What is the purpose of breathwork?

You might wonder how it can clear trauma. Effiji Breath focuses counter-intuitively on breathing through the mouth, in the chest, and focused on the inhale. 

This method was shown to me when I had just completed a 5 week voice training in 1990 where all of our breath training was about breathing slowly, evenly, through the nose and into the belly. Everything I was taught as a singer at that point was about relaxing the breath and getting it down into the belly. My understanding was that relaxed breathing like you might do when you are sleeping was in the nose, into the belly. I was also looking into meditation practices which involved not “doing” any breathing at all but watching the breath breathe by itself. Having had a lot of vocal training at that point as a student and teacher, studying the correct use of the diaphragm I was a little surprised when my guide told me we were going to breathe for an hour, through the mouth into the chest. Frankly, it wasn’t simply that it went against my training. I was a little scared. How would I sustain it? What might happen? Would I pass out? It all sounded a little dangerous.

When the breathwork began I felt a rush of energy that was exciting but after one minute I began to get scared, emotional, and out of control and wanted to stop. Over that hour he kept encouraging me to go through it and get to the other side. That other side turned out to be the calmest, most free, natural breath I had ever had. I went home and sang that night like I had never before. I felt so peaceful, creative and clear. There is no doubt that that one experience changed my perspective on what breathwork was and changed the course of the rest of my life. So much so that here in 2021, I am still talking about it.

Breathwork is the conscious use of your breath whose purpose is to give you access to the chi or energy that is contained in every breath you take. Every method has value especially when a teacher gives you a practice whose progress you track together. If you feel that you have deep unseated patterns that are affecting the quality of your life then Effiji Breath is probably the type of practice to do. It is not something you do on your own. You need a beginning, middle and end. The facilitators job is to hold space for the patterns to arise and make sure it’s cleared out for good. If I had done my first breathwork session on my own I would have stopped after one minute.

There is nothing more important or powerful than your breath. Try living without it! You can go without food and even water for a small period of time but you need your breath all the time. To work with it consciously is to work with your life consciously. Your breath gives you direct access to the force of the universe that has given you life in the first place. It is no doubt a powerful tool.