The Breath of Life
By Ann Harrison

A number of studies have shown that the way you breathe reflects the way you live and your whole approach to life. If you’re reading this, of course you must be breathing, but a qualified Breathwork practitioner would ask: But, how are you breathing and do you feel fully alive?

You would think that something as simple as breathing doesn’t need much explanation or regulation. However, the prana or chi in your breath carries the power to allow you to expand your awareness and your state, so that you experience non-ordinary states of consciousness. For this reason, it’s essential that you are supported and guided by a professional trained in these states.

Rebirthing Breathwork is an amazing tool for inner work, using full, conscious, connected breathing to bring you resolution and to clear issues, patterns and beliefs on a cellular level. It’s an extraordinarily simple, yet profoundly powerful breathing technique that makes you fully aware of the negative limiting beliefs that lead you to repeat certain destructive patterns of behaviour; in other words, the things that seem to limit your creativity and deaden your spirit. Breathwork eases or alleviates emotional pain while giving you insight into why you behave or react in a certain way. It does, therefore, have the potential to change your life.

Clients consult a Breathwork practitioner for the same sort of reasons they would consult a counselor – when emotions seem out of control: for example, your emotional reactions are unpredictable, there are unknown sources of depression, your relationships aren’t working or you just have a sense of hopelessness. In your two hour Breathwork session, the breathing part takes about one hour and you usually experience this lying down, with the practitioner sitting beside you to help you to still your mental chatter so that you can focus on your breath. As you do this, you become aware of bodily sensations, words, memories or images that are present.

Every session is unique because Breathwork is an organic, self-generated process in which you may have a physical, emotional, mental or spiritual experience or a combination of these. You may notice a change in body temperature and as you become aware of aches, pains or tightness in the body, these can be released. At an emotional level, you may feel greater energy and a sense of aliveness, as suppressed feelings that have been draining the body come to the surface and are cleared.

The mental body may go through a reprogramming of beliefs and conscious or unconscious conditioning, as memories of past events or relationships as far back as early childhood or even birth or conception are released. At a spiritual level, many experience deep relaxation and a sense of bliss as well as connection to self, spirit or the universe, as values and outlook on life are reassessed.

The debriefing with the practitioner at the end of the session is the most important part, as it allows you to reflect on your experience and relate the session to your present day life. Thousands of client testimonials have confirmed that this powerful process did work for them.

Everyone can benefit from Breathwork, but the process is most successful if you are ready to take the necessary steps to change yourself and your life and accept responsibility for your own life experiences and situations. Children, the elderly and the infirm can also benefit from more meditative, connected breathing from doing Breathwork, as it brings a greater sense of freedom, optimism and self respect. Awareness of breath is also one of the most effective techniques around for stress management.

Ann Harrison, Director of Breathwork Trainings International, is a leader in this field and will be presenting a free talk on the this technique as well as giving individual Rebirthing Breathwork sessions at Shakti Healing Circle in Central. Call 2521 5099 or visit www.shaktihealingcircle.com for more information.