Rebirthing Breathwork

Conscious Breathing is your natural breathing pattern. Babies, most small children, and animals all breathe this way. This is our natural breathing rhythm, before it became inhibited by stress, traumas, suppressed emotions, or the everyday hard knocks of just growing up. Learning Conscious Breathing and freeing your breath is probably the most powerful, beneficial self-healing modality you will ever use.

It utilizes a simple technique, called connected breathing, where the inhale and exhale are merged, with no hesitation or holding in between.

The focus is always placed on pulling in a deep inhale, and completely relaxing and letting go of the exhale.

The exhale is never forced or pushed out, but it is also never withheld in a long drawn out exhale. A good Rebirther can help you find the balancing point to free up your breathing pattern.

For most people this is difficult to do, and should not be attempted for extended amounts of time without first completing ten sessions with a high quality Rebirthing Breathworker.

Conscious Breathing was spontaneously re-discovered by Leonard Orr in the mid 1960’s. The modern day form of Breathwork as a therapeutic modality spread from one man to a worldwide phenomena. There are hundreds of thousands of Breathworkers worldwide, and it is estimated that every few seconds someone is experiencing the power of Rebirthing Breathwork for the first time.

Rebirthing in the New Age by Leonard Orr and Sondra Ray, has been nicknamed the bible of Conscious Breathing-Rebirthing. I recommend that anyone interested in learning about Conscious Breathing purchase this book to learn about how Rebirthing was born. It offers a wealth of ideas and information about the life long process of learning to breathe energy. This book tells the amazing and wonderful story of how Leonard Orr discovered Conscious Breathing, and how it became a new, worldwide Profession and healing modality.

The benefits and results of Conscious Breathing – Rebirthing are numerous and virtually unlimited.The benefits and results of Conscious Breathing – Rebirthing are numerous and seemingly unlimited.

Many people report:
• Detoxification  • More Energy • Stress Reduction • Physical Healing • Greater Emotional Stability – a sense of inner ‘reserves’ • An Acceptance and Openness to Transformation • Deeper Connection and Awareness that you are a living Soul that has a consciousness, power, purpose, and will of it’s own. • Brighter eyes, smoother skin, and possibly a “glow about your face.” Many people report looking and feeling younger. • Healing in areas where just talking about the problems & issues can not be reach.

Conscious Breathing heals the body on a cellular level, clearing the body of traumas, emotional holdings, and energetic blockages. It is a simple process, in thatthere is no need to analyze, diagnose, or figure anything out. One just needs to learn connected breathing, relax, and let the divine energy wash over the body. It has been referred to as a biological experience of God.

Whatever unconscious issues or beliefs may be in your life can be brought to your consciousness now, and permanently breathed out of your body. Once your consciousness is heightened, there is no returning to it’s former state.

Many find that rebirthing has helped them to connect with and discover a deeper side of themselves that they did not know existed. The main purpose of Rebirthing is to assist You in cleaning out negative energy and become more of the person You are in your True Essence.

What is Birth Trauma and what does it have to do with Breathwork? The moment of your birth was also the moment of your first breath. Your birth experience directly affected your personal breathing patterns. This is often difficult to understand or wrap your mind around, until you experience healing your birth trauma through Conscious Breathing – Rebirthing.

Conscious Breathing is also commonly known as Rebirthing, due to the fact that many people remember and heal the trauma of their birth through the connected breathing technique. ‘Rebirthing’ is also the simple process of renewal that so many people experience with Breathwork.

Our bodies are like giant containers of information. Experiences, traumas, various sensations, and memories are stored in our bodies on a cellular level. Our birth is one of these.

Somehow, in our ‘modern day science and civilization,’ we got the idea that babies don’t feel or have consciousness at the time of their birth. Birth is our first experience of the outer world, -our first direct contact with people. It is also the moment of our first breath; our first experience of breathing air into our lungs. At this moment, breathing often becomes associated with pain and fear, which is why Conscious Breathing Rebirthing is essential to healing the Birth Trauma.

Transitioning from the warm, cozy, completely protected environment of the womb to the outer world was our first experience of major change. I believe this is why people commonly experience and associate change with being painful, dramatic, and life threatening.

‘Traumatic’ barely describes the experience. Your birth was very likely an experience of pure, primal, terror, pain, and survival. The struggle to pass through the birth canal, struggling for your first breath, separation from your mother, (yes you were very conscious of her presence, emotions, and thoughts while in the womb,) as well as dealing with a dramatic temperature change, contact with rough surfaces, bright lights, deafening loud voices, and an extreme sense of urgency and drama in the delivery room are just a few of the different aspects many of us dealt with at the time of our birth.

As conscious, living beings, it’s more than likely that we made some very primal, preverbal decisions about life, the world, and ourselves at the time of birth. Some possible core experiences stemming from birth trauma are: I am a burden, I cause pain, I’m not wanted, I can’t hide, I’m too big, I cause problems, change is hard, I’m not strong enough, I can’t make it on my own, living is painful, life hurts, love hurts, and many, many more. Practicing Conscious Breathing Rebirthing brings these unconscious ideas to the surface to be released and healed.

If the concept of Birth Trauma is new to you, I recommend reading Frederick LeBoyer’s book, Birth Without Violence Birth Trauma and it’s effects on the individual and society as a whole, is a fascinating subject to study. It is something that has impacted every individual on the planet.

The effects of healing Birth Trauma with Conscious Breathing Rebirthing, and preventing future traumatic births on a global scale may be too beautiful for our current minds to even imagine. But it is definitely something to aspire for.

Tetany is the technical term for sensations of muscle cramping or numbness in the body that can occur during Conscious Breathing Rebirthing sessions.

From a simple scientific approach, tetany is caused during Conscious Breathing Sessions if the ‘breather’ has an inhibited breathing pattern. Tetany is caused by an imbalance of oxygen – carbon dioxide, and is a symptom of hyperventilation. This is why people will usually experience tetany in their first ten sessions, until they learn to breathe correctly and heal their inhibited breathing habits. Relaxing, not pushing or forcing the exhale out, and being sure to exhale completely, will all help the breather move through and release the experience of tetny.

Tetny is said to be a manifestation of suppressed emotions such as a fear of life, anger, or suppressed rage. It is also said to be related to heavy birth trauma. It can occur through the whole body, but most commonly in the hands and around the mouth. While it does not occur for everyone practicing connected breathing, it is a fairly common experience during the first ten sessions.

It is important to know, connected breathing does not cause the tetany or physical sensations experienced. The blocked energy, pain, stiffness, and tension are already lying dormant in the body, held ‘hostage’ by inhibited breathing patterns. They are suppressed by inhibited breathing patterns, where they can cause future dis-ease or symptoms of deterioration and aging.

Some people have rebirthing sessions and experience don’t experience it at all. Most people get past the experience of their muscles cramping, tightening, and other physical sensations within their first ten sessions. Some people experience it much later on. This varies from person to person, depending on what healing they need at any given time. One is not better than the other, there is no right or wrong way to experience Rebirthing.

Resisting the cramping, or fearing it will only prolong the experience. There are ways you can relax into the experience. Do not to resist it – relax into the numbness & tingling. What you resist persists! Relax, keep breathing, and let go of any control. Trust your breath and surrender to the process.

Leonard Orr says “Every little tingling and cramping is a negative belief being let go.”
Therefore, if tetany is a part of your rebirthing experience, I say, celebrate it!

My teacher Leonard Orr, founder of the modern day Breathwork moment, quickly abandoned group Breathwork sessions after only a few experiments, due to his perception on the affects on one’s aura or energy body. He felt that it was unethical to initiate anyone into the healing power and divine power of their own breath while in a group, and that they deserved a quiet, relaxed, peaceful environment with the loving one on one presence of an experienced Breathworker. There is much more to say about this and it can be a controversial topic in breathwork communities. Through my own experiences with both group breathwork and individual sessions, I came to the same professional opinion as Leonard. While holding that, I also respect people’s freedom to choose what is right for them. Please check my blog for a post on Individual Sessions vs Groups.