Conscious Breathwork

“Research has established that about 85% of all illness is ‘psychosomatic’, but this doesn’t mean that the illness is imagined or isn’t genuine. It actually means that a large percentage of human sickness stems from an emotional base.” Dr Charmaine Saunders

‘Teenagers and Stress’

Any repressed emotion can be stored in the body and give rise to physical symptoms and even serious disease. On the other hand, prolonged stress from any source, be it relationship strains, work challenges, financial insecurity, repressed emotion or loss of a loved one can gradually weaken the immune system and leave the body vulnerable to infection, virus and general deterioration in health.

“Chronic unrelieved stress is probably the most severe threat to your immune system.”

David S McKinsey, MD, Co-director Epidemiology & Infectious disease,

Research Medical Centre, Kansas City, Missouri

As we are growing up we all experience feelings which we are unable to understand or cope with in our young years. If left unrecognised and unexpressed, these feelings block our natural and easy self expression and give rise to feelings of stress and eventually can lead to muscular tension, depression, anxiety and other painful emotions and illness. Physically the breathing becomes tight and shallow and the whole body carries chronic tension. This constriction support s symptoms such as low self esteem, free floating anxiety, tiredness, lack of enthusiasm and not feeling connected to life, as well as at least 85% of clinically diagnosed disease (as above). What’s more, we find ourselves unable to respond to daily life challenges from our deepest feelings because our lively and authentic selves have become buried through our early conditioning. Instead we find ourselves too frequently able only to react to situations in a knee jerk fashion.

Originally developed about 22 years ago by Leonard Orr and Sondra Ray as ‘Rebirthing’, CONSCIOUS BREATHWORK is a simple and easily learned body-centred discipline of breathwork, focused awareness and gentle acceptance of feelings and thoughts which arise. It is a powerful tool using the flow of the breath to help you relax and unwind at a profound level. This process brings about positive changes in one's health, consciousness, self-esteem, personal power and life in general.

Memories and experiences from early in our lives, which form our attitudinal conditioning, make it difficult for us to move forward in our search for true fulfilment. Through Breath Therapy these suppressed thoughts and feelings (largely unconscious), can be gently and safely experienced in a way which is virtually impossible with any other technique. This is done with the skilled and loving support of a trained facilitator (breath therapist).

A breathwork session allows you the safety and respectful support to contact yourself and experience your feelings in a way which daily life may not afford you. This form of honouring the ‘self’ allows powerful transformation to take place in the form of increased vitality, health and inner peace.

Conscious Breathwork works predominantly through a simple breathing process called "conscious connected breathing" or the "circular breath". This technique, through the breath, brings in more life force energy than one is normally used to having in the body. This extra life force energy may appear in the body as heat, pressure, cold, tingle, "electrical currents", vibration and other body sensations. Specific areas of the body may become activated as the life force flows through, bringing to awareness the feelings and thoughts which have been stored as energy blockages in the body/mind. Emotions and memories may now safely surface for the purpose of completion. Areas of our lives that are currently not working due to these long ago repressed feelings can begin to change and people frequently report significant shifts on long standing issues.

The technique of conscious breathwork is typically taught in ten sessions, one session per week, with each session normally lasting 2 hours. Following this most people are able to carry on for themselves.

The more conscious breathwork you do, the more you will benefit. It is certainly not for people seeking instant gratification, although the authentic results it delivers come much more quickly than with other methods.

People are often surprised at the amount of the emotional ‘baggage’ they have been carrying around inside them, and even more surprised with the relief they feel once they have allowed integration and have settled into lighter, clearer and more comfortable bodies.