#embodiedmovement

I am reaching the end of Breathwork Facilitator training with Breathing Space. Breathing Space is an amazing online Breathwork School founded by Benedict Beaumont and Jennifer Nolan. This has been nearly a year long undertaking, with over 400 hours of study, assignments, and practical skills assessment. You can draw some similarities to Yoga Instructors who also undergo 200 - 500 hours of training to be certified.

As I reflect on all of the training, which consists of online content, Zoom meetings every other week for two hours, practical assessment, book reports, blogs, daily breathwork, weekly breathwork, and a graduation project – what was the most valuable were the group sessions. Of course, the online content was very important to learn, and was the basis for how to do breathwork, what it is and how to run a great session.

There is nothing replicable or repeatable about a particular group of people – a cohort – coming together, to share their experiences and knowledge with each other. The collective wisdom held between us was immense.

At first, as with most classes or circles, we were hesitant about speaking or sharing our perspectives or stories. But as the months went on, I got to know these unique breath workers more and more, and each person had something so wonderful and special to bring to the facilitation of breathwork.

This training was unlike any other training I have experienced – either online or in person. I believe I can pinpoint the reason why.

It was the complete and well-defined container; the sacredness of the space that was created every time we started a session. There was a reverence that matched the level of an energy healing session or some other spiritual service.

Not trying to bash my other spiritual teachers; they also start trainings with meditations or grounding of some sort, but this felt very different. Maybe it was the level of commitment of the group or the small class size?

It wasn’t perfect. Not everyone was present for every single session. Certainly, I had to miss class a few times for vacation or other conflicts. It mattered… but it also didn’t – the number of people at the meetings had little to no effect on the sacred circle or the learning or community.

We truly became teachers for each other, which is the intention of facilitator training. I learned so much more than the technical aspects of breathwork, however. The peers in my group were from across the country, and across the globe. They had come with different life experiences and training, that I was so humbled to witness. Everyone had their own unique style and presence, and that was encouraged.

That was the other thing I loved about this training – we weren’t programmed to be carbon copies of our teacher. From the start, we were fully guided to teach breathwork using our own voice, in our own way. It really came through as confidence in our own abilities and holding space for each other.

I can see how my journey from last April to now has dramatically shifted. I went from feeling so nervous every time I would be called upon to lead a short breathwork to now leading hours long group sessions confidently with ease, like the embodied healer I am.

I researched five different online breathwork schools, even with the “Discovery Calls” and ultimately selected Breathing Space. Breathing Space had the most comprehensive curriculum, a very structured trauma-informed training, and access to a community of breathwork teachers and students.

At the heart of Breathing Space, on the other end of the discovery call, is Ben. Ben is one of the founders of Breathing Space. The values of the school, or foundational principles, are not there as marketing fluff. Ben embodies them: Connection, Accessibility, Empowerment, Exploration. Ben is one of those teachers that never makes you feel dumb or talks down to you. From the first day, he treated every single student as a peer. He is the very best kind of instructor: giving you the tools so you can create your own journey. I feel so lucky to have had him guiding my training this whole year.

I know this is sounding like an infomercial. I have been putting off writing this last blog because I know this is my last blog for my facilitator training requirement. It’s because I don’t want this to end. Even though it has been time-consuming, hard work, and a lot of intense breathwork sometimes, the community created is one I am proud to be a part of.

How does breathwork and embodiment connect? It’s a "match made in heaven". All of the spiritual work that I do blends really well together, including breathwork. I was giving an intuitive reading to a very good friend of mine the other day, who is a highly intuitive Scorpio like myself, and I said to her that because of the embodiment work that we both do, it was very easy to get guidance from spirit.

It sounds backwards, right? Most “spiritual people” spend their time trying everything to become more and more "enlightened" to connect with Source. I believe the opposite. To get more intuitive and enlightened, you have to be embodied and grounded. Breathwork is an embodiment practice that helps you become more embodied.

So, what is embodiment? Embodiment is spiritually inhabiting your body, literally your soul living in your body. When you inhabit your body more fully, you are more embodied.

Most people are only using 20% of their body’s wisdom. When we walk around the world numb, confused, lost, can’t make decisions, have no direction, or feel stuck in life, for some people - it feels very uncomfortable to be in their bodies. Past trauma makes us want to shut off our emotional range. Some people don’t know how to feel emotions in a healthy way. Society has also trained us to ignore our natural body cues.

We spend so much time in our heads because being in our hearts can be emotionally overwhelming, and living in our bodies can be so scary with all the possibilities of pain and pleasure that can live there.

When you are dis-embodied, you can feel like you’re not good enough. Sometimes you eat your emotions. You use external things like sugar, food, alcohol, drugs, shopping to feel something; to fill the numbness in your body.

To reverse this pattern and start to come back to your body, there are things you can do to become more embodied. Start by listening to your natural body cues and responding to them. Eating when you are hungry, not because it is time to eat. Not ignoring the pressure of your bladder when you need to urinate. Going to bed when you are tired – yes, maybe even skip watching TV or scrolling on your phone if your body is signaling exhaustion.

Identifying and feeling your emotions is also a vital part of fully experiencing everything your body has to offer. All your emotions serve a purpose, and every emotion is good information for you. There are no “bad” emotions. Of course, if you need help processing past trauma or your emotions feel too big to handle on your own, please seek out the help of a mental health professional.

Another way to become more embodied is having an embodiment practice or two. An embodiment practice is a method of using the sensations of the body as a tool to develop awareness, stay present, self-regulate, feel whole, find balance, feel connected, know yourself, love yourself, and be empowered.

Breathwork is a wonderful embodiment practice because you are instantly present in your body as you begin to control your breath. Body awareness is an essential part of breathwork. Noticing the physical changes in your body as you do breathwork also helps you feel more connected to yourself. I also love breathwork as an embodiment practice because it is accessible to everyone. Everyone breathes.

So, how does being embodied help me get guidance from spirit easier? I am more connected to my soul, my soul voice, and it is very easy to distinguish from any other energy: angelic, other people, spirit guides, etc. Being more embodied makes you more intuitive. I have excellent energetic boundaries from other people due to embodiment practices, which also makes communication clear. Lastly, I take the time to process my own emotional baggage or “stuff,” so I don’t confuse my drama with my client’s or worse, trauma dump on them.

For the past several months, I have been toggling between two roles: student and teacher. I have been a student in a year long Breathwork Facilitator training program and at the same time, I have been a Teacher Trainer for S Factor, a feminine movement practice I have been involved with for over ten years.

Of course, what is also muddled is that I am also still a student of S Factor, taking my own class every Sunday. You can't preach what you don't practice yourself. I also truly believe that I cannot take my students on a journey any further than I have been myself, so I keep my journey going on and on.

Being a student and a teacher at the same time reminds me that we all started at the same place: on Day One. No one starts with the mastery of any topic. As I teach my students, and they ask me questions, I realize that hard earned knowledge came from years of practice, trial and error, learning from other teachers, and well, failure.

Even as I teach my regular class every week, I often get a brand new student who has never taken a class like mine before. She might be slightly intimidated by the unfamiliar apparatus we use for dancing. I reassure every student that everyone in the class all started at the same place: Day One. Including myself.

As I learn about Breathwork, I have to constantly check myself. It is ok to not be "perfect". To know absolutely nothing about a particular topic or how to do something. Even thought I am no longer on Day One and we are about three months in now, I still find myself learning so many new things. But one day, I will be the one leading the breathwork session, I am certain. I will master this topic. As I have so many other modalities: tantra, reiki, pole dancing, tarot, angels, ascended masters, crystals, clairvoyance, mediumship, energy healing, space clearing, animal communication...I am a lifelong learner.