A Holotropic Breathwork Experience
On Saturday Pat and I attended our second Holotropic Breathwork experience with two Grof Holotropic Breathwork facilitators who work in Lexington, KY, Andreas Schmitz PhD and Regina Forster MD. We went to a meeting the night before where Andreas and Regina led the class of breathers through some of the work of Stanislav and Christina Grof regarding Holotropic Breathwork. The previous session had been positive for both Pat and me, and so we looked forward to this one as well.
The Saturday workshop consisted of two 3-hour breath sessions in pairs, with one witnessing and one breathing. One breathed in the AM and one in the afternoon. Pat’s time was in the morning, as I witnessed her. My time was in the afternoon, as she witnessed me.
What did I experience this time?
First was a process discovery. I have done other forms of breathwork many times. I had always thought that my “flailing about” during the breathwork meant “good breathwork session.” But Saturday I found this was not correct, again for me in this particular session. At other times the flailing about might arise, but this time it wasn’t until my flailing about ended that I settled into a deep space of altered consciousness.
In that deeper space here is what I experienced. About an hour and a half into the session (a guess on my part, for time disappears) I felt my heart being healed, it seemed literally so. It swelled, it warmed. It was beautiful. Uncontrollable tears of joy filled my eyes. Then I felt an intensification of my embodiment, my incarnation. I was really embodied.
From there I moved on to experience the healing of my relationship with my family of origin as they circled around me on the”other side,” it seemed. It was beautiful. This was followed by a time when I found myself in a deep void, facing away from some center, facing a deep darkness. Sacred. Then suddenly there were children all around and finally I had a sense of profound oneness.
I knew the session was over, though the full three hours had not elapsed. I was complete. And I felt a pain arising in my shoulder hinting at what might come next. But it did not seem the time. I stopped. Afterwards we each drew mandalas representing out experience and then, before ending, joined in a group and shared experiences. It had been a good day.
I notice today, the day after, that my body feels healthier, more alive in some way. It seemed important to share this experience as it relates to my path. Pat and I shall likely do this quarterly for a while.