You might have heard it before: breath is essential for our well-being. Unfortunately, unless they have experienced ‘breathwork’, most people would say: Yeah, I know how to breathe, not even fathoming the possibility of the profound healing that can happen within a breath session.

But first things first. Let’s define some terms here.

What is breathwork?

There are many types of breathwork: Holotropic Breathwork, Rebirthing, Alchemy of Breath, Biodynamic Breath and Trauma Release System (BBTRS), Transformational Breathing and many more.

Even though I haven’t tried all of them, I know they have one thing in common: breath. Duh.

The idea is to charge the body with oxygen through deep connected breathing. No pause between inhalation and exhalation. This brings you in a slightly altered state of consciousness and creates all sorts of unexpected unfamiliar sensations in the body. Some very pleasant, some initially maybe less so. But all of it can serve as a trigger for deep insights, in which you can feel more clearly the energetic undercurrent of your life.

read more: How Breath Can Heal Your Trauma