Breathwork Description
Overview
Holotropic Breathwork™ is a powerful, natural method of
self-exploration and personal transformation. While the
breath is ordinarily taken for granted, using the breath to
turn inward using Holotropic Breathwork requires
extraordinary intention, knowledge and support. Holotropic
Breathwork uses sustained, deep breathing and a musical
soundscape to direct attention away from the everyday mind
and into the deep psyche. A session generally lasts from 2
1/2 to 3 hours. Focused energy release may be part of a
session. A mandala drawing is done upon completion.
Within the container provided by the workshop setting, the
Breath intensifies inner experiences and provides access to
states of mind, body, psyche and even the collective
unconscious that are normally inaccessible. No two sessions
are the same, though themes may recur. Your experience
during a Breathwork session can be expected to be as unique
as you are because your own inner wisdom is activated to
guide you toward a set of internal experiences specific to
your personal evolution to greater wholeness.
Origins
'Holotropic' is
a word of Greek derivation meaning 'moving toward
wholeness'. The term was adopted by consciousness
researcher Dr. Stanislav Grof to refer to the natural and
healthy inclination of mind, body and spirit toward greater
integration by accessing non-ordinary states of
consciousness. Grof and his wife Christina developed
Holotropic Breathwork while in residence at the Esalen
Institute during the 1970s. It was based on the decades of
consciousness research undertaken by Dr. Stan Grof up to
that time (see reading list) and motivated by the desire to
reproduce the mind-expanding experiences of the psychedelic
era through safe and natural means.
Recognizing that World traditions have long used breath and
music to induce trance states, the Grofs developed
Holotropic Breathwork to transcend cultural, religious and
psychotherapeutic boundaries. They drew on the
commonalities among approaches that all used the breath,
while subtracting beliefs and practices that are not
universally necessary to directly experience ones deep
psyche. Stan Grof was also one of the founders of
transpersonal psychology, which recognizes that
consciousness transcends the boundaries of the personality,
time and space. Grof was the originator of the expanded
cartography of the psyche that first mapped inner
experiences to biographical, perinatal and transpersonal
realms.
Turning Inward
Today's most
exciting psychologies, like world mystical traditions,
point to the essential wisdom and healing capacity that
reside within each of us. This dynamic is described by many
names, such as the Inner Healer, Therapeutic Mechanism,
Higher Power and others. Holotropic Breathwork is a
powerful strategy for cooperating with this inner healer.
It does not require you to transfer personal power to the
guidance of a facilitator, nor to submit to the
reinterpretation of your experience according to an
external framework of meaning.
The Breath is one of the most natural and powerful ways to
access expanded states of consciousness and connect with
the healer that already exists within. The Holotropic
Breathwork approach is aligned with other approaches that
empower one to turn inward and can enhance traditional
western therapeutic approaches, classical spiritual
practices of all cultures, as well as the 12-step
philosophy. Cross-culturally, the native peoples of this
planet have used non-ordinary states of consciousness to
access this inner strength and healing.
Holotropic
Experiences
Nonordinary
states have a characteristic sensory vividness and
transcendent quality. The usual perception of boundaries
between space and time, matter and energy, parts and the
whole may blur. A holotropic breathwork session can bring
into consciousness any emotions, sensations or thoughts
that may be unfinished byproducts of events from our
personal biographies. Breathwork provides the opportunity
for unproductive patterns and emotions frozen with past
events to surface and transform into an experience of
release. Birth/death/rebirth experiences have a particular
salience in holotrophic states. Experiences may also arise
from the unlimited field of consciousness called the
transpersonal dimension.
Breathwork touches the deepest levels of the subconscious,
helping one to access experiences which go beyond everyday
understanding, such as traumatic memories, archetypes,
birth experiences and, some believe, even karmic patterns.
An individual's own psyche is the director of the
holotropic experience. This ensures an empowering
experience of the inner healer as well as avoiding miscues
by someone else attempting to guide an inner experience
from outside it. The facilitator's role is to be available
to assist the breather -- not to interfere with or
interrupt the process.
The Technique
To help build a
safe container for our process, and to develop group
cohesiveness, this workshop begins by coming together in a
group circle for introductions and to review the principles
of holotropic breathwork. During two separate sessions, you
will have the honour of 'sitting' for a partner as they
'breathe', who in turn will 'sit' for you. Sitting for
someone having a holotropic breathwork experience can be a
deeply moving, learning experience.
The basic element in Holotropic Breathwork is deep and
accelerated breathing done lying on a mat with eyes closed
and the attention directed inward. Evocative music provides
a soundscape for the inner journey and covers distracting
sound. Spontaneous expression of the inner experience is
encouraged. Focused body work may be used as an adjunct to
help free old, blocked energy to transform and carry us
into expanded realms of ourselves. Drawing a 'mandala'
helps to express and honour the inexpressible. A closing
circle is used to discuss and help integrate the often
intense experiences that arise.
Who can benefit
This safe paradigm is ideally suited for those seeking
greater psychological opening as well as an expanded
spiritual dimension to their lives. The workshop is open to
people who have never experienced Holotropic Breathwork as
well as those who have been in previous workshops. Because
it can be both gentle and powerful, this method has been
useful for those just beginning transformational work as
well as those already comfortable with the deeper realms of
their inner selves.
Participants are often those who are strongly motivated to
deepen their personal transformative journeys. Mental
health professionals often find this process useful in
opening to new levels of awareness and knowledge about the
healing process through their own participation in this
process of self-exploration. People recovering from the
addictive process in any of its forms are also attracted to
this work and see it as a natural enhancement of the
12-step philosophy.
This workshop is also beneficial for persons involved in
psychotherapy or who are on a spiritual path, for people
exhibiting psychosomatic illness or suffering from physical
symptoms which have not responded adequately to medical
treatment, and for those who have done psychedelic research
or are in spiritual emergence.
Who should not participate: Because of the physically
demanding aspects of Holotropic Breathwork, and its
potential for inducing a re-experiencing of intense
emotional material, this workshop is not appropriate for
pregnant women or for people with heart conditions,
hypertension, recent surgery, epilepsy, glaucoma, or a
history of mental illness.
