I’m a Missionary for the Breath and a teacher of Breathwork because it gives everyone with a belly button a way to eliminate or prevent an immeasurable amount of human suffering. But the main reason I teach and preach Breath Awareness and Conscious is because it is an irresistible and unavoidable calling. It is a personal mission and the main purpose of my life.
Breathwork can awaken us to the truth, and to reality, and it can connect us to the source and essence of our being. It is truly transformative. It offers us a beautiful and powerful way to love and serve humanity and to support and uplift each other. It is a genuine spiritual path and a practical method of personal and planetary healing and growth.
I have been one of the constant forces behind the modern Breathwork movement for 50 years, and so I celebrate the fact that it has finally made its way into the mainstream. These days it seems that everyone is jumping on the Breathwork bandwagon.
Breathing is becoming big business. It is now a legitimate career choice, an accepted therapeutic practice, and a popular healing modality. In fact, soon you will need a license to teach Breathing! This is great news but it is also concerning. I say that because it is attracting “wanna be” therapists, and others who are not at all suited for this sacred work, and sadly, by people who pretend to be compassionate for the cash in it.
In some ways, the past year has been very difficult for me, and for many others. I’ve been paying for my missteps and miscommunications, my blind spots, arrogance and unconsciousness, and my indiscretions, especially in relation to personal boundaries and professional ethics. It’s been a period of conflict and betrayal, and of anxiety and depression. But it has been a perfect opportunity for self-reflection and re-evaluation.
My mistakes have given some people a chance to get on their high horse and display their superiority and self-righteousness. And maybe some people just need to vent the fear and anger they hold and carry. I've learned that some people revel in creating or stirring up negative energy. And sadly, some people are simply malicious and vindictive.
Difficult times seem to bring out the best and the worst in us. And it appears that the ‘cancel culture’ is alive and well in the Breathwork world. It’s easy to hide behind a keyboard these days. I am so sorry for the hate mail and social media trolling that some of my friends, partners, practitioners and students have had to endure.
Yet it is very important to remember that our personal challenges are relatively small compared to some of the very serious problems in the world—such as poverty and starvation, ethnic conflicts and racial violence, human rights violations, natural disasters, drug wars, mass shootings in the US, and the war in the Ukraine.
We can go up and down and back and forth in our head over these problems forever. And many people are preoccupied or even obsessed with them, which keeps them stuck in painful emotions, and unable to move forward in a creative or productive way.
I am reminded of the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
And I am also reminded of Breathwork. I have been practicing what I preach: Circular Breathing and Sighs of Relief. There is something very powerful about creating a primal order or restoring a natural flow of our energy.
The subtle vortex that is created by Circular Breathing (also called Conscious Connected Breathing), produces a force that draws in and spins off the energy of our prayers and intentions. And the merging of the inhale and the exhale helps us to transcend the level of duality and opens us to an experience oneness and wholeness.
Conscious Connected Breathing means continuous rhythmic breathing, with no pauses or gaps between the inhale and the exhale, or between the exhale and the inhale. There is a smooth seamless transition—a merging of inhale and exhale, of exhale and inhale.
If you have not mastered this practice, you owe it to yourself to do so as soon as possible! Start with practicing the 20 Connected Breath Exercise created by Leonard Orr.
And if you want to master this and many other Breathwork Exercises, Techniques and Meditations, join us on February 7 for the first call of the New Online Breath Mastery Program. The first month of training is free and open to all. I hope you will join us.
Here is the link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81773744988?pwd=TjFBYVh2dldIeHM1aWdMbWJCN0h3dz09
By the way, one of my biggest lessons of the past few months has been the need for us to tame our lizard brain before doing any inner work or any helping or healing work.
When we come riding in on our white horse like a religious crusader with sword in hand, our inner child only sees a demon on a dragon and will run for cover—regardless of our good or loving intentions!
Wishing you much luck in your practice, and many blessings on your path,
