Breathwork sessions are undertaken one to one.
I will try to put into words the efficacy of my Shamanic Breathwork process. The longer I do this work the more I see its absolute power to transform lives. Its ability to release trauma, relieve deep-rooted chronic stress and to purge the system of panic attacks, limiting beliefs and blockages that are both glaringly obvious and also completely hidden to the client. Using the breath to access a deep and profound altered state of consciousness we trust that the truth of what needs to be seen and acknowledged will arise from the void.
I have always believed that the ‘solution’ to whatever an individual’s issue may be has to be as ‘powerful’ as the event or events that first caused the issue. This in my opinion is only possible through the altered state of consciousness available through modalities such as breathwork, or trance dance and shamanic journeying. Or through therapies using psychoactive compounds, which it has to be said, are not for everyone.
There are many ways to approach these sessions. You can bring a very specific intention to the process or you can literally go ‘blind’, where the client trusts in what will arise during the breathwork. Knowing that the unconscious, the underworld will bring to the light the shadows that need illumination.
The breath fills the body, the energy field, with Prana, with Chi, with life-force, creating a hostile environment for negativity whereupon there is nowhere for the stuck energy to hide and it starts to resonate against the breath drawing the attention of the breather and myself. Then depending on the nature of what arises we dive into that place of memories and pain, (sometimes we engage gently from a safe distance) drawing up with the breath and releasing, breathing the resonance of the event or the sensations, giving it a name and then pulling it up, acknowledging it so that it may be expelled and released. This can take some time.
Then we look for what underlies that, what else is arising and so forth until we reach the bottom, the true source of our wounding, opening the door to deep release and healing. If during the session important life characters appear through the ‘knowing field’ they can be brought forward and we can communicate with them, oftentimes giving profound understanding and release. Depending on what arises and where in the system, I may also use specific sound frequencies and olfactory elements during sessions.
It has to be said that the prime driving force for this type of session (and of all types of sessions) is the breather’s passion and commitment to the process. The real desire to get out of the mind and the story and engage the sometimes uncomfortable memories of the body and what is hidden in the unconscious, which is often named the shadow. As I say so many times to clients, ‘come back to the breath, the breath is the tool, this doesn’t have to be difficult’. And this is true, it does not have to be difficult although, and I can relate to this conditioning, sometimes difficult feels more powerful and so more effective.
Incredibly, clients often report feeling ‘reborn’ with a deep sense of release and freedom and joy. And these effects last as they go back out into their every day lives, often accompanied by suggested ‘homework’ exercises or reading to bolster their reclaimed essence and purpose.
