WHAT IS BREATHWORK & WHY DO IT?
Our breath. A constant, an anchor, a guide, an intelligence, our life force, our spirit.
Whether we are consciously aware of it or not our breath is all of these things and for most of us we cycle in and out of conscious relationship and awareness with these aspects at different times. This can be a daily occurrence or a cultivated awareness. We can be in touch with it regularly and sometimes profoundly so at certain times of life or in the midst of an experience.
Most of us will have had various experiences of meditation or breath awareness practices in one setting or another. As with meditation, Breathwork (Conscious connected breathwork) is a powerful tool and modality for supporting personal development and coming to wholeness. By using a bigger breath more dynamically than normal we can connect to a bigger, more resourceful and heartful version of ourselves in a way that can be more direct than our sitting or moving meditations.
One of the things I love about breathwork is that it is a somatic experience (of the body). For all the wonders of meditation, kind words and talk therapies there is at some point the embodiment of our understanding and engaging with the body as both a store of experience and an expression of our being. Breathwork can act as a bridge (and sometimes a super highway) between mind, body and spirit.
Breathwork can also reveal aspects of the human experience that are beyond our regular mental perception and understandings (there’ll be other blog posts about this). For me, Breathwork can be beautiful, deep and inspiring work and one of the things I think is significant about it as a process is that it will meet us wherever we are. Sometimes we need deep rest and sometimes we need to truly feel or let go. We might need something from ourselves or to come to acceptance. Maybe we are at a time when we are transforming or moving from one life stage and expression into a new one? Most importantly for me is that through whatever experience we have, we come to greater understanding and compassion - for ourselves and others.
Breathwork can also be a wonderful adjunct to other therapies for working through difficult experiences by allowing us to feel what is genuinely present in our body and our experience. In that way it can be felt and released in whatever way feels helpful. In doing so, we expand and renew the healthy capacity of our nervous system. Working sensitively and compassionately, it can also help to re-regulate physical trauma responses stored in the body. Breathwork isn’t solely about catharsis or achieving/reaching that state. A significant benefit is that we can come to feel more empowered and confident in our own being.
My main role as a practitioner/facilitator is to hold a safe and compassionate space for whatever emerges in a session and at the end, if it is helpful, guide and support a client to their own insight. I absolutely trust that that they always know the way and what works best for them. In nearly every session a client will arrive at their own understanding with no prompting or reflection. They already know. The insights that are shared, the heartful understanding and authenticity in that space is the fruit of the work and is one of the reasons why I love it.
As with meditation, Breathwork can also show us how to use our breath to develop greater mindful awareness and our body’s ‘felt sense’. It can show us what we really feel and need in the moment.
Over time this leads to greater calm, better sleep, emotional regulation and many other benefits. I really enjoy supporting clients through breathwork journeys and in integrating their experience by listening, reflecting and offering perspective and encouragement where that is helpful. I’m always happy to share tools, knowledge and insight from my own journey where they are in service.
Really though, you and your breath already know…