What is Holotropic Breathwork?
What is Holotropic Breathwork?
Breathwork for healing and moving stagnant energy.
Holotropic Breathwork was originally coined by Stanislov and Christina Grof. Stan was an early pioneer in the 40’s and 50’s of using and researching LSD as a modality towards healing in therapy. When the counter culture (aka teenagers) discovered LSD, the government stepped in and shut down the use of LSD in research. From there, the researchers splintered — those who would go underground and continue their research and those like Stan, who looked to discover other ways to create the effects and healing of psychedelics, without the use of illegal drugs.
Hence the birth of Holotropic Breathwork.
How I came about experiencing the breathwork recently, was in order to try another modality in my own healing and personal and spiritual growth.
I have always been curious. In this time there are so many “experiences” (aka drugs) you can use to change your awareness, open your consciousness and get in touch with your soul.
I am not against any of these methods but my route, thus far, has been the non-drug route (except for micro-dosing psilocybin which shall be a future post).
I read something recently that said that fear was good. Fear means that you desire something so much, that you are fearful of going after the thing you want and actually not getting it. The absence of fear means that you have resigned yourself to your life, the level that you are at - that you aren’t playing big enough.
By the nature of life, to grow to expand and be an adult - we’ve had to deal with the “stories” the “fears” that we have made up to be true about ourselves. The stories about our experiences, trauma, the “you are’s…” from our childhood. Our lives are made up of a series of non-truths and/or perceptions that we seemed to have made up about ourselves.
Breathwork as a modality helps to unravel all these stories to get to the truth of who you are. Love and worthy of being loved.
If you know me or have been following along with my journey for a while, what you will know is that I am always going to touch the stove first to see if it’s hot. In Human Design language that means I’m a ⅓ profile, I want to experience it. Knowledge isn’t enough without seeing how it is experienced in the real world.
For me, this experience showed up as a 12-hour Holotropic Breathwork Workshop. Now I’ve done breathwork for years - everything from Osho’s Dynamic Meditations in a Tales from the Crypt like basement of a lovely 70+ year old couple who lived in the Ashram with Osho, to covid-style zoom sessions in the safety of my own space.
There are many different modalities to breathwork and here are a few that I have tried (and by trying - I mean, consistently use as a practice, usually for anywhere from 20 - 60 minutes at a time of consistent breathing in a specific modality)
The Kundalini method of sitting up straight, and pulling a breath in through your nostrils while imagining the breath starting from the base of your spine and traveling up to the crown and then releasing the breath through the mouth; this is also used in the Gnosis studies in conjunction with mantra Hum and Sa and in the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza. This breath is great right before bed to calm the mind and transition to sleep or to begin a meditation session.
Open mouth breathing while laying down on your back, in through the stomach, in through the heart, exhale out of the mouth – continually going deeper and faster. (This is the one I do most often as a healing modality on it’s own, along with a spotify playlist).
Four box method - four counts in, hold breath for 4 counts, exhale for 4 counts, hold breath for four counts. Repeat. Can be done sitting or laying down.
There’s also the Wim Hof method in order to withstand cold and uncomfortable temperatures - in full disclosure, I’ve never done this one, but it is very popular and my sister and brother-in-law both swear by the breathwork followed by a freezing cold shower. This feels more like preparing for a physical feat vs. the healing nature of the other breaths, but since I have not studied it, this is an assumption of mine.
Then there’s The Holotropic Breathwork - which is breathing in whatever way feels best to you, with the caveat of continuous breathing, without pause, between breaths.
It is also only considered Holotropic if you do the intentional pre-breath setting intention work and the post-breath integration work. Meaning what do you intend to get out of the session and then breaking down the learnings - with either or both, art and journaling of the experience.
So I did a thing and signed up for a 12-hour holotropic breathwork session.
The day was broken down into two 3-hour sessions in which you paired yourself with a partner, one who would breathe and one who would sit for you. In between breathing sessions was educational talks and sharing.
During each three hour session, one person would breathe (lying down on a mat with a blindfold on and a blanket) and the other sits right beside them holding space for any need that might arise (my partner took my socks off when I asked and would tuck me back in after I kicked all the blankets off and wanted to resettle; she also helped me to go to the bathroom half way through because man, you are not steady on the feet in this heightened state).
The thought is we rarely (ever?) have someone 100% dedicated to our needs and the act of even asking your partner for something, can be healing for many. Plus it feels very safe, knowing this person is not judging you and just there to be in service of you.
The main principal is to allow that whatever comes forward, is meant to come forward.
For some that could be physical movements, others emotions, or visualizations, while some may just find peace – or any combination of the above.
For me, I had some visions, but for the most part it was very physical. I felt that I was moving a lot of energy out of my body – my body made movements of it’s own volition - sometimes repeatedly and also felt frozen at one time and I had to work through how to move it again. When my mind tried to make sense of what my body was doing - I couldn’t put words or understanding to it, so I stopped trying.
There were 16 students in the room, 8 breathing and 8 sitters, plus 2 or 3 experienced guides that can help the sitter if necessary. You can expect to hear laughing, crying, screaming, moaning, or really any other emotion that might come up from you or someone else in the room. They do play the music quite loud (mostly non-verbal music, you can find playlists that are typical by searching on spotify) and I found I was so immersed in my own experience that it didn’t distract from my personal experience.
3-hours later I felt lighter, more tired, more cleared.
Something came up that I had written off as not a big deal 30 years ago (meaning I didn’t want to cause waves, I was strong enough to handle, etc. etc.), but my body told me it remembered. My body was gentle and kind to me and told me it was time to grieve and then release.
After the session and you have your bearings, I went into the art room, where they had paper and all kinds of art materials to capture your experience - which I forgot to take with me and have no memory what I drew; then you can go to sit outside next to a beautiful lake and journal or rest while waiting for everyone else to finish. Then we reconvened as a group to have a light bite and conversation before the next group goes and you swap to now be the sitter.
Has my life changed after this? Not that I can see or touch or taste. But I do know the next day I just started crying uncontrollably while folding some laundry – again, I couldn’t name why, it wasn’t grief, it wasn’t a story, nothing – my body just needed to purge and integrate, then I took a nap and felt better.
All of this healing builds one on top of each other a bit like raindrops — you can’t feel the individual rain drop, but you can feel yourself get wet or can notice a puddle.
I’m willing to test the waters for you and I do not regret it, nor the sense of calm that I feel writing about something that I felt very anxious heading into. So that if you too found this on your way to trying a new modality, trust the process.
Some breathwork healers that I trust and have worked with in a group setting and/or on my own are:
Erin Telford - her spotify playlists are amazing and she continually updates them.
And if you are local to the Seattle area and want to try the day-long workshop that I did at Breathwork Northwest
*Please also note there are contraindications for some people regarding breathwork who should not practice or talk with a medical practitioner if you have cardiovascular issues, high or low blood pressure, pregnant, recent surgery. Can cause lead to dizziness, weakness and even seizures.
Want to connect with me? I’d love to hear what modalities you are trying. Head here to email me or use the button below to schedule a clarity call.