Breath Body Works. What does that mean, anyway? A few people have been willing to ask me this question. Others just ask “What, again, is the name of the business I should write on my check?” They ask this same question every time they come and have a session. And still others just go ahead and write ‘breath and body works’ on the check and call it good. Close enough, right? 

Well, I thought it may be time to explain. Honestly, the name literally just came to me as breath body work, for the work I was doing personally with individual clients. I noticed how the intention of my own breath, when directed upon a certain area of a client’s body, could profoundly change the result of the work. I was often surprised to see how things softened and aligned when I directed my breath and intention upon a specific physical issue. It was from the inquiry of why this was so that Breath Body Works was born. 

Yoga has an entire limb (there are eight limbs of yoga) dedicated solely to the breath, called pranayama. Prana is defined as vital energy (breath), and yama is translated from Sanskrit as self control. Yogis have been using the control of the breath to elevate their experiences for thousands of years. This one limb alone could be studied for the entirety of one’s life, it is so full, and rich and mystical.

My use of breath and body together is to bring to your understanding that the breath is unique; it is an autonomic system we can have control of through our awareness. You can be advised to “take a deep breath,” and you can do that by using your mind to direct your lungs to take in a deep breath. Yet, should you never have your brain tell your body to take a deep breath, it would continue to breathe for you. This ability to control the breath has great power. First and foremost, it brings us to the present moment, which is the only thing that really exists anyway. I would say that being within the present moment of the only thing that really exists could be very powerful, yeah?

Secondly, by breathing deeply from the low belly, we immediately begin to change our physiology. The sympathetic nervous system which runs the body’s nervous system during times of stress, such as running from the tiger, creates a hormonal soup within us that helps us to have the fuel to run, but is extremely taxing to our system over the long haul. The problem so many people have is they are in this state ALL THE TIME! When we are breathing from our chest and not from the low belly, allowing the diaphragm to fully drop down and contract, our sympathetic nervous system is running the show and telling our entire being “DANGER! DANGER!” 

Some of us have been in this state, literally, for decades! If we remain unconscious about this, our adrenal system, which pumps out all the danger signals to our body, will eventually give out. 

We were not meant to be on high alert for long periods of time. This is the beginning of auto immune disorders and chronic pain. Our system was functionally designed to run away and then rest. It is within the restful state that we come back into a level of peace and homeostasis. 

We can bring ourselves back to this state just by bringing our awareness to our breath, breathing deeply from our low belly. 

Conscious breath triggers the parasympathetic nervous system, which floods our body with rest and digest hormones. It is only then that our body can begin to heal and rebuild. So, if you have a business that is centered on the idea of helping people heal naturally, without the use of pharmaceutical drugs, breath has to be central.  

The breath is also central to bringing us into awareness of our body. It is what connects our mind to our body. I could get all esoterically involved in a discussion about what “the mind” is, but for now, let’s call it that part of us that allows our consciousness to feel and be present within our physical bodies and within the present moment. For most of us, that is a lot on its own. But it is only within that space that we can be present and heal. Have you ever heard the term, “you have to feel it to heal it?” The statement acknowledges we can only heal that which we are aware of. Awareness gives us opportunity to respond. 

For example, when you become aware of a tightness or blockage while being worked on by your massage therapist, awareness of your body will help assist a massage therapist in the releasing of fascial adhesions, or parts of you that are stuck, by bringing your breath to assist in the release. Conscious awareness allows you to be able to find a specific muscle that needs to be engaged while doing postural alignment; we have to bring our mind to our body to find what needs to be working. I often find clients are confounded when I ask them to contract a specific muscle, and they cannot do it, despite their best effort. A muscle that hasn’t been working has been asleep and is literally unconscious. 

So much of what our physical body does on a daily basis is unconscious and automatic. It is my goal and passion to bring the body-mind-breath connection to my clients in order for them to learn to heal themselves. Ultimately, real healing only comes from the work we do ourselves. I am a humble vessel intending to help you connect these pieces together in a way that makes it yours.