Psychologists used to believe that trauma was only located in the brain. Now, science is proving that emotions and trauma are also located throughout our physical body.
Conscious connected breathing and its gentle power
“One breathing session is equivalent to about two years of psychotherapy.” – Dr.
Henry Smith Rohrberg, Ph.
D.
Did you know that almost 70% of your body’s toxins are expelled through your lungs?
Working with your breath can help to dislodge many emotions and even traumas.
Trauma can be expelled through the breath, releasing tension and pent-up energy that are deeply rooted in the person’s subconscious.
Thanks to deep, focused breathing, the powerful connection between mind, body and soul reduces trauma.
Although you can practice breathing exercises on your own at home, a breathing therapy session should be led by a qualified professional. They will select the techniques best suited to your goals and help you deal with whatever comes up during the session.
What is the breathwork conscious connected (breathing) technique?
Here and now, we’re going to share some information about the breathwork technique favored in our sessions, in fact, in your journeys with your divine breath when accompanied by Francis Dostie.
The journey, the adventure that takes the form of a mountain hike, guided by Francis’ music and voice, leads you to breathe with increasing intensity until you reach the summit, before gradually decreasing this intensity until you return to gentle, normal breathing through the nostrils.
Conscious Connected Breathing asks you to focus your attention on a cyclical breath (inhalation and exhalation) without pause, like a form of infinity sign.
Will you be hyperventilating?
As a Certified Facilitator, I’d like to correct this misconception.
What is hyperventilation? It’s rapid, shallow breathing. You breathe in more than you breathe out when you hyperventilate, but it’s in a shallow way and it’s in response to stress, fear, pain and perhaps chronic ailments.
With Conscious Connected Breathing, we breathe fully into our belly to allow the nervous system to stay clear of anxiety.
Conscious connected breathing focuses on conscious breathing with a deeper inhalation into the belly and a relaxed exhalation (a forced exhalation which is encouraged during certain types of breathwork and by some facilitators perhaps less aware of the consequences is what will create hyperventilation).
Deep breathing has the power to get rid of toxins through its effects on the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is what neutralizes and transports toxins from your cells to the circulatory system and on to your kidneys and liver, where they are excreted. A healthy lymphatic system depends on body movement and breathing.
Several effects due to releases can occur during a breathwork session. Let’s take a look at the potential effects:
The physical effects of Conscious Connected Breathwork
During your journey, your autonomic conscious nervous system will naturally direct your body’s functions. Both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems will regulate your session.
We’re going to stimulate the sympathetic nervous system as we climb the mountain until we reach the summit. After the peak of the mountain (of the experience), you’ll be more and more relaxed as we tone down the intensity of your breath, and the parasympathetic system will come into play.
In short, breathing activates the nervous system, and in some sessions we can oscillate between the sympathetic and parasympathetic to bring another dimension to the experience, according to your needs.
You’ll produce plenty of endorphins during your experience. As these are released, they can also help relieve pain.
At any time during the session, you can soften your exhalation or simply slow down your breathing for a gentler experience (Francis is an expert in gentle, transformative experiences).
If you don’t breathe fully, your body has to work overtime to release these toxins. Deep breathing removes excess carbon dioxide from the body and replaces it with a rich source of cell-energizing oxygen. Oxygenated blood transports and absorbs nutrients and vitamins more efficiently. This improves immunity, stamina and energy, as well as all bodily functions, including digestion. We can experience a variety of sensations when breathing due to this increase in oxygen – tingling, numbness, etc.
Breathing activates the nervous system. Fast breathing activates the sympathetic nervous system, while slow, deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system. You can oscillate between the two.
In breathwork, for healing, we activate the nervous system voluntarily during the rise of the experience. Then, when we slow down the breath, it communicates to the brain to relax and regulate the heart rate. (See brainwave states below). Endorphins (“feel-good” chemicals) are released, which also help relieve physical pain. Know that you can always guide to soften the exhalation or slow the breathing at any time during the breath.
Understand tetany and discover the treasure within.
Tetany is characterized by cramps, tightness, tingling sensations, paralysis or numbness in the hands, feet, jaw and/or other areas. This is a very common occurrence during respiratory work, and if it happens, there’s nothing to fear. The effect is temporary and will disappear of its own accord once you return to a normal breathing rhythm. The physiological explanation for tetany during breathing is that deep, connected breathing causes Co2 levels to drop. This translates into less oxygen being released into the bloodstream, vital tissues and organs; and causes blood pH to become more alkaline. The combination of lower Co2 levels and higher blood pH is what leads to tetany.
Many people experience tetany the first couple of times they do breathing sessions, then it naturally subsides on its own in subsequent sessions. This may be due to the body adapting to the physiological changes taking place, or perhaps it’s linked to a greater ability to let go, accept and surrender, which usually occurs in subsequent breathing sessions.
In addition, the technique used by Francis and learned with Alchemy of Breath, accentuates the inhalation and lets the exhalation simply fall out of us (we release gently). Forced exhalation can lead to a drop in Co2 levels, which can intensify tetany, so if you’re suffering from tetany, make sure your exhalation is passive. You can relax the exhalation by not using your abdominal muscles.
The effects of Conscious Connected Breathing on the brain
Mindfulness research has shown that when we are aware of our breathing, it illuminates all three parts of your brain and increases your neuroplasticity (ability to create new neural pathways/connections in the brain).
When you become aware of your breathing, you open doors to empowerment by strengthening and stabilizing your mind. From there, you can see that you have a choice in your life. The choice to react or respond to your challenges. This choice is one of complete freedom of consciousness, and helps you to embody a greater sense of calm, even when the storm is raging around you. It also helps you adapt more quickly to change and develop greater resilience. Breathwork is an excellent tool to help you develop these personal capacities.
In a breathwork session with a certified facilitator or practitioner, you can develop a different way of looking at certain situations in our lives. It’s like stepping away from the tree to see the forest. Your vision is tilted to a new angle due to heightened intuition, because your brain will most likely fall into an Alpha state. This powerful step is a necessary passage to change your patterns and heal the effects of your traumas.
What happens to our brain during a breathing session? We enter an altered state. We experience a sense of full presence and timelessness. You can find these effects in other practices such as hypnosis, meditation, yoga, exercise (runner’s high), herbal medicine, etc.
What happens in your brain during breathwork is that you go into an altered state, which is what we call transient hypofrontality. This is when the prefrontal cortex disconnects. Transient = Temporary, Hypo = Less and Frontality = Frontal Lobe.
The prefrontal cortex directs your ability and agility to differentiate your conflicting thoughts, to determine right from wrong, better and best, same and different, future consequences of current activities, working towards a well-defined goal, predicting outcomes, action-based expectations and social “control” (the ability to suppress demands urgently which, if not suppressed, could lead to socially unacceptable outcomes). The frontal cortex supports your learning of concrete rules. (reference: Wikipedia) It’s your survival and can also be your neurosis…
The moment you relax during a breathwork session, powerful neurotransmitters come online (norepinephrine, dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, anandamide and oxytocin) and our brains go through different brainwave states. (see table below)
You’ll be in a state of deep recovery and relaxation.
Brainwave states and their associated benefits
This altered experience begins when the brain releases norepinephrine and dopamine into our system. This increases our heart rate, concentration and attention span. We find new connections with incoming information.
As these changes take place, our brain waves slow down from agitated Beta (14-30 Hz) to calmer Alpha (8-14 Hz) – moving into reverie, relaxed concentration, flow, no resistance. Parts of the prefrontal cortex begin to shut down. This is where we experience altruism, timelessness and effortlessness – the quieting of the mind.
As we progress, the brain can release endorphins and anandamides that can decrease pain and increase creativity, as our brains connect between ideas they wouldn’t in normal states.
Our brainwaves move deeper into theta (4-8 Hz), which normally occurs during REM sleep – enhancing deep relaxation and intuition. We can feel an afterglow of serotonin and oxytocin, provoking feelings of peace, well-being and confidence. There’s lots of research and top performers like the Navy Seals, Google and athletes work with these brain states to enhance their abilities. We can do it too. Heal what’s not serving in our lives and open up to new ways of being and rewriting our stories.
The metaphysical dimension of breathwork
If we now try to explain the effect of tetany from a psycho-spiritual angle:
Tetany often causes the hands to form a claw-like shape, which may be symbolic of holding something tightly.
With Conscious Connected Breathing, we see the effect of tetany in the absence of a forced exhalation, as a sign that there’s something that needs to be let go.
So, instead of trying to avoid tetany, think of it as a gift – your body is revealing something important for you to investigate and observe.
It shows you that there’s a new threshold waiting to be crossed, and your breathing session is the perfect opportunity to do so!
Breath is energy.
It carries the vital force, the Qi, the Prana.
We all breathe in this life.
We’re going to work with this energy to visit places where energy isn’t flowing, where there’s resistance.
”Magic is possible when we unite consciousness & breath.”
How can I take a Breathwork session online?
Click here to find out if you qualify for 3, 7 or 10 private breathwork sessions.
Join our Facebook group for online breathwork group sessions on Wednesdays or here to select an à la carte ticket for next Wednesday and/or view monthly or quarterly subscription options.
Conclusion
Conscious Connected Breathwork is a lighter, gentler type of breathwork than Shamanic, Holotropic and Rebirthing breathwork. It promotes relaxation of the nervous system versus a powerful experience. The wise and compassionate philosophy of Francis Dostie and his Conscious Connected Breathwork is: “Don’t rush your healing”.
Have you ever experienced breathwork? If so, we invite you to share your experience with us below.
