Breathwork

Working with the breath, body and nervous system to create change beyond words.

Breathing is something we do automatically thousands of times each day, but it is also something we can consciously influence. This gives us a powerful way of working directly with our physiological state.

I often describe the breath as “the remote control to the nervous system.” By changing how we breathe, we can influence how activated or settled our body feels, helping us develop greater awareness of our internal state and greater flexibility in how we respond to stress.

This is one of the reasons I was drawn to breathwork. In psychotherapy, we can develop enormous insight into why we feel or behave the way we do, yet understanding something intellectually does not always change how it feels emotionally or physically.

Knowing something and feeling it can be two very different things.

Like EMDR and other experiential approaches I use, breathwork provides another way of working beyond purely conscious, cognitive understanding, with emotional and physiological responses that may be difficult to access through talking alone.

BREATHWORK & THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

A helpful way of understanding our nervous system is through the window of tolerance. This describes the range in which we can experience stress and emotion while remaining relatively present, connected and able to respond flexibly.

When we move outside this window, we may move towards activation, experiencing anxiety, urgency, agitation or overwhelm, or towards shutdown, experiencing numbness, disconnection, exhaustion or withdrawal.

The goal isn’t to remain calm all the time. It is to develop greater flexibility in our nervous system, so we can experience activation when necessary and then return to a more regulated state.

For people who experienced chronic stress, unpredictability, trauma or emotional disconnection earlier in life, a higher level of activation can gradually begin to feel normal.

You may be functioning extremely well, working, coping and getting on with life, while your body remains tense or slightly on edge.

I sometimes think of this as the idle speed of a car. If your engine has always idled high, eventually the sound of that engine simply feels normal.

Breathwork can help us notice where our nervous system is actually sitting, and begin developing a greater capacity to genuinely settle rather than simply becoming better at functioning while activated.

WORKING BEYOND TALKING

Breathwork is a somatic approach, meaning that we work with the body as well as the thinking mind.

Some experiences are easy to put into words. Others may show themselves more through physical sensations, emotions, automatic reactions, images, memories or deeply held beliefs.

Talking can help us understand and make meaning of our experiences, but insight alone doesn’t necessarily change the emotional or physiological responses connected with them.

During more experiential breathwork, changing the pattern and intensity of breathing can alter our physiological and attentional state. Some people may notice physical sensations, emotions, memories, images or beliefs coming into awareness.

There is nothing you have to make happen. The purpose isn’t to force an emotional release or create a dramatic experience.

Sometimes, however, something may emerge that would benefit from further therapeutic work.

This is where I find the integration of breathwork and EMDR particularly valuable. When appropriate, a memory, belief, emotion or experience that emerges during breathwork can become something we explore and process more fully using EMDR.

Bringing something into awareness isn’t necessarily the same as resolving it.

For me, the purpose of breathwork isn’t simply to have a powerful experience. It is to help you understand, process and integrate what emerges so that it can contribute to meaningful therapeutic change.

DIFFERENT WAYS I WORK WITH THE BREATH

Not all breathwork is the same, and I use breathing differently depending on what we are trying to achieve.

Therapeutic breathing and breath retraining can involve slower, more regulated breathing practices designed to increase awareness of breathing patterns and support nervous-system regulation, anxiety management and physiological settling.

Experiential breathwork involves a more sustained and intentional breathing practice. This can create a different physiological and attentional state and provide an opportunity to explore emotions, sensations and experiences that may arise.

The approach is always tailored to the individual. More intensive breathwork is screened beforehand and facilitated with attention to physical and psychological safety, and it isn’t appropriate for everyone.

BREATHWORK MAY HELP WITH: