Benefits of Breathwork
The element of Air has been recognized by many philosophers to be the primordial element. The element that exists within all the other elements. In the state of perfect dispersion, invisible, rarefacted it turns into fire, and highly condensed it produces fog, clouds, water etc.
The process continues until the air is condensed enough to form solids - earth. Without Air - there is no fire, water, earth. As the primordial element, it has divine features. After all, it is eternal, infinite, invisible, boundless - the creative principle of everything, and the element that hold worlds together.
With every inhale we receive
With every exhale we offer
The breath is our prayer
In several languages, the words for spirit and breath are the same - and mystics believe that an infant literally breathes its spirit into its body with its first breath and the spirit leaves the body with the last breath – in that sense our spirit is our breath and connecting with it, is the pathway to our deepest self.
That might sound pretty “deep and spiritual” for some, -so another way of thinking about breath control is to imagine you are talking to your body on a cellular level and you have the ability at anytime to calm yourself down and enter another state of mind, and in addition fill your body with amazing oxygen, mess with your CO2 and HO2 – in a good way - and actually alkalise your body.
Psychologically our thoughts and emotions, like air, are changeable aspects of the mind reflecting back to us our ability to connect and flow with the ups and downs of life. When we move with lightness, balance, grace, and ease, when we are creative and spontaneous, when sleep comes easily and digestion is good, the air element is in balance.
However, when we feel nervous, anxious, have difficulty sleeping, completing projects, feel spacey and unfocused, and have poor digestion, this element can be excessive and out of balance.
Interestingly, we are often more worried about our diet than our breathing. Yet, it is estimated that 80% of your metabolic energy comes from breathing and only 20% from food. We can access a huge amount of energy at any time, using our breath.
When was the last time you really focused on your breath? The “challenge” seems to be, that breathing “just happens”. We don’t have to think about it. We don’t have to make an active choice to breathe. However, if we choose to become aware of our breathing and learn to control our breath consciously, we can significantly boost our health and performance in many areas of life. Breathing is more than the intake of oxygen.
Conscious Breathing
Breathwork is conscious, controlled breathing that allows the body, mind and spirit to be in a present state. Yes, our breath is literally life. Yogis, shamans, monks, and mystics from various ancient cultures and religions have cultivated breath manipulation techniques to calm the mind, release emotional trauma, initiate spiritual connection, extend life, and heal the body for thousands of years.
Most hear the word “Breathwork” and often think of Pranayama breathing in yoga. Pranayama is the Ancient Sanskrit word for Prana which can be translated as; life force. And Yama means control, so Pranayama can be translated into breath control. Breathwork however, can be practiced in many different ways. Breathing through the nose, through the mouth, fire breathing, 1 minute breaths. There are hundreds of techniques available all around the world.
Depending on which technique is practiced during a session it influences the outcome. Breathwork affects a person on many different levels. It affects not only our physical body, it also affects our mind body, emotional body, spiritual body.
There is something so powerful about being able to bring conscious awareness to our breath. Once we join a breathwork session, we may notice how much we “hold” in our breath. We may notice that our breath is shallow, or that we have been breathing backwards for the majority of our life. We pay more attention to our breath to see if we’re breathing in with our chest or if we’re breathing all the way into the belly.
A tool for body and spirit
Breathwork has the potential to support both our bodily and spiritual journeys, purifying our vessels, opening gateways to other realms and filling us up with vital energies.
Life Force Energy
Breathing is the only body function which continues without conscious effort, whilst also being capable of intentional control. It is an organic process of nourishment. We imbue ourselves oxygen and also life force energy from the day we are born until the day we leave Earthside. The first thing we do upon arriving from the womb, is take our first IN breath – and the last thing we do is breathe OUT. Mana is a spiritual power which lives in the air around us and it can be built up inside our bodies by cultivating an awareness around our breath.
Awakening Presence
Breathing deepens our capacity to step outside the endless chatter of the mind and root ourselves in the present moment. Deep breathing increases awareness of the senses and the capacity to be right here, right now. When we focus on breathing instead of thinking, we gain access to a vast field of awareness. We experience an inner stillness that allows us to be fully here.
Opening Portals
Breathing is a gateway to fully feeling the human body and embracing the emotional spectrum, memories and dreams which live in our cells and the shared collective unconscious. It supports in generating and circulating sexual energy and raw creative power. For those who habitually live a life of disconnection from their physical bodies, breathing can be a way to come back home to pleasure, sensation, center, prEssence.
Purification
Breathing can be cultivated to expel impurities from the body temple. It can be used to exhale fear, resistance, confusion and toxins and inhale clarity, love, welcoming the “witness” self. Breathing is a form of prayer which imbues energy into sensation and thought.
We excrete waste products from our lungs an average of 850 times each hour, 20.200 times each day and 8,103,000 times each year. That translates to around 650,000,000 toxic expulsions over an 80-year lifespan. Breathing is an ongoing, automatic process and a valuable ally for detoxification.
Some benefits of Breathwork
This purification that comes in the wake of deep, lung-filled breath has incredible benefits and here are some of the important ones:
Stress Reduction
Breathwork liberates painful, repressed emotions and memories and helps in the development of peace, compassion, trust, patience and love.
Mental Clarity
Breathwork helps reduce mental chatter and still the mind so that it can calmly focus.
Emotional well-being
Tension is released. Breathwork creates an incredible state of contentedness where we can experience more intimacy and love. Where old stagnant emotions can be released and transformed.
Detoxification
Our exhale is responsible for 70% of our detoxification process, yet most people only breathe at 50% of their lungs’ capacity!
Creativity
Breathwork provides access to a boundless state of epiphany and insight. Many gain immense clarity around life path choices and access to a flood of creative ideas.
Spiritual Expansion
Breathwork can catapult our connection to non-ordinary states of reality where we can receive information from spiritual realms. Spiritual epiphanies have the power to radically change our approach to living.
Increased Libido
Breathwork can stimulate the movement of sexual energy and awaken our desire to experience sensuality.
Increased Energy
The practice builds excitement and energy in the body in a way which creates much more passion and aliveness.
Benefits at a glance
Benefits of conscious breathing:
Development of Self Awareness
Reducing Stress and Anxiety
Improve Focus and Attention
Clear Lethargy/Fatigue
Detox the body
Balances the Nervous System
Manages pain
Increases creativity
Receive Divine Messages/Epiphanies Increased energy levels
Enhanced Consciousness
Trauma and Emotional Release
Aid in positive self-development
Boost Immunity
Increase confidence, self-image and self esteem Increase joy & happiness
Release negative thoughts
Challenges that Breathwork can support:
Stress
Anxiety
Anger Issues
Addiction
Chronic Pain
Depression
Grief
CPTSD/PTSD
Indigestion
Binge Eating
Fatigue
Sickness
Insomnia
Toxicity
Control issues
The more awareness we bring to our breath, the more present we become, and the more healthy we become.
Everything we need is already inside of us.
It is time to ignite our power through our breath.