Changing your state without talking your way there
The breath is the one part of the nervous system you can operate on purpose. That makes it the shortest route into a state you cannot think your way out of.
The one lever you can reach
Yogic breath work is the intentional control, regulation, and extension of the breath. It pairs specific patterns of inhaling, exhaling, and holding the breath to unite the mind and body, boost vitality, and prepare for meditation.
You cannot decide to lower your heart rate, or to stop bracing. Almost everything the nervous system does happens without asking you. Breathing is the exception — it runs on its own and it also takes instruction, which makes it a door into the rest.
“I teach and guide clients in yogic breathwork to locate blocks in the body where trauma has been stored. I then gently direct clients to pull through blocks, and to release them using movement. Clients feel a clearing, a lightness and a freedom at each session.”
How it goes
We locate
Yogic breathwork is how we find the blocks — the places in the body where trauma has been stored. You do not have to know where they are beforehand; the breath tends to find them.
We pull through
I gently direct you to pull through the block rather than around it. Slowly, and never further than you want to go.
We release
The block releases through movement. What clients describe afterwards is a clearing, a lightness, a freedom.
We land
Every session ends with getting you back in the room and steady enough to drive home. That is not optional and it is not rushed.
So that you can do it without me
My hope is that clients soon learn to do this on their own, having learned a system of nervous system activation, and regulation that they can use in any situation for the rest of their lives.
A simple grounding gesture: hand to heart. Feel your breath. Return to here.
When we would not do this
Stronger breathing patterns are not right for everyone, and that is a clinical judgement rather than a preference. We would talk it through, and use gentler work instead, if any of the following applies to you.
[Sharon to confirm and edit this list to match the patterns she actually uses]
- Pregnancy.
- Cardiovascular conditions, or uncontrolled high blood pressure.
- Epilepsy or a seizure history.
- Recent surgery, or a detached retina.
- A history of psychosis, or current unmanaged severe mental illness.
- [Anything else Sharon screens for]
Over video
Breathwork works over telehealth, with one change: we agree beforehand that you are somewhere safe, that someone knows you are doing it if the session is a strong one, and that you stay on the call until you are properly back. [Confirm Sharon's telehealth breathwork policy]
Not sure if this is for you?
Ask on the consultation call. I will tell you honestly whether breathwork fits what you are dealing with, or whether we would start somewhere else entirely.