The Rise of Breathwork: Exploring a Growing Wellness Trend
If you haven't seen the intense and explosive breathwork sessions circulating on social media, you might be missing out on one of the fastest-growing wellness trends. In recent years, there has been an explosion (pardon the pun) in breathwork events, instructor training, and social media content showcasing the benefits of this powerful practice.
Safe and Effective Breathwork Practices
But here's the thing—while breathwork can be incredibly transformative, it must be approached with care. When treated with the respect and understanding it deserves, it becomes a powerful tool for positive change. However, it's equally important to recognise what safe and considered breathwork looks like.
Choosing a Qualified Breathwork Practitioner for Your Safety
Whether you're new to breathwork or you've tried it before, it’s crucial to understand how to identify a qualified practitioner who prioritises your safety and well-being. In my practice, I focus on creating a supportive and grounded space for my clients, ensuring that every session empowers them to explore at their own pace by first providing the education they need to understand and guide their own experience.
Essential Questions to Ask Your Breathwork Facilitator
Ask your breathwork facilitator about their training: who they trained with and for how long. Inquire about the style of breathwork they offer so that you can make an informed decision about whether it aligns with your needs. It’s also essential to consider whether your facilitator discusses consent and provides a health screening form and waiver for you to complete before a session. Your safety is paramount, as certain health conditions may prevent participation or require the facilitator to adapt the session to suit your specific health needs.
My Journey with The Language of Breath Philosophy
In 2024, I had the opportunity to study The Language of Breath philosophy with Jesse Coomer in the USA. This decision stemmed from some of my own negative experiences with breathwork, where I realised that when you don’t know what you don’t know, you can become vulnerable and at the mercy of a facilitator you have chosen to trust. It’s crucial to understand that there are many different styles of breathwork, each capable of producing profoundly different effects on your body and mind. Without a clear understanding of what to expect, it can be challenging to feel safe and grounded during a session. This awareness drives my commitment to educating clients about the various styles and techniques I offer, ensuring they feel empowered and secure as they navigate their breathwork journey.
The Five Tenets of The Language of Breath: Foundations for Practice
Awareness is the foundation of all positive change.
Your unconscious-self is as much you as your conscious-self.
Your unconscious-self is always trying to help you survive and thrive.
The healthiest you is a whole self (conscious and unconscious-self working together).
Actions are the words - (conscious breathing and listening to the response).
Influence of the Tenets on Practice
The five tenets of The Language of Breath have strongly influenced how I engage with breathwork myself and how I deliver it to my participants. Grand and explosive breathwork sessions are all well and good, but do they truly help us connect with ourselves on a deeper level? For some, the answer may be yes, but for those of us who need to learn how to listen to our internal cues, fast breathing may encourage disconnection rather than introspection. First, we must learn to stop and listen, to connect with ourselves and truly understand who we are and what we need. From this foundation, we are ready to explore intense and emotionally charged sessions—with full awareness of what it feels like to be safe in our own body.
Empowerment Through Breathwork: Connecting The Conscious and The Unconscious
These foundational principles of The Language of Breath give participants complete autonomy over their breathwork experience. While the facilitator plays a vital role in education and creating a safe space, the real power lies in the individual’s ability to connect with their internal processes through the breath, fostering a stronger relationship between their conscious and unconscious selves. It’s not about the facilitator having any extraordinary abilities; it’s about guiding participants to harness their own innate capacity for positive change. The Language of Breath philosophy is a wonderful breath of fresh air in the breathwork space.
Your Transformative Breathwork Journey Awaits
As you begin or continue your breathwork journey, remember that the key to a transformative experience lies within you. By seeking a qualified practitioner, understanding the various styles of breathwork, and honouring your unique process, you can cultivate a safe and empowering environment for growth. Taking time to stop and breathe is a powerful opportunity to connect with yourself and get to know yourself in a deep and empowering way. There is a whole wonderful world to explore within you that can shift you from a place of uncertainty to a place of deep trust and inner knowing. The journey of a thousand breaths begins with a single inhale.
Breathe deep
Melanie Briony xx
OCTOBER BREATHWORK EVENT: Hike~Breathe~Chat
NOVEMBER BREATHWORK EVENT: Sunrise~Breathe~Connect
Melanie Briony is a qualified and insured Breathwork Instructor who completed her breathwork training in Australia with Breathless Expeditions and Oxygen Advantage. She is also a certified Language of Breath, breathwork instructor, having completed her training with Jesse Coomer in the USA.
Melanie's breathwork training incorporates breathwork for self awareness, stress management, deeper sleep, managing menopause symptoms and improving athletic performance.