The Rise of Breathwork as a Therapy
By Shoana Taylor, Dip PP Coaching, NLP, Breathwork Coaching
Twenty years ago no one had really heard of breathwork, and now it is becoming one of the fastest growing modalities in the health and wellness world.
As spiritual practice, we can trace breathwork to Indian Yogis, Tibetan monks, Ancient Egyptian initiates, Hawaiian Kahunas and various other Shamanic practices around the world. Breathwork practice was mostly used for altered states of consciousness and longevity.
With a new emphasis on scientific research so much has been uncovered about the physical, mental and emotional benefits of breathwork that it has now taken a front seat as a modality for many different sectors from sport performance, corporate well-being, in the classroom, to trauma release therapy. That said, let’s explore in some more detail how breathwork can help you or a loved one.
One of the many benefits about research is it has brought to light many insights between the body and the mind - from the chemical changes that take in the body to the influence of psychological disposition on breathing habits.
This has brought to the fore various styles of breathwork therapies that have developed since the 1970's. Some of these include, Rebirthing Breathwork, Holotropic breathwork and Conscious Connected Breathwork for example, that use circular mouth breathing pattern to create an alkaline a highly oxygenated state (called hypocapnia), activating the sympathetic nervous system. This rapidly changes the chemical structure of the blood and tissues and brain, on a physical level, causing tingling, temporary rigidity in the fingers or toes.
On a psychological level the conscious mind is by-passed and often deep rooted trauma including pre conscious birth trauma can be released once a person is activated. These sessions require professional space holding and understanding of how far to take a client and at what point the client must be guided into integration. When this happens there is a complete re-organising of the entire physiology and new neuro pathways are opened.
On an energetic level, what’s known as the ‘Nadis’ in Yogic terms are opened and energy blocks are cleared. The HEF (human energy field) is vastly expanded and unifies with the UEF (universal Energy Field) leading to ‘downloads’ eureka moments, life insights and channelled messages.
Just to share an example I have had a client who reported finding herself in a forest where a horse came to her wearing a native American woven blanket. Or another client who saw many unborn babies faces in the clouds. During a session I experienced and before I became a breath-worker , I saw a vision of myself guiding a breathwork session and pressing various points on their body and making various tones and sounds. I had never seen or heard of this way of working, but here i am today, doing exactly that and also incorporating tuning fork frequencies and laying-of- hands into the sessions as well.
Nasal breathing styles include, Buteyko Method, Oxygen Advantage (Patrick Mckeown), and Soma Breath (Pranayama) Wim Ho (uses a mixture of styles) which are geared towards performance, sports and breathing disfunctions. Many common problems including including panic attacks, anxiety, overwhelm, dizziness, low mood and mild depression, asthma, fatigue, ADHD emotional management can be addressed by changing a person’s incorrect breathing habit, which is developed as a coping mechanism unconsciously.
When I work with a client I also address the breath disfunction by observing it’s pattern through the body and noticing where it get’s ‘stuck’. The breath pattern is linked directly to the psychological problem so if a person is anxious, what is likely happening is that they periodically hold their breath. Panic attacks are triggered by fast shallow chest breathing causing the heart rate to speed up. These styles all develop as a response to stress and triggered thought patterns and can be changed.
Shoana Taylor, Dip PP Coaching, NLP, Breathwork Coaching
My journey into self development began when I was 20 years old. I had a crippling dislike for myself and wanted to change. I was self-critical, hypervigilant, had low self esteem, disliked how I looked felt inferior to others. I couldn’t keep a relationship feared abandonment and thus felt un-loveable. At around 25 I experienced a burn-out in my final student year followed by a car accident which put me out of action for 3 month and forced me to review how I was living my life.
Here began my first healing journey and after I recovered physically and I attended a Kahuna massage retreat training after experiencing it’s powerful soothing eects which cleared my PTSD. I took 4 levels of training.
Later in 2010 I trained in Life Coaching and NLP practitioner with The Coaching Academy UK before advancing onto Wellness coaching in 2020 and Breathwork and intuitive energy work. I continued my own healing journey with each new challenge. During a profound healing session my soul language or 'Light Language' was activated and my cosmic ancestry was revealed to me. During a powerful breathwork session in the same year, I saw my current life’s work in a vision.
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