The Power of Breathwork

Book excerpt: Drawing on a multitude of breathing practices from different healing and spiritual traditions, The Power of Breathwork includes 25 simple exercises that can be practiced alone or with a partner to facilitate proper immune function and enhance connection, creativity, joy, intuition, or to reduce depression, anxiety, trauma, tension, physical pain, and more. Knowing how to breathe and how to use your breath purposefully has been proven to reduce negative mental and physical issues and actually heal the body and mind. A regular home breathwork practice is an affordable and easy way for you to engage in self-healing practices that can have a profound impact on your overall health. Author, practitioner, and grief worker Jennifer Patterson begins by explaining what breathwork is, why you should try it, and how it can be used to heal the bodymind. Then, you'll learn what happens in your physical body, energetic body, and emotional body as you practice it. Before you start the exercises, find useful tips on building an altar, using scent, visualizations and grounding, and somatic writing prompts to help support your practice. After achieving collaboration and deeper trust with your body through practices such as a nurturing body scan and learning to catch and shift out of breath-holding patterns, return to yourself with these solo breath patterns: 4-7-8 Breath, Energizing Breath, Box Breath, Pursed Lip Breath, Lion's Breath, Diaphragm Breath, Alternate Nostril Breath, Skull Shining Breath, Ocean Breath, and Multi-Part Fast-Paced Breath. With a partner, use breath to work with witnessing and being witnessed, giving and receiving touch, and navigating conflict. Through these practices, you can breathe into a deeper relationship with another. For more focused breathwork practice, you will also find exercises that work with themes such as creativity, easing perfection narratives, inviting laughter and joy, cutting energetic ties to harmful dynamics, plus dedicated practices for welcoming the new day and then, when it is done, releasing the day and inviting sleep. The Power of Breathwork provides you with simple and approachable ways to intentionally and effectively breathe to bring healing and joy.