One New Thing #16: I experienced a breathwork class!
One New Thing #: 16
What: Breathwork with Jolene D'Entremont @yogaon.ca
Where: Zoom! (where else??)
Cost: $25 Canadian (~$17 USD)
Fave thing: I was really into the debrief afterwards where everyone shared their own, personal experiences of how it affected them. It was different for everyone, but also really cool to know that everyone’s experiences were all NORMAL.
My therapist has been trying to get me to do a 10 minute breathwork session for nearly a year and a half now and I’ve been fairly resistant. From what I’ve heard / read about breathwork going in - it’s a pretty powerful tool to move energy in / out and around your body and can be helpful to release certain traumas. I have been resistant because I don’t think I want to sit still long enough with JUST my breath and I’m not sure what my subconscious will drag up.
What IS breathwork exactly? It’s a tool that increases the oxygen in your body and can produce an almost natural high feeling. It’s said to be good for releasing anxiety, moving stuck energy (like in Chinese Medicine practices), as well as a form of meditation.
BUT it came up enough times that when my friend Amandan sent me Jolene’s class I was in.
The class (on Zoom) started out with a brief meditation and then an explanation of the type of breath we were doing (holotropic - which is two breaths in through the mouth, one out through the mouth in continuous movement). After the explanation we settled in and were off - we were doing a 30 minute session set to music. For the first few minutes Jolene walked us through the breath, reminded us we were in a safe place, and then let the music guide. It was intense tribal music for the first two songs and then a more mellow song and repeated that flow until she guided us back out.
SO what happened IN the breathwork session? Nearly immediately (after about 5-6 rounds of breath), I started to feel a tingling sensation in my fingertips. It surprised me that it happened SO quickly. In meditation I feel like it can take me a while to “get to that place” and in a way this was pretty gratifying to literally feel that energy.
I took quite a few breaks during this 30 minute session as I couldn’t keep up with the breaths constantly. Also at times the energy tingling was overwhelming. I had to stop often and shake my hands out (some people experience tetany which is short spasms in their hands that cause their hands to curl up like claws). I felt the energy sensations all through my fingers, palms, and up my arms in addition to the back of my hamstrings, sacral chakra area. I also yawned A LOT. I was incredibly relaxed when it was over and my entire body felt heavy. Yawning, burping, and even feeling like you need to throw up can be common - it’s your body signaling a release of something.
While I went into this expecting to experience tears or release some trauma, it was actually an incredibly positive and moving experience. I’ve been searching for a feeling of strength, so I asked myself what I needed in order to be strong and very loud and clear came through: SURRENDER. Let go, rest and relax. I’m a Type A, controlling to the core, plan it all out kind of person. This may be hard for me, but it was what I needed to hear, especially as I have been working towards creating from my feminine vs. masculine energies.
Since I don’t have my weekly acupuncture class thanks to quarantine, I might schedule in a weekly 30 minute breath session instead! The class attendees all said their experiences in this class were different from their first, so I can’t wait to see what’s in store.
Oh and PS - in case you’re wondering if it was awkward to do this via zoom - NOT at all! It was actually really cool and intimate - and didn’t feel weird to do it with 23 other strangers! Option to turn your video off of course, but what I loved the most was everyone on the call was open, into it, or experienced - so we were ALL on the same page!