When I tell people that I specialize in breathwork, I typically get a puzzled look, followed by…
“Hmm… Breathwork?” they say and tip their heads to the side. “Doesn’t everyone already know how to breathe?”
Of course, they do… we are all able to breathe without thinking about it. But breathwork is more than just breathing. Let me tell you, it has changed my life!
What is Breathwork?
At Klarity Coaching, I incorporate coaching and breathwork, which is different from regular breathing, where your lungs simply take in and then push out air. Breathwork is a technique we use to intentionally change your breathing pattern. We call this technique conscious connected breathing.
Conscious connected breathing helps to shut down your overthinking, negative, monkey mind. You know, the one that constantly tells you that you aren’t good enough, you’re not doing enough, remembers every failure you have ever had, and recalls every mistake you have ever made? With breathwork, the level of oxygen (good stuff!) increases in your blood to move throughout your body. It helps you release stagnant energy (not-so-good stuff) and trapped emotions from your body that you have held onto without even knowing it. During a breathwork session, you learn to control your breathing. And learning to control your breath will help you control your mind and your life!
“Oh, I get it,” that same person says. “It’s meditation, right? But you just focus on your breath?”
No, not exactly. Let’s break it down a little more…
Breathwork Vs. Meditation
Although both breathwork and meditation are about mindfulness and increased concentration, they have some major differences. Breathwork is more about clearing out blocks and focusing your energy instead of quieting your mind, like meditation.
In meditation, when random thoughts come into your head, you are taught to acknowledge them but let them pass, then bring your attention back to your breath (in-out, in-out). Or there is guided meditation, where you are led through the session and encouraged to visualize a peaceful image to produce a state of calm relaxation while you continue to focus on the steady in-out of your breath. Or sometimes, you may be asked to focus on an object, such as a candle’s flame, in what is called focused meditation. Don’t get me wrong, meditation is amazing and can be a very useful tool. But breathwork is so much more!
Breathwork’s Process and Benefits
In breathwork, our sessions begin with twenty-plus minutes of conscious, connected breathing while we play music for motivation and relaxation. We are not asking you to breathe in a simple in-out pattern; we teach you to inhale and exhale in a way that causes more oxygen to be taken in and flow through your bloodstream. We guide you along the way, speaking words of inspiration, and using verbal cues and sounds to help you release some of the trapped emotions. When these feelings and emotions come to the surface, we don’t want you just to let them pass, like in meditation; we want you to recognize how you feel and really allow yourself to feel it so you can release it. We love when people embrace the holy water (crying), yelling and laughing!!! Yes, even laughing… we get the full spectrum of emotions coming up!
After a breathwork session, some clients have experienced overwhelming feelings of joy and bliss. Some have felt a new connectedness with the world around them. Some have begun the healing process from old wounds or loss. Many people are able to release emotions that have been stuck in their bodies and minds for years or even entire lifetimes during breathwork. Every person gets exactly what they need to experience to help advance their lives and achieve better energy and balance. And we get to be there to witness all of those beautiful moments. It’s so amazing!!!
While meditation helps you relax, breathwork goes a step further and can provide you with instant stress relief. According to the Mayo Clinic, this type of breathing can also reduce chronic pain. Because your breath is connected to nearly every other aspect of your health and wellness, mastering this technique can positively impact your body and mind in multiple ways.
Other Benefits of Breathwork
Some additional benefits that clients have experienced in our classes are:
- New insights, revelations, and epiphanies
- Expansion of consciousness and awareness
- Tapping into a higher source of knowledge
- Feelings of deep relaxation and inner peace
- Release of toxins and negativity
- A new sense of clarity
HypnoBreathwork’s Uniqueness
As part of a HypnoBreathwork® session (which is my favorite method of breathwork), we use the breath to clear energetic blocks and emotions, along with hypnotic cues and suggestions to help spot old habits, subconscious beliefs, and patterns so we can reprogram them into new, more empowering beliefs. We walk you through a visualization process that then allows you to create new neural pathways (think of rewiring your brain) to create sustainable changes in behavior. When you use the breath to intentionally create new habits that support your goals and dreams and take aligned action, you will change your life… That is the power of the breath.
HypnoBreathwork® very intentionally helps you to break out of your overthinking mind so you can enter an expanded state of consciousness through higher brainwaves. Here, you can access your unconscious mind to unlock your self-limiting beliefs and programmed narratives. HypnoBreathwork® helps you become conscious of what has previously influenced you on an unconscious level, so you can work to change things for the better.
At the beginning of this post, I said that breathwork changed my life, and it truly did. In the past, before I became a certified life coach, I worked in the service industry (bars & nightlife) and was constantly burnt out, frustrated, drained, and overwhelmed. I discovered these breathing techniques and used them to improve my mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. And I discovered what I really wanted in life. If you have never tried breathwork, try a breathwork session and see what your unconscious mind unlocks for you.