BREATHWORK JOURNEYS


INTRODUCTION

This is a “quick start” guide and resource for doing breathwork journeys. It includes: (1) a few basic understandings, (2) instructions for doing the breathing, and (3) different music playlists for journeying. The goal here is to provide most of what you need to do simple and safe breathwork journeys for and by yourself, with little to no study or preparation.

Of course, if you are interested you can go further with breathwork adventures through more engagement (such as books, videos, workshops and retreats). If you’re heading in that direction, check out the section on “Other Resources” at the end of this article for a few recommendations. However none of that is necessary for you to have profound and significant experiences doing breathwork right now with what is listed below.

A SACRED TECHNOLOGY

Breathwork is a form of sacred technology. As such, it can lead you to clear seeing and wisdom, promote healing, and connect you to The Great Mystery. Other forms of sacred technology include yoga, meditation, plant medicines, fasting, and vision quests, among others. They have all been used for thousands of years by our ancestors, and are each capable of inducing non-ordinary—or altered—states of consciousness. These states are inherently healing and uplifting. 

BREATHWORK

In doing breathwork, we intentionally change our pattern of breathing. And there are many ways of doing that. The one used here combines specific breathing techniques with music (sonic driving) to create an hour-long experience. These breathwork journeys can quickly unravel root causes of emotional suffering, lead to insights and wisdom for daily living, and evoke feelings of rapture and gratitude for the gift of being alive.

THE PRACTICE AND TECHNIQUE OF BREATHWORK

The particular modality used here is adapted from several different traditions: Pranayama Yoga, Shamanic Breathing, Rebirthing, Holotropic Breathwork, and Transformational Breathing. Boiled down to the basics, it incorporates three simple techniques for changing your breathing:

  1. Faster Breathing. Consciously breathing the way you normally do, but doing so a little faster.

  2. Connected Breathing. Eliminating the pauses between the in-breath and out-breath, and between the out-breath and in-breath. In other words: as soon you stop inhaling start exhaling. And vice versa: as soon as you stop exhaling start inhaling. Breathing this way—without pauses—is also called “circular breathing.”

  3. Diaphragmatic Breathing. Consciously breathing first into your belly (by pushing it out a bit) and then filling your chest (by lifting it up a bit). Then simply relaxing and letting go on the outbreath (rather than “pushing” the air out). So it’s a 3-step process: (1) breathing into the belly, then (2) filling the chest with air, and lastly (3) relaxing and letting go on the exhale.

When used in conjunction with a proper music program, any one of these techniques will induce an altered state of consciousness. And with a little practice, you can learn to use all of them at the same time (which I highly recommend!). (Note: These techniques are not required to be done in an exaggerated manner. An easy and gentle approach is all that is needed to get you “activated”.)

It’s worth noting that the Latin word for breath is “spiritus”. That languaging is based on the belief that the life principle—which is different than form and matter—enters the body through your breath. In other words: 

breath = energy + consciousness

The bigger your breathing, the more energy there is for evoking or catalyzing an altered state of consciousness. This can be personally experienced when you do the breathwork. So it is important to gently maintain whatever breathing techniques you are using throughout the session.

SET AND SETTING

As with other sacred technologies, set and setting are extremely important in producing positive outcomes. “Set” refers to the mindset you have in doing the practice. In this case, your mindset or intention needs to be focused on personal development rather than recreation. “Setting” refers to having a secure and comfortable place and surrounds for the experience. One that is free of distractions and concerns.

DOING A JOURNEY

Doing a journey is quite simple, but you will need the following:

  • right intention

  • an hour of free time

  • a safe and comfortable environment (including a place to lie down, a pillow, and a blanket)

  • an eye mask (or small towel) for covering your eyes

  • headphones (or a loud speaker system)

  • access to the music playlists on Spotify (via online streaming or downloads on your device)

To make room for diaphragmatic breathing, wait at least an hour after eating before starting your journey. After that, get comfortable, have your eye covering at hand, and put on your headphones. Choose a playlist. (But don't be intimidated by so many of them. Just choose one randomly, as they are all similarly crafted for breathwork journeys.) Start the music, lie back, and then begin using one or more of the breathing techniques.

THE MUSIC

This section includes online links using Spotify—an audio streaming provider—for 30 different breathwork playlists.

NOTE: Spotify Free is not suitable for breathwork journeys because of the commercial advertisements it inserts between tracks. To do breathwork journeys, you need to either (1) subscribe to Spotify Premium ($10 monthly), or (2) find a friend who subscribes and is willing to share access with you.

Each playlist is a specially-crafted program for a single breathwork session approximately 45 minutes in length. That enables you to comfortably complete a session within an hour. They are numbered—rather than named—to avoid associations that could affect or contaminate your experience.

A single playlist consists of several pieces of music. And there is a general trajectory of three phases to the music and experience, moving from the Dark to the Light. From closed to open, from blindness to insight, from forgetfulness to remembering, from contracted to expansive, from isolated to connected, from fear to love, and from the mundane to the transcendent.

  • Phase I music is intended to energize you and stir things up a bit. The latter includes experiences that need to be completed, aspects of yourself that need to be accepted or released, and emotional wounds that need to be healed. This raw material may be something that you intentionally wanted to address as part of the journey, or it may spontaneously show up on its own. Evidently there is a part of us that knows what needs to be addressed within the context of the present moment and circumstances. But don’t worry, you will not be presented with more than what you can handle. And in many cases the journey may not be about addressing anything at all. It’s often a form of remembrance—bringing you back to your True Home, a place you’ve never left.

  • Phase II music is intended to support you in holding whatever is going on, then noticing your inherent capacity to do so and celebrating it. As you keep breathing with the music, you experience an expansive quickening and a growing sense of fullness and the ecstatic. You have greater access to clear seeing and wisdom. So profound insights can arise related to any raw material evoked in Phase I. You may also cycle back and forth through noticing, opening, receiving, accepting, and releasing other material, too. Or end up dancing with a power animal. Or communicating with an ancestor or Upper World guide. Or find yourself joyfully weeping for no apparent reason at all.

  • Phase III music is intended to help you complete your journey. You may decide to reflect here for a bit to harvest new insights and revelations you gained. Or you may prefer to simply lie still—like a pond without a ripple in it. Resting in awareness.

MUSIC PLAYLISTS

OTHER RESOURCES

If you want to go further with breathwork, I recommend the following resources as a “next step” in your journey:

—Breathing: Expanding Your Power & Energy by Michael Sky. The best book on doing connected, circular breathing. Simple, clear, straightforward, and practical.

—Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner’s Guide by Sandra Ingerman. An excellent resource for beginner’s to have an interactive learning experience in shamanic journeying.

—Books by Ted Andrews. Recommended if you have animals, trees, or other forms of nature show up in your journeys. (The books Animal Speak and Animal-wise are for animals. The book Nature Speak is for trees, flowers, herbs and landforms.)

May you journey well!...

Love and blessings,
George