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This superb, informative article by Milena Screm, director of Insight school – Milan Italy, appeared on Gunnel Minett’s website in November 2020 : https://breathwork-science.org
Hosted and managed by Gunnel Minett, she is a psychologist and author of books on Breathwork and Health/Wellbeing with over 35 years experience of Breathwork. She has mentored and supported my work since the early 90’s.
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BreathWork: one tool, five benefits.
by Milena Screm, Counselor Supervisor Trainer, director of Insight school – Milan Italy
Inhale deeply, then exhale slowly …
With this simple action you have made contact with a thousand-year-old practice, conscious breathing, known as BreathWork in western countries.
Although we all breathe continuously since the day we were born, most of the time we do not even realize it, it happens automatically. Involuntary breathing is important to keep us alive, distracted as we are by a thousand stimuli, we may forget about it. However, survival is different than well-being. Well-being needs a conscious and intentional practice of breathing. Yoga and meditation, with their millenary knowledge, educate to this attention making many people familiar with their breath. In recent decades, also scientific research is validating the powerful benefits to mind and body that can be obtained by breathing with intention and presence.
According to Google, searches with the keyword “breath” have increased sixfold in the last five years. Many yoga and meditation teachers report an increase in client requests for breathing techniques in the last three years. The widespread use of mindfulness also encourages the diffusion of a breath culture, made up of simple, portable, versatile and effective practices. Whatever the person’s motivation, from well-being to awareness to increased vitality, breathing practices are a valuable resource and help.
It is also interesting to note that the diffusion of these approaches is no longer limited, as in the past, to circles of people sensitive to Eastern philosophies or introspection; a growing interest in breath is now evident and widespread even in the corporate world, where, more and more, the attitude of considering professionals first of all people is developing.
When companies take into account the needs and provide experiences and tools that foster the well-being of individuals, they have a return result in terms of improving performance at work.
Ongoing scientific research has clearly defined the impact that something as simple and accessible as conscious breathing can have on health and well-being; here are some of them.
1. Provides quick stress relief
Conscious breathing is one of the fastest and most effective practices for preventing and managing the tensions/stress of everyday life. A 2017 study, published in “Frontiers in Psychology”, showed that people who had completed a series of twenty sessions of conscious breathing, each lasting forty-five minutes, in eight weeks, had significantly lower levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, than those who did not. Cortisol is responsible for the body reaction to stress, at first to counteract it, but if the tensions remain, entering into a paradoxical effect that aggravates the pre-existing situation; high levels of cortisol can cause chronic inflammation and alter the functioning of the thyroid and pituitary gland.
These are the results of one of my business projects for stress management, carried out in Milan, a course of two full days, plus two hours every two weeks for three months; the data were collected three months after the end of the course:
– 44% of participants said they had achieved significant results just by practicing conscious breathing;
– 45% of the participants declared to have obtained significant results with the practice of mindfulness, which also includes conscious breathing;
– 11% of the participants declared to have obtained significant results by paying more attention to the body and trying to manage perceived physical tension with some body relaxation.
2. Breathing more slowly and deeply affects blood pressure.
A 2001 American scientific study showed that practicing conscious breathing for ten minutes a day, preferably with background music, is an effective way to reduce blood pressure without medication. Based on these findings, another study, conducted in 2015, found that patients with hypertension had a sharp drop in blood pressure after slow, deep breathing ten minutes a day for three months. People who underwent this research also followed a controlled diet and a program of physical activity.
3. It can improve the mood.
Twelve weeks of conscious breathing, for ten minutes a day, promote mood improvement. The scientific research that is still underway on this subject, indicates that an element that comes into play is the acid-basic balance of the blood. A constantly shallow breathing, in addition to reducing the supply of oxygen circulating in the blood, promotes the development of a greater tendency to the acidic component of the blood, compared to the basic one. Obviously, also the diet and a sedentary lifestyle have considerable weight in this aspect of organic chemistry. When the acid percentage of the blood is constantly higher than the salty one, there are cascading effects on organs and apparatuses: for example the body is more prone to inflammation; moreover the amygdala, a part of the brain that detects fear and triggers the fight/flight response, becomes more susceptible to stimuli, causing a tendency towards a state of tension and alert, which affects the mood.
4. Promotes greater attention and mental clarity
People who practice yoga and are trained to focus on breathing, notice an increased ability to stay alert and mentally focused. In fact, consciously regulated and rhythmic breathing can balance the amount of noradrenaline produced by the brain; this is a natural chemical messenger that affects attention and some emotions.
5. It can help in pain management.
In hospital, chronic and terminal pain is managed by administering opioid drugs; but beside serious illness and death, there are many other situations in life in which people are confronted with physical and emotional pain management. Conscious breathing has potential in this area as well.
Already in the forties and fifties, a lot of research was conducted in Russia over the possibility of managing pain, in particular childbirth pain, through conscious breathing techniques; in 1953, the obstetrician F.Lamaze introduced these Russian techniques in France and perfected them. Scientific research on pain management began in the 1970s, especially in the United States, through the approach now called mindfulness, whose practice also includes conscious breathing. Several studies have found that slow and deep breathing, accompanied by muscle relaxation and mental presence and acceptance, can reduce the perception of chronic pain and help patients cope with physical discomfort.
The potentials of conscious breathing/breathwork are many, they affect physical and physiological aspects that influence health; they have a role in managing emotions and moods; they can be effective tools of mental awareness. They are not “magic wands” that make difficulties disappear, but rather portable tools, always available, simple and effective, natural and precious resources.
Keywords; breathing, stress relief, pain management, blood pressure control, mental clarity
© Milena Screm 2020
About the author: http://www.insightformazione.it/chi-siamo/docenti-counselor-interni/milena-screm
Supervisor Counselor & BreathWorker
Founder and president INSIGHT School of BreathWork Counseling – Milan (Italy)
Author of fourteen books in psychology, published in Italy, France and Spain, among which we denote: “BreathWork” (1998), “Autogenic Training” (1989,2012), “Rebirthing & Water” (1994), “The history of Rebirthing” ( 1992 ), “Rebirthing, breathe for renewal”, the first book published in Italy on rebirthing (1989, 1993, 2011)www.insightformazione.it
Tales of the Unexpected was a UK 1970’s telly series that was a mustn’t miss weekly event. It told a different story every week and each episode was introduced by Roald Dahl himself sitting in a comfy armchair. Dahl wrote Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Matilda and other classic children’s books, but also became a master of short stories for adults, most were very dark and had a twist in the tail. And that’s precisely what this series was based on – the UNEXPECTED.
And so is LIFE.
In mid July I had a few blips going on with my heart, low heart rate mainly, called Bradycardia which needed A&E attention. A need for a pacemaker was discussed but not carried through as more tests were required over a period of time. A week away from August I collapsed at home and ambulanced into a truly unexpected dilemma that was certainly not part of my plan.
I was due to be in Athens early August for starters on a 10 day break. I didn’t make it. Nor the Athens 10 day trip in October. The Universe had other plans.
After a few days of observations, scans, X-rays and the like I was whisked off to Barts Heart Centre in Central/East London for a more detailed angiogram examination where I was told I needed triple heart bypass surgery within 48 hours to avoid heart attack. Thus began almost 3 months of complications, starting with another heart operation 2 weeks after the first. The whole scenario became a lesson in powerlessness, vulnerability, trust and avoidance of projection, keeping it all in the day, hour, minutes. I am only just coming out of it, knowing it will take a while to recover fully and start a 3 month Cardio Rehabilitation Programme next week. Game ON.
Meanwhile in November I will be gradually getting back to clients and small groups which is manageable carefully paced, doctors suggest going back to work or other practices after 3 months, so here I am with clients already on hold booking in. Group dates for Nov, Dec & Jan will be up in a few days.
BESPOKE COACHING & BREATHWORK assists dealing with the unexpected. Coaching can unravel what to do next in emotional circumstances – loss of a job, a sudden health diagnosis, relationship difficulties or compulsive habits of escape – food, booze, recreational drugs or sex addiction.
SOMATIC EVOLUTIONARY BREATHWORK EXPERIENCE : I have practiced and taught for over 30 years assisting those with trapped emotional trauma, shallow breathing, anxiety, depression and anyone stuck in a rut. Breathwork unblocks thoughts, habits and realities freeing up the body and mind to experience less worry and more joyful conscious living. You deserve it.
So do check out blogs and pages on this site for solutions, and how you can switch from panic REACT to healthily RESPOND to unexpected scenarios, learn how to handle life’s twists and turns more ably. Oh and have regular BP and Heart checks. You never know.
I am one of the few Breathworkers in the UK specialising in addictions, including recreational drug and alcohol abuse, in fact TIME OUT London Magazine called me ‘CLUBLAND’S THERAPIST’ in Millennial year 2000 due to my clientele using club drugs like coke and ecstasy ( MDMA ).
https://www.talktofrank.com/drug/ecstasy
Not all clients arrive with these issues, relationship stuff, including codependency or stuckness in some way, is the number one problem.
Achieving a HIGH somewhere, is an example of success for many, a result, an intention to remove oneself from depression, life struggles or the need to ‘get out of it’, especially in tough economic times but continuous demand for entering an altered state of consciousness can create a habit. A second bottle of wine, a spliff to wake up to, a valium to get to work and a line at lunchtime to cope, are not unusual companions in urban Britain.
Having experienced drug addiction myself ( my last drink, drug and nicotine hit was October 25th 1982 ), all on the same day, not recommended without emotional and physical support, but I missed the HIGHS, escape routes and the RELAXATION of it all. So quick, so easy, so fulfilling.
Six years clean of all mood altering substances I came across ‘Conscious Connected Breathing’ while residing in Australia for 3 months. Then called REBIRTHING. I came back to to the UK and found myself a Rebirther to work with, and over the recommended 10 sessions to clear baggage, discovered ECSTASY in the form of emotional release and healing the body.
What a natural HIGH.
Ironically, this being 1988, ECSTASY the Love Drug arrived in Clubland and many of my future clients were taking it. Even now clients will often say “this Breathwork feels like taking Ecstasy”. With no comedown I might add, or the consequences of habitual drug use.
I am blessed having Gunnel Minett as my mentor since 1994. Gunnel came to Rebirthing in 1978 and I started my training a decade later with Diana Roberts under Sondra Ray’s Loving Relationship Training ( LRT ) from America.
Gunnel has given me permission to reproduce sections of her book the definitive BREATH & SPIRIT / Rebirthing as a Healing Technique published in 1994, including this chapter on Kundalini, a natural exploration of ECSTASY, so do give it a read and find out what Breathwork is about.
Kundalini
There is, as yet, no scientific explanation for the reactions which occur during conscious breathing sessions, or for what controls the length of the energy cycle. The closest we can get is to compare rebirthing phenomena with the reactions described in the various Eastern breathing exercises. So far, we have looked at some Chinese Chi Gong exercises. The other great area for comparison is yoga.
One major purpose of yoga exercises is to awaken the body’s in a life energy – the kundalini. in order to expand consciousness and reach a higher state of mind, the body’s own life energy has to be awakened and activated. According to Indian tradition, a person is not ready to experience altered states of consciousness before the kundalini is awake and allowed to flow freely in the body. The yoga trainer has to prepare the body and psyche to adjust properly to this expansion beyond the normal. The exercises of hatha yoga (physical yoga) and pranayama (breathing exercises) are specially designed for this purpose.
The word kundalini comes from yoga, but there a similar concepts in most breathing techniques. The awakening of life-energy is an important factor in the various physical and psychological cleansing processes. When the body and mind have been cleared of blocks and ‘impurities’, the person will enter a new phase where body fluids flow so freely that more life-energy can be absorbed. this leads to an awakening of the body’s kundalini, which in most adults is dormant. when the kundalini is released it produces an expansion of the mind, often resulting in the development of ‘supernatural’ abilities. This can include physical changes, for example less need for sleep and food, greater physical endurance and a capacity for self-healing.
Most descriptions of the awakening of kundalini are very similar, regardless of the cleansing method being used. The process can take anything from a couple of months to several years. One effect of the process is the experience of non-normal states of mind. These experiences go totally beyond everyday mental life, though they rarely result in loss of contact with reality or disorientation severe enough to be called psychotic.
Accounts of the awakening of kundalini have many similarities with the reactions observed during rebirthing sessions. Several scientific studies of the body’s reactions to yoga exercises have been published. Here we will not, however, go into detail regarding the physical changes in the body. (Those interested should see, for example, James Funderburk, Science Studies Yoga, 1977.) we will concentrate here on descriptions of the various physical and psychological phenomena reported from the process of awakening kundalini in various yoga practices.
Many of the symptoms and bodily reactions connected with the awakening of kundalini have been described by Sanella (1977). all of the following bodily sensations have also been observed in somatic conscious connected breathwork, and may occur from the very first session.
Experiences of expanded consciousness e.g. (visions, sounds, out of body) normally occur only after a person has completed at least ten sessions, and often at an even later stage. A precondition is the one should have cleared out a substantial part of biographical memory experiences. This normally involves having had at least one experience of birth memories. The examples listed below range from physical experiences to ‘supernatural’ phenomena, but they do not necessarily appear in this order.
Body Movements
The body often starts to move spontaneously. The movements vary greatly from person to person. They can be soft, curling, jerking, twitching [sic] or vibrating. the physiological explanation is that the breathing exercise affects the cerebellum, the part of the brain that coordinates muscular movement.
Breathing
So-called spontaneous rebirthing, with rapid shallow breathing, deep powerful breathing or spontaneous breathing patterns, occurs frequently. The practice of various breathing exercises may trigger and natural breathing cycle, which will normally be completed before returning to normal breathing. This spontaneous breathing reaction is originated in the hypothalamus, which monitors and controls the blood and its oxygen content. It does this by regulating the impulse to breathe.
Cramps
Various states of cramp occur often, affecting all parts of the body. They can last for short period or persist over a longer time, affecting mobility. States of cramp are normally preceded by fear or hysterical states. This is often referred to as tetany in other Breathwork publications and with an experienced breathworker as breathing coach it soon passes.
Body Sensations
The skin or the whole body is often felt to vibrate or itch. It is usually described as ‘bubbles’ in the body, or stitches and bubbling. Sometimes these experiences are perceived as sexual, similar to pre-orgasmic feelings. A physical explanation is that this is mainly caused by stimulation of the sensory cortex. The vibrational sensation often moves from the feet upwards (the way the kundalini is said to move through the body). The left big toe is often said to be the starting point. This toe has a direct link with the cerebral cortex. (The big toe plays a special role in yoga exercises. Hindu mythology states that the holy River Ganges emerged out of the big toe of the Creator.)
Changes in Temperature
Body temperature can rapidly change from very hot to very cold. Sometimes, this is purely a subjective experience but there may also be objectively measurable changes in body temperature. A possible explanation is that when the kundalini force encounters a blockage in the body, friction is generated leading to localised temperature rise. This affects the hypothalamus which, in turn, will have effects on the body temperature as a whole, causing rapid changes.
Experience of Pain
Sudden pain may be felt in the head, eyes, spine or other parts of the body without apparent reason. The pain usually remains for only a short period. A traditional explanation is that the kundalini force becomes intensively concentrated when passing through a ‘blocked’ part of the body. People who resist the process with a subconscious wish to retain control over the body are likely to experience these phenomena as painful.Light and Sound Experiences
There are many descriptions of a wide range of light and sound experiences: colours flowing freely, illuminating or flowing from various parts of the body; voices, music, whistling or strong roaring or hissing. These phenomena may be caused by wave movements in the ventricles (cavities of the brain). This area influences the auditory cortex in the back lobe of the brain, which controls hearing and vision.
Emotional Experiences
Most emotional experiences are very intense, ranging from anxiety, fear, hate, depression and confusion to states of total bliss. The negative feelings are mostly experienced in the beginning of the session. They are later normally replaced by feelings of peace, harmony and love, at the end of a completely worked through session. It is influence on the thalamus which probably causes these intense emotions. This area transport information to various centres in the cortex, in cooperation with the reticular and limbic systems. The latter has great impact on the emotions and motivation.
Thought Experiences
People often report a change in the thought process itself. Thoughts pass through the mind faster or slower than usual and thought can even stop completely at times. Thoughts can also appear irrational, strange or unbalanced. These states can sometimes resemble mental illness, trance, impulsive actions or confusion.
Distancing
Another common experience is a feeling of separation from the actual event. ‘What is happening has nothing to do with me’. This can also be described as being outside, observing the events, thoughts and feelings. This is known in yoga as ‘witness consciousness’. In some cases, especially when there is an underlying imbalance in the person, this state may resemble schizophrenia. With the right type of guidance, it usually disappears rapidly and completely. Out of Body Experiences
In this kind of experience one’s own body appears distant. There is a feeling of being outside the body and the person can experience moving to various places while leaving the body behind. This is a sharp distinction between this type of experience and ordinary dreaming. The person can actually ‘see’ their own body from the outside, and be able to describe places without having physically been there. This distinguishes the phenomenon from dreaming or visualisation.
Supernatural Experiences
In the latter stages of the kundalini process a capacity for ‘supernatural’ skills often appears. The most commonly occurring skills are clairvoyance, clairaudience and the ability to see the aura (the body’s energy field) but other, even more remarkable skills may develop.
And here we are in June 2019 experiencing the kundalini of REAL LIFE
Gunnel Minett & David Parker with a selfie.❤️
CHAOS LIVING cre
ates smashed phones, relationships and bank accounts. Aside from the phone crack, booze problems and other forms of chemical support can domin
COACHING provides the first steps in cleaning minds, habits and houses.
Here to help when you are ready to face the music and consequences. SORTED.
Another aspect of CHAOS LIVING is poor phone time management, making social media an addictive curse. Learn how to cut out certain apps, restrict platforms with boundaries and create ‘no phone daze’. Yup, LEAVE THE PHONE AT HOME.
Max phone time is encouraging lack of social skills and interaction. Much easier to end a relationship by text than in real life, face to face. So when it comes to difficult emotional choices – the phone wins – but you don’t. Quick & Easy is not always the solution with guilt and avoidance as default.
Learn to end relationships healthily with Codependency Coaching & Breathwork for recovery in the long run – not short term gain.
Work out how much money you waste each month, how the usual escape routes cost you more than money and turn a corner into solutions.
MONTHLY Small EVENING Groupwork : 2 hour session £30 ( less than £8 per week ) MONTHLY Small WEEKEND Groupwork : 4 hour session £50 ( less than £13 per week ). Both Groups have up to 5 people and include 1 hour Breathwork within.
Individual Sessions, Daytime, Evenings & Weekends
2 hours : £120 / 3 hours £150 Fortnightly / Monthly A 2 hour Introduction to the process is FREE with no obligation to continue. No signups or selling. You either want to continue ( and most DO after the Breathwork experience ) or you don’t. No pressure. You and your budget decides.
Call David 07483 287470 for more info.
We all know them.
Workaholics. Alcohol Dependents. Coke fiends. Chem users. Painkillers. Exercise Addicts. Codependents. People Pleasers. Compulsive Helpers. Gamblers. Debtors Etc.
Maybe you are one of them, getting nowhere fast, riding through treacle in avoidance of the core issue.
Living Life In Balance is an acquired art, requiring practice, discipline and observation – difficult to do alone – which is why working with an experienced Recovery Coach & Evolutionary Breathworker WORKS.
I have been clean & sober since 1982 with 12 Step Programmes and a Somatic Breathworker since 1988, so I know that it’s possible to RE-BALANCE YOUR LIFE, take hold, redress with ‘purposeful using’ if dependent or abstention if needed. Step work has been my solution plus outside help, but sessions are not guided by it or required to use in or out of session, nor is there requirement to develop the spiritual side. The client leads the session in their requirements.
SOLUTIONS : First focus on present current issues and what ACTION needs to take place.
Second, deal with emotional suppression, overwhelm and helplessness which can lead to or enhance depression and more walking into escape routes that damage, continue and bring you back to a spiral of much of the same. I have been there, so no judgement involved, just practical solutions for change.
Another SOLUTION is calling me. David Parker on 07483 287470
Leave a voicemail if I don’t pick up, or email me with what your problem is. rebirthyourlife@gmail.com
I see anyone FREE for 2 hours with no obligation to carry anything further with me or can direct you to other avenues of solution. Someone did this for me 36 years ago – I’m just giving it back. Euston venue.
or buy the book above. It’s a start.
I’m Ted, 23 years old, and I first discovered ‘New Style’ Rebirthing Breathwork through David Parker, ( here on the right of this pic ) a Breathworker with 30 years experience, after he suggested I try breath work and I trust his sound judgement so I decided to come to an individual 3 hour session and give it a go.
But from someone who has been diagnosed bi-polar (rapid-cycling) for 7 years and suffered many ins and outs of depression, medication, therapists and institutions, at first I was sceptical and I also find communicating with people and systems somewhat of a task due to my Aspergers (High-Functioning) syndrome, diagnosed in my teenage years. I was not convinced that breathing would really have that much of an impact on me. I had done meditation and Bikram yoga which both centre heavily around breathing and mostly the outcomes of these activities had been a headache or general exhaustion.
Most importantly I have found Rebirthing breath work to be the most effective form of therapy in helping me through tough patches of depression. And if we consider that I have been through many a psychiatric professional, various institutions and 13 different medications over 6 years I think you can agree that this is somewhat of a profound discovery.
What Breathwork does is it gets you past your intellectual barriers and complicated head based reasoning and puts you into your body. It reaches deep into your soul and gives it a good massage and a shake. What this allows you to do is become unstuck. One of my biggest difficulties with depression is getting stuck. Either in a hole or a loop or a sticky pool of mud. Regardless of the work I have done the day before I wake up the next day in the same pool of shit I started in the day before. This winter I experienced this cycle for an excruciating 4 months and I am still not entirely free of it. However, when I have attend a breath work session it has always shifted something. I can’t always put my finger on what but I can feel that within me something has moved. This in turn has helped to remove me partially if not entirely out of my loop/whole/pool of mud in the space of a few hours.
This is incredible!
Never before could anything get me out of these ruts. Only recreational drugs or extreme life situations ever had any effect; and these two options come with negative longterm consequences whereas breath work does not. Price wise it is even reasonable. Especially compared to other alternative therapies and private medical care. For me I have found accessing therapies through the NHS extremely traumatic and the end result was that I was left on drugs without monitoring or any sort of talking/holistic therapies. Rebirthing breath work has begun a process in me. And I will continue to use it as therapeutic tool for as long as it serves me. I have huge gratitude for David and the assistants who help him in URBAN LIFECLASS group sessions, for showing me breath work and allowing me some release and progress from depression. This is how Breathwork makes me feel : Refreshed, ALIVE, Energised and FREE . . .
by Ted Rogers : Dancer/Performer/Writer/Artist/ Blogger/Poet/Model/Stylist
November 2010 in Brighton is where I first met David Parker, when he was speaking at a Convention I was attending. The Convention and his topic had nothing to do with breathwork but as time has passed, the link between then and now has become more obvious.
Our paths crossed a number of times in the next couple of years randomly bumping into each other here and there and we connected on social media. It was then I started to read David’s story and what he did/does regarding breathwork. I was nosey rather than curious and didn’t look too much further into it. In the autumn of 2013, my wife and I went to Malta where I had been asked to speak at one of them Conventions where I first met David and lo and behold, David was there. One of those ‘coincidences’.
We spent a lot of time in each other’s company in that week and I started to ask a few more questions about this thing he did. My interest had moved on from curiosity to intrigue and I started to think I wanted to know more and perhaps experience what it was this breathwork was all about.
I had my own ‘issues’. I’ve been in recovery from active addiction since June 2009 with which I had been battling with for 30 years and I had a lot of consequences none more so than my physical state. I’ve been in a coma twice, I’d had a stroke, I’d had the Last Rites read over me, I’d had pancreatitis on a number of occasions, I’d broken near enough every bone in my body, my right lung had collapsed twice and this was before I got into recovery.
Since getting clean of all drugs, including alcohol, I then had testicular cancer, I’d had a shoulder reconstruction and in 2014, I underwent 4 surgeries on my knees culminating in a full left knee replacement AND to add to the fun, I’d suffered a burst appendix in the summer of 2014 which I was lucky to survive.
I had also put on a lot of weight as I had been unhappily comfort-eating and although I’m 6ft 5, I was within touch of 20 stone on the scales. I was also in and out of employment and hadn’t held down a regular job for years. The experiences of 2014 were enough for me to want to change a few things. I needed a different way of seeing myself. My physical health (or lack of it) had become my identity. The first thing people would say to me was, “…and how’s the health, Scott?”
I spoke to David once or twice around this time and he said about coming along to one of the seminars he was getting up and running in Victoria. I went along open-minded and with no expectation on what was going to happen.
It ended up being one of the most extraordinary moments in my life.
I still can’t explain exactly what happened but I had an ‘out of body’ experience during my first ever breathe. I cried like I hadn’t cried since I was a baby. I felt all this physical pain fill up inside me, overwhelm me and somehow drain from me. I curled up in a foetal ball, I shook, I sobbed, I made a hell of a noise and I was looked after tenderly by David and the team and I felt, without being too dramatic, reborn afterwards.
I left the seminar, got a train from Victoria to Clapham Junction then another train to Basingstoke and then a taxi home and it was only when I put the key in my front door I suddenly realised I was home! I’d done the whole journey in a trance and couldn’t recall a thing about it.
My thinking DID change from that minute on. I decided my health was NOT going to be my identity. I looked at my diet. I looked at my exercise (or lack of it). I looked at my attitude. I looked at certain people, certain places and certain behaviours and I did a full-on spring clean. I didn’t fall out with people as much as I stopped falling in with them to begin with. I began to keep my counsel smaller and closer and started to look at what was important to me and what I wanted to achieve from my life.
I became a regular ‘breather’ and I’ve been attending groups and seminars with David more or less monthly ever since that first experience. I travel all the way from Basingstoke Hampshire to Camden NW1 and back for every session. It’s a 3 hour round trip on public transport, it’s the best part of £40 in fares and that doesn’t phase me in the slightest. Nor does the fact I get home at midnight and I’m up at 5.30 the following day for work. The breathwork and the coaching sessions prior to breathing have become an integral part of my continuing recovery. I’ve learnt a lot about me, what makes me tick, what fires me up and acquired great techniques to deal with life and what can crop up for me on a regular basis.
3½ years on from that first breathwork experience, I am now in the best physical shape I’ve been in since I was at school. I’m down to a manageable 16½ stone, my diet is unrecognisable from a few years ago, I walk 30-40 miles a week, I’m all clear on every physical front and had a Well Man check a couple of months back and was told I had the physical attributes of someone 10 years younger than myself. I’ve been in full time work since the summer of 2015 and this is the longest tenure I’ve had with one employer ever.
However, life comes along unexpectantly and I had a major accident last year when I was hit by a bus and I broke my pelvis and sacrum and was off work for almost 5 months. Albeit, I was in a lot of pain, I didn’t take any medication.
I stuck to the principles of my recovery programme and I used what I’d learned from David to work through not only the physical condition but through the emotional and mental effect this accident had on me. It would have been very easy to revert to self-pity and wallow in it all but none of that behaviour serves me anymore.
There has been further pro’s to the breathwork.
Pro’s that are completely unexpected and quite random. I have to undergo regular gastroscopy due to my various conditions over the years and this used to be time of extreme anxiety event whereupon I had to be sedated and it was quite traumatic for a few days afterwards. I now find this procedure, although still very intrusive, nowhere like that today be and I can breathe right through it even when I get a gagging reflex.
Given this is something I have to undergo regularly, the fact I can manage it with breathing techniques is an amazing turnaround.
I’m also a good swimmer. I always have been BUT I’ve always struggled with snorkelling and the like as I could never get my head around breathing while underwater. I can swim underwater but not to observe and enjoy marine life.
During a boat trip in Thailand in 2016, I thought I’d put on a snorkel and found I actually could now breathe and without panicking. I could see the life beneath the waves and love this new-found thrill.
Since then I’ve become more and more adept and snorkelling is something I enjoy on our regular jaunts overseas.
I’m now back at work, I’ve recently been upgraded with a view to a promotion and I like my job. I like my life and I owe a substantial debt of gratitude to what David has taught me, shown me and helped me with over the past few years.
Today, I’m very much more the me I always could be.
I’m a good husband, son, brother, friend, employee. I like me and that’s something I never thought I’d hear myself say. Thank you, David, for your continued help, support, encouragement and “…breeeeathe, Scott, breeeeathe!”
Scott Buchan
Abstention is the act or habit of deliberate self-denial. Twenty eight years ago this week I gave up Alcohol, nicotine, sugar in my tea and all recreational mood altering drugs. I had no choice really for they gave ME up, white flag . . end of.
I tried giving up 14 months before in 1981 when Professor Macintyre, leading world authority on Liver disease at the Royal Free Hospital Medical School London, said I had less than 4 months to live if I carried on drinking. It took 8 relapses over a 14 month period to see finally that I had a DRUG PROBLEM. Even in running away to Saudi Arabia a few months after the Royal Free warning did not deter me from smuggling half bottles of whiskey into Jeddah, alongside amyl nitrate crystals. No worries when it came to my 17 year habit of scoffing valium unprescribed, I just bought them over the counter in Saudi pharmacies like buying chocolate bars. The same happens in India now, with the over 50’s stocking up on Valium & Viagra at giveaway prices, some buy boxes and boxes to sell back home to fund their winter break.
Always nudge a pensioner in a supermarket for a drug drop.
Looking back it was dope, hash, cannabis, weed that did me in. I couldn’t smoke a joint without seeing a fresh rack in front of me. I wasn’t that keen on smoking dope either, convincing myself that smoking it caused time delays and feelings of being in blackout, so I learnt to grate it onto buttered Ritz Crackers, woofing it down in one. Awful things happened when I danced with dope, often waking to a sea of frantic faces ” do you know what you have done? “.
Eventually I surrendered the lot when I went to self help anonymous recovery meetings around addiction and I have been clean since that first meeting in October 1982.
Previously I thought giving up would make me a social pariah, that I didn’t like people telling me what to do, that I knew best. I also had to rid myself of the notion that something, some avenue of escape was being ” snatched ” from me. In the end as an act of surrender I quietly put my toys on the table and began the walk into adulthood, responsibility and eventual spiritual direction.
Yes we do recover, but it is not a given or a gift. The gift is to be aware that addiction lurks in the deepest pockets of the ego, the misplaced self that thinks it knows best. Could I safely use again? Some Breathworkers have suggested that if I find the right affirmation, or the wrong core of my being to be challenged then I would master it. The truth is I have mastered it, just for today and the 28 years before it, to be conscious at all times, fully alive and free from active addiction.
As for tomorrow, I work the same spiritual request as TAV SPARKS, Stanislav Grof Holotropic Breathwork Trainer, as suggested in his book THE WIDE OPEN DOOR : The Twelve Steps, Spiritual Tradition & the New Psychology.
It works – if you work it.
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” The 12 Step Programmes are a brilliant and effective path to healing oneself. I feel they are a major spiritual path in the world today and will end up bringing more people to their own inner Spiritual connection than any other source ” – SHAKTI GAWAIN
– author of Creative Visualisation, Return To the Garden, Living In the Light, and Path of Transformation: How Healing Ourselves Can Change the World.
Oliver James, who wrote the book AFFLUENZA, a theory based on a virus of shop-till-you-drop mentality, says that placing too high a value on money, possessions, fame and outward appearance is bad for mental health. He says that it’s time for cold turkey and in the short term, as with any addicts cleaning up their act, there will be pain. In the UK, with a change of government, mega debt & world recession we are about to experience the worst government cuts since World War 2. I hope we receive food parcels from overseas.
It takes courage to face the unfaceable, but when you stop to think about it, shopping has no boundaries for many shopaholics as they have learnt to confuse real needs with disposable wants.
It’s clear that we don’t need a lot of what we buy, we could reduce without too much pain but like a child who refuses to go to school the mouth says ” Why should I? “. A real need is for things like emotional intimacy or to feel emotionally secure: a new HD TV are wants stimulated by the “must have” advertising industry. My Fisher TV was purchased in 1986, from John Lewis and it still works perfectly; I am rigged up for digital but I don’t have time for 4 channels let alone multitudes of cable adverts. I just don’t need it, nor want it. Traveling three months of the year in homes and hotels shows me what crap sat TV is anyway. Having said that, many a night I have sat comatose watching BBC News on a loop in a foreign hotel.
Two new studies on the psychology of spending concludes that buying stuff is the ” heroin of human happiness “and that shopping malls and pedestrianized High Streets have replaced parks and other forms of nature to have a day out. We may want to go to the Mall to fill time but do we need too? Do we need to buy another pair of trainers, a handbag or a sale bargain. Most people are bored when they shop, lacking motivation or imagination in spending disposable time. Like the addict they are desiring a quick hit, and a mode of escape. Cinema’s and Food Courts in Malls complete the addicts junk day out. This so called ” Family ” Entertainment is like processed cheese, yummy but no long-term nutritional value.
I have hit hard times in the past as a recovering bankrupt but 5 years with no credit was what I needed to sort my habits out. You don’t need to go this far but it may be of value to see what you can live without, or what you need to feel gratitude.
These 2 links may be of interest :
Rebirth Your Life 