Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Technique
Conscious Connected Breathwork involves a long inhale through the mouth, deep into the abdomen, followed by a shorter, softer exhale as the diaphragm relaxes and releases. The exhale is more like a ‘letting go’. It’s a diaphragmatic breath which stretches the often-constricted dome shaped muscle which sits under the rib cage.
The diaphragm is an important emotional area and often holds the tension and stress of a lifetime of shallow breathing. My teacher, breath worker, Alan Dolan calls the diaphragm, the ‘Fear Belt’ because the breath can be ‘held in’ or restricted as a response to the fight, flight, freeze mechanism of the nervous system.
When we push away uncomfortable feelings, say ‘Yes’ when we mean ‘No’; swallow uncomfortable emotions; and bottle them up for fear of expressing unacceptable emotions like anger or fear; we often hold our breath. Even a tiny breath hold can leave its mark on how deep we breath and how our nervous system responds over time.
Fully extending the diaphragm during a breath triggers the vagus nerve to activate the body’s relaxation system - the parasympathetic nervous system - which lowers the body’s stress or sympathetic nervous system response, so we rest and digest.
When the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, by a series of conscious connected breaths, we begin to relax, feel safe, calm, peaceful and when supported by a breathwork facilitator we can begin to process emotions we have previously been unable to let go of.
It’s known as a connected or circular breath because there are no pauses at either end. As soon as you complete an exhale you inhale again. This creates a momentum or rhythm that, as we get deeper into the breathe, feels like the breath is ‘breathing us’ rather than the other way round.
It’s conscious because we remain focussed on the breath and when our attention wanders we bring it back to the breath just as you would in a meditation practice. This helps the mind relax and access deeper more expansive parts of the mind that enhance feelings of wellbeing and joy.
Nose v Mouth
The intention with this style of breathwork is always to bring in more Oxygen or Prana or Qi so that we fully open up your respiratory system. Mouth breathing, can bring in more oxygen at a greater volume, and more rapidly, than nose breathing. Breathing through the nose has huge physiological benefits; it’s how we should breathe most of the time. Our noses are designed to slow down and warm up air as it enters the body and the hairs within our noses trap unwanted dust, viruses, and bacteria. However, just while practicing this particular technique, we use the mouth and focus first on grounding the breath into the abdomen and down through the legs and feet before then opening up the chest and upper emotional areas or energy centres.
