Dan Brule

We have been focusing on the spiritual benefits of breathwork a lot recently, but I don’t want you to ignore the chemical effects of breathing on your mental and physical wellbeing, or how it influences your chemistry when you’re stressed or anxious. And so this month, let’s dig into this a bit.

Breathwork is important during times of mounting pressure, rapid change, and major life challenges. When you experience uncertainty, feel numb or paralyzed by fear, or when it seems your life is falling apart, breathwork can come to the rescue!

Rebirthing Breathwork was founded by Leonard Orr in the 1970s. Dan Brule, trained by Leonard in 1976, walks you through the practice and explains how to start your first session.

Something has been happening in me and around me recently… It’s difficult to describe or put into words, but it is becoming ever so real and unavoidable, inescapable ever-present and growing…

It’s a freedom. It’s a spaciousness. It’s an experience of breathing bubbles of light instead of molecules of air. It’s an overwhelming sense of love and clarity, of profound peace, of deep gratitude and appreciation, of causeless joy that needs no expression.

This month, we are focusing on using Breathwork to expand our awareness and raise our consciousness.

Are you ready? That’s not a rhetorical question. Ask and honestly answer it for yourself. Because some people may not be ready, willing or able to do this vital inner work.

Breathing in both warm and cold water have been powerful practices in Rebirthing and the Breathwork Movement since the earliest days. In fact, Rebirthing started with warm water sessions, but we soon learned that the water brought up too much too fast for most people, and so everyone was encouraged or required to do ten ‘dry’ sessions before going into water.

Warm water sessions recreate a womb-like environment that can evoke experiences of profound relaxation, ecstatic bliss, deep ancestral and generational healing, spiritual awakening, mystical states of oneness, wholeness and cosmic union.

From the moment most people get up in the morning, they are busy with work and life, and they are forced to deal with constant stimulation. The only rest they ever get is sleep. And even that is not often sound or restful.

But there is a powerful middle ground between wakefulness and sleep known as Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)—which is a modern term for an ancient practice called Yoga Nidra. And that is the topic of this month’s article.

This past June, Croatian freediver Vitomir Maričić held his breath underwater for 29 minutes and 3 seconds! And that got me thinking about what this means in our own lives and what we can take away from this extraordinary example of human potential. And so I’d like to share some of my take-aways.

Vitomir Maričić’s breath hold doesn’t belong only to the world of sport. It belongs to an ancient lineage of humans who learned that breath is not just air–it’s leverage. Yogis used it to still the mind. Monks used it to survive the cold. Warriors used it to stay clear in combat. Modern freedivers use it to renegotiate the limits of oxygen and fear. Different aims. Same doorway.

I recently spent two days in Virginia with Michael Ryce. He is an Aramaic scholar and the author of Why is this happening to Me…Again! Connecting with him is like breathing ancient wisdom through fresh lungs.

He has been such an inspiration to me over the years, and it was a gift to be able to exchange sessions and spend some quality time with him. So, this month, I’d like to share with you some of the insights and lessons I took away from our meeting.

Recently, I’ve been working on a seminar/workshop for teams, whether in the Health, Sports, Creative, Tactical or Business field. The focus is on applying Breathwork to create group resonance and group flow. The art and science of triggering individual flow states is well established, so it seems to me that group flow is the next natural step.

We aim to trigger a spontaneous, unconscious, energetic connection or synchronicity among individuals–a shared emotional and psychological experience, where personal egos dissolve and everyone seems to meld into a single organism and a “group mind.”

Recently, I’ve been working on a seminar/workshop for teams, whether in the Health, Sports, Creative, Tactical or Business field. The focus is on applying Breathwork to create group resonance and group flow. The art and science of triggering individual flow states is well established, so it seems to me that group flow is the next natural step.

We aim to trigger a spontaneous, unconscious, energetic connection or synchronicity among individuals–a shared emotional and psychological experience, where personal egos dissolve and everyone seems to meld into a single organism and a “group mind.”

We are nearing the close of our 2025 India Adventure. It’s been a profound Spiritual Breathing Training and Cultural Immersion Tour. These journeys are always intense. India has a way of stripping us down, inviting us to let go, while Breathwork offers us a way to flow with whatever arises.

This adventure has given us an opportunity to practice patience, to embody compassion, to live more fully, and be more present. Whenever a group of strangers comes together, living, working, and breathing side by side, differences in lifestyle, personality, and worldviews are bound to surface. Conflicts emerge. But it’s been wonderful to watch everyone lean into love, honesty, patience, and authenticity.

Over the past fifty years, I have written a great deal about the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of breathwork; for stress, tension, anxiety, depression, and pain management; for health and fitness, and for peak athletic performance.

I have published hundreds of articles about breathing mechanics, breathing chemistry, and respiratory physiology; about the use of conscious breathing for substance abuse prevention and intervention, addiction treatment, and recovery; for trauma release, and for awakening creative energy.

Things are heating up in the world, intensifying, accelerating. We are moving toward another major event, and a long overdue shift in consciousness. Some of it is due to advances in science and medicine, the increasing use of AI, as well as world politics.

Can you feel it in the air? Can you feel it happening in your own work and life? Whether you are a total newbie to Breathwork or a seasoned pro, it’s time to take your practice to a new level.

This month I invite you to practice the first and most important step toward Breath Mastery and Self-Mastery, and that is Awareness.

I invite you to become more conscious of your breath and your energy, of your body, and mind, your feelings, sensations, and emotions, of your actions and reactions, and your choices.

Breath is the very Spirit of Life that flows in you and through you. Are you aware of this? Are you conscious of it? Rudolf Steiner once said: “We live with our soul in the breath.” Think about that.

Recently, we have been focusing on breathing not just as a biological function, but as a divine gift, as a spiritual discipline. We have been focusing on using our breath to open the heart, create inner stillness, and deepen our connection to ourselves, each other, life and the world.

So this month, I want to invite you to give your relationship to the breath more attention and appreciation. With all that is happening in terms of digital technology, AI, virtual meetings, political divisions and religious wars, it is more important than ever that we use our breath to raise our consciousness and to deepen our spiritual connections.

We have been doing more work in the California prison system lately, breathing with hard core criminals, jacked up former gang bangers, violent offenders and death row inmates. And the healing, growth and the heart openings have been real and powerful.

Witnessing this has renewed my love and awe of the human spirit, of breathwork, the power of the heart, and simple human connection. It has also reinforced my belief that, as Jim Leonard used to say, “willingness is enough.”