WHY BREATHWORK?
Whether you are looking to heal something physical, process something emotional or experience something spiritual... breathwork is the portal. A practice rooted in ancient wisdom, revived by psychedelic hippies & intensely researched by modern neuroscience, breathwork is transformational medicine with the power to redefine human potential.
Life is a function of energy & the way our bodies mobilize energy is through stress. Optimizing our stress response is the key to wellness, & strategic breathing is the fastest & most direct way to reduce the stress in our bodies. We can think of our breath as the remote control to our nervous system, the command center for our bodies that controls nearly everything we do. Being in conscious command of this system gives us an incredible amount of agency over our health, our mood, our ability to connect with one another & even our intellect. It gives us the power to choose how we show up in the world.
In a world that is constantly telling us who to be, breathwork is a journey in profound self-discovery, beyond the conditioned mind, where incredible transformation & awakening take place.
WHAT IS BREATHWORK?
Breathwork is a practice in consciously connecting with our bodies, thru our breath. It is a journey beyond the boundaries of our ego, where defenses are disarmed, enabling us to detoxify our energetic bodies & release the unconscious material that we have suppressed. In a breathwork session we use strategic breathing techniques to alter the balance of gases in the body (oxygen + nitrogen + carbon dioxide.) Through that biochemical alchemy, we can intentionally activate either arm of the nervous system, expand our consciousness & purge the body of physical/emotional/energetic debris.
When incorporated as a ritual practice, we can learn to control our stress response, shift our physiological state & optimize our long-term mental wellness.
breath + body alchemy
Oxygen is a nervous system stimulant, while carbon dioxide is a nervous system sedative. Most people seek substances + drugs to achieve physiological states that we can induce by regulating our breath. States of energy, calm, focus, healing, connection, safety, relaxation, intimacy, spirituality & flow... can all be accessed by the alteration of our chemical make-up thru breath.
what to expect in a session
Breathing is a highly physical endeavor with significant spiritual potential. Breathwork is a broad term that covers a wide range of practices & styles, but most sessions involve a combination of sustained rhythmic breathing, breath holds & various forms of somatic release. Ideally, offered by a facilitator who has taken great care to create a safe container & choreographed the session with deep intention, via an incredible playlist (music matters.) After getting as comfortable as possible, the journey is experienced lying down, with an eye mask & blankets + layers to maintain comfort in temperature shifts. In most of my sessions the breathing portion lasts about an hour, including the drop in & drop out (after activating the sympathetic arm it's super important to let your cells think you successfully outran the tiger.) Think rhythmic breathing your way into a dream state, with intermittent breath holds of full-body exhilaration, followed by a deep state of relaxation & cellular energy.
It's kind of like exercising (sans the movement) + meditating, while uninstalling the shame programming, dissolving the insecurity conditioning & safely breathing into your innermost self... with the potential to meet God.
but am i going to cry?
Breathwork is a great liberator of trapped energy + stored emotions... which can mean tears. It can also mean laughter. In my experience, every session is different, some are expressive, while others are meditative. That said, breathwork containers create family. They are incredibly compassionate spaces that foster deep connection through the most sacred aspects our humanness.
MY FAV breathwork benefits
weight loss
It turns out that we don't "lose" weight, we exhale it. The lungs are the primary excretory organ for fat. 84% of the weight we "lose" is exhaled as CO2.
HEALING TRAUMA
Unresolved trauma rewires our brains & becomes lodged in our tissues. Our breath is the life force that can move this energy, enabling us to detoxify our energetic bodies & induce the neuroplasticity to develop new mindsets, memories, skills, and abilities.
AUTONOMIC FLEXIBILITY
Autonomic rigidity is a risky place physiologically: problems with digestion, fatigue, immunity, anxiety, depression, respiration & emotional dysregulation to name a few. Regularly practicing breathwork allows us to break the patterns of rigidity to become autonomically flexible & resilient.
detoxification
Breathwork places our bodies into a healing state on a cellular level & is proven to promote the release of toxins from the bloodstream, tissues & brain.
mental wellness
Breathwork is clinically used to relive conditions like depression, anxiety, addiction, PTSD, negative thinking, chronic stress & avoidance behaviors.
intuition
The human body is an instrument for perceiving subtle energy. Intentional breathing clears out the "noise" & primes our vessels to receive & consciously process the subtle information in our environment.
NITRIC OXIDE
NO = Brain health + cell communication. Most biohacks, (cold plunges, infrared light, exercise, intermittent fasting etc.) are designed to stimulate NO production.
LONGEVITY
Tissue hypoxia is a primary driver of aging, Breathwork oxygenates our tissues & increases stem cells + VEGF, mitigating degenerative processes (aging hallmarks) like tissue hypoxia & mitochondrial dysfunction.
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS
Reduce anxiety & stress, increase energy, boost immunity, reduce blood pressure / improve circulation, decrease inflammation / manage pain, improve lung capacity, release toxins, improve sleep, manage depression, increase muscle tone, heal trauma / addiction, improve digestion, increase focus & creativity
THE HEALING POWER OF BREATHWORK
PHYSICAL
MENTAL + EMOTIONAL
MENTAL + EMOTIONAL
"Conscious breathing teaches us to be the pilots of our bodies, instead of the passengers."
Author unknown
MENTAL + EMOTIONAL
MENTAL + EMOTIONAL
MENTAL + EMOTIONAL
“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”
Amit Ray
SPIRITUAL
MENTAL + EMOTIONAL
SPIRITUAL
"Breathwork is the most crucial component to transforming consciousness"
Andrew Weil