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OfflineMental Slavery
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Holotropic Breathwork Info
    #21032829 - 12/27/14 06:24 PM (9 years, 4 months ago)

Hey all, I was wondering if anybody here had any experience with holotropic breathwork. The breathwork was taken from ancient yogic exercises and transformed into a psycho therapeutic practice by Stanislav Grof to replace LSD psychotherapy after it was made illegal. As with any conscious altering method, holotropic breathwork could possibly cause psychosis in those vulnerable. There are also concerns that it could lead to seizures in some. It is said that you must do this with a professional at a holotropic seminar, but i'm going to go ahead and ignore this.   


Could any of you give me a better idea on how to do it and what the experience is like? Was it beneficial for you?

Also, does anybody know where i could get a holotropic music mix for the experience it? They don't sell them and there are some pretty specific guidelines on how the songs should flow together.


Here is some info i have collected so far from a variety of sources:


Link to a lady's psychedelic breathwork session:


http://www.primal-page.com/stan1.htm


Setting:


Holotropic breathing is designed to allow the breather to experience deeper levels of their psyche than are usually available in a normal waking state. Thus, breathwork typically begins by creating an appropriate setting. A quiet location, such as would be used for a retreat, is often used, and a comfortable room that can be darkened should be chosen. The breather is usually accompanied by a sitter and, sometimes, a more advanced facilitator. Relaxing music should be chosen in advance and played in a format that will allow continuous play for several hours.


Relaxation:


The breather lies supine on a mat with eyes closed. The sitter or facilitator then leads the breather through a meditative visualization to create deep relaxation. If you are the breather, you would breathe slowly and deeply during this period as you allow all parts of your body to relax. At the end of the guided meditation, the lights are dimmed and the music is allowed to play at sufficient volume to block any external noise.


Breathing:


Holotropic Breathing is faster and deeper than usual; generally no other specific instructions are given before or during the session as to the rate, pattern, and nature of breathing. Once the music begins, you as the breather accelerate your rate of breath to a point near hyperventilation. The goal is to continue breathing deeply, but to do so quickly. Breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Remaining on your back, continue breathing in this way for two to three hours, focusing on the internal experience and feelings reached through the shift in your awareness. The sitter and facilitator are there to assist in any way you need. Some coughing or choking feelings are not unusual, particularly in response to emotionally charged experiences. You may find yourself writhing, dancing, crying, laughing, shivering, speaking or any of a variety of other possibilities.


Specific instructions for breathing:


a) Full deep breaths – each breath should be full and deep, filling your lungs completely. When done properly, your belly should move outward a bit on the in-breath. When this is first tried, it is helpful for some people to keep a hand on their belly.


b) Continuous, “circular” breathing – the breathing should be done in such a way where there is no gaps in the breath..i.e. you should not be holding your breath at any point. When your lungs are almost full, you want to turn the breath around and start exhaling. When your lungs are empty, you want to immediately turn the breath around and start inhaling. This creates a breath pattern whereby you are always breathing in or breathing out, creating a circle of breath.


c) Faster than normal – You also want to breathe a bit faster than you normally would. However, you do not want to breathe so fast that you create tension in your body…your body, and especially your lungs, should be relaxed, without straining, so that the breath can be maintained for a long period of time without tiring yourself out.


d) Mouth vs Nose Breathing – It is easier to move air quickly through the mouth so most people find that breathing in and out through the mouth supports their process better than nose breathing. However, some people find that mouth breathing is uncomfortable for them in which case nose breathing is fine also.


Sitter:


The role of the Sitter during the session is to be responsive and non-intrusive, to ensure effective breathing, create a safe environment, respect the natural unfolding of the experience, and provide assistance in all situations that require it (including physical support, help during bathroom breaks, bringing tissues or a glass of water, etc.). It is important to remain focused and centered while facing the entire spectrum of possible emotions and behaviors of the Breather. Holotropic Breathwork does not use any interventions that come from intellectual analysis or are based on a prior theoretical constructs.


Music:


Music (or other forms of acoustic stimulation —drumming, nature sounds, etc.) is an integral part of the Holotropic process. Typically, the choice of music follows a characteristic pattern that reflects the most common unfolding of the holotropic experiences: at the beginning, it is evocative and stimulating, later it becomes increasingly dramatic and dynamic, and finally it reaches a culmination. Following the culmination, it is appropriate to shift gradually to quieter music and end with peaceful, flowing, and meditative selections. Although this seems to represent the statistical average, it should be modified if the energy in the group suggests that a different pattern is indicated.


"Creating Holotropic Breathwork Music Sets is a “work of art” and is the subject of a six day course."


A short summary is that the first hour of a Holotropic Breathwork Music Set is designed to facilitate physical release and includes music with a driving, rhythmic beat. This can include such things as tribal drumming and certain types of electronic music.


The second hour of the Holotropic Breathwork Music Set is designed to facilitate emotional release.


The third hour of the Holotropic Breathwork Music Set is designed to facilitate integration of the experience and normally includes some sacred chant.


Music will be your main guidance, so make sure to choose wisely. Start with something slow and calm, like shamanic drums or soft tribal music. Speed the music up to support an intensity of the experience. Choose something a little chaotic or crazy to push and provoke the breather through sound. After some time of chaos, go back to something more soothing and let it fade out slowly. The music will also define the length of your session!


FAQ page on the breathwork:


http://www.grof-holotropic-breathwork.net/page/hb-faqs


Below is a short documentary on the breathwork. At 34:10 you see the practice in action. It is very intense.





Starting at 3:16 will show you people practicing the breathwork:





Another documentary on the breathwork (torrent):


https://kickass.so/a-trip-to-inside-holotropic-breathwork-stanislav-grof-with-klaus-john-t4906155.html


Songs commonly used during sessions (torrent):


https://kickass.so/holotropic-breathwork-music-stanislav-grof-t5580535.html


PDF of Stanislav's book about holotropic mind (torrent):


https://oldpiratebay.org/torrent/3081895/The-Holotropic-Mind-pdf


Citations and extra links:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathwork


http://www.livestrong.com/article/233280-holotropic-breathing-technique/


http://www.grof-holotropic-breathwork.net/page/2182480:Page:678


http://www.meetup.com/Stan-Grof-Holotropic-Breathwork-Workshops-Los-Angeles/pages/Holotropic_Breathwork_How_To_Do_It/


http://iahip.org/inside-out/issue-55-summer-2008/twelve-things-you-should-know-about-holotropic-breathwork


http://the-lucid-movement.tumblr.com/post/67483336659/do-it-yourself-holotropic-breathwork


https://www.wisdomuniversity.org/grof/module/week3/pdf/Holotropic%20Breathwork.pdf

Edited by Mental Slavery (12/28/14 06:09 PM)

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Offlinecircastes
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Re: Holotropic Breathwork Info [Re: Mental Slavery]
    #21032929 - 12/27/14 06:45 PM (9 years, 4 months ago)

I read Stan Grof back in the day and got interested in exploring breathwork personally, on my own, just in a dark room often with electronic ambient music. I managed to get to the hyperventilation a few times and felt all sorts of tensions in the body being released and in one case had long slow orgasms. I don't remember much imagery though. Looking at the OP I might have been doing it wrong a lot of the time and got it right on just a few occasions.

I may explore it again as I'd forgotten about it until this thread.


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My solitude...
My shield...
My armour...

TESTED
WITH
FULL
FORCE

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OfflineMental Slavery
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Re: Holotropic Breathwork Info [Re: circastes]
    #21033951 - 12/28/14 02:03 AM (9 years, 4 months ago)

If you do, let us know how it goes

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OfflineSpacerific
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Re: Holotropic Breathwork Info [Re: Mental Slavery]
    #21038300 - 12/29/14 07:28 AM (9 years, 4 months ago)

OP, I haven't tried holo breathwork (same reasons as you, couldn't really see a video demo, paced properly, to just play and do along) but what I can tell you to try, that won't cost you an arm and a leg nor trigger some psychotic episodes, are as follows:

- Pranayama. Either Kapalbhati or Breath of Fire (you can find youtube demos for both, I recommend Anmolmehta channel for instance). Lear it (takes maybe a few days to actually get it going right) and then hit it 10-15 minutes, and take it from there. It's epic nervous cleaning. Here I'll let the awesome wise man tell it:



- Cycling, long distance. If you have lanes you can do this, but I'm sure it can be done with also roller skates and other things. Put in LONG hours of effort, just you and nature and your breath (your body gets into a natural pranayama of its own, just to keep up with the effort requirements of moving that way) and after a few hours, you'll get to mental spaces you've not really seen before. All the mental noise remains back somewhere, gone, forgotten, put away, and you start perceiving life as it is right now. The plants, the wind, the sun, simple existence, uncluttered with constant compulsive mental noise, leftover unprocessed emotions, etc. I did it with the bike (unplanned, I just noticed that it happens after some 6 hours of biking or whatever) and I think most bodies have the capability to silence themselves in that way.

The holotropic breathing (or sex, or tripping, or other means, meditative techniques) I think are all different ways of reaching that kind of a healed and balanced headspace. Keep looking, I'm sure you'll find one that you can apply there with what you have available.


--------------------
Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.



For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
- Matthew 13:16

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Offlineyeah
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Re: Holotropic Breathwork Info [Re: Mental Slavery]
    #21045461 - 12/30/14 06:19 PM (9 years, 4 months ago)

Are exhalations supposed to be forced or effortless?


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Invisiblelaughingdog
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Re: Holotropic Breathwork Info [Re: yeah]
    #21127502 - 01/16/15 12:11 AM (9 years, 4 months ago)

In the western world this goes back to Willhelm Reich, then bioenergetics, then rebirthing and Stan's holotropic version.
The breath is the same in all. By doing a connected breath, ie. no pauses, the body becomes energized, beyond the level the ego defenses are used to defending, and so one breaks through the "business as usual mindset" and all kinds of 'things' can happen, or not happen. Frequently if there is no therapist or leader present one does not go fully into the deeper material. From the point of view of say Chi Kung it is an aggressive practice that does not teach one to harmonize and store chi and maybe hard on the liver. While as a therapy although the process is dramatic, integrating the experiences and long term benefit is another matter.
I believe Rajneesh used an abbreviated version of this sort of thing, having people dance and shake for half an hour before meditation.
Certainly if we go back to our African roots we can still see dance all by itself being a way into trance. Actually not by itself. With drums, costumes and community. I have seen an African dance class, in a US city, and even that was impressive. The real Mcoy must be amazing.

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OfflineMahananda


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Re: Holotropic Breathwork Info [Re: Mental Slavery]
    #21137195 - 01/18/15 08:46 AM (9 years, 3 months ago)

Like Spacertific, I'd suggest you explore pranayama.  And fortunately, there is a superb, comprehensive resource available in that area, namely Light on Pranayama by BKS Iyengar.  It lists all of the types of pranayama with which I am familiar and provides detailed instructions and even practice tables for the use of the various methods.  Get a copy and you'll have months or years of exploration ahead of you.

Best of luck to you :-)


--------------------
Come, come, whoever you are.
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of living, it doesn't matter
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come even if you have broken your vow a thousand times,
Come, yet again, come, come

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Invisiblelaughingdog
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Re: Holotropic Breathwork Info [Re: Mahananda]
    #21140291 - 01/18/15 06:28 PM (9 years, 3 months ago)

Certainly Pranayama is good. But the aim is different. Basic pranayama is a health practice, not a psychological therapy. There is lots of free pranayama info on YouTube. In yoga practice pranayama may be done between asana and meditation.

But serious spiritual pranayama involves immense discipline to totally control and eventually suspend the breath for long periods while meditating to raise kundalini.

The aim of rebirthing was originally to release birth trauma but seems to have become
a rather flakey movement.

Holotropic breathing is usually done for a couple hours, with specially selected music.
And is meant to open one to dealing with unfinished business.

Reich was into breaking down "body armor". He took psychoanalysis off the couch and got physical, but like Freud wanted to break thru defenses and repression.

Rebirthing sessions, with a roomful of people used to be a lot cheaper than holotropic sessions.
Once one experiences how it works one can experiment on one's own.
When one starts out one may experience tetany or cramping of the forearm / wrist / hand. This might be scary if one doesn't know what is going on. More energy is going thru the system than it is used to, so there is some resistance. With repeated sessions it subsides.

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Offlines240779
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Re: Holotropic Breathwork Info [Re: Mental Slavery]
    #21173123 - 01/24/15 11:21 PM (9 years, 3 months ago)

subbed

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