The Breathworks

Air, a powerful force all around us, an element we all breathe. But are we doing it correctly?

From years of singing lessons, I was taught to breathe from the diaphragm, not the chest, the type of breathing that is healthy for us comes from the lower belly, or in Chinese medicine and Taoism, dantien. It is here through this area where life force can be breathed into our physical body.

The type of conscious breathwork used nowadays is deep diaphragmatic breathing, involving a continuously circulated breath. Deep breathing has been around for thousands of years and has come from many eastern practices such as Tai Chi, Buddhism and in Yogic traditions especially within Kundalini Yoga such as the fire breath and in Pranayama, a lot of these have originated in Asia and the middle east.

However, the use of these practices using the breath to transcend one consciousness started around the 1960s & 70s and brought to the west in the Americas and Europe and has now become more popular. It is used in breath-work therapies such as re-birthing workshops, tantra, yoga and guided meditations, typically now used in trauma release, experiencing transcendental states of consciousness and inner journeying. For my experience, the breath is the key to transcendental states.

For me my experience came intuitively to me, the day I first meditated, I had no idea what was going on, I just sat down one day, and started to breathe deeply. I had previously lit a candle in a dark room and within 10 minutes, my whole body was vibrating, my eyes were vibrating from side to side, I decided to lay down and let the “alien” feelings subside as it was very new to me, I intuitively put my physical hands in front of my closed eyes to see the energy of my hands. I thought this very weird and decided to just lay down and relax and let all these strange new experiences subside. Shortly later I experienced my first conscious OOBE (Out-Of-Body Experience) floating session and came back to my body. For me, this was very powerful, and the same practice I used which my guides taught me, I guide for people to use and experience during my events.

I now use breathwork in a lot of my workshops and events, it’s a very powerful method for reaching higher states of consciousness. I explain it like, without the breath, we do not exist, with the breath we are life, when we use the breath in a deep way we become more connected to life, and everything around us. There are an array of many different breath-work practices and exercises, what I use is deep breathing, and I guide participants in a safe and contained manner.

But have we all been breathing wrong? or incorrectly, it has been shown, especially for singers that breathing through the diaphragm not only uses your full lung compacity but also increases blood and oxygen production more sufficiently. Unconscious breathing is something we all do, we are all programmed, but learning to breathe correctly for health, and for mindfulness can help us in a great way.

When we go through a traumatic experience or fear our breathing stops, we don’t pay attention to our breath and breath unconsciously, and in the case of fear not at all, we actually hold the breath, which makes us hold onto that fear. We are then in the fight-or-flight mode. Breathing consciously allows us to bypass the neuro-psychological pathways to release these blockages and release the pain. Breathing correctly and being regressed back to that memory allows us to breathe out that trauma and away from our emotional body.

It’s very important to understand that the exercises uses are all done in a way where your conscious awareness is focused on both your inhales and exhales, where the breathing is done for a specific amount of time.

There are many different practices of breath-work from many different traditions around the world, and for many different purposes.

Different types of breath-work are:

Shamanic Breathwork Practices

Vivation

Transformational breathing

Holotropic breathing

Clairty breath-work

Rebirthing

Pranayama

Tantric Breathing

Trancendental breathwork

Yogic breathing practices

Wim Hof practices

There is also different types of breathing such as:

Box breathing

Fire breathing

Deep diaphragmatic breathing

Pursed lip breathing

alternative nostril breathing

belly breathing

deep breathing

fire breath

People who practice breath-work do it for an array of different reasons such as:

- Aiding in self development

- sleep enhancement

- Improved social anxiety

- Facing trauma & post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

- Helping to control anger problems

- To boost immunity

- Help release trauma

- heal the emotional body

- Easing depression

- mental health

- easing pain

- going through grief

- clearing heartache from relationships

- re-birthing

- past life clearing

- increase self-awareness

- boost creavitiy

- overcoming addictions

- experiences states of happiness

- more confidence

- for reducing stress and anxiety

- clearing negative thoughts

- experiencing deep states of meditation

- calming the mind and body

- easing emotional thoughts

- used in psychotherapy and hypnotherapy

- effective in respiratory rehabilitation in COPD

- reducing tension anxiety and fatigue in cancer patiens

- Used in chemotherapy patients

- reducing migraines and headaches and vomiting

- Improving muscle strength and spinal cord patients

- help in motion sickness

- Helping singers to achieve more vocal power

- Deep sea divers and swimmers to breathe and hold their breath much longer than normal.

Continuous use of breath-work practices have shown to lower the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol present in the body causes chronic inflammation, irregular sleeping patterns and mood changes. Over time breathing deeper, and controlled circulated breathing allows our temperament to be come more subtle and gentle and naturally relaxes our breathing, emotions and mood. Its also important to note that physical changes such as better oxygen rich blood flow and lower pressure is achieved.

A study done in 2001 on breath-work found that just 10 minutes a day doing the exercise was a natural alternative than some medicines in reducing blood pressure.

A 2017 study when researched practised 12 weeks on patients with severe depression symptoms found the breathing had reduced their negative mood and didn't need to take antidepressants. EEG recordings found that the breathing sessions were able to significantly reduce neurological activity in the amygdala, an area of the brain which deals with fight-or-flight and where the brain detects and holds onto fear. The breath-work sessions was found to increase the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain where memories and complex thinking are stored and used. Which means a great area to help deal with past emotions, feelings and traumas and being able to release them.

Dealing with pain is painful, using pharmaceuticals is not a natural approach, using breath-work is a much cleaner and safer way, many doctors and nurses in emergency rooms are now using breath-work to help calm down patients with many different illness's, especially chronic pain, and helping to deal with pain better.

Back pain breathing is very effective as your diaphragm attaches right to the part of your spine where the pain is. For your body to heal it needs oxygen and blood flow, breathing deep in this area can relieve the pain and aid in physical healing much faster. Trigger points of pain can also be spiked due to cortisol levels, and as explained above breathing helps to reduce cortisol.

During a breath-work session a series of steps are as follows:

Group guidance is important where everyone is in the same boat, the same area, but in their own personal space, its easy to guide a group of people. As a facilitator, I guide people in such a way and to allow them to be confident in their deep breathing. I explain that they are in control of their own breath and what happens, if they ever become too lightheaded, they are to breathe normally, if they feel any pain in their body, they are to stop and allow any physical pain to ease before continuing. During group guided sessions, it is often difficult to 'feel' what is going on in everyone’s body. But they must be conscious about how they are breathing. Usually, breathwork makes you more open and aware of your body, so any slight change, you are always in control.

Controlled breathing - as I guide the group you are part of the collective at that moment, breathing, i am guiding you, reminding you when to breathe, when to exhale, when to relax. Just one relaxed inhale and exhale is enough to send a signal to your brain, to activate changes to say that we are safe. This research comes from Dr David Rabin, an American Neuroscientist and psychiatrist, working in the field of addiction and chronic stress.

When we breathe together as a group with guided support our consciousness becomes so open, rich with energy that we often forget to continue the practice if we were to do it on our own, without guidance you can often feel too relaxed you stop breathing practice and breath normally. I usually start with every sitting up, then after about 10 minutes or so, I get people to lay down comfortably and continue. This is usually the best practice. I continue to guide everyone, for example saying, breath in............and exhale...............breathe deeply..........hold.........and release......breathe deeply now.........and exhale.......inhale..... i change the words around so its not repetitive, and I find continuous verbal guidance is really helpful for people to continue to breathe deeply and remain focused. There is something called circular breathing, where at times there will be no spaces in between breaths where you relax, you are continuously breathing for a certain amount of time.

Water is important to always have with you. Sometimes your mouth and throat can get dry, being hydrated with a little bit of water can really help you to feel more comfortable.

During the sessions people often find that emotions come up, old wounds, past traumas or memories come to the surface to be cleared. This is why it is always important to start the session with an intention of why you are here, what is the purpose, sometimes people don’t have one and just come for the experience, but its always helpful to clear and focused on what no longer serves you to release, and focus on what is important.

The environment is also important, I always try my best to have a safe secure, quiet space, travelling a lot its hard to find the perfect venue for peace of mind, but I do my best to change the environment before the breath-work practice, by smells using an oil diffuser, music, low light, coloured lights and sound healing tools such as gong. The music plays a very important role, it sets the mood and stage for deep experiences.

Usually, in my events I use light machines, gongs, or a special space when is calm and relaxing for you to journey, sometimes hands-on healing is involved too. Touch therapy is very important, it helps connect us with each other, hands-on healing is part of this and allows the healing energies to flow through us at an energetic level. During the middle part of the session, I allow some time to stop the breathing and relax into the session.

The end part of every session, is group sharing, usually some refreshments such as herbal teas or water. Sitters often need some time to reflect on the session, after experiencing psychic visions.

Other practices of deep breath and control haw popularly been made aware of due to Wim Hof is known as the Ice Man. Allowing more oxygen production around the body in the circulation of blood, allowing the body to withstand temperatures. Allowing the practice of breathing to hold one’s breath of 9 minutes, and potentially even longer. Wim Hofs practice came from Tummo meditation a Tibetan Tradition and is claimed to heal and rejuvenate the body.

Side effects and risks

Being aware of breathwork and what it entails is important, not everyone breaths correctly or may have breathing difficulties. People with asthma and other related breathing issues should consult their doctor or be aware of the process in place, as well as women who are pregnant and/or breastfeeding, or anyone who may have high blood pressure. Any other medical condition which could affect your breathing should be taken very seriously.

I recommend you not to do the breath-work if you have any of the following:

Breathing issues

Shallow breathing

Cardiovascular issues

High blood pressure

History of aneurysms

Osteoporosis

Recent surgery

vision issues

circulation problems

severe psychiatric symptoms

vision issues

side effects of deep breathing

Hyperventilation can be a big cause if done incorrectly. some people may be more sensitive than others and this can lead to things like:

- Clouded vision

- Decreased circulation of blood to the brain

- Cognitive changes

- faintness

- dizziness

- light headiness

- headaches

- heart palpitations

- emotional sickness

- muscle spasms

- cramps

- ears ringing

- paresthesia, tingling like pins and needles in parts of the body

Remember you are always in control and in charge of your mind and body, pay attention to any feelings that you may have or experiencing and stop the process if you feel any discomfort.