Preparing for a Breathwork Session
To maximize your breath work experience there are a couple of tips one could follow to ensure that everything goes smoothly. The following article will shed some light on these tips.
Depending on the nature of your breathwork exercise, you may have to adjust your preparations.
Best Practices to Maximize your breathwork exercise.
Always listen to your body above anyone else – you know you the best!
Breathe on an empty stomach.
If you are going to engage in a prolonged breathwork session it is advisable to not eat anything heavily for at least up to two hours prior to breathing. If your stomach is digesting food, it will require a higher demand of blood which will interfere with the Breathwork experience. You may feel a strong discomfort in your stomach, getting winded rather quickly, and incapable of sustaining breath holds for too long.
Additionally, you also don’t want to be doing breathwork on a completely empty stomach. Eating something light an hour or two before the time, where you aren’t hungry but feel like you have an empty stomach – is the optimal way a breathing.
Prepare your space before the time.
The unconsciousness is capable of great things. However, as a survival mechanism your consciousness will not push itself or allow the unconscious to take full control if the room or area where you are breathing is not secure. By secure I am referring to a place where you feel comfortable and safe, and where you know you will not be interrupted or judged by anyone else.
Ideally, you would want to have the Liberty to shout cry or laugh as your unconscious dictates. However, in many cases this is not possible so as a minimal requirement you would like to have a space where you would not be interrupted by anyone or anything else.
You can increase the effectiveness of your setting by imbuing the space with intention. For example, cleaning the room with sage as a metaphorical banishing of “bad vibes” or spirits and cleansing the area for deeper and more significant work.
Use anything that allows you to feel that the area where you are breathing is in some sense or another “hallowed ground”.
This way your unconscious mind well treats your experience and kind.
Use headphones – wireless if possible.
These somatic meditation experiences I create and host on zoom has a rich Sonic tapestry and can only be fully appreciated by wearing headphones. While headphones aren’t exclusively a requirement, using an exterior speaker will render the presence of binaural beats useless.
For optimal sensory experience, wireless headphones are recommended. This allows the user room to move their arms freely and even move around if so required.
Have a bottle of water on hand.
Since you will be breathing for a prolonged period the odds of you getting thirsty or having dry mouth is extremely high. Having some water around quickly hydrate your mouth can ensure that you take shorter breaks in between breathwork patterns.
Go to the bathroom before the time.
It’s best to do breathwork on an empty bladder for obvious reasons.
Potential side effects of Prolonged Breathing
When engaging in prolonged breathwork exercises there are several physiological responses that may occur. Breathwork has been utilized for thousands of years and is considered a safe therapeutic practice by most health work organizations around the world.
Nonetheless, there are a few physiological responses that could occur during your breathwork session. It is important to know these potential responses beforehand to be properly prepared or if it happens. In most of the cases simply stopping the breathwork pattern would stop the potential side effects.
Tetany:
Tetany or “Lobster hands” is generally considered to result from exceptionally low calcium levels in the blood, however breathwork may also induce temporary tetany.
However, tetany as a result from breathwork is due to the drop of CO2 levels and
Fortunately by changing your exhalations you can reduce the symptoms.
In the case that you experienced tetany, simply slow down you’re breathing for a few breaths and make sure your exhale is passive.
A passive exhalation simply means, letting the breath go without any force or muscular tension. If the tetany gets too severe, simply relax for a few minutes breathe normally while relaxing completely.
Once the symptoms have passed simply reconnect with the breath knowing that you can control these symptoms at will.
Strong emotional release
While this may be a symptom that many people seek out when doing breathwork it should be mentioned as a potential side effect for those who are unaware.
Holistic breathwork follows a prolonged, even breath pattern that induces respiratory alkalosis.
The alteration of gases within your body also reduces oxygen to the brain and other parts of the body due too a lack of carbon dioxide within the blood.
These processes can shift your consciousness into non ordinary states. These may manifest in a wide number of ways including regressions to one’s birth, living past lives, or experiencing extra censorial occurrences.
Who should not practice breathwork?
While breathwork is safe for most people there are certain conditions where breastwork may excite symptoms.
For example, pregnant women should not engage with holistic breathwork. Pregnant women may do slow breathing exercises for short periods of time, but more intense breathwork patterns may adversely affect you develop a child since you would be depriving the fetus of oxygen.
Holistic breathwork may produce strong physical and emotional releases and therefore if you have a history of suffering from any of the following conditions, please talk to your physician before attempting any breathwork.
As mentioned, if you are in decent shape and normal health then in most cases breathwork is completely safe.
I do believe that it is important to let people know before the time about any potential side effects so that they can be prepared and react properly.
Interested in learning how to use Breathwork to deepen your meditation?
What to do when you experience adverse side effects during a breathwork session?
Sometimes you may experience some discomfort during a breathwork session. When experiencing these instances, there are a few tricks that you can do to reconnect and continue onward with the session.
In the case that you experience pain if it’s not too unbearable try to push through. However, in the case that the pain does impede you from breathing listen to your body.
This is one of the most important lessons of any breathwork exercise. Your body is your guide.
In the case that the pain becomes unbearable, simply slow down you’re breathing and begin to breathe through your nose. nasal breathing increases nitric oxide allowing the blood to be oxygenated faster and alleviating the symptoms quicker.
In the case of an emotional shift in awareness or a release of a traumatic memory it is important to remain calm.
You are completely in control of your breath and may stop at any time. When traumatic events arise within a breathwork session, it is advised to simply become mindful of the experience and to allow it to teach will show you what it is you need to learn.
Once the session is concluded, feel free to reach out to me to elaborate the feelings further.
Additionally, free drawing [such as Mandalas] or writing may help to elaborate any residual feelings.
Ultimately, most people who wish to engage in these kinds of breathing exercises are seeking some sort of emotional healing or to gain some sort of perspective on their own lives. This is you when it happens- just let it happen.
As mentioned, at the end of my sessions I’m always available to work with people who have experienced some significant shift to help them make sense of it and to provide some follow up activities and allow them to integrate the experience it and elaborated even further.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to reach out to me on the telegram group where I frequently post new sessions.
When Combining breathwork and Deep Trance Identification – you can go beyond the limits of your own being.
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