Healing With BREATHWORK

Hello Wellness Seeker,

✨✨ Join me for an upcoming breathwork session, where we’ll dive into the transformative benefits of pranayama and cultivate inner balance together. Follow me on Instagram & Facebook for all the latest details and updates.

🌸 ====== 🌸

Gratitude opens our hearts, turning what we have into enough.

🌸 ====== 🌸

🌬️ “The body remembers what we may not—and breathwork is a powerful way to access and release those memories.” 🌬️

Breathwork taps into the body’s deep-seated memory, offering a safe way to address unprocessed grief, fear, and other emotions held within.

Research by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score) shows that emotions can be stored in our muscles and organs, including our lungs, where grief often resides. Breathwork practices create a bridge to those hidden memories, inviting release.

For some, habits like smoking may even reflect unprocessed grief or past feelings they suppressed, often because they had to “be strong.”

By engaging the intelligence of the unconscious mind through intentional breath, we access root causes and pathways where grief, stress, or past events have left an imprint.

✨ Ready to breathe through what’s been held in?

I invite you to join the monthly online Full Moon Breathwork Experience. Purchase your online tickets here.

Healing with Breathwork: Releasing Unprocessed Emotions

Breathwork is more than a wellness trend; it’s a gateway to profound emotional healing. By intentionally working with our breath, we tap into a deep well of memory and emotion stored within the body. This practice offers an opportunity to release grief, stress, and other feelings that may be locked away, helping us heal in ways that words alone cannot.

---

The Science Behind Breathwork and Emotional Healing

Research into the mind-body connection has uncovered how emotions are often stored in the body. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, has demonstrated that traumatic experiences leave physical imprints in the body. These imprints often reside in the muscles and organs, including the lungs, a space commonly associated with grief.

When grief remains unprocessed, it can manifest as discomfort, tightness, or chronic tension in the chest. Breathwork provides a unique way to access and release these stored emotions, bypassing the limitations of verbal expression. As Dr. van der Kolk explains, physical practices like breathwork allow individuals to connect with hidden parts of themselves, facilitating healing where traditional talk therapies may fall short.

How Breathwork Works

At its core, breathwork uses conscious, controlled breathing patterns to alter the body’s state. By shifting from shallow, chest-centered breathing to deep diaphragmatic breathing, we activate the parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the “rest and digest” system. This creates a state of relaxation that enables emotional release.

Breathwork sessions often bring unconscious memories and emotions to the surface. These may include grief, fear, or unresolved feelings that were suppressed due to societal pressure to “be strong” or simply because the mind was not ready to process them at the time.

I invite you to listen to the insightful episode on the Self-Care Goddess Podcast “Healing Trauma & PTSD with Root Cause Therapy“.

Why the Lungs Hold Grief

The connection between the lungs and grief is more than metaphorical—it’s rooted in both physiology and psychology. Eastern medicine traditions, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), have long associated the lungs with sadness and loss. Modern research corroborates this idea, showing that unprocessed grief can manifest as respiratory conditions like shallow breathing, asthma, or even the habit of smoking.

For individuals who turn to habits like smoking, breathwork can offer an alternative path. These habits may unconsciously serve as coping mechanisms for grief, with each inhalation and exhalation mimicking an attempt to regulate emotions. Conscious breathwork interrupts this cycle, helping individuals connect with and process their feelings instead of suppressing them.

The Transformative Power of Breathwork

Breathwork serves as a bridge to the intelligence of the unconscious mind, providing access to root causes of emotional pain. During a session, individuals may experience a range of sensations and emotions, from tingling in the body to waves of sadness, joy, or release.

This process is not only cathartic but also integrative. By bringing stored emotions into conscious awareness and allowing them to be expressed, breathwork creates a pathway for lasting healing.

I invite you to watch my YouTube video titled “Alternate Nostril Breathing For Anti-Anxiety & Calming Effects”

Getting Started with Breathwork

Breathwork can take many forms, ranging from simple practices to guided sessions led by trained facilitators. Here are a few beginner-friendly techniques:

1. Diaphragmatic Breathing: Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Inhale deeply through your nose, allowing your belly to expand, then exhale slowly through your mouth.
2. Box Breathing: Inhale for a count of four, hold your breath for four counts, exhale for four counts, and pause for another four before repeating.
3. Holotropic or Conscious Connected Breathing: These advanced practices often require a trained facilitator and focus on continuous, rhythmic breathing to access deeper emotional states.

Are You Ready to Breathe Through What’s Been Held In?

Breathwork invites us to meet our grief, stress, and memories with compassion and curiosity. Through intentional breathing, we unlock the body’s innate wisdom, allowing it to guide us toward healing. If you’ve been carrying silent burdens or feel ready to explore the layers beneath your emotions, breathwork could be the transformative tool you’ve been seeking.

I am a certified Breathwork Facilitator. Connect With Me to know more on the amazing power of breathwork and learn some breathwork techniques than can help you better manage yourself.

References:

1. Van der Kolk, B. A. (2015). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.
2. Traditional Chinese Medicine theories on the lungs and emotions: National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
3. Research on breathwork and emotional release: Journal of Trauma & Dissociation.
4. Holotropic Breathwork and its psychological benefits: International Breathwork Foundation.