If you’ve experienced excessive worry, fear about everyday situations or overall physical tension, you know the impact of stress and anxiety on your body. There’s a free training coming up where you can learn a beginner-level breathing technique to help reduce these feelings.

The way we breathe has a significant impact on our physiological and psychological states. Breathwork techniques aim to optimize our breathing patterns to promote relaxation, reduce stress, enhance self-awareness, improve overall well-being, and promote healing. Here are some reasons why breathwork is considered helpful:

1. Stress reduction: Engaging in intentional, deep breathing activates the body's relaxation response, decreasing stress hormones such as cortisol. Slow, deep breaths can help calm the nervous system and induce a state of relaxation and calmness.

2. Emotional regulation: Breathwork techniques can help regulate and manage emotions. By consciously altering the breath, you can influence the autonomic nervous system and modulate emotional responses. Certain breathing patterns can promote feelings of calm, while others can invigorate and energize.

3. Increased energy and vitality: Some breathwork practices focus on enhancing oxygen intake and circulation, increasing energy levels and promoting a sense of vitality. Techniques such as Kapalabhati breathing or energizing breathwork can help uplift and invigorate the body and mind.

4. Improved mental clarity and focus: Conscious breathing techniques can help quiet the mind and enhance mental clarity. By directing attention to the breath and practicing deep, rhythmic breathing, you can cultivate a focused and present state of mind, making it beneficial for tasks requiring concentration and productivity.

5. Emotional release and healing: Certain breathwork modalities encourage deeper emotional exploration and facilitate the release of stored emotional trauma or tension. Individuals may experience cathartic experiences, increased self-awareness, and emotional healing by working with the breath.

6. Self-exploration and spiritual growth: Breathwork practices can provide a pathway for self-exploration, introspection, and spiritual growth. By engaging in deep and conscious breathing, individuals may access altered states of consciousness, expanded awareness, and a greater sense of connection to themselves and the world around them.

SIGN UP FOR A FREE EXPERIENCE:

• A simple breathwork practice to counteract anxiety and reduce stress

• Guidance on how you can use conscious breathing for self-care

• Insights for using the breath to get out of your head and come home to your body

WHAT YOU'LL GAIN

• A Calmer Mind

  You’ll learn a gentle, rhythmic way to breathe that eases anxiety and stress by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of the nervous system that helps us “rest and digest.”

• More Comfort in Your Body

  You’ll be guided through a practice that releases endorphins, which relieve physical pain, naturally lift your mood, and help you nurture deeper well-being.

• Increased Focus and Insight

  As you bring more oxygen to your brain, you’ll bring greater clarity to everyday situations and give space for self-insights to arise.

ABOUT YOUR TEACHER

Jennifer Patterson is a breathwork facilitator, grief worker, herbalist, and writer. She has facilitated workshops at healing centers, LGBTQ centers, colleges and universities, veterans’ hospitals, and sexual violence resource centers. Jennifer speaks across the country, and her writing has been published widely. She is the author of the book The Power of Breathwork: Simple Practices to Promote Wellbeing and edited the anthology Queering Sexual Violence: Radical Voices from Within the Anti-Violence Movement.