The Wim Hof phenomenon that has spread worldwide over the past few years brought the power of breathwork to the masses.
The truth is, there are a wide range of breathwork practices and they have been around for millennia helping people to find peace, balance, connection, and access altered states of consciousness.
Here in Scotland, we have a big problem with people chasing the next high through drink, drugs, or whatever else provides a release.
Essentially, they’re looking for a short-term escape from the problems they’re facing, and altering their consciousness chemically allows them that temporary ‘high’.
Breathwork, on the other hand, is a natural way to change chemicals in the brain and – depending on how deep you go – alter consciousness. This way, you can actually address problems in a healthy, non-destructive way, and also increase your level of self-awareness.
As Wim Hof says about breathwork: “Get high on your own supply.”
A History of Breathwork And How Practices Have Developed
Breathwork has roots in Eastern practices such as yoga, Tai Chi, and Buddhism. Both therapeutically and as a path of spiritual awakening, breathwork has been used in ancient traditions for thousands of years.
This includes pranayama in yogic practices and a variety of breath-centred meditations in Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Shamanism, and also martial arts.
However, breathwork has had a big revolution in the last 60 years, thanks to two key figures: Leonard Orr and Stanislav Grof.
American Leonard Orr founded the Rebirthing Breathwork movement. He discovered breathwork while sitting in a hot tub experimenting with deep breathing patterns. Leonard found that breathwork helped to reach a non-ordinary state of consciousness where memories, pictures, emotions, or body sensations can surface to be released and integrated.
Meanwhile, Stanislav Grof is a world-renowned Czech psychiatrist who founded Holotropic Breathwork, which is a form of accelerated breathing accompanied by evocative music.
Dr Grof worked with LSD and other psychedelics for many years as a therapeutic tool back in the 1960s and was having great success in treating psychiatric issues. Then the war on drugs began and psychedelics were banned, classed as harmful substances by ill-informed politicians.
Believing that the same healing states of consciousness could be achieved without the use of LSD or other psychedelics, Dr Grof researched how indigenous people and tribes had accessed these states naturally through music and accelerated breathing.
Breathwork Used At Our Health Retreats
Breathwork is an integral part of the health retreats we run in collaboration with CAIM in Highland Perthshire.
It’s a very powerful tool that allows people safely do some inner work, tap into their subconscious mind, and release any stuck emotions.
One of the main reasons breathwork is such an effective practice is that it often leads to participants gaining new insights about themselves – and better understand their behaviours and current life situations.
It also empowers participants to do their own ‘work’, facing their challenges and overcoming them, discovering more about themselves, and unblocking stuck energies…without the need for anyone else to ‘fix’ them.
What’s Possible For You With The Breathwork Experience
Not every participant will have the same experience when delving into breathwork based on our different backgrounds, life experiences, and where we’re at in our lives at that moment.
However, a common theme seems to run through every retreat where participants generally experience:
* A sense of lightness – like a weight has been lifted from you.
* A sense of awe – when you realise the depth of the inner journey you can be taken on by your own breath.
* A sense of clarity – very often participants experience an ‘aha’ moment where they see their lives/current situations from a new perspective, finding answers that were impossible to find beforehand.
The breathwork element of our regular health retreats generally lasts around 30 minutes, and is the gateway to a deep inner journey. This is followed by an opportunity to recalibrate and share your experience.
To learn more about the retreats, click here.
A Special Breathwork Gathering In West Dunbartonshire You Don’t Want To Miss
Join us on the last Wednesday for an intimate evening of breathing and expansion as we explore the power of the breath at our monthly Breathe & Share sessions.
You can learn more about and book this special monthly event via the Breathe and Share section on our website.
