Page 76 - What Doctors Don't Tell You - AU-NZ (February-March 2020)

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simple act of connected breathing in a safe space,
allowing suppressed emotions to be felt rather than
pushed away, is sufficient for them to surface and
release, no matter how long they have been blocked.
What makes Breath4Life breathwork unique in terms
of emotional healing is that the practitioner leads the
client down into the subconscious at the beginning of
a session through a simple visualization and relaxation
process, purportedly so the emotional clutter that has
been stored there—limiting beliefs, core conflicts and
blocked feelings—can be accessed more easily.
It’s not just negative emotions that are held there—
we can also suppress joy, love and laughter.
“The purpose of conscious breathing is not primarily
the movement of air but the movement of energy,” says
Leonard Orr, a pioneer of transformational breathwork.
“If you do a relaxed, connected breathing cycle for a few
minutes, you will begin to experience dynamic energy
flows within your body. These energy flows are the
merging of spirit and matter.”
Given permission to feel, Breath4Life practitioners
claim that the body knows what to do, and emotional People can pour
energy is automatically released with the breath. People
can feel incredibly expanded and light as a result—as their hearts out
with Matthew’s first blissful experience—although
some can feel tired at the end of a session. It can be or say nothing. In
a scary process when intense emotions surface, so a breathwork, if you
supportive guide is very helpful.
“We are not taught that emotions are our friend. are feeling it, you are
People think it will be scary and that they won’t handle dealing with it
it,” says Matthew. “But the coaching and statements I
use allow people to let go. They only have to feel it—for
example, grief around a death—for a moment.
“There is no need to talk about what comes up.
People can pour their heart out or say nothing, but it will
work anyway. In breathwork, if you are feeling it, you are
dealing with it.” led to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and a prescription
for antipsychotic drugs for life.
Universal benefits “I did not want to accept the diagnosis,” says Danielle.
Breathwork is generally considered safe and well “I knew it was not me, and the behaviors were not me.
tolerated by all. The exceptions are those with My instability was triggered by unresolved emotions,
cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, glaucoma, especially anger,” she said. “I also had so much fear, and
retinal detachment, or people taking certain it affected many areas of my life: I had a good job, but I
antipsychotic medications. was afraid to go for promotion, and I was in and out of
If you are under medical treatment, it is essential to toxic relationships.”
check with your doctor before initiating treatment. After a year of twice-monthly breathwork sessions,
But connected breathing has been able to address a she is completely different: “I was a severe insomniac,
number of issues on the physical or psychological level, and now I sleep well at night. I came off my medication
particularly stress-related ailments (see box, page 67). after about six months. I have been promoted at work,
“The worse the emotional state, the bigger the and currently I have really good relationships with my
change you see,” says Matthew. “The issue can be friends and family.
anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, ADHD, autism, “I also used to suffer with bulimia and had huge
bereavement, relationship issues. It will help with any body insecurities, which I am still working my way
negative experience you have suppressed.” through, but I am not making myself sick, and I am not
Danielle, 34, a healthcare worker, turned to Matthew worrying about my weight so much. I used to wear hair
to overcome severe anxiety and depression as a result of extensions, artificial eyelashes, lots of makeup and inject
growing up with an alcoholic mother, sexual abuse at filler in my lips.
14, and the death of her fiancé and mother within a few “I had so little confidence in how I looked. Matthew
months when she was 19. Years of unresolved trauma has taught me to embrace the real me. For the first time

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