There are phrases in the healing world that have become axioms, commonly uttered and—theoretically—universally understood.
You need to feel it to heal it.
The only way out is through.
Indeed, with all things challenging in life, the only way out is through (...bummer, I know). Avoidance, while perhaps compelling, is not an effective life strategy. It does not result in integration, healing, or growth. You cannot walk around the pain and expect it to not eventually rear its complicated and inconvenient head. Cannot suppress or bury the rage or hurt or grief and expect it to alchemize itself, to simply disappear.
In my last newsletter, I talked about how feelings get "stuck" in the body; how every activated state we experience has a corresponding physiological energy cycle that needs to complete in order for us to be freed. Our nervous systems, as our hearts and our minds, seek resolution.
This is, as we very well know, much easier said than done.
Oftentimes, our limited capacity and/or our protectors don't allow our difficult feelings to inhabit us fully. Sometimes, the feelings are so repressed—due to their magnitude/overwhelming nature or our internal suppression that subconsciously happens to keep us safe—that we can't even access them. We may know cognitively that they're there, but the feeling of the feeling is impossibly out of reach.
This is where somatics comes in: modalities that can help us feel it to heal it. That can unlock and draw us into the the journey that will pull us through.
Breathwork is one of those modalities.
Let's get into some technicalities about how it works.
The breathwork that I facilitate is an ancient modality without a name; it is similar in effect to Holotropic or Rebirthing breathwork, but not co-opted and trademarked in the same way. It was taught by an unnamed, indigenous pranayama teacher to a mystic healer named Tim Heath, who then taught it to David Elliot, who popularized it in the West. My teacher calls it Soul Journey breathwork. I call it Transformational breathwork. All different words ultimately attempting to name an experience that cannot be named.
An active, three-part breath (belly-heart-exhale), this practice induces safe and controlled hyper-oxygenation of the body. This compels the nervous system to flush what has become stuck and activates brainwave states that help us access typically inaccessible parts of our consciousness, creating opportunities for new perspectives, insights, and wisdom to emerge. These newly activated pathways in the brain and nervous system support profound insights, emotional release, and recalibration towards ease and safety in the body.
Through simply engaging intentionally with our life force energy (breath), we access and transform calcified emotional and physiological states, unlocking layers of healing that are not possible to achieve through conscious mental processing or talk therapy.
This breath practice was one of the single most impactful modalities that helped me heal from significant trauma. It helped me release big emotions, complete energy cycles, stay with myself through discomfort, expand my nervous system capacity, and build safety in my own body.
At the start of my breathwork facilitator training, my teacher asked us to write a list of eight reasons why we love this breath. The last reason I wrote was:
"It doesn't always give you the medicine you want, but it will give you the medicine you need."
There is honestly nothing more distilled and more true that I could say about this practice.
So! If you're ready to alchemize what is not serving and create more love, freedom, and alignment within—I've got you. Book a session or fill out a contact form to set up a free call, if you're curious but hesitant and want to hash it out. <3
