Breathwork is an active meditation technique based on controlled hyperventilation breathing. Breathwork has the power to shift your state of consciousness so that you can explore your emotions from today, from yesterday, from thirty years ago, or even those of your family and the collective society in which we function and interact. Emotions that got unconsciously suppressed wire your brain in a dysfunctional way which has negative consequences on your daily life. Untangling these blind spots somatically through breathwork workshops unables you to release these emotions and internal blockages to finally move on and build a better life.

Breathwork could refer to any conscious breathing practice including mindful breathing, yoga, tai chi, and qi gong.  However, “breathwork” commonly refers to a specific practice of “Conscious Connected Breathwork” of which there are many approaches. The core technique itself is part of our human heritage and is found across cultures under different names over time.

​Conscious Connected Breathwork is a circular breath technique. This means that inhalations are immediately followed by exhalations without pause. When maintained for upwards of an hour, this style of Breathwork brings on non-ordinary states of consciousness and can lead to profound experiences of healing. 

Conscious Connected Breath

the History

All schools of breathwork use a variation on the same technique of conscious, connected breathing. This method was first discovered or rediscovered in 1960 by Leonard Orr, an American who went on to form a breathwork school known as ‘Rebirthing Breathwork’.

Orr spontaneously began doing connected breathing and through this,  would experience spontaneous regressions to his own birth memories. He came to understand that unprocessed, or repressed emotions condition us to react to events in fixed ways and have a physical impact on the body. 

Rebirthing continues Orr’s Conscious Connected Breathwork by integrating psychological mentoring to reflect on our life story and offer affirmations that can change how we talk to ourselves. Rebirthing is typically done in a quiet and supportive one-on-one setting. Sessions take approximately two hours where the breath is coached but not strictly forced. Around the same time, Czech psychiatrist Stanislav Grof also discovered a method of conscious connected breathwork in an attempt to reproduce the effects of taking the psychedelic drug LSD. Grof's method came to be known as Holotropic Breathwork and is practiced in long sessions involving loud music and the creation of artistic mandalas after the session to integrate the experience.

Isn't Breathwork Just Hyperventilating?

Is it Safe?

Breathwork rapidly but temporarily reduces CO2 and oxygen delivery to the tissues and suppresses activity in frontal cortex of the brain. In the blood, alkalinity increases and calcium decreases. Sensory and motor neurons begin to fire more rapidly, which can feel like tingling sensations and cramping.

These are the effects of hyperventilation, however hyperventilation usually denotes a loss of control whereas Conscious Connected Breathwork is done with intent. This makes the difference. Instead of a negative experience, breathwork is a practice which can be incredibly therapeutic.

Although it can initially feel intense, Connected Breathwork ultimately leads to good results. The temporary alterations of the body chemistry are not harmful to the body, and are in fact, shown to have positive physical benefits as well. Before attempting breathwork, you may want to check with your doctor if you have non-medicated high blood pressure or have been diagnosed with psychosis however. If so, breathwork can still be practiced but more gently and slowly, emphasizing awareness.

Breathwork Benefits

The spectrum of experiences with Breathwork range from physical sensations of pain or pleasure, the release of body blockages through heat or energy movement, and the release of pent up emotions (sadness, anger, etc.) There may be realizations about dysfunctional thought patterns or new insights, and deeply spiritual or energetic experiences. You may experience expanded consciousness, overwhelming feelings of peace and joy and even mystical revelation. Your experiences may vary every time.

 Breathwork can bring about improvements in health, emotional wellbeing and appearance. Physical benefits include enhanced immune function, lowered stress and blood pressure, and improved cardiovascular health, including improved heart rate variability (HRV). ​Mental and emotional benefits of breathwork begin with an unburdening of background tension, anxiety, grief, or depression and can aid in the release of trauma and PTSD. It will help you to heal emotional pain and process emotions taking you to a better place of increased clarity, wellbeing and happiness. Those who commit themselves to a course of Connected Breathwork and mentoring have been universally grateful and permanently changed.

Breathwork as Therapy

Our respiration patterns are changing constantly, from our very first breath to our last. When we feel calm, we breathe with serenity. When we feel anger, the breath changes. Our breathing changes automatically to reflect our thoughts and emotions. We might hold our inhalation during a particularly peak stressful moment or when we wish to suppress difficult emotions.  We also respond similarly when we receive a phone call with bad news. It could be the stress of an accident, or from violence of some kind. It can be a habit of saying unkind words to ourselves over and over. Even the smallest of breath holds rapidly change blood chemistry, yielding instant emotional dissociation as well as the perception of control. There is a recurring patterns of  high emotions > breath holding > muscles suddenly contracting = a ‘knot’ of tension, forged in an instant. 

This automatic alteration in breath and dissociative knot of emotions can accumulate to become a morass of background fears, sadness and anger. We notice these knots cause “side-effects” such as a persistent experience of loneliness, anxiety or depression. but we don’t often know how to release them.

Connected Breathwork allows one or more of these knots of tensions to arise to the surface, be brought into consciousness, and then be released. It is a uniquely rapid way of clearing the knots out of our system. Even with one session we become clearer and lighter as people, and more in touch with who we really are. Connected Breathwork is a rapid means by which we can become aware of and release these knots, gain greater consciousness, insight and even bliss.  It teaches mastery over both breath and mind.