Introduction To Conscious Breathwork

This is a short Introduction to Conscious Breathwork. Please listen to this before you do any guided Conscious Breathworks recorded here. In this 15-minute recording, I talk about what Conscious Breathwork is, why we do it, how we do it, and the small print (Contraindications and warnings).

Transcript

Hi,

My name's Ben.

I'm a breathwork facilitator and founder of Breathing Space,

Which is a school of breathwork.

This is a short introductory video to conscious breathwork,

Recorded especially for Insight Timer.

And I would like you to watch this if you are considering doing one of my guided breathworks,

Also listed in this space.

So in this video,

I'm going to do four things.

I'm going to explain what conscious breathwork is,

Why we do it,

I'm going to explain how to do it,

And some of the small prints,

Some of the contraindications that you should be aware of before you do it.

So let's start off with what is conscious breathwork.

Well,

Conscious breathwork is a term that really covers many different breathwork techniques,

But mostly they are using a connected technique.

So you might have heard it called something like conscious connected breathing,

But there are many different variations on this.

For instance,

Holotropic breathwork,

Rebirthing breathwork,

Breath of bliss,

Conscious connected breathing,

Quantum light breath,

Alchemy of breath.

Every facilitator I know teaches this in a different way.

Now,

Although breathwork has been around in many different forms for millennia,

And certainly in the wisdom traditions,

Such as yoga or traditional Chinese medicine,

Conscious breathwork was really born in the 1960s and developed by Stan Groff,

Who is the father of holotropic breathwork.

Now it is a transformational tool used for all different types of personal and emotional and spiritual experiences.

Usually conscious breathwork,

At least for breathing space,

Will take between 30 and 60 minutes.

It is set to music,

And we will breathe led by facilitator in a particular technique,

Often with a theme,

But not always.

And it's extraordinary how powerful this can be.

I'll demonstrate the technique in a little while,

But I have breathed thousands of people now,

And every single time something miraculous happens.

Now I don't want to sound like a snake oil salesman,

But I promise you that it is one of the most profound experiences that it is possible to have.

And the reason I love breathwork so much,

And before I was a breathwork facilitator,

I was a meditation teacher and a yoga teacher,

And I've been chasing all different types of healing modalities.

The reason I love breathwork so much is because it is essentially free,

Is accessible to everyone at every single moment,

And it just works.

So why do we do it?

How does it work?

Well,

For me,

Breathwork is all about connection.

It connects us to our wisest,

Highest,

Truest self,

And it connects us to each other.

Now,

Deep down,

I believe our bodies are tremendously wise.

They know what they need to do in any particular situation.

The problem is,

Of course,

We rarely listen to our bodies.

We are distracting ourselves with concerns about work or our family.

We are stressing about money,

Perhaps,

Or we are watching what's on Netflix.

Rarely do we properly drop into the deep wisdom of our bodies.

Now,

When we do a breathwork,

When we lie down and we breathe,

First of all,

We're giving ourselves the space and the time to really feel.

But even more than that,

When we do this conscious connected technique,

We are supplying a huge amount of energy to our bodies.

And because our bodies are really wise,

They not know what to do with that energy.

So for some,

It may be just some physical healing.

Maybe there is an ache or a pain that could be washed away,

Because breathing in this style really flushes our system with a lot of oxygen,

A lot of fresh oxygen.

It may be that you need some breakthroughs on an emotional level.

Maybe you need to feel something,

Sadness or grief or even anger,

Perhaps even joy.

When was the last time you allowed yourself to feel ecstatic happiness,

For instance?

Now,

Breathwork can work on a mental level.

You may get ideas or inspiration.

It's a non-denominational practice,

But you may also have a spiritual revelation or experience.

Of course,

It is possible that you don't need to experience anything.

You may just have 30 minutes of sitting down and listening to some beautiful music.

But how often do you allow yourself to do that?

Our bodies are really wise.

They know what they need to experience.

When we do breathwork,

We are giving ourselves the space and the time,

But also the energy for this to happen.

So let's talk about the technique that we're going to use,

Which is a conscious connected technique.

Every facilitator teaches this in different ways.

I usually do it in four steps,

And let's just have a little practice now.

So step number one is our mouth position,

Wide open,

Okay,

Like that.

As if you're biting an apple or maybe visiting the dentist.

Now,

You won't be able to keep your mouth in that position throughout the breathwork,

But I want you to just be aware of it,

Just be conscious of it.

And if you can,

Especially if you want to increase the depth of your experience,

You may find opening your mouth will help that.

So step number one mouth position.

Step number two is full body breaths like this.

In and out,

Imagining the air is going to every part of your body,

Obviously your belly and your chest and your shoulders,

But imagine you are pulling it in to your arms and to your legs,

To your hands and your feet,

Imagining you are pulling it into your head as well.

So open mouth,

Full body breaths.

Third and probably the most important is keeping your breath connected.

That means there's no pauses at the top and no pauses at the bottom.

So it's just one continual circle,

Like waves coming into a beach.

As soon as one finishes,

The next one begins.

So let's try that now.

Like that.

Fourth instruction,

I want you to pull on the inhale,

But then just let go on the exhale.

Let the breath rush out of your body.

Do not try and force the exhale,

Not please don't do that.

Just let the breath gently release from your body.

So should we try 10 breaths together now?

Okay,

So find yourself in a comfortable position and then let's go.

And one more.

Now close your mouth,

Breathe through your nose and just take a couple of pauses.

How are you feeling right now?

Just drop into the physical sensation of your body.

Just feel.

Because even after 10 breaths,

You will feel something and then blink your eyes open.

So let's go through some of the physical sensations that you might have felt in those 10 breaths.

So you don't feel overwhelmed when they start to happen in a full breath work.

So you may have started to feel tingling in your body.

You may have started to feel changes in temperature or rushes of energy,

All completely normal.

You may have had a dry throat.

To be honest,

It's almost impossible to do this breath work without feeling that sense of dryness.

Your throat will self lubricate.

You may get something called tetany,

Which is a locking up or cramping in your muscles.

Often it happens in your hands,

But it may happen somewhere else in your body as well.

Sometimes the jaw or sometimes the chest.

Now at any stage,

If you change your breathing pattern,

If you breathe through your nose,

Especially if you put pauses in your breath,

Those sensations will fade.

They won't last.

So please feel within your sovereignty at any time.

If you are feeling overwhelmed,

Change your breathing pattern.

However,

I also invite you to step into those sensations.

Breathe into them.

Maybe there is a message in there for you.

For instance,

If you are feeling locked up in your body,

Is there somewhere else in your life that you are locked up?

If you can let go of your breath,

Maybe there is something else that you can let go of.

So I do encourage you to breathe into any sensations and maybe see what is on the other side of them.

What could it be like if you allowed yourself to fully feel?

So those are some of the physical sensations.

Let's talk about some of the other things that might experience emotionally.

So we welcome all emotions,

Even the so-called negative emotions into a breathing space.

We don't try and deny any of them because they are all what make us human.

So you may feel sadness or grief.

You may feel anger.

You may feel loneliness.

You may feel ecstasy.

And I want you to welcome all of those mental things in as well.

If there is a sound or an expression of emotion,

For instance,

Tears,

I welcome you to try them.

Don't hold back.

If it is your time to cry,

Just have a cry.

Maybe have some tissues with you.

And also on a mental level,

You may have inspirational diet ideas or on a spiritual level,

You may experience something.

So those are some of the experiences.

You may have all of them.

You may have them all in a single breath and you may have others that I haven't listed.

Just welcome them in and see what happens.

Now let's talk about the small print for a little while,

Because this is a really powerful breathwork and you shouldn't do this unless you are properly prepared to do it.

So first of all,

Please do not do this if you are driving or operating heavy machinery or you are under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicants.

I want to be really clear on this point.

Please do not do this practice unless you can be in a quiet place where you are going to be undisturbed for sort of 30 minutes or so.

Especially not if you are doing something else,

Driving heavy machinery or if you are taking intoxicants.

Now let's talk about the contraindications.

This is a really activating breath.

So there is some small print.

Now it doesn't mean you shouldn't,

If you have any of these conditions,

It doesn't mean you shouldn't do this breathwork,

But please modify it.

Take it very,

Very gently.

Maybe with the mouth closed,

Breathing through the nose.

If you have a history of disassociation,

For instance epilepsy,

Sorry,

For instance,

Schizophrenia or bipolar,

And you're,

Especially if you're on medication for these,

Please only do this if you have been given permission by a medical professional.

If you have epilepsy,

Which isn't a history of disassociation,

Sorry,

I got that bit wrong there.

Again,

This is really activating and you should only do this if you have been given the go ahead by your doctor or physician.

If you have a heart condition or a history of high or low blood pressure or strokes,

Again,

Go very gently and maybe seek your advice from your doctor.

If you are in early or delicate pregnancy,

Again,

Please go very gently.

You are welcome to breathe.

I'm not going to turn people away because this is the most natural of experiences,

But please go very gently,

Especially if you're in the first trimester.

Glaucoma is also another one.

Please just go very gently with that one.

Abdominal surgery.

Again,

If you're pumping your stomach like a bellows and you just had a recent operation,

Probably not for the best,

But this is a natural practise.

This is something that we can all do at any time.

So I want you to feel safe doing this.

And if you have any concerns about this,

Come along to one of our live sessions,

Check out our website,

Makesomebreathingspace.

Com because we run facilitated sessions at least four times a week.

So I think that is everything that I need to tell you.

I've explained a little bit about what conscious breathwork is.

I've explained how it works.

I've explained how powerful it is.

I have talked through the steps of how to do it and some of the contraindications and some of the small print,

If you like,

About trying a practise like this,

But I do encourage you to try it.

Go very gently.

You know,

Even if you just close your mouth and breathe through your nose listening to this you will definitely have positive experiences from this.

So I'm going to wrap up here.

Thank you very much for listening.

My name is Ben.

I'm from Breathing Space School of Breathwork.

You can find us on makesomebreathingspace.

Com and we offer weekly facilitated breathworks all free and some breathwork courses,

Both an introductory level,

Which is free,

And some deeper explorations,

Including facilitator training actually.

So I wish you well on your breathwork journey.

I would love to connect more.

So let's maybe just take a breath together now.

Thank you and I hope we get to take some more breaths together again soon.

Reviews

Very clear spoken and simple introduction. I look forward to continuing my journey.

Best DMT breathing technique I have tried so far.
It is super amazing Master 🌹
Thank you for sharing this great technique.
Namasti🙏

Thank you very much, that is very interesting information and I have actually tried it out. Even if you have been doing yoga for a long time and know a lot of techniques, it is good that you are paying attention to us again and maybe also to those who have never had anything to do with breathing and are paying attention. It was very interesting work from you and I am glad that I found you here.

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation . Very helpful . ❤️🙏

Interesting. As an asthmatic elder, I was taught to breathe more slowly, so was not able to completely keep up, but I enjoyed your introduction, and was very pleased my condition was not one mentioned. It was good to hear I can go "gentle", also. Thank you!

A great, very clear introduction to what Breathworks is.
Thank you

Thank you - very good overview

Excellent well explained introduction! Looking forward to getting started

Won’t be able to make the live session on Sunday but will look for more

Thank you!🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Very clear instructions. Am excited to learn and experience more.😊

Like the idea of connecting to breath. Will definitely give it a try. Thanks

Wonderful explanations! I really enjoyed yesterday’s live session. Thank you!

Ben, Thank you for your clear & encouraging directions. Breathing together changes lives 🙌🏼🌬
Julia