Today I had the pleasure of taking part in an all day breathing workshop.

image source

The kind of breathing that we were doing was 'Holotropic Breathing'. This type of breathing involves a strong inhale and exhale with no gap in between the two.

The setting was an intentional and held space, with a group of about 10 people. We took turns as either the 'breather' or the 'sitter'. We had a nice sound system and a playlist was prepared that would be conducive to the experience and the stages we would go through. In each 2.5 hour session the breather would lie down and do the breath work. The sitter's job was to sit next to the breather and help them with any needs they might have during the process - also just generally giving good vibes.

I have to say that this breath work really blew me away in how strong it was, and in how deeply it affected me.

The process allowed me to do some emotional clearing on a deep physical level. It was a profound healing which was very different to anything I had experienced before. I could compare it to hallucinogenic plants, but really it was more like a deep physical, cellular clearing - followed by joy, radiance, and some visions. And of course there was no hangover or side effects, nor any time needed for my brain to work properly again.

For me the experience could be broken down into about five different stages.

• The first stage - this involved putting my energy and intention into consciously breathing with gusto into the belly region. I was thankful for my experience in yoga, with it's emphasis on breathing. I feel that this enabled me to really pump the belly and use a kind of 'breath of fire', as well as slower breaths that were similarly full and strong. The sensation was of tingling or buzzing in my face, chest and hands.

• The second stage - in this stage the tingling was less apparent but my body began to twitch and convulse. This ranged from simple leg and arm wobbles, to massive core contractions which pulled my arms and legs up into the air. It was really interesting to feel the body doing all of this seemingly of its own accord. This was the start of a cathartic purging phase, as I continued breathing and going deeper.

• The third stage - still breathing strongly I began to feel very strong emotions. This started with grief, and I began to sob uncontrollably. This was very loud and vocal and was accompanied by the strong core contractions. It was as if this grief energy was focused on that central area and was being pulsed through and out of the body. I picked up on other breathers around me who were also releasing, I felt in a very receptive place so that I responded sympathetically with my nervous system doing the same. It started with grief, but soon I was not sure if it was a sob or a laugh. After about three or four bursts of this it was genuinely just laughing, and the feeling was not sadness but immense joy. The held and locked emotion in my body was literally squeezed out by the breathing, and the result was an amazing sense of happiness.

• The fourth stage - coming out of the third stage, where I had one or two bouts of strong laughter coming from my core, I felt VERY good. The breathing was taking care of its self and had a sense of lightness now. I wasn't having to work to keep up the breath. A huge feeling of gratitude overcame me. I was crying again but now very softly, and this time I was very clear that it was because I was overwhelmed by the beauty of life. I was also overwhelmed with gratitude, at being given this life, and also in that moment having the opportunity to purge some things that really didn't need to be there. I felt a great sense of peace and happiness. At this stage the sensation of the body was very light and floaty, a little bit like I was coated in a very soft fluffy layer, or perhaps I was floating above the ground. There was less connection to my body now, I was feeling quite still and there was no spasms at all.

At this point I felt very open and I was having insights into life. I reflected that no one is really a bad person. It is more that we just have pain inflicted on us as a matter of course, and without an understanding of this we inflict it onto others. Until we reach a state of wisdom and insight of course we will unconsciously act like this, can we really be blamed? It's part of the process of our conscious evolution. With enough healing in the world we could create more and more environments that grow and sustain balanced 'healed' people. These people do not react to the pain around them, they accept it and look on with compassion. This nullifies the pain, this heals the world. Healing yourself goes a long way to changing the world.

• The fifth stage - in this stage my breathing was not very strong now, and I felt content to let it be less intense. My focus was turned more inward with the body dropping into a stillness. Here I had a few visions. One vision that I had was of a hawk flying in the sky, another was of a friend I know. A third vision was of a pathway made of stars, and the sense of a subtle double of my body made of that same night sky 'black and stars'. I saw many things but these were some specific things. I was very much amazed at how detailed and crisp these images were. Having previously done both shamanic drumming and certain plant medicines, I had experienced visions before. The visions I had today were breathtakingly lifelike though, they seemed much clearer which would make sense. I saw a scene of a woman that I didn't know at all and was started at the realism of the whole thing, like I was looking at a real person in front of me - yet I knew my eyes to be closed behind a blindfold.

So that was my holotropic breathing journey. I hope you enjoyed reading about it, and I also hope you are curious to try something like this yourself. It seems to me to be a very good therapy and healing method that doesn't have any side effects for the body.

If you are interested then please don't try this at home without the proper preparation and respect. I would recommend looking for a local breath work practitioner - the value in holding the space and going through a proper procedure can make all the difference. An experienced practitioner can also guide you in how to proceed, and what you might expect.

Much love to my fellow beings