What is breathwork?
Breathwork is the practice of consciously controlling your breathing to positively influence your physical, mental or emotional state. Breathwork can be used to help regulate your nervous system, helping you to feel calmer, more focussed, and more in touch with yourself.
Ways you can benefit from breathwork:
Reduced stress and anxiety
Improved mental clarity, focus and concentration
Enhances emotional resilience
Improved heart rate variability (helping your body to recover from stress more readily)
Helps regulate your nervous system
Helps you to feel more energised
Helps you to relax more easily
Improved sleep
Please note, the breathwork techniques I work with are for nervous system regulation - I do not use the more dynamic, or rapid breathwork techniques (such as holotropic breathwork), our focus will be on nervous system regulation and restoration - including calming, balancing and energising breaths.
What do 1-2-1 breathwork sessions involve?
You might come to breathwork because you have a specific issue you want help with (for example, sleep issues, or anxiety), or, it might be a way for you to form a deeper connection with yourself and improve your wellbeing. Either way, one of our starting points is to set goals, or a focus, for our sessions - which will be tailored to your needs.
Before our sessions start (whether in-person or online) we'll arrange a brief intro video call (15 minutes, free of charge) - this is so that I can learn a little more about what you're looking for, and you can ask any questions you might have. It's a good way to see if we're the right fit for each other, without any pressure to commit to booking sessions.
If you decide to start sessions, I'll then send you some paperwork to fill in - including an intake form. There are some contraindications to breathwork, mostly this means that we'll need to be mindful, or that there are some breaths we might avoid if you have certain medical conditions. You may need to have a word with your GP before we start, to get their advice and sign off in relation to doing breathwork alongside specific medical conditions. All paperwork needs to be completed and returned in advance of our first session. I use an online practice management system for this, so it's a very easy process.
We'll book a minimum of three sessions to start with - this is because there is some preparation and exploration required before we get into the really useful breathwork techniques that you'll benefit from over time. After these first three sessions, we can book and pay for individual sessions moving forwards, or you can choose to book another block of sessions.
Our first session or two will typically be an exploration of the way you breathe. Our initial focus will be on breath awareness activities - as well as exploring the breath - effectively playing around a bit to see how it feels for you! During this first session, I'll be looking out for “breathing dysfunctions” - most of us, at some point, will have adopted what we call a “breathing dysfunction” - a way of breathing which is not optimal for our physical or emotional wellbeing.
Once we've identified any breathing dysfunctions, our focus in subsequent sessions is initially on practicing breathing techniques to correct these, gently teaching your body, over time, to relax into a more effective way of breathing. Once we've made a start on this, we'll turn our focus to whatever issues or intentions you've brought with you as goals for our time together.
Throughout our time together, I'll share recordings and resources for you to practice the techniques we cover on your own at home. Practicing breathwork daily (even just for 10 minutes) is the most effective way to meet your goals, and will help you to get more out of our sessions over time.
Breathwork helps us to connect to ourselves with depth, and although it can be deeply relaxing and restorative, it's important to bear in mind that it can cause feelings and memories to surface (good and bad). We'll use grounding techniques throughout and will keep a close eye on how you're feeling if this happens. Breathwork can be a useful tool to help with the processing of powerful feelings, but it may be that I suggest you seek traditional counselling / talk therapy / trauma therapy in addition to our sessions if anything particularly traumatic or challenging surfaces for you.
During our time together you'll gain a greater awareness of your breath, a deeper connection with yourself, and an understanding of how the way you breathe can affect your everyday experiences. You'll learn breathwork techniques and grounding exercises that you can take away with you, and use for life.
If you have any questions, or would like to book a free 15 minute intro-call for breathwork sessions, please contact me here.
