The Philosophy of the Breath

Why Breathwork is so much more than a fad

Breathwork is such an incredible tool. And that’s what it is. A tool. It’s not meant to be sold as a cure all. It is not going to cure cancer and it is definitely not for everyone.

OK now that I’ve got that out-of-the-way; I do believe that it’s mostly for everyone. Yes there are contraindications, but what I love about this magnificent tool is that it is powered by the one thing that every single human being out there is not only able but is obligated to partake in. Breathing!

The thing is; over the last decade or so it has become just another commodity in the wellness/spiritual sphere and weekend long certification trainings to become a facilitator are a dime a dozen. What’s wilder is that I know that there are many people out there being “certified” as a Breathwork practitioner, but they don’t even have their own practice. Perhaps they’ve never even lay down and had a in-depth meditative Breathwork experience themselves. Sigh.

I myself have done hundreds of hours of training and have hundreds more facilitation hours under my belt. I’ve done one on one. I’ve done virtual. I’ve done it in person. I’ve done large groups. I’ve done retreats. I’ve been on stage with a Britney Spears mic breathing people. I’ve led 10 minute sessions, two minute sessions, 90 minute plus sessions. And I am still learning. And I am teaching (more on that to come).

Breathing for a Meaning

The cool thing about Breathwork is that you don’t have to attach philosophy to it if you don’t want to. I have studied in the more shamanic realm of breathwork and I’ve trained in very practical functional breathwork too. I’ve studied on the spiritual and scientific ends of the spectrum and each teacher that I have learned from have their own unique imprint on the practice and what it means to them and how they speak to its magnificence.

And the really cool thing about Breathwork is that all you have to do is do it in order to reap the benefits. You don’t have to believe anything. You don’t even have to believe that it works. In fact, here’s the funny thing; many people breathe with me for the very first time and get to the end of the session and say “nothing really happened”. But the more they come, the more they visit the mat, the more they put their eye mask on and work with me - the more they start to recognize the subtle shifts: usually like better sleep, feeling a sense of calm immediately after the session that eventually seeps into other areas of their lives. And my favorite is when they tell me they start to find themselves daydreaming more; perhaps considering aspects of their lives that they’ve not put much thought to - or they all of a sudden feel creative and want to start taking singing lessons or dance class or painting.

The truth is; that at some point when we slow down enough to pay attention to our breath, what we’re really doing is slowing down to pay attention to ourselves.

Yes, there are lots of incredible teachers out there that will pound the drum, crank the music, yell at you and get you really amped up during the Breathwork session but there’s also something to be said about a simple, peaceful and quiet rendezvous with your heart; brought on by the simple meditative action of following your breath as it travels in and out of your body.

I’ll be the first to admit the way I facilitate Breathwork skews a little bit on the spiritual side. While I do consider myself a chameleon in that I can make this practice land for people both in corporate settings and at ayahuasca retreat centers; I think what sets my style apart is that I often guide my participants into a deep rhythm with the breath and then through deep exploration, using guided visualization and quasi Hypnosis style techniques. And lately, it’s been less let’s dig into our trauma, and more, let’s explore the beauty that is YOU in the here now and meditate on the frequency of what’s possible for the future.

I find this to be one of the sweet spots doing this kind of work, especially since I am not a trained therapist and as someone who also worked deep in the trauma retrieval/psychedelic space for so long; I will admit that I am tired of expecting people must sift through their darkness in order to find the light…

Breathwork and nervous system regulation

Breathwork can help us expand our capacity. When we actively work with our breath, we are consciously stressing the body in a contained and safe way so that it can begin to understand that stress does not always equal immediate danger. As we breathe, we can work to teach the body and the mind simultaneously that our window of tolerance, (a.k.a. the window in which we are able to function optimally without our body freaking out and wanting to slide into fight, flight or freeze) is something that we can increase, work with, and expand.

Our life’s experiences, upbringing, limiting beliefs, stories, traumas, adverse childhood experiences - you name it - all have some effect on our window of tolerance. Not to mention the everyday stresses of constantly binging phones, high stress jobs, needy bosses, traffic - all of it! Our bodies have begun to recognize the simplest and smallest stresses as being catastrophic. Breathwork allows us to examine these stories and re-pattern the body’s response to stress so that not only can we stay calmer in the mundane stresses of life, but this work also begins to teach the body (and this is the more important bit) how to more quickly move from a stressed state back into a relaxed, parasympathetic state, and that is the money, my friend!

Breathing into the TRUTH

In my decade working with Breathwork, one of the raddest things I have witnessed for myself and others is that sometimes this work can be more powerful than any other practices or substances like psychedelics.

When I worked full-time in a psychedelic space, there was always a number of people who would come to me at the end of their experience saying that they got more out of the Breathwork than they did the plant medicine.

I think a big reason for this is that some folks are just wise to the fact sooner than others that anything outside of our ourselves is never going to bring us back to ourselves better than ourselves.

That’s what’s so cool about Breathwork. It’s us doing the work with us.

And I will mention as an aside that I do believe that the breath is more than just the breath. As I said, I don’t believe you have to believe anything in order for it to work, but if you wanna hear about my philosophy, I do believe that the breath stands to represent something greater than us moving through us… a.k.a. Spirit, prana, life force, the Universe, the ONE.

Think about it: if you’ve ever tried to hold your own breath til death (which I do not recommend), the funny thing is you wouldn’t be able to do it. Your body would faint and then you would keep on breathing in your unconscious state. Our bodies are breathed all day every day without us asking.

AND while breathing is completely automatic, we do also have the ability to switch on our awareness and control it to a certain degree (this is breathwork!). Another way to say this is that while most autonomic functions in the body are strictly out of our control, breathing is a unique exception that runs on autopilot, but our brain allows our somatic nervous system (voluntary system) to take over so we can speak, sing, or change, speed up, slow down, or hold your breath. There’s got to be reason for this…it’s a built in tool for living and healing.

Why Breathwork, Why Now?

Over this past year as I pivoted most of my work towards entrepreneurship, business coaching and web design, I thought I needed to put my breathwork business down. I believed that it would be too confusing (and maybe too much) to maintain my breathwork programs and offers while simultaneously working to build my new brand in the digital marketing space.

The moment I brought this idea up to the ladies inside my virtual breathwork program, they countered saying that after 8 rounds of the program, they couldn’t go on without it (in this program we gather live on Zoom every week to connect, share, laugh and practice breathwork and sisterhood). As I was considering this I was also invited to speak to breathwork as a leadership tool in both a retreat environment and at several in-person events for women in business.

Around the same time I was working with some website design clients who, once we had their beautiful sites ready to go live online, came up against their ego and stories about what it meant to “put themselves out there”. Their fear of being seen and stepping into their brand, needed some real coaching and nervous system work.

This is when I had an aha moment. I didn’t need to compartmentalize the practices that I knew worked in the name of a new business model. In fact, the more I leaned into this beautiful pairing of business and breathwork, the more I realized just how much sense they make together. After all, I myself have long used my breath as a tool to settle nerves, reconnect to my vision, and to regroup after a tough meeting or before having to send a serious email or boundaried message.

The Brand That Breathes Experience

What has birthed from this last decade is my signature branding and web design offer: The Brand That Breathes Experience. This is where vision, mission, message, business, branding and embodiment meet. Yes, at the end of the experience you will have a shiny new website and brand that matches who you are becoming. But perhaps even more important is that your brand reflects who you are evolving into and can breathe and be and shift and pivot as you do - because you are a living breathing being that doesn’t belong inside any boxes.

We do some identity work. We breathe. We dive deep into your why, your vision, your ideal buyer. I support you through your resistance around being bold and hold you at your visibility edges…And then you get to rock out into the world in your new branded digs.

When you commit to the Brand that Breathes Experience you are not just committing to a new brand and website.

You are declaring and stepping into the version of you ready to hold your elevated business and income, visibility, and power it brings.

Curious to learn more? Head here.

And as for my breathwork programs? Stay tuned. Round #10 of Breath Alchemy Circle is getting an upgrade. And we start in October.

And if you have ever thought about becoming a breathwork facilitator yourself a heads up - I will be helping lead a teacher training later this year!

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I am also working on a new mini-course The Brand That Breathes: A Four-Step Process for Reconnecting to Who You’re Becoming.

This isn’t a branding course. It’s an identity course.

A chance to pause, take stock of where you are, and reconnect with the woman you’re evolving into beneath the expectations, roles, responsibilities, and noise.

Whether you’re navigating a career change, a relationship shift, motherhood, an empty nest, a business pivot, recovery, reinvention, or simply feeling the pull toward something more authentic, this work is for you.

If you want to get on the list to get first dibs when this course is available (for free!), Please head over to my podcast and (hopefully) give me a 5-star review. Take a screen shot and send it to me here or on Instagram at @coachmegpearson and I will put you on the VIP list to have it sent to your inbox when the course is available!