Living Breath™
Breathing is something the body knows how to do for its mere survival, from our first breath at birth to our last breath at death. This automatic breath allows one to survive, but by the time we are young children, due to stress, imprints, and learning habitual patterns our breath has become shallow, distorted, upside down, frozen, or automatically restricted.
Withheld feelings, shock, stress, traumas, and the layering of personas (Latin root meaning veil or mask) all too often claim the natural rhythm of our breathing which greatly affects our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health.
By relearning and embodying the organic natural state of breathing, we also reclaim the fullness and passion of many other dimensions of our lives. By removing the obstacles we have created both consciously and unconsciously to deep, healthy, centered breathing, we return to a way of embodiment that naturally fosters our maximum aliveness and authentic expression of essence.
The Living Breath™ program is designed to gently return the body to its natural rhythmic flow of essential breath.
Isle Middendorf has said, “Just a single thought is capable of changing the breathing pattern.” Dr. Sheldon Saul Hendler, M.D. states, “Breathing is the first place, not the last one, one should look when fatigue, disease, or other evidence of disordered energy presents itself.” Wilhelm Reich says, “Emotional and physical states can be altered by changing the breathing pattern.” According to one medical researcher, poor diaphragmatic breathing is the culprit for 75% of all ills people bring to their doctors. Upside down breathing is, as the name implies, the reverse of healthy breathing.
“I’m often asked, if you could tell people to do one thing that would give them greater access to spontaneous healing, what would it be? I never hesitate by answering—work with your breath.”
Living Breath ™ is healthy diaphragmatic breathing with relaxed belly muscles. In relaxed breathing, there is relatively little movement in the chest, nor does there need to be. During the fight, flight or freeze reflex, your belly muscles tighten, forcing the breath up into your chest. Unhealthy breathing equals tight belly and compensatory inflammation of the chest, thus the term, upside down. There are a myriad of reasons why we have obstructed and lost the natural ability of full diaphragmatic breathing. Gracefully, there are only a few basic steps you need to know and diligently practice to return to its natural state.
Benefits of Living Breath may include:
Release stress & tension
Heal & resolve trauma
Unwind fight, flight, & freeze patterns in body/nervous system
Manages pain & calms anxiety
Rigid holding patterns & suppressed feelings released
Prevents & heals physical problems
Increases energy & endurance
PTSD, addictions, & abuse resolved
Access greater health physically, mentally, emotionally, & spiritually
Gain deeper insight
Contributes to emotional mastery
Spiritual transformation
Relieves depression & improves self esteem
Facilitates a natural healing process for all types of trauma
Expands awareness & deepens relaxation
Calms body & mind to become fully “present” to life
Allow feelings to flow, fuller expression & increase enjoyment of life
Dissolve cellular imprints from pre-natal & birth trauma
Open to deeper states of creativity, joy, and whole bodied harmony
Remain centered in self and in relationships
Trust self more and embody authentic nature
Release long standing emotional blocks & trauma
Unwind holding patterns & release limiting behavior patterns
Go beyond the mind & access body wisdom
The Latin word for breath is “spiritus”. Imagine allowing your breath flowing through you as a sense of spirit flows through your body. Living Breath™ utilizes a relaxed breath that originates in the belly or lower abdomen the way nature intended. This is very different from rebirthing (hyperventilation in the chest), yogic pranayama, or music/drug induced new age breathing modalities. In time, the body relearns how to relax, integrate, and breathe fully. This unique program aims for maximum physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well being.
Nature can teach us a lot about healthy breathing. Watch any animal in the wild. When they perceive a threat, they stop breathing. It is a universal tendency to hold the breath when a threat appears. The body goes into fight, flight or freeze mode. Once the threat is gone, an animal shakes off the shock and returns to rhythmic breathing. Humans, being upright and two-legged, are the only animals that do not shake off their shock. They continue after a threat is gone to remain in upside down, frozen, or contracted breathing patterns—often for decades when an event was severely traumatic. Our nervous systems are wired like that of a wild animal, it simply wants to do what is natural. Constraining, withholding, and refusing to breathe deeply is simply not natural. Eventually we need to shake off the shock, breathe, face the pain and respond.
Testimonials
“I could talk for hours about some of the deep inner experiences that breath work with Anastasia has brought out into my conscious awareness, like finding the breath go deep into the root of my body, where I did not know I had roots, and bringing attention and healing there…that, in itself, is a miracle! Yet, I have to say that the ability to be held in this vulnerable, scary space, and to feel completely safe and trusting with Anastasia is a great gift to me and it is this that I am truly grateful for.”
-William Cote, Maui, HI
“During the Livingbreath™, I had an experience of ‘forgiveness’ palpably wash through me that transcended all previous cognitive ideas about what forgiveness actually is. Deep thanks for such a transformational weekend.”
-Hal Tynan, Denver, CO
“I have had the privilege of working with Anastasia for many years. At her Living Breath ™ retreat, I was able to go deep into my being and experience the greatest love for myself ever. This retreat was one of the highlights of my life. I trusted her with every feeling that came up for me. I am grateful to Anastasia for her compassionate work. I would recommend it to anyone ready to breathe a new light into his or her life.”
-Rev. Gary Canier, Oahu, HI
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If you feel the Generational Soul™ work could benefit you in your process, let's find a time to talk so you can learn more and we can find a time to meet. If you'd like to talk before scheduling a session, contact me.r