Breathworks in the Quantum
Age
By Nicholas de
Castella
Yahweh God fashioned man of dust from
the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of
life, and thus man became a living being. Genesis
2:7
There I was in a basement in Sydney
lying down with a group of about eight people and being
told to take deep, full breaths. I had heard stories
about extraordinary experiences during this process and I
was eager to see if it would work for me.
I lay down and started breathing. At the
time I was an international marathon runner at the
Australian Institute of Sport and so I was used to
physical exertion. I dived in deep and started breathing
like a stream train.
At first I felt a little dizzy and got a
bit scared, but this soon passed and I settled into the
rhythm of the breath. Next I noticed a series of images
flashing across my mind about the everyday events that
were happening in my life at the time. I started to feel
a soft buzzing in my hands and feet. The buzzing
continued to get stronger until it was like a steady
current of electricity running through my whole body. I
noticed my arms lifting off the mattress involuntarily
and my hands tightening. I began to feel stuck, locked
in. I recognised this feeling as one that appeared in my
life regularly, a feeling of being held back, blocked and
restricted.
I started to feel hot and sweaty. I had
a weird feeling, as if someone was holding my hands and I
could feel the sensation of a wet towel on my forehead. I
remembered that I had almost died of a fever when I was a
three month old baby and I wondered if maybe I felt like
this at the time.
In the fashion of a true athlete I
fought the on coming feelings of restriction and they
seemed to fight back, tightening my hands and locking me
up even more. I felt powerless, like a tiny baby being
held down. I was hot and sweaty and my whole body was
charged with energy.
The facilitators came over and pushed
against my upright arms. This ignited a wave of passion
and fury within me. Instinctively I pushed back with all
my might. A huge wave of emotion burst forth. A roar from
deep inside me came thundering out as I struggled to
break free. Suddenly something broke open and a river of
relief flooded through me. I started to sob
uncontrollably. All the years of pushing and driving my
body beyond the pain threshold came pouring out. I cried
and cried. I had not cried for years before this as I had
believed that it was weak to cry. Gradually the intense
feelings of grief subsided and I was left with a soft
magical glowing feeling through my whole body. I was
peace.
I lay there enjoying the blissful
experience. I noticed that my breath felt remarkably calm
and easy. Soft waves of joy flowed effortlessly through
me as a rainbow of beautiful energy flushed my whole body
clean. As I lay there I started to see the seriousness
with which that I had taken my life so far and I started
to laugh. I had spent years trying to prove that I was
good enough and there in that moment I realised that I
was OK just the way I was. A lightness descended upon me
as I saw the cosmic joke and the great game that this
life is.
Later that evening we had a social
gathering, I was standing around chatting when my partner
took me aside and commented that I was talking
uncharacteristically loudly. Normally at social
gatherings I was fairly quiet and reserved but that
evening I felt free and open. Happy to be alive, I smiled
at her and went on talking.
This was my introduction to Breathwork,
and it changed my life. It was in 1989 and I was on a
facilitator training weekend. My Journey in personal
development had only recently begun and this experience
ignited a passion in me to continue to explore the
potential of Breathwork. During the 13 years since that
first experience I have facilitated thousands of
Breathwork sessions and I am still amazed at the
extraordinary power of this simple breathing technique to
make profound transformation in people lives.
When did Breathwork begin? In modern
times Breathwork has its origins in the work of Leonard
Orr. In 1962 Leonard, whilst taking a particularly long
bath, started to have flashback experiences of his birth.
He began to experiment with this phenomenon and to
encourage others to do the same. Pretty soon he noticed
that the flashback experiences were accompanied by a
certain breathing pattern. He called this pattern
'connected breathing' and began to guide others in this
breathing technique. At the time Leonard discovered this
work there was a lot of interest in alternative birthing
practices (people such as the famous Frenchman Le Boyer
were exploring alternative birthing practices). Leonard
and a good friend Sondra Ray (a midwifery nurse) noted
that many patterns present in a person's birth were
repeated throughout their life. (For instance, a person
born prematurely is likely to be early for appointments).
They focused on 're-birth' experiences during Breathwork
sessions and named the process 'Rebirthing'.
Other names given to Breathwork
processing today are: Vivation, Holotropic Breathwork,
Radiance Breathwork, Energy Meditation, Core Energetics
and Quantum Breathwork.
How does it work? Our breath is a major
source of energy supply. Eastern cultures have explored
the power inherent in the breath and speak of the energy
as 'chi' or 'prana'. In Latin the word for breath and
spirit is the same word 'spirare'. About 16 to 17 times
per minute we say "yes " to continuing our life here on
Earth and take another breath. We breathe about 10,000
litres a day, oxygenating some 27 trillion
(27,000,000,000,000) cells.
Due to poor breathing habits, limiting
decisions about ourselves, and suppressing emotional
experiences, the average person utilises only about 1
litre of their 6 to 7 litre lung capacity. Dysfunctional
breathing habits are known as futile breathing and this
is characterised by short, shallow irregular breathes.
Futile breathing creates internal stress, confusion,
tiredness, illness, and poor results in life generally.
During a Breathwork session our breath
is guided back to its natural state: relaxed, rhythmic,
flowing, and open. We call this breathing 'Connected
Breathing'. Connected Breathing promotes the 'whole body'
integration of our physical, mental, and emotional states
of being.
As a session progresses we open up the
flow of energy in our bodies. Our vibrational rate starts
to increase and we seem to 'shift gears' and open the
door-way to altered states of consciousness.
Significant events from any time during
our life may come to the surface. We may become aware of
an event that is currently happening or one that happened
years ago, including during our childhood, our birth, our
time in the womb and even our conception. The recall of
birth associated memories happens in about one in ten
sessions. Events arise organically through the process,
rather than being suggested as in hypnosis, they may or
may not have been consciously remembered. Whatever
surfaces is what most needs to be cleared for a
particular person at that time in their life. The
Breathworkers major role is to guide the breath and to
create a safe space for the breather to fully process the
experience that is arising.
We 'witness' events unfolding like
watching a movie. As the event unfolds we reconnect with
the thoughts we were thinking and the emotions we were
feeling at the time. In the presence of an experienced
practitioner, we then have an opportunity to complete the
experience. Not all sessions are loud and cathartic, many
quiet and peaceful sessions are just as effective for
making changes in our lives. Sometimes we make shifts
even though it may seem that 'nothing is
happening'.
As a past event is reviewed we often
gain valuable insights into our lives. During significant
life experiences we often draw conclusions to help us
make sense of the experience. We may decide 'I wasn't
wanted', 'I'm unlovable', 'I'm not worthy', 'I'm bad' and
so on. Most of our formative decisions are made when we
are children. As children we tend to take on the
responsibility for the things that happen as 'our fault'.
For example, When a father dies a young child may
conclude that "daddy left because I was bad". Many of
these conclusions do not serve us later in our
lives.
During a breathe these conclusions
become consciously recognised. Once recognised we now
have the choice to reconsider the decision with an
adults' fuller understanding of the situation. For
example, one man realised that it was not his fault that
his mother was so angry. She was overwhelmed without a
husband, after his father's death. He also understood why
he feared other women's anger. Now as an adult he did not
have to fear their anger anymore.
Towards the end of a session there is
usually a profound experience of peace and relaxation.
The breath is relaxed, gentle and flowing freely. This
phase allows the experience to be integrated.
Each Breathwork session is different.
The outline I have presented is only a broad guide to
give you a general idea of what happens in a session.
Most people experience a sense of relief after a session
and this may be accompanied by elation or
peacefulness.
Breathwork is based on the principle:
'The Healing is in the Feeling'. This means that until we
feel our emotions we heal. We like to say 'you can run,
but you can not get away!'. Most of us spend a lot of
time and energy fighting or avoiding feeling our
feelings. Carl Jung said 'all addictions are substitutes
for genuine feelings'. True freedom and empowerment come
when we learn to sit with our feelings and allow them to
pass through us.
The goal in Breathwork is not to
encourage people to become irresponsibly out of control
with their emotions. Instead Breathwork gives us a safe
and supportive place where we can clear old emotional
baggage so that it does not come out in the wrong way at
the wrong time, to the wrong person. It is an opportunity
to reconnect with our feelings and gain skills for
managing our emotions more effectively.
Apart from the breath, the primary tool
of a Breathworker is an attitude of love and truth.
Breathwork honours the unique, subjective experience of
each individual. Changes are made largely through the
discovery, recognition and validation of what is, rather
than through some 'fix it' mentality. In this way the
Breathworker and the client come into a relationship that
is mutually honouring, respectful and empowering.
Breathwork in the Quantum Age comes with
a highly sophisticated level of awareness of emotional
and metaphysical understandings and Conscious Awareness.
This level of backup skill was not available when
Breathwork was first made popular in the 1970's. I have
found the work of Louise Hay and John Bradshaw
particularly useful for integrating the shifts made
during a session.
What outcomes can you
expect from Breathwork?
1. An expanded experience of
love.
2. Enriched the experience of being
alive.
3. More peace and less stress.
4. Empowerment to create the kind of
life we want.
5. Enhanced physical well-being.
6. Loving relationships.
7. Connection with your true, infinite
nature.
1. An expanded
experience of love.
We are conceived with our hearts open.
By this I mean that we are connected to our source, we
live in a state of love. Our emotions flow freely through
our bodies. Emotions are energy. they are our life-force,
they animate us and are the key to feeling the rich
experience of love.
When we experience an emotion we can
either feel it, allowing the experience to open our
hearts, or suppress it and close our hearts down. As we
close our hearts to suppress our emotions we lose touch
with the feeling of love.
Unfortunately, many of our early
experiences in life involve a series of emotional shut
downs. These happen in two ways, firstly biologically,
and secondly, through social conditioning. Arthur Janov,
the Founder of Primal Therapy, suggests that under
extreme trauma (such as during our birth) we experience
emotions that are so intense that we are unable to
process them at that time. As a means of coping with the
situation we short circuit the experience in our brain by
what Janov calls 'gating'. Gating is a coping mechanism,
allowing us to continue to function and increases our
chances of survival. Janov proposed that it is important
to realise that once an emotion is created, if not fully
experienced it gets stored within the cells of the body
until a later time when conditions are right for its
release.
Through social conditioning we learn to
suppress our emotions. We are taught that it is weak to
be 'emotional', and that it is strong to 'hold it all
together'. Children are generally encouraged to suppress
their enthusiasm and vitality. They should 'be seen and
not heard', not answer back, be quiet and do what they
are told. Boys are taught to be 'strong' and not cry or
feel afraid and girls should not be angry.
If we are to be accepted and approved of
we must conform and behave according to the parents
rules. We learn that authentic expression of ourselves is
not acceptable and that we are not going to be loved
exactly as we are.
Breathwork has the effect of lessening
tension and restoring the open flow of emotional energy
through our bodies. A greater flow of energy through our
hearts gives rise to an expanded feeling of love. I
recently conducted a session with a forty five year old
man who had separated from his wife after she had asked
him to leave because of his "moodiness". In the session
he discovered that under his frustration about his
present situation was an intense feeling of love for his
wife and his two children. He left the session earnest to
let his wife know how deeply he loved her.
2. Enriched Experience
of Being Alive.
Depression is cited as one of the most
rapidly increasing diseases of our time, how depressing!
The common response is to administer drugs. Whilst this
may be useful to assist a person through a crisis it does
not address a major cause of depression - suppression!
When we shut down our emotional
expression we restrict the capacity for energy to flow
through us. Imagine a garden hose with water flowing
through it. As you squeeze the hose, the flow of water
slows. In a similar way, as we contract and brace our
physical bodies particularly our breath, we restrict the
flow of emotional energy through us. This dulls our
experience of being alive and leads to physical
tiredness, discomfort, stiffness and feelings of
emptiness and numbness.
Most experiences generate emotional
energy. When we don't fully express this energy it does
not disappear, but rather, it gets stored in the cells of
our body. If for instance, we feel angry about something,
but do not express it, the energy of anger will be stored
in our bodies. When the same thing happens over and over,
the level of annoyance about it will continue to rise as
the pool of stored emotion builds.
Holding emotional energy in our bodies
is tiring. Emotional energy is always moving, it wants to
be released, it wants to burst out. To suppress this
energy, we need to hold our bodies in control. Most of us
have been gradually holding more and more energy in
control and have not realised how much of our energy is
spent keeping it all together. We just feel
tired.
Dr Jo Horwood MB BS, a General
Practitioner who has explored Breathwork, wrote the
following:
'My observations of people who are
finding life heavy going is that often much of their
daily energy is spent in suppressing emotions that they
cannot find a way to safely express. For example, the
anger of past abuse; the deep sorrow of a child's death;
the fear of the unknown future.
Some workers have estimated that as much
as 75&endash;80 per cent of our available energy in one
day may be used to suppress our feelings, leaving only a
small fraction with which to live and create. If this is
true, is it any wonder that in a number of surveys,
"tiredness" is the most common symptom that people report
as the reason they consult their doctor?
I believe that the emotional suppression
that we all experience is the single most important issue
that blunts our experience of our fully realised, vibrant
well-being'.
Breathwork reopens the channels in our
bodies for the free expression of emotional energy.
Allowing energy to flow through us lights up our whole
being. As we release suppressed emotional energy we also
gain the energy that we were previously using to hold
ourselves in control. Consequently we experience renewed
vitality and feelings of aliveness, passion and
enthusiasm for life.
3. More inner peace and
less stress.
When we feel stress we are feeling the
effects of an emotion that is stuck or blocked in our
bodies. Stress is created by holding our bodies in a
braced condition. It is associated with deeper emotions
that have not been recognised and fully felt. For
example, agitation, restlessness and anxiety are surface
expressions of fear, whilst frustration and irritability
are surface expressions of anger.
Energy never stays still. Repressed
emotional energy puts our body in a state of continual
turmoil. Many people try to 'calm' this energy down with
medication or meditation. These are at best only
temporary, 'quick fix' solutions. They do not address the
underlying cause of the turmoil which often reappears
after the treatments cease.
Culturally we tend divide emotions in to
'good' and 'bad'. 'Good' emotions are generally those of
joy and peace, 'bad' emotions are those of sadness,
anger, and fear. When we make emotions wrong or bad, we
tend to attempt to hide them and resisting their natural
flow. Resisting the flow of emotional energy changes the
way the emotion is experienced. Instead of a free flow of
energy through us, when we resist our emotions, they feel
coarse or rough, and are experienced as uncomfortable.
The resistance causes them be experienced as painful.
Suppressing emotion causes prolonged
suffering. As we restrict our expression of emotion, we
increase the time it takes for us to release the energy
from our bodies and increase the time that we are it
takes to process the emotion. Babies go from screaming
rage to joyous giggling in a matter of seconds, but as
adults it often takes days, weeks and years to move
through traumatic emotional experiences. What this means
is that as adults we often linger in emotional
'backwaters' for a lot longer than we need to.
Breathwork helps us connect with and
release the underlying emotional energy that causes inner
turmoil. As a result we tend to find that we are
naturally more at peace with ourselves and others and
that our life flows with a greater sense of ease and
harmony.
4. Empowerment to create
the kind of life we want.
During a session we have opportunities
to become aware of the times when we made limiting
decisions about ourselves, others and life. These
decisions are the basis of our beliefs and usually reside
in our subconscious. Though we may be normally unaware of
them, they affect virtually everything we do. Holding
emotional energy in association with a limiting belief
makes it stronger and its effects more damaging.
By becoming aware of the context in
which we made a limiting decision about ourselves, and
having released the emotional charge on it, we then have
the opportunity to make new, life enhancing decisions.
New decisions mean new beliefs, new beliefs mean, new
actions and new actions mean new results!
5. Enhanced physical
well-being.
Poor breathing habits are one of the
major causes of physical illness. In his book 'The Oxygen
Breakthrough, 30 Days to an Illness Free Life' Dr Saul
Hendler, a respected Medical Doctor, states that improper
breathing has been associated with cardiac symptoms,
angina, intestinal disorders, headaches and increased
susceptibility to infection.
In my experience many illness' are
related to blocked emotional energy. The repressed
emotional energy that stays within our bodies wreaks
havoc on our immune system by upsetting our inner
balance. Studies have shown that a significant proportion
of people who developed cancer suffered an emotionally
traumatic experience within the preceding year.
In his book 'Primal Therapy - 20 years
on', Arthur Janov reports that people who participate in
regular emotional clearing work experience dramatic
changes in their physiology. The results of his studies
included reports of lower basal heart rate, normalised
blood pressure and lower core body temperature.
I regularly work with people who suffer
from severe medical conditions. Many experience profound
shifts in their level of well-being after expressing
blocked emotional energy. Quite often they discover that
underlying their physical illness is an emotion that has
not been released.
I have found that emotional releases
have assisted in the healing of: headaches, migraines,
'phantom' physical pains (often in the chest or stomach),
depressed immune system functioning, sleeplessness,
asthma, palpitations, psoriasis, stomach and bowel
troubles, disturbed vision, menopausal symptoms and
depression.
6. Loving relationships
Having an open our heart is a
prerequisite for the creation of loving relationships.
Loving relationships arise when we share all that we are,
when we commit to a journey of sharing and receiving to
the passionate and subtle aspects of heart-felt emotion
which includes: our joys, sorrows, fears, hurts, longings
and even our open-hearted (non attacking) expression of
anger. Sharing emotion is a powerful way to build bridges
across the shores of our hearts and souls.
Most of us have shut down our vulnerable
emotional expression in relationships. We have been hurt
in the past and fear getting hurt again. This guardedness
creates distance, diminishing intimacy. It leads to less
and less vitality within our relationships and more and
more feelings of isolation.
We often think we are afraid of getting
hurt again, but what we really fear is feeling the hurt
we have already within us from past, ungrieved losses.
Because of our limited capacity to express our emotions,
most of us go through life closing down our hearts and
become more and more separate from ourselves and each
other.
What happens when children fall over?
Usually they cry for a while. Then they get up and get
going again as though nothing ever happened. As adults we
'fall over' in relationships (and life), feel hurt and
contract, pulling back inside ourselves. When we brace
ourselves against the hurt we hold onto the pain. We then
get scared of 'falling over' and getting hurt again and
so we avoid 'dangerous' situations (intimacy). The
problem is not that we experience loss. The problem is
that we have lost our ability to grieve our
losses.
In relationships, suppressed emotional
energy (particularly anger) gets 'acted out', usually in
destructive ways. The unexpressed feelings lead to
sarcasm, mean comments, irritability and complaining.
These behaviours are subtle and tend to hurt others more
than when we openly express what we are really feeling.
These 'covert' behaviours undermine the level of safety
and trust in relationships and encourage guardedness and
distancing from each other. Very often we react strongly
to an event because it is similar to something that has
happened in the past that was not fully resolved. The
unexpressed emotional energy from the past comes up. When
this happens we say that the situation is 'plugging us
in'.
Releasing the underlying emotions
through Breathwork clears our 'charge' on an issue and
allows us to talk about it in a less reactive and more
open hearted way. As we clear repressed emotional residue
we find that we become less irritable and more patient,
tolerant and compassionate.
Breathwork assists us to feel and
express the emotions that we are carrying &endash; the
sadness, the anger, the fear (and the joy). As we relearn
how to release our grief we move forward in life, with
increasingly open hearts and into ever deepening
experiences of intimacy and love.
After a series of Breathwork sessions, a
thirty year old woman commented: "I felt abandoned and
suppressed in many different ways during my childhood and
adolescence. Now my aliveness insists on expressing
itself and my relationship with my mother especially, is
more real, close, spontaneous and supportive".
7. Connection with our
true, infinite nature.
During Breathwork sessions we often
experience 'witness consciousness'. In witness
consciousness we get to see ourselves from the outside,
in a non-attached way. We are aware of our feelings but
are not so strongly identified with them (or identified
'as' them). We get to observe our body, thoughts and
emotions without our normal associations of being them.
For example, we realise the truth is: 'I am feeling
anger' not 'I am angry'. This experience directs us
towards a deeper awareness of who we truly are.
One of the major benefits of this
expanded awareness is that it builds a connection to a
centredness that is not affected by the trials and
tribulations of everyday life. Being less associated with
our body, thoughts and emotions, we do not get so thrown
around by what arises within them. The beauty of this is
that it enables us to experience a greater sense of
aliveness and not be subject emotional 'roller coasters'.
As we build an awareness of who we truly are we become
less affected by what other people think and find an
inner strength and freedom to live our truth.
A Healing Breath
Meditation
The healing power of the breath is
beyond question. Connected breathing is one of the most
powerful ways I know of to induce a deep state of
relaxation. Here is a guide for some relaxing
breathing:
1. Sit or lie in a comfortable setting,
place your hands on your belly.
2. Inhale slowly and deeply through your
nose.
3. Breathe in all the way down to your
belly, feel your belly getting bigger. As your belly
fills continue to gently expand your breath into the
upper parts of your lungs.
4. Breath out, focusing on letting go
and allowing the air to flow freely out. Continue this
cycle of breathing consciously in and out. Focus your
attention on the feeling of surrendering and letting go
as you breathe out.
5. Focus on connecting the inhalation
with the exhalation so that your breathe goes round and
round without a pause.
6. Continue breathing for about 5
minutes. This is usually enough to induce a profound
state of relaxation and inner peace.
Breathwork offers us life changing
transformative experiences on the journey of heart
opening and personal empowerment. My experience as a
Breathwork facilitator has been that this is a remarkably
powerful healing modality that enables people to grow and
make changes quickly and easily. I continue to experience
feelings of deep satisfaction and joy in seeing the
effects of this process on others.
Many people think that the idea of
letting go of one's emotions is a scary one. It is very
important to ensure that the Breathworker you choose has
been professionally trained and is registered with a
recognised Breathwork organisation. In a professionally
conducted Breathwork session the quality of presence,
level of skill and support of the Breathworker provide a
rare space in our society where it is safe for us to open
our hearts and let go of unwanted excess emotional
baggage - and the rewards for facing our fear are well
worth it!
Nicholas de Castella, President of The
Australian Breathwork Foundation has over 14 years
experience in Breathwork. He is President of the
Australian Breathwork Foundation, Founder of The
Institute of Heart Intelligence and author of 'Keys to
Emotional Mastery'. He conducts Breathwork Practitioner
Trainings, facilitates weekly support group meetings and
runs a private practice in Clifton Hill.