Breath Work
Breathing meditations are the single most potent tool I have found for supporting my movement out of stagnant thought processes and difficult mental spaces. These meditations consistently bring me back to myself and have become a space of regulation, stability, and returning to a sense of safety in my body. Sometimes I do them quickly, sometimes I slow down. A guide has always been helpful for this process. I don’t always follow the exact guidance of what a recording or teacher shares with me, but it tends to keep me on track as it can be a confusing and disorientating process at the beginning. New sensations and experiences that breathing meditations evoke can be odd and feel strange in my body and it is helpful to be in relation with this space with a guide.
One of the eight limbs of yoga is prāṇāyāma, the practice of breathing. Breathing is such a consistent part of our everyday experience that we get in the habit of disconnecting from the importance of slowing down into its practice. Breathing meditations allow us to slow into the consistent patterned interaction with breath in novel ways.
Sessions of breath work are a mixture of both opening up to the invitations we have around our stuck areas and guided breath work that allow these stuck areas to move. As humans, we commonly move into the space of our minds to try to solve our problems. The guidance into our breath and body can provide openings and bring forth new tools to help us manage our problems in different ways in the future.
We will begin the session by speaking about your questions, curiosities, and intentions. Then you will lay on the massage table and I will guide you with words into the breathing practice and hold space for you as you open to the experience of it in your body.