I'm sure I'm not the only one who, when I think about "breath work," I picture a meditation studio filled with candles and calming music while people speak in hushed voices with the goal of the evening being to leave calm, grounded, and quieted. Either that or, as I've seen with other somatic work, an earth-shattering catharsis as held trauma is released and coaches attend to the trembling participant.
Breathexperience is indeed a form of breath work. And it is a somatic practice. But it's... not what you might think. Yes, Breathexperience begins, ends, and will always be centred around the simple physical sensation of the movement of breath as it comes and goes on its own. It can be subtle. The work can be quiet and small. If that's where your breath is in the moment. But just like us, our breath has innumerable ways to be in any given moment and in this work, our task—if there even is one—is to be with that, moment to moment. As it changes, as it stays the same, as it comes and goes.
"Okay, so, then, what does Breathexperience look like?"
The honest and somewhat unhelpful answer is: I don't know. Equally, or perhaps more, unhelpfully: it looks like you.
Why so enigmatic?
Well, Breathexperience is not a practice for the Organizing Self—the part of us that catalogues, prescribes, diagnoses, problem solves, anticipates, analyzes, etc. The Organizing Self is the part of us that gets things done, sets and strives to meet goals. Think of a dance class or baseball practice. It's easy to "show" someone what it looks like because part of the work is making sure the body does a certain thing in a certain way at a certain time. "First I swing the bat, and then I run as fast as I can"; "I lift my arm to the side until it looks like this and then I leap into the air." Practices that engage with the Organizing Self involve an element of "doing", as do many things in daily life.
Breathexperience is founded on the principles of presence, sensation, and allowing... not really things we can look at. While the work does involve some simple forms that help us to explore the three dimensions in which we exist, it's not about how the forms look, but about how they are interpreted by the individual. By working in this way, we engage with the Sensing Self—the part of us that's responsible for intuition, creativity, non-linear thinking, sensual enjoyment, spontaneity, play, etc. By making room for the Sensing Self to take the wheel with breath as the engine, we unlock ways of existing in ourselves that are inherently dis-organized and challenge the patterns and structures that we inhabit every day.
There is no uniformity in Breathexperience. I can't tell you what feels right in your body. I can't tell you where and how to feel something and what words you should use to describe that feeling. That's yours. Your exploration. Your experience. My way of being in a form will not look like your way of being in a form. My breath might be fast, my movements might be big and sweeping. Or maybe your breath feels slow and quiet, so your body will reflect that.
In this work, we're allowing our impulses for movement and sound be guided by the breath. So it can be calm and quiet. But a regulated nervous system isn't always calm. A regulated nervous system responds proportionally to our environmental stimuli—including our internal environment. The process of integrating and regulating can be boisterous, can be angry, can be powerful and big. It can be quiet, and soft, and gentle. Maybe you imagine a giant forest around you or maybe you're filled with lightning.
I have no idea what I'll find each time I dive into my breath. It's always different. But I can tell you this: your breath isn't going to take you anywhere that you don't want to go. Because you always have a choice to explore what you find, or make a different offer and go that way instead. There are myriad possibilities inside of us. You're never stuck, because there's always something you can allow, and always something that wants to happen next.
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