Breathwork

There’s a bit shift lately, I’ve noticed, to focus on this thing called ‘breathwork’. All this talk of controlling the breath to invoke extreme state – diving under ice, sitting in ice baths, Kundalini breathing. Am I somehow missing out?

I signed up for a Breath course.

In simple terms this course explains the 3 different emphases that breathwork makes. Making the breath faster, slower, or aiming to balance; with a few techniques offered in each category.

Faster breath stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, raising the heartrate and making the mind more alert. In its extreme form this would lead to hallucinations and possibly feeling unwell (think panic attack). Forced fast rate breathing is a feature of some of the currently trendy breathwork models.

Breathing very slowly enhances the parasympathetic nervous system and leads to sleepiness and meditation. In the wrong circumstances, if forced, could result in slow responses.

Balanced breathing using measured rates of inhale:exhale inspire balance. Our primary focus in breathwork should be to master these techniques – particularly as we learn the control of our body’s breathing mechanisms.

So in only the first few hours of this 15 hour teacher training course I have learned a simple way to look at this trendy guru-led fad. Breathwork has amazing benefits – but perhaps stay away from extreme ideas?