What is CCB?
I studied Cosmic breath in India where the Himalayan yogis have practiced for thousands of years. Then continued to study variations on this ancient practice which are known by their trademark names such as Holotropic breathing, Transformational breath, Re-birthing , and the Wim Hof method. Conscious Connected Breathwork (CCB) is a type of therapy which opens the doorway into an altered state of consciousness. By accessing your subconscious, where you store your physical, mental and emotional blockages, caused by conditioning or circumstances in your life, you suddenly see the blockages in a different light and choose to release them. Holding on or suppressing blockages built up from as far back as birth to present day can use up to 75% of your bodies energy This leaves you constantly tired and can lead to physical illnesses.
Think of how many times in your life you have suppressed your tears, fears, anger, love and laughs because of your conditioning. Or you have experienced traumatic events and buried them which leads to can lead to mental problems such as PTSD or addiction as well as physical ones. CCB can be like opening a huge dam, letting these trapped emotions and experiences out, which are often inaccessible through conventional talking therapies. This is why on average I would recommend doing a four or six weekly block of sessions to start releasing your suppressed blockages.
The Method:
During my training with INNERCAMP I found their own trademark method of Conscious connected breathwork to be the safest and most effective circular pattern of breathing. The method consists of actively breathing in through the mouth then out without a pause. You actively open the mouth as if biting an apple and inflate the belly like a balloon you then exhale without force letting the belly softly deflate and continue this circular breathing pattern. By using specifically selected music to get you into a hypnotic type of rhythm, this can help change your brainwaves to Alpha making you calmer and relaxed . We then gradually build up the intensity of the breathing to reach a peak known as your energy cycle. When this is complete, we slow the breathing until you come back to your normal, resting breathing. The session includes grounding exercises, intention setting and I guide you through the whole process. The actual breathing session will take an hour which includes the resting phase – then we can have another 10 minutes in the meditative state please see below . At the end of the session there is time for reflection either by journaling, or if you feel comfortable you can share your experience during the closing circle.
Meditation
During the Breathwork session, once you have found your rhythm and your DMN – default mode network which houses your sense of self your ‘ego mind’ begins to quieten down . The volume of your running commentary on how ‘this won’t work, I need the loo, what shall I get for dinner’ dims so much that you can go into an altered state of consciousness – similar to plant medicine ceremonies such as Ayahuasca, the difference being with breathwork is that you are in control and can stop at any time and return to normal breathing at any time. When you experience an altered state of consciousness you can transcend the lower mind with all it’s worries, fears and the incessant monkey mind chattering. You may have tried to meditate before and have given up as the thoughts or voice in your head hasn’t stilled long enough for you to find the space in between the thoughts. This may have caused you to think you can’t meditate . CCB can bring you into a beautiful meditative state where your thoughts are quietened enough for you to create a samskara which is a Sanskrit word for an experience that leaves a trace . So when you next try a meditation practice I can give you some tips such as breathing exercises to do beforehand, an optional mantra or mudra (words and hand positions) coupled with the trace of your Breath-work experience all these will help you transcend the lower mind and find with a consistent practice how the gaps in between your thoughts keep growing and you have built up your own daily meditation practice with all the benefits that come with it.
Safety
The body will not bring up what it isn’t ready to let go of and you may find as you learn to trust the process you may go a little deeper on each session knowing how freeing it feels to finally let go of all the ‘rocks’ that have been weighing you down. If you do release traumas from your past I’ve had extensive training from holding a safe space, to being trauma informed, working on the prevention of medical hyperventilation, we do super-oxygenate the body but by not forcing out the exhale we don’t let the carbon dioxide reach such low levels to cause any problems. I monitor you throughout the process and lookout for the signs of Re-traumatisation if you haven’t been able to release the memory. This can be done by helping you calm down the breathing pattern or you can stop actively breathing. At the end of the session we can privately chat and I can sign-post you to a professionally trained therapist that can help you process it safely.