Breathwork is starting to gain in popularity worldwide – but the practice is actually not new at all. The term Breathwork can mean many different things to many different people, with various styles and modalities and new spins on this ancient practice. There is no right or wrong – we like to think of it as different styles or flavors that will resonate with different types of people.

A loose definition of breathwork is “breathing in a specific pattern to achieve a certain goal”. In a session, you combine different types of breaths (inhalation and exhalation) for different durations, speeds, and intensities together with breath holds or retentions (on inhale or exhale). This affects the central nervous system and ripples out as physical, mental and emotional changes.

Some breathwork benefits practitioners seek are more energy, vitality, clarity, focus, pain alleviation, resilience, presence and peace.

While the science behind what is breathwork is recent, the practice itself is ancient. Conscious breathing has been used for thousands of years, for example, as pranayama – one of the eight limbs of yoga. Controlled breathing has also been used in qi gong and martial arts and cultures related to Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Shamanism, and Sufism.

Breathwork is like a light shining on all the shadows – mental and emotional – so that you can become aware of them and consciously let them go. The breathwork benefits and experience varies widely from person to person and time to time. Sometimes it can be purely physical but you experience a change of mindset or mood. In a longer session can go deeper into the roots of your challenges or the essence of who you truly are.

If you are interested in private one-on-one or group breathwork sessions please contact me.