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Intro Guide to Breathwork for Beginners
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As the breath keep gaining momentum and increase in popularity on social media, the word “Breathwork” is being used to mean many things.
It might say Breathwork on the label, but unless it’s more clearly defined, you don’t really know what you’re getting, right?
The problem is that many people may be unaware that a certain style may be not so suitable for them. What works for a relatively healthy 27-year old new-ager may be absolutely not useful for someone suffering from high anxiety or dealing with PTSD.
The reality is:
Breathwork is just not a one-size-fits-all kind of modality.
That's because when we are working with the breath, we are working with the nervous system - and everyone’s nervous system is different - usually determined by someone’s biography, trauma history and lifestyle.
Meaning, what might trigger my nervous system into sympathetic fight/flight mode, might leave you chilling in ventral. What might send you into dorsal shutdown, might only bother my system slightly.
Regulation, training standards and ethical guidelines are still limited, which means one facilitator might teach and coach in a way that is completely different from another.
In addition, due to the nature of an unregulated teaching space, competence and experience is often questionable (especially when it comes to true trauma- and nervous system-informed facilitation).
When novice breathers enter the space, it’s really hard for them to distinguish one technique from another or understand the difference in qualifications. They usually take what is offered at face value (just like I did back then as well).
I’m unsure how this will develop in the future and what the solution might be to bring more clarity and transparency into the world of breathwork. I personally keep continuously updating my skills/ knowledge and I share lots of it for free on my socials. And we probably have the highest certification standards in the breathwork space for our 400-hour teacher training.
In order to offer some clarity, here is a simple overview of how we categorize breathing modalities.
The 2 Worlds in Breathwork
1. Breathwork to improve functional breathing and increase capacity:
This includes breathwork practices to sustainably build nervous system capacity, enhance interoception, increase co2 tolerance and improve functional breathing.
The focus is on working on optimizing bio-mechanics, bio-chemistry and breathing rate.
These practices are mainly balancing for the nervous system, but can also include stressor practices, eg. using air hunger or breath holding techniques.
Examples included reduced breathing, LSD breathing, 360° diaphragmatic breathing, walking and moving breathing practices..
We can also use some of these breathing techniques to regulate the nervous system reactively in the moment:
When you’re activated or anxious, you can use the breath to bring yourself down (eg. physiological sigh, diaphragmatic breathing, extended exhales, humming…)
When you’re low of energy or in dorsal shutdown, you can use it to bring yourself up (e.g. breath of fire, connected breathing)
Here are modalities I recommend:
Functional Pranayama (see the books "Restoring Prana" and “Breathing for Yoga")
👉 My course Breathwork and Nervous System Foundations is a great introduction to this kind of breathwork.
2. Breathwork to access expanded states of consciousness:
This kind of breathwork utilizes activating/hyperventilation breathing techniques such as conscious connected breathing or 3-part breath.
In my work, I call them transformational breathwork deep dive sessions. But there are many names for them, depending on the facilitator or school you breathe with.
We do them to complete stress cycles, process emotions and integrate past buffered experiences.
In the long run, these sessions will also contribute to a regulated nervous system and more nervous system capacity (due to the effect of completing stress cycles and releasing buffered emotions).
Schools I recommend:
Neurodynamic Breathwork
Transformational Breath
Biodynamic Breathwork
Breathwork Bali
Alchemy of Breath
👉 Join my monthly deep dive sessions to explore this kind of breathwork. Click here for more info.
Here is the thing:
Diving into world #2 without also immersing yourself into world #1 is not very effective in the long run and might actually keep you stuck in a dysfunctional breathing pattern and dysregulated nervous system.
That's why my approach combines both worlds in addition to somatics and mindfulness: I'm trained and certified in Oxygen Advantage, Buteyko, Pranayama, Meditation, Somatic Experiencing, and Neurodynamic Breathwork.
I also use a bodywork method during in-person transformational breathwork sessions that we developed at Intesoma called Touch-Assisted Breath Alignment (TABA).)
You can find out more about my background and certifications here.
💡Tip:
Before breathing with a facilitator or coach, inquire about their qualifications. Are they listed on their website (usually on their about page)? If not, ask them.
If you’re a facilitator or coach yourself, please make sure to include them on your website.
PS: Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:
→ 🫁 Breathwork + Nervous System Foundations Course
Learn how to regulate and rewire your nervous system. Access more calm, energy and focus by using the power of the breath.
It will teach you how to properly and safely use the remote control (aka your breath) for your nervous system. Get it here.
→ 👥 Work with me 1:1 (limited spots or waitlist)
I offer private breath coaching, somatic coaching, deep dive sessions and a personalized nervous system healing program
→ 💨 Live Free Breathwork for Nervous System Regulation
Join me each week for a 20-minute breathwork and somatic practice focusing on nervous system regulation.
👉 Tuesdays 6pm London / 7pm Berlin / 1pm New York / 10am Los Angeles on my Instagram @breathwork.alchemy
→ 🎓 9-Month / 400-Hour Intesoma Breathwork Teacher Training (🇩🇪🇨🇭🇦🇹)
If you are passionate about the breath and feel the calling to share it with the world, learn to become a breath coach and nervous system specialist. Applications for our 2024 training are open.
6 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Breathwork Practice
💌 Get your bi-weekly dose of science-based insights for better mental, emotional and physical health using the power of the breath and the nervous system.
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In this post I will share with you the most common mistakes I see many breathers make.
Not just beginners, but seasoned breathers as well.
They are part of the reason clients come to work with me and it’s the stuff I go deep on.
Getting them right will transform your practice and as a result your nervous system and how you experience life.
Unfortunately, many breathers don’t familiarize themselves with the intricacies of the power of the breath. Along the lines of “how hard can it be to breathe?”.
Because of that, they don’t reap the full benefits of a breathing practice or - even more tragic - they give up too early.
Also, just because someone shares information on the breath or teaches breathwork, doesn’t mean they have studied the full picture and current science that is out there.
Breathwork as a field is literally the wild west and new research is coming out constantly.
There is so much conflicting and also amateur breathwork knowledge floating around, let’s make sure we spread the right information.
We have to remember:
When we work with the breath, we are directly influencing our nervous system.
With a lot of power comes a lot of responsibility.
Here are the 6 mistakes I see many people make:
Mistake #1:
Choosing a Practice at Random
There are a ton of different techniques to choose from.
Every breathing technique has a different effect on our nervous system and state of being.
When you do a guided session, you often don’t know which ones they will teach.
(In my Instagram lives, I always share what the practice looks like before we start)
If you use as an app, be mindful what is promised with each practice or technique.
Don’t give away your nervous system’s remote control to just anyone you happen to find online.
My recommendation:
Learn about how the breath and the nervous system works (for example here)
Check in with your body before choosing a practice:
How am I feeling?
What kind of practice do I need today / right now?
Mistake #2:
Doing Too Much Activating, Hyperventilation Breathwork
This is something I see A LOT of people do.
Granted, it seems like the more appealing option - just search for “breathwork” on YouTube (→ the likes of Wim Hof and DMT style breathing)
It looks and feels ecstatic, can make you feel high and on top of the world.
And why?
Because of the adrenaline, endorphines and dopamine that our body produces during those practices.
Essentially, we are putting our bodies in an artificial stress response - which is not necessarily a bad thing - but most of us already operate more in sympathetic mode than we should be and what is healthy. So we are adding more stress, when our systems actually need more regulation and balancing. More is definitely not better in this case.
Doing activating practices (such as Wim Hof breathing) every day is simply not a good idea as you are doing your nervous system a disfavor in the long run - especially also because these techniques do not support a functional breathing pattern.
They can also trigger anxiety when done too often (which I hear from many people):
Plus, we keep conditioning our system to seek out adrenalizing experiences and get more addicted to stress (which many of us already are).
For most people, I recommend doing activating practices no more than once or twice a week.
Instead, it is more beneficial to have a regulating, functional daily breathing practice (even though it might be “boring” at first, because less adrenaline etc is produced).
Activating practices are the icing on the cake.
PS: I teach Transformational Breathwork sessions for a specific purpose (which is not to chase peak experiences, but integration, healing and self-exploration) with a specific set & setting - very different than “youtube ecstatic breathwork”.
Mistake #3:
Belly Breathing Instead of 360° Spherical Diaphragmatic Breathing
On social media and in many yoga classes, you hear a lot of instructions to engage in belly breathing.
And while that is a great first step especially for those people who have been mainly breathing from their chest most of their lives, it is not very effective.
One, we often isolate the chest when we focus on belly breathing.
Two, true functional breathing movement works in 360 degrees not just forward.
There is way better and more functional way:
Enter 360° spherical diaphragmatic breathing.
This means, the movement is mainly coming from the area around the lower ribs, but the belly and chest are also involved to some degree.
We want about 70-80% movement in the belly and lower rib area and 20-30% in the chest area.
Plus, because the diaphragm attaches to all sides of the lower ribs, we also want the sides and backside expand.
Imagine a balloon sitting in your stomach area. It doesn’t just inflate and deflate forward, it inflates and deflates in all directions.
Mistake #4:
Compensating Slower Breathing with Bigger Breaths
When we slow down our breathing, for example when we so coherence breathing to a count of 5 in and 5 out, we decrease our breathing rate from an average of 12-20 breaths per minute down to 6 breaths per minute.
A natural response for most breathers is to increase the size of the breaths. This actually works against the intention of optimizing our breathing and regulating our nervous system, because we are off-gasing too much CO2.
It might give you a temporary sense of calm, but it’s not as effective and won’t impact your functional breathing pattern in the long term.
In order for your practice to have a lasting effect on your breathing pattern and nervous system, we have to create a sense of air hunger when we’re doing any regulating exercise.
This is why we practice what is called “reduced” (or light) breathing.
This means you want your CO2 to rise slightly to a point where you feel like you would like to breathe in more air, but you’re not. You want to hover on a nice, tolerable air hunger.
This might take some time to get used to but it will revolutionize your practice in the long run.
Mistake #5:
Not Integrating Functional Breathing Into Daily Life
A daily sitting breathwork practice is a great foundation.
But if your good breathing habits stop the second you step off the mat, your practice is like a drop in the bucket.
So: take your practice off the mat.
The key here is to check in with your breathing regularly as you go about your day and make sure you are mainly:
Breathing through your nose (also when walking and exercising + mouth taping at night)
Utilizing your diaphragm (70% of movement coming from the diaphragm + belly and 30% from the chest)
Breathing calmly and softly
Otherwise, i’s like going to the gym to lose weight only to go home and eat McD and sugary processed foods.
Mistake #6:
Blindly Following a Guided Practice
I see many breathers go along with every instruction they are given and often ignore their body’s NO signals during a practice.
I get it, breathwork teachers and facilitators have a certain authority. But we are not in your body.
It’s important to understand that both the breath and the nervous system are highly individual systems. Every body has a different baseline (different CO2 tolerance) and different needs.
Not every technique is suitable for everyone.
Some practices make people feel very uncomfortable, light-headed, anxious, stressed or simply frustrated.
Know this: you don’t have to follow every guided instruction by a facilitator.
You can an adjust the technique (eg. the counts).
You can take breaks.
Listen to your body. You are in your nervous system’s driver’s seat, not your facilitator.
👉 I wrote an in-depth guide on what to do when you feel anxious breathwork and mindfulness practices.
If it comes down to it - in a perfect world, everyone would have their own unique set of breathing protocols (which is why 1-1 coaching could be a good idea).
Take a moment to reflect:
Which mistakes have you made in your breathwork practice?
Watch out for part 2 of this essay.
I have several more mistakes I see a lot of people make.
For now, implement my recommendations into your practice and let me know what you notice.
Keep breathing, stay regulated.
Big love
—Conni.
PS: Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
→ Breathwork + Nervous System Foundations Course: Learn how to regulate and rewire your nervous system. Access more calm, energy and focus by using the power of the breath.
→ 1-1 Somatic Coaching + Inner Work Mentorship: A 4-month one-one-one coaching and mentorship program for entrepreneurs, founders, creatives, coaches and practitioners who need support in healing their anxiety, chronic stress, overthinking, and/or attachment wounding.
Why I Choose to Live the Boring Life
My life used to be one big rollercoaster.
Lots of ups and downs.
Lots of adrenaline and dopamine.
Lots of peak experiences.
Lots of drama.
Lots of stories to tell.
For context:
I had been a nomad since I was a teenager, which is when I left home in a small boring town in southern Germany at 15 and started to study and live in different countries.
After I graduated university in 2009, I went travelling the world non-stop for about 13 years - first as a backpacker, then a scuba dive instructor and eventually as a location-independent entrepreneur slash creator.
For years, my days were a mix of go-go-go, work hard, parties and drinking, attending lots of events, retreats and gatherings, hopping on planes - anything that would allow me to not be alone or feel my pain too much.
On top of that, I was involuntarily initiated onto my journey of healing and self-exploration in 2012. And explore I did: I became an obsessive seeker - someone who was seeking relief from depression, loneliness, grief, anxious attachment and codependent, toxic dating patterns and the effects of suppressing my sexual identity since I was a young teenager.
It was an intense and wild phase of my life.
My life was the expression of trauma and the consequences of it: a massively dysregulated nervous system.
(As I was searching my notes app for relevant ideas on this topic, I found this diary entry from 2017: “I like the drama because my life without it boring and feels lonely”)
Enter breathwork.
Enter somatic therapy.
Enter covid lockdown.
Enter my partner Christine.
Over a period of several years, my life was slowing starting to take a 180 degree turn.
The emphasis is on SLOW.
True long-term regulation and healing takes time.
(The adrenals take about 1-2 years to fully recover.)
—-
Lasting transformation and healing often requires lifestyle changes.
At times, uncomfortable ones, unexpected ones.
For me, it took a very big shift. One that I could never have imagined five years ago.
It took falling in love with “the boring life”.
Making our life a little boring on purpose regulates our nervous system.
The destination is the boring Now - the place that seems so unsatisfying and painful when we’re in dysregualtion.
Dysregulation seems to makes us feel uncomfortable in our bodies due to the stored energy that causes us to be in high sympathetic (fight/flight) or freeze mode. Both are states of non-safety.
The more we get to access ventral vagal, the more safety and comfort we feel in our body, the more safe we feel in the word and safe to connect to it and others.
As a result, the desire to escape into dramas, peak experiences and bliss states vanishes.
You have come home.
Deep Dive Aftercare: The Transformational Breathwork Integration Manual
The experience of a Transformational Breathwork session doesn't end when the session ends.
Breathwork using conscious connected breathing is a very powerful modality which is likely to open you to new and unexplored territories in your inner world.
To get the maximum benefit from your breathwork experience, it's important to devote some time and space to your inner journey — this is the process that we call “integration.”
It’s where you take the things you learned about yourself in your breathwork session and “integrate” them into your overall being.
Because we’re working with the energy body, some of the integration may not be obvious to you if you’re not used to working with the subtle body.
Even if you think you did not consciously have a meaningful emotional release or profound experience, your system is still unconsciously processing the session.
A deep dive session is only as meaningful and impactful as the time we dedicate to integrate our experience.
Integration is what will influence and impact your life coming out of a deep dive journey.
It is afterwards that you have a unique opportunity for real, lasting change. But to claim it, you need to do the “work”.
Breathwork is no magic pill, and no matter how rewarding the experience, it’s your ability to integrate it into your life that will determine its impact.
“Enlightenment has no value until it’s lived.” — Byron Katie
Plus, if we only do deep dive sessions but don’t work with our nervous system to learn how to self-regulate in daily life, effects are usually only short-lasting.
Healing means re-patterning our nervous system which needs support outside of peak or transformational experiences (aka. deep dive breathwork sessions).
How to Experience Lasting Change Through Breathwork
The way I teach Transformational Breathwork is not just to change our state while we’re in the session (that usually only last temporarily afterwards), but to bring about lasting change in our thinking, feeling and behaviour.
A deep dive sessions has three phases:
Preparation (preparing for the session) - see this resource on how to best prepare for a deep dive breathwork journey
Experience (the breathing session)
Integration (integrating your breathwork experience)
If I had to break down the level of importance via percentages, I would say Preparation = 20% Initiation = 40%, and Integration = 40%.
So, as you can see, integration is JUST AS important as the breathwork practice itself!
Thus, make sure to leave time after a session to integrate and take it easy.
Don’t schedule meetings or appointment right after.
When we properly integrate the deeply introspective experience that occurs during a CCB session, we can really reap the benefits it has to offer.
For example, if for some reason, a participant wasn’t able to integrate their experience and they rushed back to work, an unhealthy diet, and a crazy home environment, that participant could end up in worse shape than before they practiced breathwork.
On the other hand, if the participant takes the necessary time to integrate their experience properly, they would be able to completely come back into their body, give themselves the necessary time to process everything that came up during the breathwork, and come back into their daily environment with intentions of making necessary changes that will benefit their health and overall well being.
Lingering Emotions After A Deep Dive Session
Transformational Breathwork sessions can be deeply emotional experiences. They can bring repressed emotions to the surface and help you process them.
Most often, the processing of an emotion is completed during the journey itself.
Sometimes, an experience may bring something to the surface of your awareness, but the process won’t be completed yet.
You might also feel raw or vulnerable after a sesion.
However you feel immediately after your journey, emotions coming to the surface is always in your favor, independent of the speed with which you move through them.
Breathwork is not about making something go away - it’s really about bringing material up, so we can move through it consciously.
When emotions linger after a session, it doesn’t mean the session wasn’t successful or something is wrong - it means you now have an opportunity to integrate what is calling your attention, something you might have suppressed for a long time.
You can now work with what is brought up from the ocean of your unconsciousness to your awareness.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AFTERCARE
Below are our suggestions for supporting your integration process after your breathwork session.
There are two different ways to integrate your experiences in breathwork: actively, or passively.
In active integration, you make a conscious effort to work with your material through a variety of means, including such things as focused therapy, journaling, artwork, collage work, stream-of-consciousness, and much more.
In passive integration, the general idea is to simply create as much embodied presence and self-awareness in your life as possible after a breathwork session because the deeper your self-presence, the more you’ll be realigning with the state-dependent memory which you accessed during your breathwork session, which will lead to further insights and understandings about it, and the emergence of new puzzle pieces.
Passive integration can include such activities as meditation and yoga, walks in nature, massage and energy work, hot baths with candles, etc.
Be Gentle With Yourself
Allow for greater sensitivity, openness and vulnerability
Allow some time for self-nurturing
Allow yourself to be with whatever emotions and feelings arise after the session in a loving, accepting way without judgment. Make them into your best friends. What you consider your “negative” emotions many times give you the most insight into what is really happening in your inner world. Do your best to stay in your body and with the emotional sensations in your body. No matter what is arising within you, meet yourself with the utmost compassion and remember that it will pass.
Re-enter your normal life and activities mindfully
Take some time to slow down and be present in the next 24 hours – it really helps to integrate the experience.
Practice Self-Care and Self-Nurturing (especially if you need more grounding)
Give yourself time for reflection and rest with a lighter schedule and to-do list. Stay in your calm, quiet environment for as long as you can.
Drink plenty of water and maybe some hot tea for some extra grounding
Eat grounding, healthy, nourishing food - veggie soups and roots such as radishes, carrots, potatoes and beets.
Keep downregulating your nervous system:
Slow diaphragmatic breathing with extended exhales (untimed or 4 seconds in and 8 seconds out)
Humming
Spend time by yourself or with people who are nurturing, healing, and understanding of your journey. It’s important to know yourself and what is best for you - more alone processing time or if it's ok for you to be social.
Cuddle with your pet or partner
Light a (scented) candle or some incense/essential oils to help keep you grounded
Spend time in nature, going on a longer walk or sit outdoors. If possible, connect with the earth barefoot, meditate in nature or relax by a tree. (Here are some guided meditations you can utilize)
Take a nurturing hot salt bath or shower
Drink a hot tea or warm water
Exercise gently (i.e. walking, stretching, yoga)
Get a massage or do some self-massaging
Listen to relaxing music you enjoy (here is a good integration playlist)
Do something expressive and creative like drawing, making music, dance, pottery, etc.
Get adequate rest and sleep
👉 If you still feel activated after the session but not anxious or emotional, ask your body how it would like to move. I recommend conscious dancing, shaking or going for a slow run.
Possible Suggestions to Continue to Stay With and Work with Your Inner Process if You Feel Called to Do So
Pay attention to any “material” surfacing from your psyche
Attend to and work with your dreams. You are closest to your unconscious in your dreams and more important material might surface in the days following the breathwork. If you remember your dreams, write them down.
Journal for key insights - just emptying the mind onto paper is great. Simply write your stream of consciousness without censoring yourself and note any key insights you might have had during the session. This can help you make sense of your experience.
Get a piece of paper and draw whatever wants to come out–keep your drawings! You may get more insight into what they mean a week or two later.
Put on music and allow your body to move/dance spontaneously and authentically
If it Feels Right, Share Your Process + Experience with Someone You Trust
If you are currently working with a therapist and feel called to do so, you can make an appointment to share your breathwork experience
Attend your regular support groups
Use discretion regarding whom you discuss your experience; avoid sharing with those whom would attempt to discount or invalidate your experience
If it feels right and you know your partner or friend can hold a welcoming space for you, share your experience.
Avoid Making Important, Abrupt or Rash Decisions
Wait at least a week before making any important life decisions
Dialogue with someone you trust about decisions you are considering and ask for objective feedback.
Make Your Emotions Your Friends
Start taking more responsibility for your emotional states in your daily life
You can use them (whether “negative” or “positive”) to look inside and examine and work with what is triggering these emotions in you instead of projecting the cause of the emotions onto something that happened in the outside world.
GENERAL ADVICE
We recommend you combine deep dive sessions with regular/daily breathwork and nervous system regulation practices.
For this, have a look at my course Breathwork and Nervous System Foundations.
I also offer free resources on my instagram page, eg. check out my video archive of past weekly live practices for nervous system regulation (in which I combine somatic practices with breathwork).
Why? As they say -
“After the ecstasy, the laundry.”
- Jack Kornfield
and
“Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.”
Check out this resource of mine that goes into more detail on the meaning of these quotes.
How Much Time Should You Devote to Breathwork Integration?
So, how much time is required to integrate a breathwork session to maximize “growth” from your experience?
The answer is: it depends.
Ask yourself the following questions:
How deep and/or powerful was my session?
How much did I release emotionally and/or physically?
How much was I surprised by its content?
How “blown away” was I by it?
Generally speaking, the more your answers are on the higher end of the spectrum for these questions, the more you should plan to give yourself some integration time.
And, as always, trust your intuition.
What to Do If You Don’t Feel Complete After a Session?
What to do if a deep dive journey left you unintegrated / anxious / depressed?
Accessing altered states of consciousness can bring dormant and unconscious material up to the surface for integration. Usually it gets processed and integrated during a session but at times something bigger comes up or we don’t fully get to complete the emotional stress cycle during a session.
Maybe you feel overwhelmed, anxious, shutdown/freeze, depressed, intense sadness or anger - it’s absolutely ok to feel that way.
If you find yourself still activated, reactive or in shutdown/freeze the next day, know this:
It’s part of a natural process. It doesn’t mean the session was “unsuccessful” - on the contrary, this is good news in the breathwork world - it was very “successful”. You now have a golden nugget to work with intention!
Deep dive sessions aren’t meant to breathe anything away - it’s the opposite: we want to bring things up. and if something keeps lingering in our bodies after a session, it’s a wonderful opportunity for us to consciously work with parts of ourselves that want our attention. We get the chance to integrate them in our daily lives, to feel them, to learn to be with them and to befriend them.
As they say - after the ecstasy, the laundry.
We often want uncomfortable emotions to go away and do something to regulate ourselves quickly - however, the invitation is to work on increasing our capacity be with whatever is there.
In order to integrate and process the intensity of what is present for you, we have to find and connect to the root cause of your activation and intense emotion, which is almost always from a frightened frozen child our amygdala created as a survival mechanism so many years ago.
Relief comes from getting out of the overt THINKING processes in your mind and into the covert FEELING processes inside your body.
First off:
See if you can access self-compassion and full permission for what you are feeling and experiencing -
“It’s ok for me to feel this way.”
“I feel sad/angry/shutdown/scared and that’s ok.”
Let me give you permission first: it’s ok and natural to feel whatever it is you are feeling.
If you need more resources on helping you access self-compassion, here are some amazing practices.
Step 1: Resource Yourself
It is important that you create internal capacity first to be able to process what wants to be felt.
Increasing capacity means finding and using resources that help us feel safe in our bodies in order to process what wants our attention.
What feels good for you right now?
What gives you a sense of safety?
Which parts of your body feel safe, pleasant or neutral?
Here are some recommendations:
use the instant reset breath and do 3 rounds: 3 inhales through nose, then pause for 2-3 seconds and then sigh out the mouth - hold your breath again for 3 seconds
relax your jaw, your shoulders and your belly
humming and chanting mantras
a hot epsom salt bath
use a weighted blanket / weight on body
calming music (see this playlist)
tap below collar bones at the same time (EFT)
splash cold water onto your face
aromatherapy
locate 3 objects in your environment. Take in their color, shape and size. Breathe.
name the present sensation in your body out loud. Say “heart racing”, “sweaty palms” or “knot in my stomach”
put one hand on your forehead and one on your heart and take a few slow breaths
Them put one hand on your heart and one on your belly and take a few slow breaths
put a pillow on your belly and hug it
tap down your body
shake your body out
breathe with one of my instagram sessions, for example:
You might have your own ways to create safety in your body - think of people who you feel safe with, places and practices.
Step 2: Befriend Your Experience
Once you have resourced yourself, the next step is to befriend the emotion / the experience:
Find where you feel the emotion or anxiety in your body.
The best solution is not thinking, but feeling.
First off, look around your room and repeat to yourself: “I am safe in this moment” - and really feel it in your body.
Feel your feet on the ground and the lower half of your body
Then find an area in your body that feel safe, pleasant or neutral and connect to it.
Next, scan your body for an area of intensity or charge. Look for a pressure, an ache or pain, and tension in your throat, chest, solar plexus, belly..
Let go of any need to label what you are feeling as an emotion, just focus on the physical sensation in your body.
Simply focus on tracking the sensations of the charge
Put your hand over that area and continue to breathe slowly - see if you can breathe into that area where you feel the sensation of charge and tension
Stay with the sensations in your body (even if its uncomfortable) and ignore the thoughts in your mind (your thinking brain, the prefrontal-cortex is impaired by the stress chemicals adrenaline and cortisol)
Oscillate between the regions in the body that feel safe or neutral and the sensations of tension or activation...
Sense your feet, your legs and your pelvis - it will help you stay grounded
Focus on your breathing, your own touch and the sensations in your body - allow the muscles of your jaw and shoulders to soften and relax
When we feel activated, our muscles unconsciously tense up, sending a signal up to the brain that we are in danger
Once you feel some more calm in your body and mind, connect to the younger part of you that is represented by the activation or charge in your body
Keep breathing into the sensations and send that activated younger part of you compassion and support
Then see how the emotional charge wants to move your body. Start making the movements slowly, really slow them down.. and see what happens to the charge..
Do three rounds of humming or voo-ing - it will activate your vagus nerve, which will calm down your body and mind even more
Whatever is present for you after the session, see if you can just let it be there. Welcome it all in. Make all the parts and emotions within you a cup of tea and see what is allowed to flow on its own - without doing anything, just allowing.
Step 3: Journal
After the feeling and sensing part, writing about your experience can help you unpack and uncover deeper insights.
Here are some questions for inspiration:
What are three words that best summarize your experience?
What feelings are most alive in your body as you reflect on your journey?
What are the key insights you’ve had?
What are some questions or curiosities that have come up?
What am I noticing? (thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, images, urges, fears…)
Which emotion(s) am I trying to avoid right now?
Why am I trying to hide from this emotion?
What does this emotion need from me?
If you are interested to dive deeper into journaling for healing purposes, here are two great books:
Self-Therapy : A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Wholeness Using IFS by Jay Earley
Expressive Writing: Words That Heal by James Pennebaker
Recommended: Work With A/Your Therapist
At times, we have experiences during a session that requires additional support from a professional, especially if we are dealing with traumatic material.
If you already work with a therapist, it’s a good idea to reach out and make the experience in the session the topic of a consultation.
If you are currently not working with a therapist, we have a list of recommended practitioners if you’d like to work with someone who has also done breathwork and understands the types of things it can catalyze and how to work with that material. Check out our list of “breathwork-friendly” therapists, , to work more deeply with the issues/topics which are coming up for you in breathwork.
We also recommend working with a practitioner who is trained in somatic psychotherapy such as Somatic Experiencing oder NARM.
And if you are struggling financially and don’t have a lot of financial resources for psychotherapy, you can find a practitioner through open path, which is a psychotherapy collective offering affordable offline and online sessions. Another option would be Betterhelp or Talkspace. If you are looking for support as someone from the LGBTQ community, you may find a suitable therapist via Pride Counselling.
Need More Support? Here Are 3 Options:
1 - Send Us an Integration Support Email
After the session, if you’d like guidance, or if any questions arise related to either your breathwork experience, or about your subsequent experiences related to the session afterwards, please feel free to check in via our Breathwork Alchemy Integration Support Email.
We always do our best to respond to support questions within 48-hours of receiving them.
2 - Book a Breathwork Coaching Session
An additional level of support is also available to those who feel they’d benefit from a personal consultation with an experienced facilitator. You may schedule a Breathwork Coaching Call with me or one of my trained facilitators to address anything on your mind related to your breathwork experiences.
These consultations are only available if you have joined one of Conni’s deep dive Zoom sessions live.
You can use these sessions to:
ask questions about anything related to your breathwork experiences
get advice on how to overcome blocks and challenges in your breathwork journey
get tips on taking your breathwork to the next level
experience a safe space to talk about anything related to your breathwork experiences.
receive validation, or simply a nonjudgmental witness around your breathwork process
learn more about the long-term practice of breathwork
etc.
How the Breathwork Coaching Call Works:
When you sign up, you’ll answer a few very quick & simple questions about your experience. Then, when we talk via Zoom, your facilitator will listen to your questions and ask a few questions, and will then answer any questions you may have about your experiences in breathwork.
Cost:
$50.00 USD for 30 minutes (this rate for deep dive session participants only)
Send us an email at mail@breathworkalchemy.co to schedule your breathwork coaching call.
3 - Book a Private 1-on-1 Deep Dive Breathwork Session
For individualized support during a session, we recommend you book a 1-on-1 session.
This way, we can customize the setup, playlist, guiding and process of the breathwork journey based on your background, needs and requirements.
Cost:
$250 USD for 90-120 Minutes
Send us an email at mail@breathworkalchemy.co to schedule your breathwork coaching call.
How to Best Prepare for Online Transformational Breathwork Sessions
If you plan on joining one of our deep dive sessions, make sure to read this resource. It contains essential information for all participants and it is specifically relevant if you are a first-timer.
Preparation is an important part of a Transformational Breathwork journey.
Here at Breathwork Alchemy, we work trauma- and nervous system-informed and we put a lot of thought and consideration into every aspect of the experience for you.
To make sure you get the most out of the session, we recommend you follow out recommendations.
Let’s go - here is how to best prepare:
🔥 THE MOST IMPORTANT TIPS
1. Don’t Eat a Big Meal Just Before Breathing.
Some people find that it is helpful not to eat anything at least two hours or even longer before the session.
If you are breathing in the morning, it can be helpful to postpone your breakfast until after you breathe.
You can play with this and see what works for you, everybody is a bit different…but it is more difficult to drop into the Expanded State of Awareness if your stomach is overloaded and all of your internal energy is focused on digestion.
However, you may want to prepare ahead of time a healthy and nourishing snack or meal for when you are finished with the breathwork session.
2. Choosing, Creating, and Preparing Your Space.
It is best to do the session lying down on a yoga mat on the floor, your couch or bed.
If you are laying down, please make sure to have enough space around you so that if you move around that you do not bang into anything, especially around your head area.
Dim lights or close curtains / shades. We also don’t recommend using candles for safety.
Consider that you may want to sing, cry or release through loud sounds. Does your space allow you to do this comfortably?
3. Make Yourself Comfortable
Prioritize comfort by wearing loose fitting clothes and layers that can be easily taken on and off.
4. Optimize Your Sound Quality
We want the music to be good quality and quite loud.
Over the ear headphones are ideal, earbuds also work. If you have a computer with great sound and the neighbors don’t mind loud music, that is fine also.
If you use your mobile phone, earbuds or earphones will be a necessity to get good sound quality.
Make sure your laptop or mobile device is fully charged or plugged in for it to last the entire session.
5. Make Sure Your Internet Connection is Good and Stable
If it isn’t, it might be annoying if the audio cuts out as you’re breathing.
The better the internet connection, the better the sound quality will be.
If you are planning on using a mobile phone please make sure to install the Zoom app (available in the app store) before the session.
If you are in a space with others who use the same network, ask them to limit streaming and network use during your journey.
6. Make Sure You Will Not Be Disturbed During the Session
Turn off your phone, put a “do not disturb” sign on your door if there are other people in your house or apartment, etc.
Coordinate with family, housemates, and others to ensure an uninterrupted space where you will not disturb others. If you have close neighbors you can let them know you may make a little noise.
7. Use a Blindfold or Sleeping Mask
You will need a blindfold or you can just close your eyes if you prefer but using a blindfold is strongly recommended as that will generally support you in dropping more deeply into the process.
If you continue with this work, the blindfold I recommend is called a Mindfold Sleep and Relaxation Mask which can purchased on Amazon but any blindfold will do.
8. No Drugs and Alcohol
We ask that you agree not to mix mind-expanding drugs and/or alcohol with breathwork.
Breathwork is meant to stand on its own and part of the benefit of the experience is that you start to gain more confidence that you have all of the answers within and do not need substances to access this wonderful inner guidance that everybody has.
9. Recommended to Have Nearby:
Lip balm to prevent your mouth from getting dry
Kleenex tissues
A bottle of water
A blanket and pillows
Maybe a cup in case you have to spit, etc.
A journal and pen or other tools for taking notes and creative creative expression
Also:
Feel free to bring anything that helps you feel grounded and centered (eg. a special blanket or pillow, gemstone, candle, or anything else)
ARRIVAL + START
I will open the Zoom room about 10 minutes before the official start time.
Please arrive a few minutes before to get settled and to make sure we can start on time. We won’t wait for latecomers.
THE FLOW OF THE WORKSHOP
Here is what’s going to happen during the two hour workshop:
Arrival and grounding
Introductory talk
Preparing to get ready to breathe and answering final questions
50-minute Breathwork journey using the conscious connected breathing technique
Integration sharing circle and Q+A
These deep dive sessions are live experiences, which means they will NOT be recorded in order to guarantee a safe and trauma-sensitive space and to integrate together after the breathing journey.
🛑 CONTRAINDICATIONS
As a reminder: there are certain medical conditions for which it is not considered safe to participate in this type of breathwork.
It is important that you do not breathe or contact us first if you have any of the following contraindications.
If You Are Under age of 18 you may not participate in this breathwork session without written parental consent
Pregnancy
High Blood Pressure that is not controlled with medication.
Cardiovascular disease and/or irregularities including prior heart attack
Aneurysms – if either you have had an aneurysm or if more than one person in your
immediate family (parents, siblings, children) has had one
History of strokes, seizures or TIAs.
If you’re taking prescription blood thinning/anti-clotting medications such as Coumadin
Epilepsy
Detached Retina
Glaucoma
Osteoporosis that is serious enough whereby moving around actively could cause
physical damage to your body.
Prior diagnosis by a health professional of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
Hospitalisation for any psychiatric condition or serious emotional crisis in past 10 years
such as an attempted suicide, nervous breakdown or psychotic break.
PTSD - If you currently have symptoms of severe PTSD, please check in with us before breathing.
If you have asthma, you are welcome to breathe, but you must have your inhaler available.
Prior physical injuries that are not fully healed and could be re-injured through intense movement.
Any other medical, psychiatric or physical conditions which would impair or affect ability to engage in activities involving intense physical and/or emotional release.
If you’re not sure if these apply to you, please hold off from participating in today’s session, an email us for clarification at mail@breathworkalchemy.coo
AFTER THE SESSION
Sharing circle
After the session, there is time for participants to share their experiences if they choose to and I stay on the call long enough to answer whatever questions people have about their experiences. You can of course leave on time or hang on until everyone is complete.
Leave enough time for integration after the session
The integration process after your breathwork experience is also very important. So we encourage you to set aside some extra time afterwards for eg. journaling, a nature walk, a warm bath..
If you are unsettled or feel incomplete after your session
We request that you either stay on the Zoom call and get support from me, if not, to e-mail us as soon as possible after the session at mail@breathworkalchemy.co
We will either e-mail back or, if necessary, set up a one-on-one Zoom call to support you.
On Setting Intentions and Expectation Management
Setting intentions can greatly enhance your experience as well as the potential to integrate growth and healing into your life.
To create an intention you may meditate, reflect, journal or talk with a therapist, friend, or supportive person in your life.
Your intention is most simply, "What is motivating me to participate in the breathwork journey?”
A few additional questions that may be helpful in setting your intention:
Where in your life do you feel most powerful, most alive? Where do you feel energized? Drained of energy?
Where in your life do you feel the most need for change?
What’s working for you? What’s not working? What’s missing? What’s next?
What are your biggest strengths and gifts?
What energy are you working with or would you like to work with?
Create a simple, short, concise “I am…” statement of the energy or healing you are inviting in. Ex: “I am whole.” “I am love.” “I am open to receiving healing.”
Trust, Expectations, and the Unknown
Your experience may be unexpected, uncomfortable, or hard to understand. You may not have much of the experience that your rational mind was anticipating.
Try to be aware of your expectations which may cause resistance to where the breathwork journey is naturally leading you. If you hold your intention lightly it will help you to work with whatever experience may come during the journey.
You may trust that what is coming up for you is part of the natural progression of a journey, and that all journeys will resolve with time.
I’m looking forward to breathe with you!
What to Do When You Feel Anxious During Breathwork And Mindfulness Practices
Even though meditation and Breathwork are meant to help people regulate and relax, for some people who struggle with anxiety and hyper-arousal, this isn’t so easy.
The more they focus on their breathing or their bodies while feeling sensations and emotions during a practice, the more they become anxious - and not less.
This is not uncommon and definitely not an ‘abnormal’ response, as many people who experience this might think. Nothing is ‘wrong’ with you.
Once we start considering your nervous system and your past history, it is actually very natural.
What is anxiety really?
Anxiety is not anxiety per se - it’s not just a label or diagnosis.
It is an expression of trapped survival stress rising up in your systems. It’s a natural biological response.
This buffered fight/flight energy is essentially misplaced because it’s actually an incomplete survival response from a past event(s) or unresolved trauma staying alive as incomplete stress cycles in your body.
Anxiety is survival stress desperately trying to get out.
Why are you feeling more anxious during meditation or breathing practice?
Reason #1:
Many of us don’t feel safe in our bodies due to experiences in the past that have conditioned us in ways in which we feel more safe in our minds and in our thoughts.
When a child experiences something highly stressful or traumatic, the nervous system protects it from getting overwhelmed or flooded by disassociating and “leaving” the body. Being in the body and feeling its uncomfortable sensations isn’t safe if we are not being co-regulated by a caregiver or we don’t know yet how to self-regulate.
Now, as you go about your day, you spend most of your time subconsciously preoccupying your mind on other things, so that you avoid the anxiety. When you then sit down to meditate and your body and mind don’t have anything to do, the physical sensations that you try so hard to not feel during your day to day become louder in the silence. Or, as you put your attention consciously on your body, you notice all of its sensations that you normally aren’t aware of due to the noise of your daily life.
Either way, your body is calling them to your attention. However, your nervous system perceives the sensations as not safe (even though they are) and goes into a stress response (eg. increasing heart rate) and your brain is producing anxious thoughts as its trying to make sense of the information coming from your body.
Remember, our human brain is designed to look for danger, not for joy. Thus, it’s only doing its job. However, an anxious brain and nervous system are hyper-sensitive to danger (internal or external) due to maladaption.
All this keeps you stuck in the anxiety loop.
Just know that, your anxiety will not kill you. You are not in any danger. And it is ok to feel this way. Instead of trying to push it away, allow yourself to feel compassion for the part of you that gets anxious. It’s only here to protect you.
The good news is - it will get better. Thanks to neuroplasticity, your brain and your nervous system can change - no matter how old you are, no matter what you have experienced.
So please don’t be discouraged.
Reason #2:
Not every breathwork practice out there is suitable for everyone.
Not everyone has the same CO2 tolerance - meaning, the capacity to tolerate higher levels of CO2. But when we look at a practice such as 4-7-8 breathing (inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8), we need to consider that even though it is heavily promoted on social media for beginners (mainly by not very experienced breathworker), it requires a relatively high CO2 tolerance, which doesn’t make it beginner- nor nervous system-friendly.
Many people who struggle with anxiety often have a low CO2 tolerance, which is why this technique can often have an adverse effect (higher CO2 can trigger uncomfortable activation in the body for people who are sensitive to it).
What to do when you feel anxious during a mindfulness / breathing practice?
During a somatic / mindfulness / breathing practice, when you start to feel your anxiety in your body and anxious thoughts getting activated, there are several ways you can apply the brakes.
This way, you can stay within your window of tolerance so that mindfulness doesn’t become stressful or re-traumatizing.
The intention with any of the suggestions is to use what is called titration and pendulation.
Titration = small amounts of (trauma-related) distress at a time in order to build up tolerance and avoid becoming overwhelmed
Pendulation = moving and refocusing attention on somewhere that is less activating or less intense and then coming back (moving back and forth)
This will help us widen our window of tolerance and increase our stress resilience.
Here are a some brake suggestions:
focus on part in your body that feels good and safe
focus on the lower part of your body (eg. feeling your feet, feeling your feet touching the ground, feeling the area below the belly button and your pelvis and hips..)
open your eyes, orient to your surroundings and move your attention on somewhere that is less activating or less intense - eg. focus on a resourceful, external object in your environment
if you get too anxious and need to stop the meditation - do some grounding (name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell and 1 thing you can taste)
during breath awareness practice: pick another sensation to observe the breath (instead of your chest, you could try to focus on the sensation of air passing through your nostrils)
engage in a soothing form of self-touch (e.g. put one hand on your heart or belly)
touch something around you and pay attention to the fabric and being in connection with that (eg. the seat you are sitting on or your clothes)
hold on to a safe resource (eg. a pillow, a rock in your hand, a blanket…) and focus on it and it’s surface area or fabric
take a break from the mindfulness practice (e.g., walking, stretching…)
Experiment with these and see what works best for you.
Use the Brakes Early, Often and at Any Time!
You could for example engage in the practice for 30-60 seconds (or even less or longer, depending on how easily your system gets activated) and then take a break for 30-60 seconds or until you feel calm and safe again to return to the practice. And then slowly increase engaging in the practice minute by minute with breaks in between.
Even if you are doing a guided session, you can always take breaks in between. You don’t have to follow the instructions. Follow the messages of your body and then slowly expand your capacity.
If you are doing a self-guided practice, start with shorter practice times (even just 1-3 minutes) and then slowly increase your sitting time.
However, the goal is to slowly increase your capacity - so find the middle path between feeling safe and pushing yourself a little bit.
Expanding Your Capacity to Feel Anxiety
Once you trust your body a bit more, you can experiment with practicing to stay with the sensations of anxiety until your capacity is reached.
By this, I don’t mean to stay with the thoughts of anxiety but to let the emotion of fear and the sensations of anxiety move through you without attaching to your thoughts.
It helps to understand and remind yourself in this moment that anxiety is a physiological response in your body and caused by stored stress energy in your body.
Tell yourself “this feeling is uncomfortable, but I am not in any danger and it is ok and safe to feel this way”.
How Breathwork Can Help You
A daily gentle Breathwork practice and somatic meditations can help you increase your capacity and slowly teach your nervous system to regulate itself. Daily is the keyword here.
Check out my course “Breathwork and Nervous System Foundations” to get started on that.
It might also be a really good idea to hire a trauma-sensitive mindfulness and/or breath coach who can help and support you on your journey to finding back home to your body in a safe way.
However, you must also fix the root cause. The root cause is the FEELING of alarm that is still stuck in you from the unresolved wounds of your younger self.
In order to fully heal your anxiety, you need to do more than learning to self-regulate and increasing your capacity for stress. This is where deep dive transformational breathwork sessions come in (in which we breathe for 45-60+ minutes).
The big question is:
Can I do deep dive Breathwork sessions using conscious connected breathing when struggling with anxiety?
Here is my trauma- and nervous system-sensitive take on it:
Once you feel more regulated and safe in your body utilizing balancing techniques and practices, you can experiment with a deep dive Breathwork session, in which we use conscious connected breathing to access deeper layers of our unconscious and to facilitate emotional release and the completion of stress cycles.
It’s important to know that conscious connected breathing is an activating breathing technique. And it might not be what you need right now, considering that anxiety means that you’re nervous system is already over-activated and hyper-aroused.
However, some people do these deep dive sessions despite their anxious tendencies, are able to close running stress cycles and experience amazing results.
Others first work on regulating their nervous system with balancing breathing practices for a while before diving deeper with conscious connected breathing.
Beyond Breathwork - Recommendations
In addition, I highly recommend you work with a somatic psychotherapist, who is trained in Somatic Experiencing or NARM.
Talk or behavioral therapy will only get you so far. We need to work on the level of the body and our emotions to truly heal anxiety and past wounding. Trying to work out a feeling issue (anxiety) via the mind by talking or changing your behavior only will most probably not be very effective or sustainable.
Also, check out the book “Anxiety Rx” and the author’s Instagram account @theanxietymd.
Let me know if you have any questions!
On Power, Stress, and HRV
Dear Breather,
How's your breath today?
Not one day goes by in my life without me being reminded of just how powerful the breath is.
And lately I’ve been thinking a lot about just how much responsibility we carry by consciously using our breath.
I mean, think about it -
Your breath works like a remote device for your nervous system. The two are directly connected to each other:
When we “hack” into our breathing (ie. by consciously changing the way we breathe), we can essentially hack into our biology and physiology. This is HUGE.
Eg. with every inhale, your heart rate goes up and you activate your sympathetic nervous system, with every exhale your heart rate slows down and you stimulate your vagus nerve.
However, with a lot of power comes a lot of responsibility.
For example, consider this:
Whenever you engage in a guided breathwork session or experiment with a new technique, you essentially give away your remote device for your nervous system - and thus to how you feel and think.
So here is my advice:
Don’t just give away your remote device to anyone on the interwebs/YouTube/Instagram.
Anyone and their dog are sharing breathing practices these days. Make sure they know what they’re doing, are at best trauma-informed and are certified (although - even certification doesn’t guarantee competence unfortunately, because many programs are less than awesome)
Study the breath. Understand your own physiology and nervous system.
I am a huge believer in education as a way to empower ourselves - which is the reason I share educational information around the breath and the nervous system on Instagram and this newsletter.
The breath can be a powerful medicine - if we learn how to use it properly so it can actually benefit us.
Are you ready to be your own shaman, your own guru? Because, we are in 2021, in the Age of Aquarius - times are changing hard and the times of outsourcing all our healing and power are coming to an end. Our breath is the most powerful medicine we have and carry with us.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
🎥 Isn't breathing through the mouth bad for you? by Max Strom
I'm definitely team nose-breathing-for-the-win 24/7, but it's also important to consider when mouth breathing is the natural way to breathe. Oh, and who doesn't love Max and his divine voice? ;)
🎙 The pervasive effect of stress with Robert Sapolsky on The Peter Attia Drive
The issue of stress is so incredibly underrated in society, it truly boggles my mind - especially considering how many of us suffer from chronic health issues, depression, anxiety etc. This convo is a must-listen.
📝 2020 Meta Analysis: Slow Breathing Improves A Variety of Behavioral and Physiological Outcomes on The Breathing Diabetic
This is a great summary of a great study on slow breathing - in essence: HRV breathing and slow breathing both have wide-ranging benefits for overall health and wellness. The author Nick also sends out a really dope newsletter every week. You don't have to be diabetic to benefit from his emails.
Plus:
Sooo, I ditched the Whoop and am currently experimenting with the Polar H10 chest strap in combination with the EliteHRV app to measure my heart rate variability in the mornings and use bio-feedback during my breathwork sessions. Loving it so far - much better than wearing a wearable tech device 24/7 on my body.
🇩🇪 I recently sat down with the wonderful Robin Stolberg to chat about my story and all things Breathwork for his Natural Biohacking Podcast: So meisterst du deine Atmung und hackst dein Nervensystem
Here are some Instagram post highlights from me - in case you missed them:
How stress affects your digestion and how Breathwork can help
A personal re-introduction from my end including some random personal facts about me :)
BREATHE WITH ME
🦩 1-on-1 Coaching Program to Improve Emotional Regulation, Psychological Well-Being and Stress Resilience
I am currently temporarily working with clients as part of a new 1-on-1 coaching program I developed.
I don’t usually do much private coaching and will focus on other projects again come July.
It's by application only and I have 1 or 2 spots available right now.
If this speaks to you, you can schedule a no-strings-attached intro call with me.
🤠 Breathwork Teacher Training 2021/2022
My partner and truly amazing Breathworker of many years, Christine Schmid, and I will be running a 6-month Breathwork Teacher Training starting end of October (online + offline).
We will open up registration in about a month mid-July-ish and it will be in German only this first time around (sorry international friends!).
There will be 20 spots for this intensive 300-hour training.
Get on the waitlist here to be notified when we open the doors.
⚡️TODAY: Live Breathwork for Nervous System Regulation With Me on Instagram
Let's breathe together - join me live on Insta today!
I will share a little on the topic of nervous system regulation, then I'll guide you through a Breathwork practice and then we'll do some Q+A.
So that's today, Monday June 21st at 6pm CET / 12pm EST / 9am PST.
I hope to see you later!
I appreciate you :)
Conni. 🐋
PS: I just officially launched my new website for Breathwork Alchemy. Have a look around.
PPS:
Nose Breathing, Movement + Slow Breathing
Dear Breather,
When we moved into our last house here in the South of Sri Lanka, my partner and I both immediately struggled to sleep through the night. I had to get up several times to go to the bathroom at night. I never felt refreshed in the mornings. Not cool. We tried to optimize every aspect of sleeping, but to no avail.
Then the solution hit us like a ton of bricks - mouth taping! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, watch this video)
We somehow had dropped the habit (silly us!). So we started taping our mouths again at night and - tada: we immediately started sleeping through the night with no more bathroom visits and I felt energized after waking.
We assume that the pillows and harder mattresses here in Sri Lanka caused us to have our mouths open more while sleeping. And you cannot have good quality sleep (or good health) if you're breathing through an open mouth.
A little tape works like magic, because it makes sure your mouth stays shut.
So, if you're struggling with your sleep, wake up to pee, or you snore or have sleep apnea or wake up with a dry mouth in the mornings - I highly recommend taping your mouth shut at night. It's also one of the first things I prescribe my breath coaching clients.
It's an awesome low hanging fruit to improve your sleep, your health and breathing pattern during the day. Because the way we breathe at night tends to be the way we breathe when we're awake.
Rule number one:
Mouth is for eating, nose is for breathing. Make sure you nose-breathe at all times (except during very high intensity workouts).
More on nose vs mouth breathing another time!
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
1. Stress, Breath and the Psoas
"During prolonged periods of stress, your psoas muscle is constantly contracted."
"The psoas being intimately involved in the basic physical and emotional reactions, that when chronically tight it continually signals your body that you’re in danger, eventually exhausting the adrenal glands and depleting the immune system.”
Lately, I have been getting really interested in breathing anatomy, how movement and stretching can assist with dysfunctional breathing patterns and where exactly in our bodies we store trauma. If you ever heard a yoga teacher say that your hips store a lot of emotions, then they were absolutely right, but not many can explain why this is the case.
It seems like there is a strong relationship between the amount of stress, anxiety or trauma you have experienced in your life and a tight psoas, which can be responsible for all sorts of issues in your body (pain, digestion, scoliosis..).
I keep exploring the anatomy of our bodies and how it relates to breathing patterns and it fascinates me deeply. Movement practices need to be part of any breath practice if we really want to make a sustainable difference in our physical, mental and emotional health. I too have recently upped my stretching and mobility game by a lot and am currently also doing a 21 Day Hip Opener Challenge (15 minutes a day - 3 poses for 5 minutes each).
2. The Benefits of Slow Breathing on Heart Rate Variability
The best breathing practice to increase your HRV is by slowing down our breathing using coherence breathing at a rate of about 5.5 breaths per minutes:
Inhale to a count of 5 or 6 and exhale for 5 or 6. Essentially making the in-breath and out-breath the same length.
Here are few studies supporting this:
Influence of deep breathing exercise on spontaneous respiratory rate and heart rate variability (2012)
The physiological effects of slow breathing in the healthy human (2017)
Fun Fact: After about two to three weeks of being in Sri Lanka in February, I noticed something interesting - my HRV went up by about a third (which is a lot).
I definitely felt way more relaxed and calm and my skin issues cleared up.
Being in the tropics, out in nature more and slowing down my life meant I was more in parasympathetic mode, which meant I was organically also breathing slower. Hence: a higher HRV.
I recorded a new breath practice meditation!
It's a 12-minute guided Breathwork practice to kick off your day.
We first use an activating breath to get us going and then follow this up with some nice coherence breathing for a nice nervous system balance.
Plus:
I am currently finishing up the Advanced Oxygen Advantage Instructor Training with Patrick McKeown with an add-on training specifically for Yoga and Pranayama teachers. Excited to be extending my offerings as a breathwork teacher and coach.
Next up, I plan to create a guided breathwork session for sleep as well as one for anxiety and stress.
Sometime this year, I will open an online breathwork studio so you can breathe with me regularly live and get access to a library of guided breathwork practices that you can do whenever you want. What ya think?
BREATHE WITH ME
Join me for my upcoming online event - this one is in German:
Himmel, Arsch + Zwirn! Endlich richtig wütend!
I am running an online workshop on how to consciously deal with and process anger with my partner Christine Schmid. (In German)
If you want to learn more about how to create a new and healthy relationship with anger, then come join us on May 29.
More online group Breathwork events coming up again soon!
You can also work with me 1on1 - I am currently taking bookings for June for deep dive Breathwork journeys and my 4-week breath coaching program. Very limited spaces available. Respond to this email if you're interested.
Happy breathing :)
Conni. 🐋
PS:
Your Breathing Needs
Dear Breather,
How is your breath today?
Becoming a confident breather means developing your somatic awareness, a heightened consciousness of how your body is feeling.
This helps you recognize when you are out of balance, stressed or low on energy and then check in with yourself to see what your needs are and how your breath can support you in the process.
Somatic awareness is important in order to choose the right Breathwork technique for you in any given moment or on any given day - rather than just going for the default method or following some protocol that you've seen on Instagram.
For example, many people opt for Wim Hof breathing as their default practice every morning without reflecting on their choice and tuning into their bodies first.
Your nervous system and how it is conditioned is unique - and thus your choice of breathing pattern needs to be based on its uniqueness, your state and needs on any given day.
This was one of the reasons why we started 30 Days of Breathwork (to which more than 100 people signed up!).
Your breath is like a remote control and our job is to learn how to use its buttons and how you can use it best to support your nervous system.
My invitation to you:
Keep experimenting, stay curious and don't stop learning about your breath!
There is a whole breath world out there and within you waiting to be discovered :)
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
The author of this article used resonance breathing and HRV training in a 10-week experiment to deal with his anxiety. It inspired me so much that I bought the book he mentioned and started the same daily Breathwork program of 20 minutes of resonance frequency breathing twice a day.
In this video, I talk about the difference between Breathwork and Pranayama. It seems like there is still a lot of confusion going around, so I felt like it was time to clear things up a bit.
I discovered a new simple breathing pacer app called Breathing Awesome. It allows you to set different breathing patterns and play a Spotify playlist at the same time. I'm using it for my daily practice right now.
BREATHE WITH ME
Join me tomorrow:
Breathwork for Self-Exploration and Inner Healing - Sunday Feb 28
This deep Breathwork session is an active meditation using conscious connected breathing that facilitates emotional release, transformative inner healing, deep insights, and self-exploration. After a sharing circle and intro talk, I will guide you through a 60-minute Breathwork journey that will enable you to clear out mental, emotional and physical blockages.
⚡️ I have 3 spots left for this 2-hour workshop.
Happy breathing :)
Conni. 🐋
PS:
You can always respond to my emails with any questions you have around Breathwork and the breath :) Just hit reply!
The Breather #1
Hi Dear Fellow Breather,
Welcome to the official first edition of the Breathwork Alchemy newsletter :)
I love firsts. We usually never forget them.
Like my first deep transformational Breathwork session several years ago.
Or the first time I realized I even had a breath back in 2012 when I started meditating.
Firsts always hold a special place in our memory bank.
And so here we are.
Breathwork Alchemy has organically turned into a real thing:
My platform to share the powerful practice of Breathwork with the world so more and more people can experience inner peace, calm and emotional healing in their lives. It has changed my life in so many ways and I wrote a whole blogpost on it.
Breathwork is the quickest, most powerful and effective way to enhance and transform one’s state of mind and body. Breathing is the only system in our body that is both automatic and under our control. This is not a coincidence - it’s an invitation to tap into and influence the evolution of our mind and body.
I'm excited about the big vision that came through to me during Breathwork journeys and as intuitive whispers last year. I will share more about it soon.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
If you're a little nerd like me, then you will appreciate all the research the HHP Foundation shares on their Instagram. It's awesome to see more and more research being done on Breathwork and breathing.
The new book "The Breathing Cure" by Patrick McKeown is being released soon - this is one of the first interviews he recently gave talking about it. I can't wait to get my hands on it after reading The Oxygen Advantage (also planning to do his instructor training soon)
This is a great article on why a Breathwork practice is so effective at reducing stress based on two recent scientific studies. (FYI, the Sky Breath Meditation they mention is a mix of alternate nostril breathing, bellows breathing and ocean sounding breath)
BREATHE WITH ME
1. Breathwork for Self-Exploration and Inner Healing - Feb 17
This deep Breathwork session is an active meditation using conscious connected breathing that facilitates emotional release, transformative inner healing, deep insights, and self-exploration. After a sharing circle and intro talk, I will guide you through a 60-minute Breathwork journey that will enable you to clear out mental, emotional and physical blockages.
I have 3 spots left for this 2-hour workshop.
2. 30 Days of Breathwork - Feb 20 until March 22
Join a community of breathers in a 30-day Breathwork challenge and learn how to use the power of your own breath and change your life with a daily practice.
In just 5 minutes per day, you will be able to take back control of your nervous system to relieve stress and anxiety, improve your sleep and increase energy + focus. It's beginner-friendly, science-based with immediate results.
We already have 67 people signed up, which is way more than we anticipated! The more, the merrier - let's change the world with Breathwork one human at a time :)
Sign up here. (we extended early bird pricing for another day until tomorrow morning!)
Happy breathing :)
Conni. 🐋
PS:
Please do send me your feedback or any ideas you have on what you would like to see and read in this newsletter. I'm always open to suggestions!
Just hit reply to this email!