It is estimated that 60% of people in this world are living with unresolved traumas of one kind or another. I think it’s more like 90%. And so it makes sense that the treatment of trauma and the recovery from trauma has become an extremely important focus globally.
And breathwork—conscious breathing—has emerged as one of the most effective methods and as a main element in many if not most trauma treatment and recovery models.
One of the reasons for this is the direct link between breathing and the vagus nerve—which connects the body and the brain, the heart and lungs, and all the organs.
Breathworkers know first-hand the powerful connection between breathing and the mind, breathing and the body, breathing and emotions, and breathing and behavior.
I have worked with acute trauma as well as long-term trauma and PTSD with thousands of people over the past 50 years. I started in the US Navy working as a paramedic, in special operations, as a deep-sea diver and underwater medical rescue specialist.
With all the talk of complicated “trauma informed” practices, I feel that it is very important to remember that our body-mind system has natural, built in, trauma recovery capacities. And breathwork is the best way to awaken, develop, and support these natural abilities.
Back in the mid 70’s Rebirthing-Breathworkers recognized the power of the breath in resolving trauma. We were members of the avantgarde, working to heal our own birth, infancy, childhood, and other traumas, and we learned to help others to do the same.
We learned that with breath and the body, we can heal our mind. With breath and the mind, we can heal our body. And with body, mind and breath, we can heal our emotions. We learned that by practicing Breathwork, trauma naturally and automatically resolves itself.
As we begin 2025, my new year’s resolution is to promote Breathwork as the simplest and most powerful form of self-liberation on the planet. And so, this month I would like to encourage you to heal yourself, and to step up and support others in healing themselves with the breath.
Let’s start with the heart, because the heart holds the key to awakening, to healing and growth and recovery on every level or our being. The effects of trauma live in the mind and body, and conscious heart-centered breathing clears the mind and body of this trauma.
It is no accident that the lungs are wrapped around the heart, which means every breath we take is an opportunity, an invitation, to awaken heart intelligence. We must remember that the heart is a brain, which means it has the capacity to ‘think’ ‘remember’, and ‘decide’.
One of the best things—the main thing—we can do to heal and recover from trauma or post-traumatic stress, is to spend time every day breathing into our heart while deliberately focusing on the qualities of the heart. The idea is to use the breath to consciously generate the energies of love, peace, joy, gratitude, appreciation, tenderness, tolerance, compassion, and so on.
I want you to re-read that because it points to a simple, natural and direct path to freedom from stress, trauma, and suffering of every kind. Conscious, heart centered breathing is freedom from the mind that creates suffering, and freedom from the body and nervous system that stores pain and trauma.
Humans are creatures of habit. We are driven by habits of thinking, habits of feeling, emotional habits, behavioral habits—including the habits of stress, anxiety, complaining, criticizing, judging, and suffering. And so, we need to develop the habit of heart centered breathing.
In my experience, becoming heart centered is the key to ending all suffering. And the breath is the key to becoming heart centered. Being heart-centered is a conscious choice, an acquired skill. It is a discipline, a way of life. It is the deliberate shifting out of the head and into the heart.
That may be the longest journey we need to make in life: the twelve to fourteen inches from our head to our heart! We must not allow the mind that causes and creates suffering to talk us out of making that journey, or from doing the inner work required to live from the heart.
My wish for the new year is that we all become heart centered, and that we form the habits required to transform ourselves and others. My wish is that we all raise and expand our consciousness, that we awaken the power and natural intelligence of the heart.
Breathwork is about detoxing. It’s about spiritual purification. It’s about transformation—physically as well as emotionally and psychologically. The heart is the perfect balancing and regulating point between the head and the gut. Let’s make the heart chakra our new root chakra!
To transform ourselves from a victim of trauma and suffering to an agent of change, healing and renewal, we must awaken to the truth. We must recognize ourselves as conscious and creative beings. We must use the power of love to heal and grow ourselves and others.
At my seminars I remind people that if a caterpillar had a human mind, it would never become a butterfly. As soon as everything in that caterpillar’s body began to turn to mush, as soon as the transformation began, it would panic and scream for help! Call a doctor! I’m dying!
It’s good to make use of a therapist, a healer, coach, a counselor, a practitioner, a friend, or a Breathworker to make this journey of awakening and transformation. But we must take complete responsibility and be willing to do our own inner work. And that’s what Breathwork is—inner work.
So, let’s focus on this practice as we start the new year. Let’s do the work of clearing out all the crap that’s trapped in our nervous system, and let’s breathe out all the trauma that is held or stored in the body.
Right now, focus on your heart and breathe.
Add a little extra expansion, a little extra stretch to the inhale. And then let go with a sigh. Do this again and again. One breath after the next. Be willing to feel and allow whatever arises in the body-mind. Practice non-reaction and just breathe and relax in the presence of it all.
With each inhale, feel yourself opening and expanding. And with each exhale, feel yourself relaxing and letting go. Let go of the breath, and when you do, let go of a muscle or a joint, let go of a muscle group or a collection of joints. Your jaw, your neck, your shoulders, your limbs…
Remember that relaxation is half the work in Breathwork.
While you breathe, play with micro movements to loosen and soften your muscles and joints and structures. Relax as you breathe, so that the breath can penetrate all the cells of your body and the spaces between all the cells.
Use a breathing rhythm. Rhythm is a universal principle. Combine pleasurable movements with breathing. Use visualization—bright beautiful images. Use sound—soothing, strengthening and pleasurable sounds. Use positive uplifting words and phrases. Use mantras, prayers, affirmations and power statements while you are breathing.
One of my favorite mantras was given to me by Ram Das back in 1970. He said, when you inhale, think to yourself ‘the power of God is within me’. And when you exhale, think to yourself ‘the grace of God surrounds me’.
Create your own mantras, power statements, or affirmations. For every minute you spend fully engaged in this practice, that’s a minute that you are completely free of suffering
Gradually, your system will reorient away from stress and trauma, and you will develop the habit of comfort and ease, happiness and pleasure.
Remember that even if we make use of other people, doctors, therapists, drugs or techniques in our healing process, it is we who are ultimately responsible for healing ourselves.
Simple sighs of relief, felt and enjoyed and repeated for a few minutes, will create more and more space between you and the causes of your suffering—between you and your trauma.
Here are two thoughts or beliefs that I suggest that you breathe into every cell of your body as you begin this practice:
1. Something I thought would be very difficult, complicated, and take a long time can actually be very easy, very simple, and it can happen very quickly!
2. It doesn’t matter what’s been true about me my whole life or was true about me in the last moment, in this moment and in the next, anything can be true for me!
Put those affirmations into your own words and then breathe them into every cell of your body. Let them penetrate down deep into every crack and crevice of your psyche.
Let’s make 2025 a year of self-liberation. Make this year a year of awakening inner peace and promoting world peace.
It all begins with conscious, heart centered, energizing and relaxing breaths! Put your whole heart, mind, body and soul into each breath. Be total! Trauma and suffering cannot survive this relentless process. It cannot withstand wave after wave of healing breaths!
I encourage you to carve out 5 or 10 minutes several times a day, every day, to do this heart centered breathing. Stay open and welcome loving support, and I guarantee you that your life will change in the most beautiful ways.
Practice conscious heart centered breathing and your trauma will naturally dissolve. You will definitely become happier, healthier, and freer in every way!
Good luck in your practice, and many blessings on your path.
Dan (Guchu Ram Singh)
