Category: Breathwork

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.

Rolling the back of the head

Breathing is often employed for relaxation. I use the verb „employ“ because we use our will in telling our breathing what to do. This is not only unnecessary but also interferes with the natural breath rhythm. The nature of breathing is reactive and adaptive. Gentle stroking, or rolling movements, for example, can bring about relaxation more efficiently, letting breathing do what it does best: react and adapt. Read More

The renowned myoskeletal therapist Erik Dalton gives an overview of breathing anatomy, assessment and treatment strategies and explains why “Breathing is our most dysfunctional movement pattern“, quoting neurologist Dr. Karel Lewitt on respiration. For the cited images and videos in the article please visit the article directly.

“The famed Czech researcher Dr. Karel Lewit states: “Respiration is our primary and most important movement pattern… and also the most dysfunctional.” Most clinicians are aware of how breathing affects posture, alignment and bodily functions, but there is much confusion when it comes to treating underlying joint and myofascial disorders. This article presents an overview of breathing anatomy, assessment and treatment strategies to help clients breathe in a more functional and authentic way. Read More

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.

Lifting and lowering the arm with breathing

Yesterday I was with a group of women explaining the term „somatic“ and it sounded rather dry and a bit boring to me. This is actually not so surprising because somatics is about an experiential relation-ship with the body: we communicate with the body or let the body speak for itself, rather than us talking about it. And when we use words, we describe what‘s happening and what something feels like rather than lecturing.  Read More

In his article „The First Step to Healthy Breathing“ Dennis Lewis, one of my favourite breath teachers, focusses on the causes and effects of unnecessary tension and how they relate to breathing. I‘ve taken the liberty to highlight the sections where he addresses this directly.

“The First Step To Healthy Breathing
The first step to healthy breathing is to become conscious of how we actually breathe. From the perspective of the world’s great spiritual traditions, our breath not only brings needed oxygen and other gases to the physical body, but it can also bring, when we are conscious of it, the finer energies (prana, chi, and so on) needed to help nourish our higher bodies–the subtle body, causal body, and so on. Whatever we may believe about our soul and spirit, our breath, and how we breathe, is intimately connected with all aspects of our being. Read More

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.

Standing while sitting

Recently I took part in a workshop held by my teacher Erika Kemmann. We explored basic aspects of breath work in-depth and started with sitting. Erika said that while sitting, we often forget our legs and the perception is that the upright posture comes from lengthening and straightening the spine. In fact, the upright posture begins with the contact of the feet with the floor, as if we were standing. Read More

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.

Revisiting

Now that we‘re coming to the end of the year, rather than add a new exploration, let‘s revisit a breath exercise that resonated with us, that felt good, brought joy or comfort.
“Riding the breath wave” from November or “Moving the spine” from June are favourites of mine, for example.
Let‘s repeat an exploration and sense how something has the same or a different effect, how we’ve changed within the repetition. What’s changed and what’s stayed the same? Let’s meet it with acceptance, let’s meet ourselves with acceptance, receiving ourselves as we are.

I wish you all a good transition into the new year. Let’s stay in touch. Let’s be breathed.

In his audio CD Miracle Eyesight Method: The Natural Way to Heal and Improve Your Vision, Meir Schneider from Israel talks about how the eyes work and about his own journey towards healing. He then guides his listeners through various vision exercises.
Meir Schneider is the best possible role model for this as he was born almost blind and healed himself to see. His teachings are based on the Bates Method. I find the Bates Method and Meir Schneider‘s way of teaching to be closely related to natural breath work, for example, a session always begins by becoming aware of and releasing tension in the body before doing any further exercise. Breathing is gentle and happens only in and out of the nose. Read More

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.

Hope

At my local station in Biesenthal is a „street library“ in an old telephone box. This morning, on my way to the train, I spotted a volume of poetry I‘d always wanted to get: „Im Atemhaus wohnen“ („Living in the house of breath“) by Rose Ausländer. There are many poems in this volume in which the subject of breath directly occurs and one of them is called „Hope II“:

“When we hope
we‘re young.

Who could breathe
without hope
of roses opening
even in the future

a word of love
surviving the fear” Read More