What is Breathwork?
Breathwork is simply patterns of intentional breathing, sometimes accompanied by music and facilitated by someone else (like me!). I absolutely love sharing breathwork because I find that it can be so powerful – both as a spiritual practice and as a method of encouraging adaptation/change in the brain. Through these mechanisms, it can help you access your parasympathetic nervous system, allowing access to rest and relaxation.
Breathing happens when we don’t think about it but we also have the ability to control our breath – this is truly amazing! We can control our breath and in turn, how we breathe impacts the whole body. We all have a baseline breathing pattern, something that has come to feel normal for us & is affected by our posture, any tension we’re holding, life experiences, stresses & trauma.
Breathwork can help us learn new patterns, stop the “busy mind” from taking over, allow for emotional processing, decrease anxiety & allow the body to just “be”.
Breathing patterns can activate both arms of the autonomic nervous system: both the sympathetic (flight, fight, freeze) and parasympathetic (rest, digest, relax); both systems play a role in our health and by activating each in our breathwork we can develop more flexibility between them. Practising breathing patterns that move between each arm of the autonomic nervous system really allows us to build a wider window of tolerance, teaching our body that we can go from one to the other & not get “stuck”.
Here’s what people are saying about breathwork….
“The breathwork with Alyssa helped me to come to rest in God’s presence. I had engaged in some previous mindfulness/meditation/breathwork previously where they often asked you to “let your thoughts wash over you like waves and return to your breath.” Instead of having us disengage from what was going on in our minds, Alyssa guided us to gather those worries as we breathed in and hand them over to Jesus as we breathed out. As a result of this, at the end of the breathwork, I was able to simply rest in God’s presence, having handed over my cares to Him.
Alyssa allowed us as participants to have autonomy over how we wanted to engage in the exercises and to breathe in the way that felt most comfortable for us. This helped me to feel more relaxed and natural, which I think laid the groundwork of safety to deepen our engagement. I loved how she guided us to Jesus through the use of Scripture and song. Thank-you, Alyssa!”
“Breathwork was what I needed in this busy season. Intentional time to slow down, to be present, and to soak in scripture while focusing on the breath God has given me was a gift.”
“Before the session I didn’t have any experience or understanding of breathwork. I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a working mom, life is busy and chaotic. It can be hard to find the time to stop and take a moment for myself, let alone stop to breathe. The breathwork session allowed me to relax and release the tensions of the day/ weeks. As I participated in the rest breath, I was able to focus on the scriptures being read and soak in God’s truth. The session gave me the space to relax and not feel guilty about taking time for myself. After the session I felt relaxed and filled at the same time. Overall it was a good introduction to breathwork, and Alyssa made it easy and comfortable.”