[Exploring Life] Breathwork is a general category that describes any technique, method, or exercise used to consciously alter breathing. It is a means to explore and interact with breathing through intention. Breathwork is a physical, mental and spiritual endeavour. The nature of physical and cultural environment that surrounds us has a direct impact on the quality of our breathing. It is pervasive throughout our experience and lies at the root of our perceptions and interpretations of the world around us. In this article I focus on my own experiences in designing and developing a breathing practice.
It may seem unusual to focus on the development of a breathing practice, an autonomic function that we often take for granted and seems to function well enough on its own. In the series on breathing I outlined the foundations of four important areas: breathing awareness, abnormal breathing, conscious breathing, and the perfect breath (See Related Entries). As a collection, these topics clearly point out the need for a breathing practice since it is a root function that lies at the core of all human experience. To breath improperly or abnormally is to lose the vibrancy of our own body, mind and spirit, and therefore the vibrancy of our own experiences in life. Breathing is the primary and most essential component of any fitness, health, well being, mental, or spiritual program of development.
Designing a Breathwork Practice
Aims: A practice is a concrete and practical application over time of an idea or set of ideas that are designed to encourage the development of a specific aim. While the actual techniques and processes within a practice may (and should) vary and evolve over time, the aim of a practice remains constant. The aim of my breathwork practice is to achieve optimal breathing under all conditions, situations, and circumstances in my life in order to create a resilient state of equilibrium that embraces body-mind-spirit. Of course, this aim is idealistic and our expectations should be to make progress toward the stated aiming with full acceptance that achieving it to perfection is neither reasonable nor attainable. Aims are sources of inspiration, not rampant perfectionism.
Types of Breathwork: There are different kinds of breathwork we can integrate into a practice. I divide my own breathwork practice into four components:
- Core Breathwork: Exercises that focus on the development natural full breathing. This type of breathwork is designed to retrain the body and becomes the default or normal mode of breathing. Core breathwork is the basis for all conscious breathing exercises.
- Rhythmic Breathwork: As the name implies, this type of breathwork involves timing the inhalation, exhalation and period of rest and transition in between. The mind is completely occupied with maintaining the timing of the breath, which helps to create a sense of calm by maintaining focus on the present moment. Timing may be literal (as in counting) or felt (as in reaching a capacity). The specific rhythms used are designed to correct the effects of abnormal breathing habits.
- Mindful Breathwork: Creative visualization is used as a basis for conscious breathing. The mind is completely immersed in the visualization. There is no conscious timing of the breath, instead, the breath occurs in response to the imagery being created in the mind. The imagery may focus on a particular quality such as gratitude, or a specific context such as basking the breath in sunlight.
- Affirmation Breathwork: Positive affirmations are chanted out loud or mentally while breathing. The pattern used is simplistic: “Breathing in I…[positive affirmation], Breathing out I…[positive affirmation].”
It is never good to become too rigidly attached to categories, yet a basic structure is required to provide coherence in a practice. In addition, the structure may evolve over time based on the insights acquired through the practice itself. In this sense, a practice evolves over time and never becomes mere mindless habit or routine. A practice is ultimately a place to explore and discover, not fall victim to rote and repetition.
Modes of Practice: I use three basic modes in my breathwork practice:
- Structured Practice Sessions: A daily breathwork session no less than fifteen minutes. This session will be focused on a specific breathing technique. I use breath awareness to decide which technique I might wish to practice that day. I will also vary the practice times so that some are in the morning, others in the afternoon or evening, so I can experience the practice at different points in the day.
- Random Interval Practice Sessions: Regardless of where I am or what I am doing, I will randomly interrupt my activities three times per day in order to focus on breathing. Usually these sessions are only three to five minutes in duration, but they provide a great deal of insight into how our breathing patterns change in response to various situations and circumstances.
- Strategic Practice Sessions: In moments when levels of stress or anxiety unexpectedly and suddenly increase, a strategic practice session is created. If our breathwork practice is to have real value, then it must provide direct intervention when the unexpected vagaries of everyday life sometimes throw us into turmoil. As soon as it is possible, the strategy is to interrupt the moment, focus on core breathing to calm the nervous system, and then return to the stressful situation with a renewed sense of physical calm and mental clarity. This aspect of the practice is the most important and the most challenging.
The effective integration of all three modes of practice is essential. Many practices fail since what is learned in isolation is often never transferred to the real-world situations and circumstances we face in everyday life.
Evolving the Practice: A vibrant and resilient practice will always evolve organically through the energy of curiosity, inquiry, discovery and exploration. No two practices will evolve in precisely the same manner, though shared characteristics may be obvious. A meaningful practice is something that originates inside the creative exploration of each individual; a confining practice is something that is imposed on an individual as a set of rules and procedures to be followed mindlessly. There are a number of ways a breathwork practice may evolve:
- Real-Life Experience: When breath awareness is present in unexpected and challenging real-world situations, we gain critical insight into how our experiences influence our breathing, and therefore how we think and feel. These real-life experiences and our ability to discern them are easily the most important sources relevant content for a breathwork practice.
- Insights Through Exercise: Practicing a particular form of breathwork is an act of mindfulness. In other words, our main purpose in breathwork is to approach it mindfully and sensitively so that our perception and comprehension of breathing opens and expands. Though hard to predict, insights will naturally reveal themselves to those who bring the spirit of exploration, improvisation, and curiosity to their practice.
- Research: Of course, research is part of the breathwork practice as well. Breathwork techniques and practices have been a foundation for many ancient practices and cultures. More recently, ideas such as optimal breathing are gaining a great deal of attention from medical science.
Repertoire of Breathing Exercises: The main action of a breathwork practice is breathing exercises. There are many breath exercises to choose from, some are more beneficial than others, while a few are actually misguided and dangerous. Credible sources and personal experience are the best means to make selections for your own personal repertoire. I maintain a list of breathwork exercises in a separate article. ( Breathwork: A Repertoire of Exercises).
Breathwork Practice: Key Points
- Aims: A practice must have a stated aim (ideal) to pursue. The aim of my breathwork practice is to achieve optimal breathing under all conditions, situations, and circumstances in my life in order to create a resilient state of equilibrium that embraces body-mind-spirit.
- Structure: A practice must contain structured and relevant components. My selections are: a) Core Breathwork; b) Rhythmic Breathwork; c) Mindful Breathwork; and d) Affirmation Breathwork. Though the categories overlap and are somewhat malleable, they are useful as a general organizing structure.
- Practice Modes: Modes of practice must be clearly defined and applied in a disciplined manner, otherwise the practice will remain weak. I use three specific modes: a) Isolated Practice Session; b) Random Interval Practice Sessions; and c) Strategic Practice Sessions.
- Practice Evolution: A practice is a growth oriented medium designed to facilitate change and transformation. I consciously evolve my own practice by: a) bringing breath awareness to real-life experience; b) seeking insight from the practice of breathwork exercises; c) researching new ideas about breath, breathing, and breathwork.
- Practice Repertoire: The specific exercises applied in my practice are based on personal choice, the limitations of my own knowledge, and trial and error with specific exercises.
