What do you do in a breathing session?
In a breathing session, as a breathing therapist, I put myself in a state of mindfulness in order to best accompany the individual in their process of growth and development. By providing a healing space of safety and security, I empower the person to face their own issues and strengthen their experience that change is possible. I accompany and support. However, it is the responsibility of the person to clean up his/her inner house and to move forward with a deeper purpose (which then usually shows itself) on a path with heart. As a therapist, I accompany these processes with the means at my disposal, from tools of mindfulness, shamanic tools and dream-sensitive tools to regression, forgiveness exercises and dissolution of beliefs with Quantum Dynamics etc.
What role does the breath play in a breathing session?
In a breathing session, the so-called connected breathing serves as a tool for inner work and for cognition, i.e. there is no pause between inhaling and exhaling, as well as exhaling and inhaling.
The conscious connected breath serves as a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious. The breath is life. With the power of the breath, deep-seated issues and blockages, which are often hidden in everyday consciousness but which limit our quality of life, are detected, made tangible and accepted, i.e. integrated. The breath is like a vehicle that helps you to better understand the language of your body. You get out of your head and into your body. In this way, your body consciousness can show you exactly what is going on in your body and mind. The body is a clear and direct mirror of your emotions and inner processes.
How does a session in Integrative Breath Therapy work?
A breathing session is an opportunity to step out of everyday consciousness and dive deeper into yourself and your life. In such a holotropic state, which Stanislav Grov, the founder of Holotropic Breathwork, called “non-ordinary states of consciousness”, transformation and healing can happen. The breath guides you and you can look at stressful issues all the more easily. Through breathing, the roots and connections of current challenges can be experienced and trasnformed. The client lies relaxed on a mattress and breathes with the connected breath in the presence of the therapist and accompanied by specially selected holotropic music and sound. A breathing session consists of 3 parts (activation, expression and integration phase). The duration of a session is 2 hours including pre- and post-talk.
What happens in a breathing session?
A breathing session has different phases.
1. Activation phase:
Here the breath is “full”, both into the belly and into the chest. The breath is more intense, deeper and fuller than normal. In this way we absorb energy which is additionally available to us for the subsequent transformation work. Blockages can be released through the flow of energy.
2. phase of expression:
For example, strong bodily sensations can occur. It is important here to relax, to let yourself go, to continue breathing, to observe. Emotionally, too, there can be some strong sensations in this phase. In contrast to the emotions, in the mental area there can be insights and realisations regarding current challenges. Last but not least, so-called “holotropic experiences” can occur. These are deep mystical experiences that are often accompanied by a “breath suspension”, i.e. floating out of the body for the purpose of healing and transformation.
3. integration phase:
The integration at the end of a breathing session is a calm phase. There is often a feeling of security and safety in which our nervous system can recover and new connections can develop. It comes to a processing, coping with life issues in the unconscious. In such moments it is possible to work with affirmations, as the brain is particularly receptive in the theta and delta waves. In this state, the issues worked on in a breathing session can be integrated and our body, soul and spirit system can rearrange itself, comparable as a metaphor to downloading an upgrade on your mobile phone.