Breathwork for Sound Facilitators Notes 

• Setting breath meditation

  • Gratitude for breach, gratitude for each breath

  • Gratitude for teachings, and those, named and unnamed, known and unknown, who have stewarded into this present moment, through the challenges of this dimension.

• Outline

  • I will begin zoomed out and gradually zoom in, there will be an opportunity for questions between each section

  • Language and Preparation

  • Voice and Personal Practice

  • Structure and Spectrums of Breath

  • Supplemented

  • Un-supplemented

  • Preparation and Integration

  • Questions

• My perspective on the language of breath

  • Breath, like sound, is a fundamental and foundation phenomena, and the metaphors we use with breath, like sound, tend to be universally applicable. This is an invitation to be particularly cognizant of the vocabulary we’re using, as participants often internalize and generalize our labels.

  • Resonant words: empowerment, bloom, arise, invite, facilitate, unfold, unearth, process, integrate, transform, relationship, connection, space, spaciousness, expansion, receptive, open, heartful, healthful, trust, guide, source, relevant, experience, sustainably, rejuvenate, reify.

  • Words to think twice about: shamanic, heal, change, fix, hack, goal, achieve, force, therapy, spirit, god, truth, need, must, don’t, cant, should, shouldn’t.

  • Examples:

    • This shamanic breathwork is a way to hack your nervous system and mood. You should stay on the beat the whole time, and if you do, your spirit will heal you.

  • Particularly for the more intense supplemented or extended breathwork sessions, the preparatory talk is hugely relevant to offering a sustainably transformative experience. General rule of thumb, talk until you feel the room has understood the undertaking, you can always shorten the experience or go over time, but you can’t re-prepare someone.

    • I’ve had many participants report thinking that they were dying. This is powerful work, and the invitation is to be mindful of the depth of the work.

  • The language we model greatly informs participant’s experience. Language that is relevant to transformation supports sustainable transformation.

  • Questions

• Voice and personal practice

  • The most relevant skill in sharing breath is practicing breath.

    • Daily practice

    • Being a participant

    • Curiosity, play, and learning

  • Particularly for the more intense experiences, the character of our voice (verbal prompts, and the sound of our modeled breathing, can be uniquely supportive at a layer underneath language.

    • There is a coaxing out of the breath that asks for our confidence.

    • Confidence is developed and shared through personal practice, practice facilitating, and doing your own study of the effects of breath – don’t take my word for it!

  • Reflections

    • What do you feel you should deeply know to be able to express confidence that breath is safe and transformative?

    • How can we demonstrate the sort of breath we are suggesting with our own breath and intonation? Can we listen to ourself and follow our own suggestions while also facilitating? How can we also be part of the experience, while being fully available to support?

  • Questions

• Structure and Spectrums of Breath

  • Structure

    • In, hold at top, out, and hold at bottom

    • These are the building blocks of any breath pattern. In many patterns, one or two blocks are removed, shifted, or “batched.”

  • Spectrums

    • Chest to diaphragm

    • Mouth to nose

    • 1 dimensional to 3 dimensional

    • Vibrational to subtle

    • Holding to continuous

    • Holding at top to holding at bottom

    • Single breath to multiple of the same breath block in a row

  • Questions

• Supplemented

  • Supplemented is a more intense variant of un-supplemented. The same principles hold true, but tend to be more relevant in supplemented due to enhanced receptivity and intensity.

    • The rhythmic to unpredictable spectrum

    • Responding to the energy of the room, rather than a planned script

    • Verbal prompting while drumming/snapping/breathing along

      • It was difficult for me, I suggest independently practicing keeping a beat while prompting.

  • Hands on work

    • I have yet to provide hands on support during a supplemented experience

  • Let your prompting the room be individually supportive, avoid singling anyone out.

    • Allow your presence near someone to be supportive, sometimes participants feel like they need permission to breathe, and being nearby can provide that – without disempowering them.

  • Duration of breath sprints

    • This varies widely, usually between 2 and 10 minutes

    • Observer the room, listen to the sounds people are making

    • Pausing for breath holds gives people a break

    • I try and balance the push of the breath with the pull of the hold

    • Is everyone breathing along, or are people loosing the signal? Sometimes breath holds bring people back into coherence, sometimes the invitation is to move through the resistance by providing more support and continuing the breath

  • Duration of breath holds

    • My method is to hold my breath along with the participants or count to make sure I’m not holding too long.

    • You may want to look at a timer, I prefer not to, as it pulls me out of the experience and blocks my listening to the room.

    • I hold the breath for a moment at the top, most of the hold I do at the base of the breath.

  • Questions

• Un-supplemented

  • The relevant duration, pattern, intensity, etc. of breath before and un-supplemented meditation varies widely. I would go as far as to say avoid rigidly planning specifically what you’ll be doing.

  • Variables to conisder

    • How much time do you have total?

      • Remember the longer you spend on the breath, the more time it is relevant to prepare people for it.

    • What level of intensity can the room hold?

    • Did people show up more to have their minds blown or introspect?

    • Breathwork is powerful, and like working with all powerful tools, facilitating can be ego-inflating.

      • Are you doing intense breathwork for shock value, or to facilitate peoples’ transformation?

      • More intense does mean better, even if the room seems like it can handle it.

    • What breath would you like to do? I like joining in to harmonize with the room. Have fun! Breath also prepares you to facilitate. If you practice regularly on your own, you will develop more of an instinctual understanding of what is relevant.

    • Personally, in my last few un-supplemented meditations open to the general public at yoga studios, I’ve done 1-2 rounds 2ish minute paced breathing with 30ish second holds at the bottom. However, this could all change at my next facilitation.

  • Questions

• Preparation and Integration

  • In my coaching practice, in preparing people for supplement assisted sound meditations, and to just about anyone who is curious – I love sharing simple, accessible, and empowering breath guidance.

    • Building any personal practice is often challenging, particularly making it sustainable

    • I often suggest people start with 10 breaths right when they wake up, then building from there based on their curiosity.

    • From my perspective, it is more important that people experience success, and follow the charm of their own breath, rather than learning any specific pattern.

  • For preparation regular breath practice attunes people to their upcoming meditative experience, making the depth practice during more accessible, while also setting the stage for their integration

  • For integration regular breath practice is a reliable way to dip back into the experience and gather insight. It can also serve as a pillar, around which other presence practices can be more easily added in.

  • Questions

• Questions