top of page
Breathing Back To You - Breathwork Meditation Therapy in Atlanta Georgia_edited.jpg
Breathing Back To You - Breathwork Atlanta.png

Breathing Back To You

What is Breathwork and why are people so obsessed with it? 

 

Breathwork is the hottest wellness trend as it is a technique that manipulates the breath to achieve a desired outcome. Breathwork has its roots in Pranayama (Sanskrit for controlling the breath). Breathwork fosters profound awareness and connection with the self, others and nature to provide the groundwork for profound personal development.

 

You can use it to help you sleep, calm down, or control your panic attacks. Although breathwork exercises may sound easy, they actually have a profound effect on our moods and can even elevate us. Breathwork is now mainstream due to studies that show how we breathe actually has profound effects on our mental health and physical well-being. Breathwork will always continue to gain momentum because of innovative people (such as Alexa Shackelford) who is taking the art of breathwork to new audiences and expanding its reach into new areas.

 

Breathwork is when you are conscious of your breathing and begin to use it to create a mental, physical or emotional benefit for yourself. Breathing techniques can be used to transform and heal. Each of us has the ability to control our breathing to achieve the desired outcome.

 

You might have heard of breathwork in the context of respiratory health. Breathwork is an activity that helps you breathe more effectively. Breathwork is also catching on in the psychology niche! It's a big part of mindfulness, a movement coming out of Humanistic Psychology. Breathwork will help you become more aware of your entire body, your thoughts and feelings. It can also help to calm you down during events such as panic attacks.

 

Breathwork is being used in a variety of creative ways by practitioners ranging from rehabilitation and fitness to trauma and PTSD relief. Breathwork is a trend that shows how much of the medicine for wellness is found in the people-to-people connections and community abroad. People who breathe together consciously over the course of time start to share a common bond which transcends rational explanations or words. 

 

A great example of this can be found with the formal greeting between the Maori culture whereas they share the breathe of life (put each others nose up to each other) upon greeting and leaving every time.

 

Breathwork provides amazing benefits such as:

Reduce Stress & Anxiety

Increase Energy Levels

Eliminate Toxins

Improve Sleep

Improve Creativity

Induce Flow States

Address Past Traumas

Increase Athletic Performance & Cardio-vascular Health

 

Breathwork teaches you how to bring more ease into your daily life. Science has shown that breathwork's oxygenating effects can help to lower anxiety and support a stronger immune system. There are many types of active breathwork, including but not limited to:

 

Holotropic Breathwork

Box Breathing

Healing Meditation

Breathing Meditation

Grounding Meditation

Spiritual Meditation

Full Moon Meditation

Root Chakra Meditation

Spirit Guide Meditation

Crystal Meditation

Sound Bath Healing

Vibration Healing

Breathing Therapy

Breathwork Teacher

Meditation Retreats

 

All of these breathing regimens share the practice of “active breathing”. Active breathing is done with an open and relaxed jaw. Active breathing is a two-part breathing technique recommended by some breathwork teachers whereas you breathe in through the belly, then into the chest and out through your mouth.

 

Active breathwork helps us connect deeply with our emotions. If you have experienced trauma or any type of PTSD/major anxiety; you should not try active breathing without the guidance of a professional facilitator. It can be overwhelming and triggering when you are not properly ready for it.

 

Breathwork refers to just about any kind of breathing exercises or methods. Breathing Back To You performs various breathwork therapy and breathing exercises to improve mental, physiological and spiritual well-being. During breathwork you intentionally modify your breathing pattern. You will find many forms of breathwork therapy that involve breathing in a conscious and systematic method.

 

The physical benefits of breathwork are often immediate. By breathing deeply, you can activate your parasympathetic nervous system, also in change, slow off your heart rate and reduce your blood-pressure thus creating a feeling of relaxation. You also use your diaphragm instead of your torso; inviting your neck and torso muscles to curl up and engage your abs and also a larger volume of oxygen to accomplish your system's cells and organs. 

 

Breathwork helps you accomplish a more profound state of mind. Whilst in this state, you could be able to access concealed emotions, grudges, and traumas and ultimately release yourself from their grip on your mental state. Breathwork is often used to help people that have mental health issues and is seen as a way to calm and focus your mind.

 

Breathwork can also be spiritual. When you exercise, you can move beyond your entire body and mind, and also connect with your core spiritual Self. In other words, you can connect to your true authentic self as well as with the Universe at large. Many people who do breathwork experience spiritual awakenings with their inner being!

 

Breathwork consciously manipulates our breath more than a period of time for a desirable outcome. Breathwork is not meditation or yoga, although it can become quite a component of every one. A breathwork teacher manipulates the breath during unique patterns, lengths, and also repetitions of inhalation, exhalation, and retention (holding your breath).

 

Think of this general concept of "breathwork" like a Swiss Army knife that you can take out at any time and find the perfect technique for whatever you're dealing with. Breathwork can function as the meditation, or breathwork can be the focus along with perhaps the intention of this meditation. 

 

Breathwork is a lively meditation procedure that uses breathing to purge the body and nervous system of emotional debris, It facilitates a disconnection from the mind and thoughts, and a connection for one's center. Breathwork is one of the most powerful resources we have to activate the vagus nerve and improve the brain and also mind-body connection.

 

Deep breathing (sometimes called diaphragmatic breathing) is another form of breathwork that enables far more additional air to move into your entire body and can help calm your nerves, thus reducing stress and anxiety. It can also help you better your attention span and lower back-pain levels. 

 

Inhaling profoundly might actually not calm you down or get you the result you desire. Taking a deep breath in; is actually linked to the nervous system which controls the fight-or-flight response. However, exhaling is linked to the parasympathetic nervous system, which influences our body's power to curl up and relax. 

 

Deep breathing breathwork is one of the best approaches to reduce stress in the body. This is because when you breathe, it sends a message into your brain to calm down and relax. The brain then sends this message to your entire body. 

 

The things that come about when you could be stressed are: 

 

Increased Heart Rate

Faster Breathing 

High Blood Pressure

Overwhelming Anxiety and/or Depression

 

When you are doing proper breathwork; your system no longer feels there is a threat. You're basically telling your brain there's time to breathe, or so the tiger (as they say) is no longer chasing you. It is safe to settle down and stop the flight, struggle, or freeze reaction.

 

Breathwork allows you to take deeper breaths and really interrupt that stress cycle, allowing your brain to settle down. Breathwork does not always come naturally, therefore here is a simple check-list to see if you're breathing properly.

 

Place one hand on your belly and the other on your chest area. Simply take a breath in a way that feels normal to you and release it. If the hand on your belly rises more than your other hand on your chest; then congratulations! You are deep breathing properly!

 

In the event the hand on your chest rises higher than your hand on your belly; then this means your breathing is shallow. It doesn't mean anything is wrong with you; it just means that you require some practice to master your breathing therapy. With the help of Breathing Back To You; Alexa Shackelford will help you break the cycle of stress and anxiety, setting you free to experience life once again!

 

For many, deep breathwork seems unnatural. There are lots of reasons why this is the case. For one, body image places a negative influence on breathing in our current culture. A flat tummy is considered attractive, therefore women (and men) tend to hold in their gut muscles. This interferes with profound breathing and gradually makes shallow chest breathing seem ordinary; which increases tension and stress.

 

Deep breathwork encourages an entire oxygen exchange; which is the advantageous trade of incoming air for outgoing carbon dioxide. Not surprisingly, it can impede down the heartbeat and lower or stabilize your blood pressure.

bottom of page