Breathwork
Breathwork
The use of Breath as a healing art is ancient.
There are multiple ways to use Breath to support health and healing with many potential therapeutic benefits; physiological, emotional, mental and spiritual.
About Breathwork
Different techniques offer different results; relaxation, oxygenation, energizing and psychotherapeutic healing.
The ancient Yoga masters devised a system for learning to control the uncontrollable, and to become conscious; what lies at the heart of this system is the intentional use of Breath. Breathwork is a bridge to our body, mind and soul.
Inspire = in spiritus.
Conscious Connected Breathwork is an experiential, psychotherapeutic form of Breathwork. It has its modern roots in the Rebirthing movement that was popularised in the 1960’s and has evolved considerably since. It shares common features with Holotropic Breathwork, developed by transpersonal psychologist and psychiatrist Stanislav Grof.
Conscious Connected Breathwork uses a specific breathing technique that allows the Breather to directly tap into the unconscious and to integrate suppressed and repressed material, working across emotional, mental, physical and spiritual levels simultaneously.
"Whatever is not conscious will be experienced as fate"
Carl Jung
When talking is too much or not enough
As an adjunct to “talk therapy” or in some cases as an alternative, the experiential nature of Breathwork means that an energetic release of held and unintegrated subconscious material can occur regardless of whether the content reaches consciousness or not. Through the breath, it is possible to access the deep roots of emotional and physical imbalances.
Different to talk therapy, working with the breath allows the innate healer (the healer within) to guide the process.
Pain and trauma do not need to be relived (or even spoken about) in order to be released, therefore Breathwork offers a method for integrating and healing that which we haven’t spoken of (e.g. too painful, too shameful), that which we aren’t conscious of (e.g. surgical trauma) as well as that which we have spoken of numerous times (e.g. ongoing talk therapy).
"The next message you need is right where you are at"
Ram Dass
This process of releasing old emotions and integrating suppressed material can lead to permanent emotional and psychosomatic healing, spiritual awakening and to self-actualisation. Breathwork allows a glimpse into realms beyond our everyday reality, providing access to the material in our unconscious that can deepen our healing. However, healing isn’t always a smooth and easy process, the ego may strongly resist and a conscious commitment to the process can overcome the ego’s resistance.
Breathwork is an intelligent and precise life tool that can:
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release stress, anxiety and depression
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shift unhelpful beliefs and entrenched habits and behaviour patterns
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heal life hurts and traumas such as birth, loss, death and suffering
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support confident, conscious choice in the decision-making process
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break through our entrenched emotional blocks in order to navigate change and embrace our full potential
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improve self-awareness and the ability to re-program behaviours for greater presence and joy in life
Source ABA website https://australianbreathworkassociation.org.au/what-is-breathwork/
"God gives us the nuts, but he does not crack them"
German Proverb
What a Breathwork session looks like
These sessions are usually 1.5-2hrs long; this includes both active breathing time and integration time. Firstly, some time is spent discussing what has brought the Breather to Breathwork, so that the Practitioner has some understanding of who they are working with and why, what they are hoping to achieve, and any significant medical conditions.
Most of the session involves the Breather lying comfortably on a mat, receiving instructions to breathe in a specific way, at a specific pace. The initial 15-20 minutes often requires some effort to establish a ‘coherent’ breath after which time the body typically “breathes itself”. Sessions are accompanied by a musical landscape that is designed to be evocative and emotive.
No two sessions are the same, there may be expressive, outward releases of emotion, both vocally and or physically, releases of held energy or a session can be quietly blissful with vivid internal experience. Or a combination of the above.
Like most therapies, the benefits of Breathwork typically increase over time; usually a series of sessions (approx. 3-10) will provide more therapeutic benefit than a one-off session.
Having completed 350 hours of training over 2 years I am so excited to offer Breathwork sessions, as a complement to my other wholistic healing approaches. Time and again I see people that have emotional or psychological ‘patterns’ that are affecting their physical health. Breathwork can be a powerful modality to help remove the roadblocks that stand in the way of achieving better ‘balance’.
Strictly by appointment only. Whether you are curious to know more or keen to try this experiential psychosomatic modality call me on 0449569064 for bookings and questions.
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
