BREATHWORK MASTERY KEYNOTE LECTURE GIC 2024
CULTIVATING PRESENCE AND THERAPEUTIC EXCELLENCE THROUGH DEEP TRAINING
THERE IS NO HIGHWAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Because the therapeutic bond in Breathwork Therapy is extraordinary, merging emotional closeness with an intimate physical connection, guiding another human being through this deeply transformative process, we need to develop a profoundly balanced personality.
In essence, ‘Breathwork Mastery’ involves a journey from unbridled enthusiasm to a nuanced understanding, stressing the need for extensive training. As well as cautioning against the pitfalls of inadequate preparation in the evolving field of Breathwork.
– Universal Love – Basis of a Therapeutic Relationship in Breathwork
In any therapeutic relationship the foundation lies in establishing an authentic connection with individuals, by recognizing the inner resources within each human being, to lead a creative and spiritually fulfilled life.
Any therapeutic bond is nothing short of exceptional, rooted in profound respect, support, unwavering acceptance, and love. Unlike other therapeutic relationships, Breathwork takes it a step further, merging emotional closeness with an intimate physical connection. We are breathing together!
The result? A relationship that is not just whole but holy and sacred.
Love is meant here as Universal Love, a topic that has been debated by philosophers and theologians during many centuries. Universal Love often might seem impracticable or logically impossible.
Buddhism, Christianity, and other belief systems invite us to practice compassion, kindness, and love towards all beings, as a way to transcend egoism.
Universal Love may be challenging to achieve in practice. Nevertheless, it supports us to cultivate empathy, compassion, and understanding towards others. Exactly what we need to work therapeutically with other people.
It’s the basis for a good therapeutic relationship in Breathwork sessions!
This Takes Time!
– Some History
Back in the seventies, many breathworkers began the work with the conscious connected breath fuelled by pure enthusiasm but hardly supported by any substantial knowledge. The Mantra was simple, ‘It works’. The ‘Why’ or ‘How’ remained a mystery.
Despite this lack of understanding, my personal experiences with these early ‘rebirthers’ were positive, marked by a sense of warmth, support, and deep acceptance of all my emotions.
– My own Path of Development
My own journey into Breathwork started in 1978. I was inspired by some rebirthers I met in Findhorn, a spiritual community in North Scotland.
Back home, I received my first and very challenging rebirthing session with Hans de Leyser. It was quite awful. But in the midst through all the emotional struggle and physical pain, a voice in my head spoke loud and clear, “This is going to be your next career!” It felt like getting an order I had no choice but to obey.
Being from a generation that values thorough and methodical learning and studying, and due to my professional background in dance, I understood the importance and benefits of mastering a good technique.
I started getting as much private sessions as possible. The studying part appeared to be more complicated.
In those days, formal training programs were non-existent. So, I embarked on a global quest, seeking technique and knowledge from far and wide. Following Leonard Orr and other trainers, wherever they offered a training
In his book ‘Illusions – the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah’, Richard Bach wrote wisely, “Teach what you want to learn.”
So, I worked, began to teach, I learned, got paid, and gradually uncovered the complexities of this new career that would ultimately become my calling. Enriching my further life in many ways.
– Guardian Angel
After a couple of Breathwork workshops, I began to work with clients who found me in inexplicable ways. Today I know that I must have had the biggest, most experienced, and wonderful guardian angel, who kept me from horrible mistakes and guarded me through unknown land.
We, my husband and I, were fortunate to host Leonard Orr in our home for extended workshops each year. That’s why and where I learned first-hand from him the fine-tuned breathwork that till today forms the heart of my practice.
I remember one afternoon I was expecting a client. The previous day Leonard had given me one of those special sessions, where I had felt how towards the end my breathing and my energy fell together in one flowing rhythm. When he saw me being a bit nervous, he just said to me, “You did it yourself yesterday! Now you do it with someone else. Tell me about it at dinner.” So, that’s what I did. I copied him! It felt magical. It worked.
Despite his many invaluable teachings, Leonard’s statements like “Anyone with a belly button is a potential Rebirther.” and “You can start working after 10 sessions.” were then, and are now, to be viewed with great caution.
Fast forward 46 years and I witness another wave of inexperienced so-called “Breath Coaches.”
Having trained numerous Breathwork therapists over the years, my advice is unquestionable – Do not follow the path I took.
The path I took was one without the safety of an ongoing group. A group of fellow travellers on a journey to deeper self-knowledge, professional understanding of breathwork in general, and a well-founded experiential awareness of conscious connected breathwork in particular.
“In the first few years of our life, we create our deepest beliefs. So, we might as well give ourselves a few years to work on those first.” as a student said during a supervision group in The Hague.
Comprehensive, thorough, and deep training is not just recommended; it’s crucial.
– There is no Highway to Enlightenment
For 43 long years, my colleague and I were devoted to leading a comprehensive three- year training program. Often we have been asked, “Why three years?” An easy answer was, “When a hairdresser invests three years learning to make a client happy by skilfully ‘washing and styling their hair’, should it not be reasonable for a Breathwork Therapist wanting to bring joy to a client’s life by becoming an expert in, ‘cleansing and nurturing their psyche’ to train at least 3 years?”
The answer in our brochure was: – Since many years, various courses and trainings- programs have promised swift achievements in creativity, strength, power, success, happiness, and spiritual growth. In our opinion there is no highway to enlightenment. The human psyche is extremely complex, and our belief systems and fears are so deeply hidden, that a long-term training is needed, to develop a truly balanced personality. -1 That takes time and ongoing engagement.
– Long-term Training
We wanted to get breathwork out of the stigma of charlatanry.
Driven by enthusiasm and our profound belief in the transformative power of this simple breathing technique, our goal was to teach others -and ourselves- to use it in a well- founded way, a way that would give credit to it.
Our own personal growth and development was equally important in this endeavour. Observing how trainers gave short workshops, lasting between two and five days, we noticed a pattern. Participants were brought to heightened states of energy, only to be left unsupported afterward. Trainers would simply leave. They never saw how people would disconnect from reality, because the insights they had achieved were not integrated into their normal daily lives.
We saw the potential risks in this approach, both for participants in the trainings and the trainers themselves.
For trainers to evolve and embark on their own personal growth journeys, they need to establish genuine connections with their students, so they will have the opportunity to get honest feedback from them.
Both time and continual involvement are necessary here.
Motivated by these insights, we created a program, that over the course of five years naturally evolved into the three-year training program we had been aiming for.
As a therapist, we must get that mysterious It into our flesh and blood. Because it’s work we do with people of flesh and blood and it’s the kind of work that is done with blood, sweat, and tears. So, we need to study, to practice and to widen our knowledge.
But most importantly, we need to do our own personal process of inner growth, which obviously takes more time than a single weekend workshop!
Ultimately, we will be known by the content of our life and by who we are, more than by what we say or even do. We must walk our talk!
In the end, all inner development is about understanding that we must learn how to reconnect to our true Self. Our Inner being, the part in us that has never been damaged, that has always been whole, bright, and shining. Our Inner Being whose light is always streaming in us, through us, and around of us. Our Inner Being who always has our back. Our Inner Being who loves us deeply and only wants our very best.
– A training should preferably have more than one trainer
Trainers seem to be creating something like a little empire, where they are king, the students being the population of this educational kingdom.
When trainers work together, there is at least a king and eventually a queen in the empire. They maintain a watchful eye on each other and will call one another on too kinglike behaviour.
However, a trainer working alone is creating his own small monarchy, where hardly anybody will challenge a certain decision or a particular way of working. The danger of slipping into Guru-Behaviour is very close.
During a difficult or stressful situation in a training, we, as trainers, will have the tendency to lose contact with our vulnerability. While trying to stay in control, we then easily identify with a controlling, strong part in ourselves such as the ‘leader’ or the ‘teacher’, which makes us unstable. We become more aloof and less reachable. It is like being in collusion with ourselves.
If one of us would fall apart, the other could still take the lead.
True strength, however, consists of the strong side of our personality as well as the vulnerable side, which is the door to our core and deeper self. We should know that this delicate balance is exactly what we need when working therapeutically with other people.
Despite all our efforts and recognising the potential danger of identifying with our leadership role, my partner and I occasionally found ourselves just falling into this trap. The two of us were even capable of creating a shared blind spot between us at times. But we had our co-trainers, and we had our students. Thank you God.
It may be clear that our training program has not only been a school for the students, but for me as well. The students and my co-trainers forced me to keep educating myself, to hoe my skills. By giving me feedback, they taught me about myself. It was a school of life.
– Being in a group – Advantages for the students –
Leading a long-term Breathwork Training program brings enormous benefits for the trainers. What about the students?
In Breathwork training, we need to dive deep into the minds and hearts of our students. We could probably deliver the necessary knowledge in just the time it takes to study a good book. However, the actual embodiment and integration of this knowledge takes quite a long time.
Loneliness
Being a therapist can occasionally evoke a sense of loneliness. It requires the daily cultivation of the essential energy needed to do the work. I may feel sad or irritated.
It takes discipline every morning, regardless of how I may feel, to prepare myself before my client arrives. There is no one else there to do that for me!
Feeling seduced to being a therapist
An old student wrote to me. – “Many people who are drawn to the magical idea of being a therapist, often act from a part within themselves, that we could call ‘The Saviour’. By taking on the role of a devoted rescuer, they easily project their own issues (their disowned Selves) onto their clients.
Long-term training greatly reduces that chance, because students will get to know themselves well enough to recognise any pitfalls.” –
Slow down
My teacher Babaji used to say, “Slowliness is Holiness.’ The older I get, the more I feel the truth in that. The mind is quick and willing, while the body is usually slow.”
We must deliberately slow down and spend ample time together, allowing people not only to intellectually comprehend their experiences and newfound insights but also to deeply grasp the profound shifts occurring within their body and soul, to allow our teachings to take hold, sink in, filter through.
Transference
Delving into the intricate process of transference is a fascinating aspect of the interaction between students and trainers, as well as among the students themselves. The extended period of working together establishes a secure framework for exploring various facets of one’s personality.
Throughout this journey, individuals may unconsciously project emotions rooted in their past relationships onto us or onto their fellow group members.
Within the dynamics of the group, students may discover themselves identifying a trainer as a reflection of their own distant father, a peer who mirrors the attention- seeking sibling, or even a nurturing figure reminiscent of a supportive grandmother. The potential for transference is expansive, proving to be a remarkably effective tool in dismantling and unravelling old familial behaviour patterns.
Healing the past
Healing the past is a fundamental obligation. As a Breathwork therapist, it is imperative for me to cultivate a profound connection with my parents and family in order to be capable of establishing genuine and close bonds with my clients. This connection is crucial for providing the necessary support in their healing journey.
This transformative process is not a quick fix; it may span a lifetime. However, the investment of time and effort is worth it. Our perpetual inner development is not just a choice but a professional necessity.
We must possess a consciousness that combines inner strength, creativity, vulnerability, and spirituality. Only then can we teach our students effectively.
In conclusion, the commitment to healing our own past and nurturing continuous personal growth is not just a requisite but an occupational hazard that fortifies our ability to truly support our clients who seek our guidance.
Carl Rogers said: “The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination. The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.”
– Doing private work before conducting workshops is indispensable
We cultivate the skills of observation, presence, acceptance, and compassion in a one- on-one setting. This foundation allows us to later extend our ability to observe, be present, and connect with multiple individuals simultaneously.
Through experience, we come to understand that each person in our professional space is unique, deserving a tailored and unique therapeutic approach. A new client… a new approach!
We must realise that every client brings forth a specific challenging problem, and as soon as that challenge enters our therapeutic space, it becomes ours to explore. First within ourselves!
It’s crucial to acknowledge that the healing journey only can start with self-healing. By prioritizing our own well-being, we enhance our capacity to contribute effectively to our clients’ healing processes.
Learning to ‘read’ one client, observing what she carries within her, is the pre-school to learning to ‘read’ more people together in a group.
Mastering this art is a gradual process and extends far beyond the confines of a single workshop.
– Being the container – Holding the energy of whatever happens – not acting it out in any way – About ethics.
Each client deserves our absolute very best. Our unwavering attention, our acceptance, appreciation, and support. Our authenticity and knowledge. But most of all our love. The universal love that we all carry within, when in contact with our true self.
As our clients establish a connection with us, that relationship becomes a microcosm model of all the relationships in their everyday life.
It’s a very special and intimate relationship that includes the entire spectrum of any other relationship, just as interest and boredom, closeness and distance, love and irritation or anger.
However, as Breathwork therapists we are not only talking. We are also breathing together. Therefore, our connection with our client surpasses the intimacy of any other kind of therapeutic work. As energy begins to move more freely inside the body, when the outbreath is truly relaxed and drops down in the pelvic area, we reach the basis of our body.
– Energy Moving through the Chakras
The first chakra, called “muladhara”, is located at the base of the spine.
It provides us with a base or foundation for life and helps us to feel grounded and able to withstand challenges. It represents our survival instincts. Our root chakra is responsible for your sense of security and stability.
As our energy moves down the body it passes our second chakra.
The second chakra, called ‘svadhistana’, is located at the lower belly and inner pelvis. This chakra is associated with sensuality and creativity. The primary function of this energy centre is pleasure and overall enjoyment of life.
Energy, freely moving, won’t stop at our belt
Because these energy centres are so close together, and the first chakra is also the area closest to our sexual organs, we may very well encounter sensual or sexual sensations in the body. This may be very surprising for many people, who are not used to feel that area of their body without more direct stimulation.
Energy freely moving will not stop at our belt! That’s normal and how it is supposed to be.
How much we might have been trained to not experience and often specifically not to touch that special area of the body.
We are created out of a sexual union between our parents. We are born through the sexual organs of our mother. If our mam breast-fed us after we were born, her womb contracted and that felt good. The baby was one big bundle of loving energy, and any physical contact was meant to feel pleasurable.
A baby’s energy doesn’t stop either where his diaper begins! That’s normal and how it is supposed to be.
We have all been trained to control that area of the body. We were potty-trained. We were discouraged to touch ourselves ‘down there’. In many religions we were supposed to be virgins until we got married. Nevertheless, many women – and men as well- have been sexually abused, in one way or another. Sometimes even when they were very young.
That’s exactly the part we very often work within our clients. The Inner Child.
In breathwork sessions we also regularly work with the part that is the new-born baby.
– Nobody in his right mind would act sexually with a small child or a baby.
Therefore, ensuring a safe and supportive therapeutic space is vital in our practice. Sexual relations between therapists and clients always compromise the foundation of trust and healing. Our clients seek our guidance for emotional and psychological support, not for any form of sexual attention.
Thus, it’s essential for us, as therapists, to cultivate a deep sense of comfort with our own sexual energy.
The emphasis lies on containment.
This means maintaining clear boundaries even in the face of clients who may project romantic feelings onto us or attempt to provoke such interactions. Regardless of any declarations of love or attraction, we must remain persistent in our commitment to professional ethics and the well-being of our clients.
It’s just as crucial that we can speak about sexual energy in a normal and shame-free way. So, we can support our clients to get a healthy and intimate relationship with their own body.
– Ethical Therapeutic Attitude – Containing the Energy
Love, acceptance, and appreciation are vital to create a secure space for our clients, where they can freely explore all their feelings. Our role is to provide unwavering support and confidentiality, never allowing our personal desires to interfere with the trust placed in us.
In upholding these principles, we uphold the integrity of the therapeutic process and honour the vulnerability of those who seek our assistance.
This attitude involves a training that surpasses the limitations of a few workshops.
– Trusting Divine Guidance
In the New Testament Jesus says, – “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” – I have always understood this sentence as a promise of a higher energy – God – supporting us when people come together for the purpose of healing.
This actually means that in the moment I sit down with a client, my Higher Self and his Higher Self connect. It is as if a third energy becomes available to both of us.
This principle has led me to know that I can trust divine guidance. Although our roles are well differentiated, one is the client and the other the therapist, because of our higher selves melting, we – being together – can both grow.
We, as therapist, do not have to do the work alone. We do not perform the healing. We only create the circumstances in which healing can take place, the healing that is inherent in a human being’s core.
One of our main tasks as a therapist is to not ‘be in the way’. We have to clean our body, mind, and spirit so that the channel within ourselves is clean. Then, and only then, Spirit can do its work. In our case, being a Breathwork therapist, the Spirit of Breath can do its work.
– Our way into Society
Our journey into society often reveals a shift away from our more conventional and intellectual side, being replaced by a more fluid, intuitive, and compassionate energy.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this transformation. However, by distancing ourselves from our roots, we risk creating a new imbalance within.
As we become increasingly absorbed in our spiritual quest, it’s crucial not to lose sight of the fact that we initially possessed a certain conventional aspect in our personality. Our ‘Conventional Self’ embodies a more traditionally well-behaved energy, understanding the importance of a stable comprehension of our work, including its theory and practice.
When striving to introduce Breathwork into society and earn the recognition it deserves, we must be practiced at carrying both the energies required within ourselves and those demanded by our society. We cannot expect to be embraced at a management level if we are not genuinely acquainted with the energy and behaviour expected at that level. True consciousness involves owning und using both sides of our personality.
This doesn’t imply discarding our intuition, sensitivity, or compassionate heart; on the contrary, it involves using both our ‘Intuitive Part’ and our ‘Conventional Part.’ By harmonizing these aspects, we present ourselves to society as esteemed guests, offering something of significance with intelligence and love.”
– Gratitude
From the bottom of my heart, I thank my parents for their love and support. Through them I was exposed to exactly what I needed in order to understand my uniqueness.
With profound gratitude, I extend my appreciation to each of my clients and students, who have given me the chance to practice and explore the work I deeply love.
It is the area of my life where I always feel secure and connected.
Some of my students do private therapeutic work. Some have taken the initiative to orchestrate extensive training programs spanning multiple years, thereby extending the impact of what they have received out into the world.
All of them are spreading light and peace, casting their influence far and wide into society.
For me it feels like having been granted permission to toss a single pebble into a pond, witnessing as the ripples expand and multiply, spreading positivity and transformation. Thank you all so much for your determination and talent.
The gift of getting older is that obviously my own training and inner growth never stops.
©️ Tilke Platteel-Deur Breathwork Mastery 2024
9
