Wednesday, February 13, 2008

No.1 Introducing Rebirthing Breathwork

“the breath is the junction of Mind, Body and Spirit” Deepak Chopra

Over the last 45 years, rebirthing breathwork has proved itself a popular and trusted approach to personal transformation. Rebirthing evolved largely from the research undertaken by Leonard Orr and Stanislav Grof since the early 1960s. Rebirthing breathwork has gone on to become an accepted therapeutic, personal and spiritual development practice worldwide.

Over the years rebirthing has branched out, creating many different variations. But underlaying them all is a form of breathing called ‘consciously connected’ or ‘circular’ breathing. This type of breathing raises the body’s energy, highlighting areas of our lives where its flow is congested. The high levels of energy combined with deep relaxation facilitate the integration age old fears, sadness and anger. This naturally lightens our lives and allows us to contemplate a much broader vision for ourselves, our relationships and our future.

Leonard Orr has described rebirthing breathwork as a way to “unravel the birth-death cycle”. The name ‘rebirthing’ derives from the possibility of re-experiencing and integrating the trauma of our own birth process. This typically leads to a tremendous sense of release and a new sense of freedom and purpose in life. Before this stage is reached, however, we may need to integrate many of life’s other, less dramatic, traumas. Rebirthing breathwork can also be used to integrate humankind’s most basic and universal fear, that of death itself.

Much of the writing about breathwork has concentrated only on people’s personal difficulties and how these were overcome. Inspiring as this is, there is another aspect to working with the breath. The experience of high levels of energy is naturally ecstatic. For a short time, the boundaries separating us from the world at large are dissolved. We enter into a much broader, more spiritual conception of reality, of ourselves and of our place in the world. Even after the experience has passed, this conception of reality stays with us to guide and inspire our lives. This is, perhaps, the greatest gift that rebirthing breathwork can give us.

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