integrative breathwork
Integrative Breathwork is a consciously connected breathing style that encourages a fully present and embodied experience, and as such enables integration of past wounds, cellular trauma and a remembrance of just how whole and empowered you are. During a one-to-one or group experience you are supported to deep dive with your breath to evoke whatever may be needed for you in terms of wholeness and empowerment.
You may receive this session in person or online, and as a one-to-one experience or as part of a group. Music and voice will guide you, and in some situations the Medicine Drum may also be drawn upon. If you would like me to be your guide for your breathwork experience, please feel welcome to reach out and contact me.
You may receive this session in person or online, and as a one-to-one experience or as part of a group. Music and voice will guide you, and in some situations the Medicine Drum may also be drawn upon. If you would like me to be your guide for your breathwork experience, please feel welcome to reach out and contact me.
Session Charges
Please note that these charges are for Pure Breathwork sessions; if you are looking to integrate with Tantra/Yoga/Shamanism/Soulful Coaching etc please refer to the information on The Payment Options page.
121 ONLINE APPOINTMENTS
£80 for 1 hour 15mins
£120 for 2 hours
121 IN PERSON SESSIONS
£90 for 1 hour 30mins
£140 for 2 hours 15mins
121 ONLINE APPOINTMENTS
£80 for 1 hour 15mins
£120 for 2 hours
121 IN PERSON SESSIONS
£90 for 1 hour 30mins
£140 for 2 hours 15mins
Why You might want to...
If you haven't yet discovered the joy of Conscious Connected Breath, here are just a few reasons as to why you might like to give it a try. And if you already know it well and know something of why we do this, perhaps this little list will add a few more reasons to keep on up with your practice:
🌀 Physical Health
The increased expansion/contraction of the muscles that enable the filling and emptying of the lungs improves directly, the tone and health of those muscles; not only this but the movements created, especially but not exclusively that of the diaphragm, massages the internal organs and structures within the torso thereby improving their function. For example, a sustained period of longer fuller breaths can support the movement of matter through the colon and therefore ease constipation. Improved elimination indirectly improves all other systems of the body including immune function. Because the systems of our bodies are so well integrated and fine-tuned to respond to one another, when we improve the health and function of one system, the whole body is supported in returning to optimal health.
🌀 Mental Health
As research into the vast field of mental health continues it is becoming apparent that, while talking about our problems can be useful in the right setting, it isn’t necessarily the most effective way of resolving issues, especially those whose source are in past events. Going over and over a situation can indeed cause a re-triggering of any associated trauma or create an attachment to a story that hinders, rather than helps find resolution. Breathwork can provide a relatively non-intrusive alternative to finding resolution to such experiences, bolster and improve mental function and clear thinking, and support rehabilitation into a healthy relationship with one’s own mindset.
This isn’t to say talking-therapy isn’t helpful at all, it can still be embraced as a cornerstone in any therapeutic approach, yet when joined with other modalities including breathwork; resolution and a return to optimal well-being becomes far more achievable.
🌀 Emotional Health
In a world fraught with tension, challenge, and suffering; that also moves quickly with excessive stimulation and minimal focus on simply being, it is no wonder that we are now faced with a record number of people taking prescription medications in order to cope. There is a high incidence of conditions that indicate both mental and emotional difficulties, such as depression, anxiety, and even more bleakly, that of suicide. Grief is a natural expression of the pain we feel following a loss, and yet there are few resources available to support people experiencing grief to express, release, be comforted and ultimately come back to the joy of life. Anger and frustration are natural responses to injustice, oppression and the overstepping of boundaries, yet there are very few resources available to support us in safely expressing anger and using the energy therein to facilitate change and healthily discern and assert boundaries . Fear is a natural response to feeling disempowered and out of control of our situation, yet there are few resources available that support us in feeling the fear, allowing its movement through our body, and letting it go so we can return to a place of calm empowerment. Breath is one resource that is proving to be effective in supporting healthy and helpful emotional expression and a return to an optimal state of feeling all that there is to feel, and returning emotion to its natural state of fluidity aka ‘energy in motion’.
🌀 Trauma Release
Trauma seems to be as much of a buzzword as breathwork nowadays and I don’t believe it's a coincidence that the two words are making their presence felt in our vocabulary at the same time. Research into the field of trauma started in earnest in response to the worrying and destructive symptoms some soldiers returning from the World Wars and later, Vietnam displayed. In the 1980’s the phrase Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was introduced to refer to a collection of symptoms that impacted, not only war veterans, but others who had experienced a traumatic event and whose body-mind was somehow ‘stuck’, unable to return to its normal level of functioning. As well as trauma resulting from extreme events in adult life, it is now understood that the physiological systems of a baby in the womb and young children exposed to trauma inducing events will impact the development of that child if that child’s nervous system is left impaired and unable to self-regulate. Therapists the world over and offering many varying forms of treatments are now becoming more and more aware of the possibility that a high percentage of people seeking help are dealing with as of yet unintegrated trauma. Breathwork is proving itself to have an incredible and positive effect in helping the nervous system to remember how to self-regulate, thereby building resilience and helping people release trauma from their body-mind systems. Indeed, trauma release is perhaps one of the most impressive and life-changing results of breathwork for those who need this level of support.
🌀Sexual Health
When we take full breaths into our lower abdomen, the pelvic diaphragm contracts downwards and massages all structures lying below including the genitals. The increased heat, blood flow and gaseous exchange supports the general health of our sexual organs including those structures that are involved in hormone balance (which in turn, impact our whole body). Not only does the physical action of breathing support physical sexual health, but it also impacts our capacity and potential for orgasmic pleasure. More breath creates more sensation, with presence and awareness and unconditional acceptance we are able to tune into the subtle tingles (or perhaps intense fire) of sexual arousal within us. If this isn’t our experience and instead we feel shame, discomfort, pain or numbness, this awareness informs us of our current condition and offers us the choice to explore further (which may mean seeking the support of those who specialise in sexology, tantra, gynaecology, sexual-shamanism or others). Alternatively, one might find that consistent breathwork practice begins to ease and breathe renewed energy into this beautiful part of the body and vital part of life.
🌀Creativity
Before sitting to write I take a few minutes to sit and engage CCB, I listen to music and I imagine myself opening up to a creative stream. I allow my imagination free range and envision myself dancing or moving through the world feeling free from anything that would ordinarily have me feeling shy, embarrassed of in any way ashamed of how I look and what I present/express. As my breath flows freely without pause, and my body softens and perhaps moves itself, I begin to feel the vibration of erotic flow. My experience of eros is that of a dark, deep and wide river with strong currents. The river flows through, over and around me, no part of me is left out of being bathed by its sensuous, awakening, gentle yet powerful force. Whilst most people believe eros and sex to be one and the same thing, that isn’t how I experience it. I experience sexual energy as one of several currents that make up the larger river and that is intimately connected with another current, that named creativity. The more attention I give to my breath, the more access I have to the integrated arousal that emerges when erotic creative flow is granted freedom from mind’s inhibitions. From this place writing can flow; or plans for workshops, or creative solutions to perplexing problems.
Musicians, painters, poets, and innovators who have worked with me (or shared with me their experiences of other breathwork sessions) speak of the same discovery. Breathing this way opens up whole new vistas. One such client shared “this shifts me into creative flow so easily that it almost feels like cheating!”
🌀 Chi/Energy Health
Chi describes an “intelligent” energy that we gather by eating nutritional food, tending to our environment and most of all, by breathing with awareness. In China chi is considered vital for the proper and healthy functioning of all of the organs and systems within the body, and QiGong is a commonly used daily practice to support correct breathing, connected with flowing movement. In India the same intelligent energy is called Prana and yama infers ‘constraint/control’ whereas ayama infers ‘free-from constraint/control’. Pranayama could then be interpreted as the use of controlled breathing techniques to move one’s breath and intelligent energy towards freedom… to move oneself towards freedom. Chi and Prana are much more than air or oxygen, they are those things PLUS an awareness of an unseen intelligence that supports life. By engaging with CCB we open up to receive more energy, both at the basic physiological level as a fuel that supports our metabolic process and energy (ATP) release; but so too we open to receive the intelligent awareness that burgeons a more subtle energy which we might call spirit, and which impacts not only our physical health, but the well-being and harmony of every aspect of our life.
🌀 Spirituality
Inspiration is an alternative word to inhalation and describes the inward flow of air. It is also the word we use to describe the uplifting feeling that arises when something we see, hear or otherwise encounter creates a surge of energy and positivity within us; we may be inspired and motivated to take certain actions by witnessing another person engaged in something we find inspiring. In spiritual terms Inspiration is the guidance and knowing that arises within us as a result of our opening to the possibility that something beyond our ordinary experience and small self exists and has the power to bless us. When we breathe whilst remaining open to this possibility it is likely to evoke within us a connection to those beautiful qualities we possess as human beings, and inspire a desire to live our lives in a way that exemplifies such qualities as compassion, forgiveness, innocence, and non-judgemental acceptance. This is how I would describe spirituality (the brief version!), and whether independent from religion or integrated with such belief systems, it is an exquisitely simple human experience, “you on a good day”. Breath can take you there.
🌀 Transformation
My first experience with Conscious Connected Breath was as part of a shamanic journey. I was astounded by the ease at which the breath moved me from one state of mind into another. I have previously had plant-medicine experiences (drinking traditional teas to elicit hallucinatory trance states). While I still very much value these experiences and deeply respect the plants and the lineages of people who have kept this form of medicine available; I acknowledge it doesn’t come without risk. The plants have a very powerful impact and can be quite brutal to the body-mind. Part of the process usually includes a purging of the body (vomiting, sweating and dashes to the loo can be expected). It is essential that the people holding space know exactly what they are doing and how to take immaculate care of those taking part, and sadly not all of those who hold these ceremonies are as knowledgeable, experienced or equipped as they ought to be. It is also illegal in the UK and many other countries so many ceremonies carry the extra risk of legal consequences.
During my first breathwork session I was taken on a journey that was equally as powerful in terms of the insights I received and the transformation of perspective as those I had experienced with the plants. This was a very exciting revelation, it is possible to drop into such a place without the same risks and for me, without the discomfort of intense purging (though purging can happen to some people in some breathwork sessions). It also meant I had control of the experience and could modulate how deep I wanted to go… if I wanted to return to a more regular reality I could simply slow my breathing and/or return to my natural breath.
I include this here because it was a part of my own experience, but please know that not all breathwork sessions are going to create this response, they aren’t all intended to do so. This occurred for me as part of a fuller experience that intended the dropping into a trance state. Most CCB sessions actually encourage self-awareness and presence in the “here and now”. However, even in the here and now, the breath certainly can facilitate realisations, integrations and insights which then have a far reaching and transformational impact on life.
🌀 Physical Health
The increased expansion/contraction of the muscles that enable the filling and emptying of the lungs improves directly, the tone and health of those muscles; not only this but the movements created, especially but not exclusively that of the diaphragm, massages the internal organs and structures within the torso thereby improving their function. For example, a sustained period of longer fuller breaths can support the movement of matter through the colon and therefore ease constipation. Improved elimination indirectly improves all other systems of the body including immune function. Because the systems of our bodies are so well integrated and fine-tuned to respond to one another, when we improve the health and function of one system, the whole body is supported in returning to optimal health.
🌀 Mental Health
As research into the vast field of mental health continues it is becoming apparent that, while talking about our problems can be useful in the right setting, it isn’t necessarily the most effective way of resolving issues, especially those whose source are in past events. Going over and over a situation can indeed cause a re-triggering of any associated trauma or create an attachment to a story that hinders, rather than helps find resolution. Breathwork can provide a relatively non-intrusive alternative to finding resolution to such experiences, bolster and improve mental function and clear thinking, and support rehabilitation into a healthy relationship with one’s own mindset.
This isn’t to say talking-therapy isn’t helpful at all, it can still be embraced as a cornerstone in any therapeutic approach, yet when joined with other modalities including breathwork; resolution and a return to optimal well-being becomes far more achievable.
🌀 Emotional Health
In a world fraught with tension, challenge, and suffering; that also moves quickly with excessive stimulation and minimal focus on simply being, it is no wonder that we are now faced with a record number of people taking prescription medications in order to cope. There is a high incidence of conditions that indicate both mental and emotional difficulties, such as depression, anxiety, and even more bleakly, that of suicide. Grief is a natural expression of the pain we feel following a loss, and yet there are few resources available to support people experiencing grief to express, release, be comforted and ultimately come back to the joy of life. Anger and frustration are natural responses to injustice, oppression and the overstepping of boundaries, yet there are very few resources available to support us in safely expressing anger and using the energy therein to facilitate change and healthily discern and assert boundaries . Fear is a natural response to feeling disempowered and out of control of our situation, yet there are few resources available that support us in feeling the fear, allowing its movement through our body, and letting it go so we can return to a place of calm empowerment. Breath is one resource that is proving to be effective in supporting healthy and helpful emotional expression and a return to an optimal state of feeling all that there is to feel, and returning emotion to its natural state of fluidity aka ‘energy in motion’.
🌀 Trauma Release
Trauma seems to be as much of a buzzword as breathwork nowadays and I don’t believe it's a coincidence that the two words are making their presence felt in our vocabulary at the same time. Research into the field of trauma started in earnest in response to the worrying and destructive symptoms some soldiers returning from the World Wars and later, Vietnam displayed. In the 1980’s the phrase Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was introduced to refer to a collection of symptoms that impacted, not only war veterans, but others who had experienced a traumatic event and whose body-mind was somehow ‘stuck’, unable to return to its normal level of functioning. As well as trauma resulting from extreme events in adult life, it is now understood that the physiological systems of a baby in the womb and young children exposed to trauma inducing events will impact the development of that child if that child’s nervous system is left impaired and unable to self-regulate. Therapists the world over and offering many varying forms of treatments are now becoming more and more aware of the possibility that a high percentage of people seeking help are dealing with as of yet unintegrated trauma. Breathwork is proving itself to have an incredible and positive effect in helping the nervous system to remember how to self-regulate, thereby building resilience and helping people release trauma from their body-mind systems. Indeed, trauma release is perhaps one of the most impressive and life-changing results of breathwork for those who need this level of support.
🌀Sexual Health
When we take full breaths into our lower abdomen, the pelvic diaphragm contracts downwards and massages all structures lying below including the genitals. The increased heat, blood flow and gaseous exchange supports the general health of our sexual organs including those structures that are involved in hormone balance (which in turn, impact our whole body). Not only does the physical action of breathing support physical sexual health, but it also impacts our capacity and potential for orgasmic pleasure. More breath creates more sensation, with presence and awareness and unconditional acceptance we are able to tune into the subtle tingles (or perhaps intense fire) of sexual arousal within us. If this isn’t our experience and instead we feel shame, discomfort, pain or numbness, this awareness informs us of our current condition and offers us the choice to explore further (which may mean seeking the support of those who specialise in sexology, tantra, gynaecology, sexual-shamanism or others). Alternatively, one might find that consistent breathwork practice begins to ease and breathe renewed energy into this beautiful part of the body and vital part of life.
🌀Creativity
Before sitting to write I take a few minutes to sit and engage CCB, I listen to music and I imagine myself opening up to a creative stream. I allow my imagination free range and envision myself dancing or moving through the world feeling free from anything that would ordinarily have me feeling shy, embarrassed of in any way ashamed of how I look and what I present/express. As my breath flows freely without pause, and my body softens and perhaps moves itself, I begin to feel the vibration of erotic flow. My experience of eros is that of a dark, deep and wide river with strong currents. The river flows through, over and around me, no part of me is left out of being bathed by its sensuous, awakening, gentle yet powerful force. Whilst most people believe eros and sex to be one and the same thing, that isn’t how I experience it. I experience sexual energy as one of several currents that make up the larger river and that is intimately connected with another current, that named creativity. The more attention I give to my breath, the more access I have to the integrated arousal that emerges when erotic creative flow is granted freedom from mind’s inhibitions. From this place writing can flow; or plans for workshops, or creative solutions to perplexing problems.
Musicians, painters, poets, and innovators who have worked with me (or shared with me their experiences of other breathwork sessions) speak of the same discovery. Breathing this way opens up whole new vistas. One such client shared “this shifts me into creative flow so easily that it almost feels like cheating!”
🌀 Chi/Energy Health
Chi describes an “intelligent” energy that we gather by eating nutritional food, tending to our environment and most of all, by breathing with awareness. In China chi is considered vital for the proper and healthy functioning of all of the organs and systems within the body, and QiGong is a commonly used daily practice to support correct breathing, connected with flowing movement. In India the same intelligent energy is called Prana and yama infers ‘constraint/control’ whereas ayama infers ‘free-from constraint/control’. Pranayama could then be interpreted as the use of controlled breathing techniques to move one’s breath and intelligent energy towards freedom… to move oneself towards freedom. Chi and Prana are much more than air or oxygen, they are those things PLUS an awareness of an unseen intelligence that supports life. By engaging with CCB we open up to receive more energy, both at the basic physiological level as a fuel that supports our metabolic process and energy (ATP) release; but so too we open to receive the intelligent awareness that burgeons a more subtle energy which we might call spirit, and which impacts not only our physical health, but the well-being and harmony of every aspect of our life.
🌀 Spirituality
Inspiration is an alternative word to inhalation and describes the inward flow of air. It is also the word we use to describe the uplifting feeling that arises when something we see, hear or otherwise encounter creates a surge of energy and positivity within us; we may be inspired and motivated to take certain actions by witnessing another person engaged in something we find inspiring. In spiritual terms Inspiration is the guidance and knowing that arises within us as a result of our opening to the possibility that something beyond our ordinary experience and small self exists and has the power to bless us. When we breathe whilst remaining open to this possibility it is likely to evoke within us a connection to those beautiful qualities we possess as human beings, and inspire a desire to live our lives in a way that exemplifies such qualities as compassion, forgiveness, innocence, and non-judgemental acceptance. This is how I would describe spirituality (the brief version!), and whether independent from religion or integrated with such belief systems, it is an exquisitely simple human experience, “you on a good day”. Breath can take you there.
🌀 Transformation
My first experience with Conscious Connected Breath was as part of a shamanic journey. I was astounded by the ease at which the breath moved me from one state of mind into another. I have previously had plant-medicine experiences (drinking traditional teas to elicit hallucinatory trance states). While I still very much value these experiences and deeply respect the plants and the lineages of people who have kept this form of medicine available; I acknowledge it doesn’t come without risk. The plants have a very powerful impact and can be quite brutal to the body-mind. Part of the process usually includes a purging of the body (vomiting, sweating and dashes to the loo can be expected). It is essential that the people holding space know exactly what they are doing and how to take immaculate care of those taking part, and sadly not all of those who hold these ceremonies are as knowledgeable, experienced or equipped as they ought to be. It is also illegal in the UK and many other countries so many ceremonies carry the extra risk of legal consequences.
During my first breathwork session I was taken on a journey that was equally as powerful in terms of the insights I received and the transformation of perspective as those I had experienced with the plants. This was a very exciting revelation, it is possible to drop into such a place without the same risks and for me, without the discomfort of intense purging (though purging can happen to some people in some breathwork sessions). It also meant I had control of the experience and could modulate how deep I wanted to go… if I wanted to return to a more regular reality I could simply slow my breathing and/or return to my natural breath.
I include this here because it was a part of my own experience, but please know that not all breathwork sessions are going to create this response, they aren’t all intended to do so. This occurred for me as part of a fuller experience that intended the dropping into a trance state. Most CCB sessions actually encourage self-awareness and presence in the “here and now”. However, even in the here and now, the breath certainly can facilitate realisations, integrations and insights which then have a far reaching and transformational impact on life.