Greetings dear seeker on the path for more love, truth, wisdom and freedom.
As a shamanic energy medicine practitioner guiding souls through the transformative power of breathwork, I invite you to explore a path less traveled. Yet, it is a path that is profound and deeply impactful.
In our modern world, where urban stress and anxiety often dominate our lives, finding inner peace is not just a luxury; it’s a necessity. This journey we embark upon is rooted in ancient wisdom, adapted for the contemporary seeker. Let us begin our exploration of Shamanic Breathwork, a powerful tool for healing and self-discovery.
The Essence of Shamanic Breathwork
Shamanic Breathwork is an amalgamation of age-old shamanic practices with the conscious control of breath until you arrive at an experience where it feels like the breath is breathing you. Or, until a point when it feels like something larger than you, call it Spirit, Universe, Source, Energy, etc, moves through you, with you, as you. It’s more than a technique; it’s a ceremonial gateway to deeper self-awareness and healing. In this practice, rhythmic breathing is harmonized with carefully curated music that influences an altered state of consciousness similar to a trance state. By dropping the over analytical mind, you are able to delve into your subconscious, unlocking emotional blockages and revealing insights that are often obscured by daily life.
Understanding the Shamanic Element
While shamanism in its earliest forms can be traced back to ancient Siberia and the Mongols, indigenous cultures across the world share very similar practices based around ritual and inner journeying. Shamanic journeys were often practiced with intentional drumming in ceremony, without guided cuing. In our contemporary world, we have added this additional element of a guide, similar to the narrator of a movie, to maintain a feeling of safety while moving through the layers of your consciousness systematically. In Shamanic Breathwork, you don’t just perform a technique; you embark on a spiritual voyage. The shaman in this context isn’t just a guide, but a metaphor for your inner healer, the part of you capable of profound wisdom and transformation.
The Breathwork Process: A Guide for Beginners
As you start your journey with Shamanic Breathwork, here are the essential steps:
- Creating Sacred Space: The process begins in a calm, quiet area. Dim the lights. Light candles and incense. Cleanse your space using sage or cedar or any other sacred smoke that will rid any stale or negative energy from your space.
- Setting the Intention: Intention setting must be done in a ceremonial way. The Andean healers call on the four winds and various spiritual guides to support and empower the energy of the space. When you have the support of your higher guides, you can then state your intention clearly. For example, “Today, I wish to open my heart to receive fully all it is that I deserve to receive in this moment, so that I can continue on my path free of any past conditioned patterns and behaviors.”
- The Breathing Technique: The core of Shamanic Breathwork is a specific breathing pattern – inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth in a connected, circular motion. Sometimes, we breathe in and out through the mouth .Sometimes, we add breath retention on the exhalation or the inhalation for various energetic purposes. We practice various breath cycles, 3, 5, or even 7 times, like they are chapters of a book. In a group setting, various cues and touch work are done to help deepen the experience.
- High Vibrational Music: Carefully curated music is used to stoke the emotional body and to inspire the rhythm of the breath. This music could be binural beats, chakra-tuned music, tribal drums, indigenous music, and more. Sound plays an important part of the healing process, and enables the mind to soften into the realm of the symbols and dreamtime.
- Integration: Post-session, it’s crucial to integrate your experiences. This might involve journaling, creating some conscious artwork, sharing your journey with a guide, or simply reflecting on what surfaced during the session. Writing and speaking are highly encouraged to ground the experience into the real world. Some questions to ask yourself after your session would be, “What can I do with the insight that I’ve gained?,” “Are there actionable steps that I can take that will support the insight?”
The Benefits: Healing Mind, Body, and Spirit
Yes Shamanic Breathwork will help you decrease your stress levels and relax your nervous system, but it’s more than that; it’s a transformative process with profound benefits:
- Emotional Release: This practice can help release trapped emotions, leading to significant psychological healing.
- Connection with the Subconscious: It opens doors to the subconscious mind, allowing you to understand deep-seated patterns and traumas.
- Stress and Anxiety Relief: Regular practice can deeply impact your ability to decrease your stress and anxiety levels.
- Inspiring your Purpose: When you know get to experience who you are at the deepest level, your sense of higher purpose will emerge and drive you forward in life.
- Spiritual Awakening: Many practitioners experience spiritual insights and connections, and find a deep sense of peace and oneness with the universe.
Navigating the Journey: Challenges and Considerations
While Shamanic Breathwork is powerful, it’s not without challenges. It can evoke intense emotional responses, sometimes surfacing painful memories or feelings. And while it is important to remember the premise that you are not what happened to you, we were designed to be observed. In Quantum Science, it was discovered that quantum waves would turn into quantum particles when they were observed. Therefore, it’s important to acknowledge the power of being observed or being seen by another. It enables us to go deeper, but also, it allows for more safety so that the psyche does not go into a regressed state of believing something from the past that is not true. If you’re newer to this type of practice, it is beneficial to go to a group workshop or have a privately guided session until you can develop your own self-practice.
Conclusion
In a world where external pressures constantly bombard us, Shamanic Breathwork offers a sanctuary, a space where we can reconnect with our inner selves. It’s a journey of transformation, healing, and awakening. As you explore this path, remember, every journey is unique, and every breath is a step towards deeper understanding and inner peace.
As you consider embarking on this transformative journey, I encourage you to explore it with an open heart and mind, ready to embrace the profound changes it can bring to your life. Peace and healing await on the path of the breath, the ancient yet ever-new path to inner harmony and understanding.
