what is breathwork?
Breathwork is a broad term used to describe a practice that combines mindfulness of the breath and the breathing pattern itself. Breathwork is an ancient practice - nearly 2,500 years old - and its roots can be traced to nearly every indigenous culture across the plant. Many cultures have sacred beliefs about the breath and its meaning. Breathwork is the foundation of many practices including yoga and meditation. Several popular breathwork techniques used today come from Pranayama and the Indian traditions of yoga.
There are countless breathing patterns to try, some of which were created to support you in different ways. Some breathing patterns help to induce sleep and others stimulate creativity. Through bringing your awareness to your breath and manipulating it consciously through specific breathing patterns, you can experience a host of benefits that support your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual healing. It is the original healing modality and has been utilized for self and community healing for centuries.
What’s wonderful about breathwork and cultivating a breathwork practice is that the breath is the most accessible tool out there. You can access your breath anywhere and anytime and you can learn breathwork patterns easily on your own.
Because breathing is so innate, meaning we do it naturally and unconsciously - we don’t need to think about it - many of us write off breathwork as too simple or believe it won’t work for us in our healing journey. In this way, we sort of take it for granted. Like any other healing modality out there, breathwork does require cultivating awareness through practice. It requires us to be present with ourselves and all the things that might come up for us when we are present.
This can be challenging! Our minds can sometimes be so overwhelmed with our to do lists and thoughts that it can sometimes be difficult to get present. And really getting intimate with what we are thinking and feeling inside of ourselves can be a daunting task. Sometimes getting present means dealing with difficult emotions, thoughts or even memories. If you’re new to breathwork, take things slow. Creating space for even just 5 minutes a day consistently over time will benefit you.
Through creating space for breathwork, we are also creating space for self-transformation. We engage in our own evolutionary process to love, accept and care for ourselves through supporting our body, mind, emotions and soul. We also create space for the spontaneous evolution of our soul. In this way, breathwork becomes more than just a practice - it becomes a way of living with ourselves, our environment and one another in harmony.
Interested in getting started with a breathwork practice? Join me for a breathwork event or schedule a one on one breathwork session!
You can also hop over to Instagram where I share about breathwork, healing and transformation <3
Keep planting,
jamie