What Is Breathwork: Defining 3 Different Styles of Conscious Breathing
A lot of people ask me what “Breathwork” is and what style of breathing they should do at home. I want to take this opportunity to share a bit more about Breathwork and we can use it on a regular basis to feel better in our lives.
The term "Breathwork" has a wide range of definitions but encapsulates three primary styles of conscious breathing. I’ll explain these here!
1) MINDFUL BREATHING
Mindful breathing has a host of benefits, including bringing greater awareness into our bodies and away from our over-active vigilant mind. Mindful breathing helps to promote attunement with the present moment, and gives us access to a “felt sense” of our inner life.
Breath awareness or mindful breathing can be defined as simply placing your attention on your breath. The term “mindfulness” means to observe without a judgement- so when we mindfully breathe, we are inviting ourselves to becoming AWARE of our breath without needing to change it.
The invitation in mindful breathing practices is to be curious, and open and build greater present moment awareness with ourselves by being more present moment awareness with our breathing.
Some questions you can ask yourself as you’re breathing are-
How am I breathing right now? What part of my body moves as I breathe? Where does my breath originate from? Where does it go? Is my breath fluid, jagged, open, closed, heavy, or light?
Just simply be with the observations and felt sense of the breath and bring your non-judgemental awareness. It is amazing how with this simple practice of relationality with your own breath we can learn so much about ourselves!
You can also try this short Audio Meditation for Balanced Power which offers a short guided mindful breath practice.
In fact, often- how we BREATHE is how we live. So- when we mindfully become aware of our breathing, it naturally helps us to know where and what we need in that moment. Being able to shift our energy and promote a more balanced state- THIS is the magic, and the basis for ALL Breathwork practices.
2) CONSCIOUS BREATH PRACTICES
Additional ways to work with the breath is through conscious breath practices you can do at home. There are so many ways we can alter our breathing for so many effects including: consciousness expansion, nervous system state regulation, energy enhancement, and so much more.
In fact, when I guided a 30-Day Breathwork Challenge recently, I led 30 different practices- one for each day—but I could have kept going! There are so many ways to work with our breath.
Some of these practices include breathing in and out through the nose or mouth, using breath retention or breath counting, alternate or single nostril breathing, reverse breathing and many more.
We all have the capacity and the opportunity to use our breath on purpose to change how we feel in the moment. This includes helping us to calm ourselves to promote sleep, or give ourselves a fresh energy boost for greater vitality.
Learning HEALTHY breathing is within this category as well as it is essential to understand what an optimal open, healthy breath really is. More on this later but it includes- primarily diaphragmatic, relaxed, 2 part inhale/3 part exhale, full and deep, fluid, changeable given the circumstance, and so much more!).
SO- what conscious breath practices work best in any given moment? It depends! How are we feeling in the moment, what do we want to feel, how are we breathing? I love what long-time Breathworker, Dan Brule once said- the best breath practice is one that helps you be “the most conscious, the most relaxed and gives you the most mastery over your energy.”
So- the best place to begin is mindful breath awareness- tune in to your breath. How are you feeling? What is happening right now in your system? What do you notice? What do you need? And then go from there.
There are a host of guided Conscious Breath Practices that are easy to try at home on my YouTube channel based on what you might be needing in the moment. Just remember- everyone is different so be sure to try out what works best for you!
During Breathwork Session appointments, we can determine which home practices are right for you.
Watch conscious breath video to support diaphragmatic health.
Breath practices can help us all in the moment to feel better. But remember, conscious breath practices are a PRACTICE and Breathwork Sessions (read more below) can help to shift the underlying patterns associated with unhealthy breathing and holding patterns.
This is why people come for a guided Breathwork Session (read below)—to create positive lasting shifts that effect HOW we breathe and feel on a day to day basis.
Breathwork Sessions work with a more advanced breath practice to shift the underlaying patterns that CAUSE stress, so we can LIVE a more open, healthy life on a regular basis. Read more HERE.
BREATHWORK SESSIONS
Breathwork Sessions (whether in Individual or Group Offerings) offer an integrative approach to therapeutic healing. A guided breath journey using conscious, connected/circular breathing in a supportive atmosphere, this style of conscious breathing is not often one we do on our own until we’ve had a number of facilitated sessions (and certainly not one that we do while operating heavy machinery ;)). This is in part because it is a therapeutic tool somewhat similar to hypnotherapy or shamanic journeying and does alter consciousness but it also because the relational healing component of skillful facilitation helps aid in the beneficial process.
During this guided therapeutic breathing practice, we slightly alter our nervous system (slight elevation of sympathetic) and consciousness state (slightly lucid dream) which helps to bring about a “state” change on purpose. This can help us to access deeper parts of our memory, stored emotions or even process non-verbally all through our own deep breathing.
Somatic-based therapy and its benefits are written about extensively in the work of Bessel Van Der Kolk, Your Body Keeps the Score and Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger. The changes we can make with this style of guided therapeutic breathing are quite profound (this would be similar to what Ken Wilbur calls a “stage change”).
How does the healing happen with our own breathing? Many reasons. But some of the more simple reasons are- we are learning to breathe through, with, and alongside of ourselves and to let go.
Conscious, connected breathing can be cathartic and connecting. We can also access our power and vitality as well as deep serenity and bliss. There are a multitude of ways a Breathwork Session can support our lives and while every Breathwork Session is different, all of Spiraldance Breathwork Sessions are personalized and go at the pace the client/student is ready for. This work can be deeply healing (and what got me personally on the path 30 years ago after experiencing my first Breathwork Session in 1994!) and is best experienced for yourself.
Individual Breathwork Sessions last about 90-120 minutes and include an intuitive coaching portion, mindful breath awareness and conscious breathing exercises followed by a 45-60 minute facilitated Breathwork Session, which can include hands-on support and a soulful musical soundtrack.
Group Breathwork Sessions can have a profound effect when we come together to breathe and feel and share about our experience.
Breathwork therapy (whether done in 1-1 Sessions or Groups) is a considered an alternative approach to integrative healing and can be a wonderful compliment to traditional talk therapy. Although many clients find it a nice change after doing a lot of talk therapy- because it really is therapy for the “whole body system”.
The Global Professional Breathwork Alliance (GPBA) is the oversight committee for this professional therapeutic field and requires any certifying training to be 2 years long with over 400 hours of schooling (in fact schools in Australia require over are 500 hours). This helps ensure the credibility of trained facilitators offering this deep work. I’m happy to offer a certifying Breathwork Training School that is accredited with GPBA (1 of currently only 11 schools in the U.S.).
At the base level- Breathwork is the power of connecting to one’s own vital energy consciously. And this is GOOD!!! Which means whether through breath awareness, conscious breath practices, OR therapeutic Breathwork Sessions- breathing more is great for EVERYONE.
Are you ready to start your journey ahead? Join me!
I continue to be honored and thrilled to share the breath with so many people in so many settings and places. And so happy to be a support on your journey.
Thanks for following and following your breath!!!