Setting an intention means to bring your attention and awareness to a quality or virtue you wish to cultivate. Try choosing something that has emotion, something that means something to you, something that resonates, that inspires you. This can be the vision for your exploration.

2. Let go of expectations 

Expectations can have the tendency to push away possibility in breathwork. The invitation is always to bring in a sense of curiosity as to what might arise, rather than demands and expectations. Be open and ready for what wants to happen and without need for anything in particular to happen.

3. Work with what is

It usually takes just a few breaths for things to start to happen. Stay with the experience without trying to take it into any specific direction. Keep coming back to your breath. We allow the charge to enter the body and stay present simultaneously with what shows up i and with the breath awareness.

4. Trust and Allow

Trust there is nothing else more to do and nowhere else to be. Just present with the breath and allowing the body to take over the process. Allowing the old and stagnant energy to leave (die) and inviting in the new energy of life, with every breath cycle.

5. Be the witness

When emotions come up, feel them completely and at the same time, bear witness to them. We want to be in it, but not of it. Looking for equanimity. When we are a witness, we can tend the parts of our being that need support and help; hold our wounds with love and compassion and not get lost in a story.

 FAQs

  • Absolutely not! All that is required is consciousness and the ability to breathe, so if you’re reading this sentence, then you’ve met all the requirements

  • Many breathing practices, such as yogic breathing, box breathing, alternate nostril breathing, etc., utilize the breath as a focal point for meditation, a tool to balance energy, or to calm the nervous system when experiencing agitation or anxiety. They are great tools and can be used in addition to Conscious Connected Breathwork.

    In contrast, Conscious Connected Breathwork also uses the breath as a conduit to enter a state of consciousness that is markedly different from one’s ordinary waking consciousness. While in this open state, the breather is able to reach below the resistances of the mind to uncover and actually address root causes of problems. As the breather, the power is in your hands as you use the breath as fuel to dive into yourself and access your capacity for self-healing.Many breathing practices, such as yogic breathing, box breathing, alternate nostril breathing, etc., utilize the breath as a focal point for meditation, a tool to balance energy, or to calm the nervous system when experiencing agitation or anxiety. They are great tools and can be used in addition to Conscious Connected Breathwork.

    In contrast, Conscious Connected Breathwork also uses the breath as a conduit to enter a state of consciousness that is markedly different from one’s ordinary waking consciousness. While in this open state, the breather is able to reach below the resistances of the mind to uncover and actually address root causes of problems. As the breather, the power is in your hands as you use the breath as fuel to dive into yourself and access your capacity for self-healing.

  • The Conscious Connected Breath can create transient physiological changes in the body that may not be appropriate for certain individuals with the following conditions: epilepsy, cardiac arrhythmias, uncontrolled hypertension, aneurysms, detached retina, glaucoma, pregnancy, recent surgery.

    However, anyone can safely participate in group and individual Breathwork sessions by simply using a modified breath — in and out through the nose while maintaining the natural pauses between inhales and exhales— instead of using the Conscious Connected Breath.

  • -Make sure the exhale is not forced. We use an active inhale and a passive exhale.

    -Try a slower and gentler breathing pattern and concentrate more on breath awareness

    -Try starting the breathwork sitting up and breathing and circling your body in a forward and back motion in tune with the exhale and inhale

    -Include gentle movement of the hands and feet, especially when you first feel tetany is coming on

    -Remember that you are safe and it is temporary

    -Try dancing between your edge – when it becomes too much back-off and return to a nose breath or a gentler breath. Use the time to inquire and regain your determination and then go back into the full conscious connected breathing pattern when you feel ready