I’ve just finished my first Soulbreath teacher training with Erno van Doesselaar. Soulbreath originally began with Norma Delaney whom Erno studied with for many years. I’d love to point you to a website of Norma Delaney, but I’ve found almost nothing on the internet about her, even though she died only recently, in 2020. She was an embodiment of the original masters who simply attract students with their practice and by word of mouth. Norma Delaney called her teaching Compassionate Breath or New Breath, and Erno developed this teaching further by combining it with his own meditation and Yoga Nidra experience to create Soulbreath.
Norma Delaney was a successful businesswoman from the States who experienced a “I need to change my life” moment sitting on a beach in Hawai. She observed a coconut being washed up onto the beach and had an epiphany: anything she might ever need was already coming towards her. From this state of receptivity, she experienced the breath as a conduit of her own essence. As she developed her own breath practice and began teaching, she had a spiritual encounter with the Chinese Goddess of mercy, Guanyin. Channeling Guanyin launched Norma’s career as a professional teacher, healer and channel.
For me, Soulbreath is proving to be the missing link between all the types of breath work I’ve studied and practiced: the energy focussed type of breath work like Pranayama, the physiology focussed breath work of Buteyko, Alexander or Carl Stough’s Breathing Coordination, for example, the somatic breath work of Middendorf and Breath Experience and the cathartic breath work like Rebirthing and Holotropic Breathing. In all these types of breath work I missed something, for many years, not knowing that I was missing it and once I did, not knowing what that was. Through my own somatic breath teaching, I’ve been able to create a solid sensory connection with the body and the breath, which grounded me and helped me to get to know my true needs and to communicate more authentically with myself and others. As much as this transformed my life for the better, it didn’t create an emotional connection with the breath and thus with myself. I understood that the breath was about how I engage with life, but I couldn’t feel it. Sure, I could feel the mystical quality of the breath, and often I would feel gratitude, calmness and a whole range of emotions but only in specific instances. I was unable to feel my breath as a way of being with myself in my life with infinite compassion, in accordance with my essence.
I’m still in the process of finding out what Norma and Erno mean by “essence” and what it means to me. And I’m still learning to grasp the potential of Soulbreath more fully, so I’m glad that Erno offers free bi-monthly sessions on zoom where I can continue to practice. The zoom sessions are open to anyone, so if you’d like to take part, just drop Erno an email: info@soulbreath.nl