Breathwork & Benefits
WHAT IS BREATHWORK?
Breathwork is the art of consciously effecting our Breath. The term ‘Breathwork’ encompasses many different techniques and modalities, including Conscious Connected Breathwork.
Conscious Connected Breathwork is a transformational, expansive and immersive experience, where we breathe in a circular and rhythmic way, alongside a deep experiential journey within.
By breathing in this way, we intentionally increase oxygen levels in the body and deplete carbon dioxide levels. This increased state of oxygenation may allow us to enter expanded states of consciousness and shifting into higher brainwave states (alpha, theta and gamma brainwaves). It is in these elevated states of awareness that we may regulate and soothe our nervous system, descend into the subconscious mind, emotional and energetic layers of self.
THE SACRED BREATH METHOD
The Sacred Breath Method, is a style of Conscious Connected Breathwork created by Sacred Breath Academy as a more nourishing, trauma-informed, somatic and nervous-led approach to Breathwork Journeying. This was created as an alternative approach to much of the rigorous and forceful mouth-inhalation Breathwork.
Sacred Breathwork is a transformational and self-healing modality that invites spaciousness and freedom of expression through your personal process of healing, releasing, reclaiming or awakening.
In this approach we work with the feminine principles of opening, allowance and receptivity, alongside a gentle increase in oxygenation and descent into deeper layers of self. We incorporate intentional spaces for sharing, processing and connecting, so you may integrate and ground the experience/insights into your body for lasting effects. We invite and encourage intuitive, free-form and uninhibited movement, vocal or emotional expression into the space, led by the innate intelligence of your body and breath.
Sacred Breathwork creates a holistic and immersive experience through ceremonial, intentional and safe containers, incorporating healing instruments, soul-inspiring music & essential oils.
Why Breathe?
Our Breath is the only part of our autonomic nervous system we can consciously control, and in this way our Breath is a direct bridge to our nervous system!
Breathwork is multidimensional and works on all layers of our being; the physical, emotional, mental and energetic.
"Breathing is the key that unlocks the whole catalog of advanced biological function and development. Is it any wonder that it is so central to every aspect of health? Breathing is the first place, not the last, one should look when fatigue, disease, or other evidence of disordered energy presents itself” - Sheldon Saul Hendler, MD, Ph.D
BREATHWORK & THE PHYSICAL BODY
Breathwork may soothe, unwind and regulate our nervous system, a potent antidote to the chronic states of anxiety and stress many live in. Diaphragmatic and conscious breathing activates the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (the rest, restore, recalibrate response) that awakens the body’s natural relaxation state.
Other benefits may include:
Restoring a sense of safety, presence and connection in the body
Release tension or contraction
Awaken our full lung capacity, enhancing oxygen delivery to our cells and tissues
Oxygen provides the body with 90% of its energy, with only 10% coming from food and water. Deep breathing during breathwork floods the body with fresh oxygen, which may enhance vitality and nourishment
Diaphragmatic breathing enhances detoxification pathways, with 70% of the bodies detoxification occurring naturally through the breath alone
May promote restful sleep
“In all eastern and mystic philosophies, the breath holds the secret to the highest bliss”
- Alexander Lowen, The Voice of the Body
THE MIND & SUBCONSCIOUS
Breathing in a conscious and connected way may allow us to shift out of our logical thinking or “monkey mind” (beta brainwave) and into expanded states of consciousness (alpha, theta or gamma brainwaves). When we access these elevated states of awareness, we may descend into our subconscious mind, where our subconscious beliefs, narratives, wounds and programs that we may hold about ourselves or our lives reside.
Cognitive neuroscience now suggests we are majority (around 95%) influenced by our subconscious mind and what resides there motivates and influences us in our lives for better or worse. Through Breathwork we may explore, illuminate and uproot disempowering, limiting, negative or self-sabotaging beliefs, narratives or programs, releasing what no longer serves our highest and aligned self. In these expanded state of awareness, we may forge new neural pathways and seed within our subconscious, something more expansive and aligned.
Other benefits on the mind may include:
Enhance clarity and focus
Gain a higher perspective of situations or experiences
Dissolve mental blockages, boosting creativity and inspiration
Shift feelings of being stuck or stagnant
Return to an empowered, embodied and sovereign state
BREATHWORK & EMOTIONS
Emotional alchemy is a big “Why” behind Breathwork and we may explore our emotional bodies during Sacred Breathwork Journeys (the deep, experiential style of Breathwork, called Conscious Connected Breathwork).
When we embark on a Sacred Breathwork Journey we are opening ourselves to the full depth and spectrum of the emotional experience, and these spaces may allow us to meet, uproot, integrate or release emotions that may have been stored/unprocessed/repressed/trapped in our bodies for many years.
“We are literally breathing breath and life-force to these parts of self to surface them for healing, release or integration. In this way, we are ultimately transmuting and alchemising our wounds into wisdom”
This may be incredibly healing and liberating on many levels, welcoming all emotions as body intelligence (even the intense or uncomfortable ones), allowing emotions to flow and move through the body. By clearing these emotions, textures and imprints from our energy channels, body tissues and nervous system, we may create more space to experience and receive love, joy, pleasure, creativity, inspiration and other higher vibrational tones. Through Breath, you may also explore the emotional and energetic root of physical symptoms and find empowerment on your healing journey.
ENERGETICS & SPIRIT OF BREATH
What breathers may experience on the energetic level is vast and limitless, and is often beyond the logical mind, you may:
Attune and deepen your connection to self
Experience expanded or non-ordinary states of consciousness and awareness, including mystical or transcendental states
Awaken Shakti/Kundalini energies and life force energy
Receive downloads, insights or realisations
Access and awaken your intuition, inner wisdom, inner knowing and body intelligence ~ the one that exists within already (and always has) held all the answers we seek
Return to a sense of peace, love or connection to all that is
