Breathe Life Into Your Healing Journey with Breathwork Rebirthing

Published on
September 6, 2023

Are you feeling stuck and struggling to break free from old patterns and self-limiting beliefs? Are you ready to finally feel ALIVE and aligned with Spirit? Having a breathwork rebirthing experience is a natural way to completely release outdated subconscious beliefs and to integrate more confidence, trust and pleasure into your body and soul.

In this blog post, we'll explore what breathwork rebirthing experiences can look like, what the practice of breathwork rebirthing is, the history of Rebirthing Breathwork and how it can help you transform your life.

What are breathwork rebirthing experiences like?

During a breathwork rebirthing experience, it is common to feel a literal rebirth, or a letting go of a previous version of one’s self, and to feel reborn. It's possible for a rebirthing experience to happen spontaneously during a breathwork session, and even a trained rebirthing breathwork practitioner cannot guarantee that a person will have a rebirthing experience during a breathwork session.

A rebirthing experience is a deep, transformative process that can involve intense emotional and physical sensations, as well as a sense of being reborn or renewed. During a breathwork session, the conscious use of the breath can help to access deep levels of the subconscious mind and release stored trauma, emotions, and limiting beliefs. This can sometimes lead to a spontaneous rebirthing experience, where the individual may experience a sense of being transported back to their birth or a significant moment in their life.

The rebirthing experience can be intense and transformative, and it's important to have a qualified practitioner present to guide and support the individual through the process. The practitioner can help the individual navigate any intense emotions or physical sensations that may arise during the experience, and help them integrate the insights and learnings from the session into their daily life.

It's important to note that not everyone will experience a rebirthing experience during a breathwork session, and that each individual's experience may vary. However, for those who do experience a rebirthing process, it can be a powerful tool for healing and transformation. This transformational healing connects us with our real nature, our Truest (Greatest or Highest) self. It is the enlightenment process of being completely conscious of our divine nature and in harmony with our thoughts, emotions and actions.

Another type of breathwork rebirthing experience that can happen is to re-live one’s own birth process. In fact, Rebirthing Breathwork directly focuses on a person's birthing experience.

What is Rebirthing Breathwork?

Rebirthing Breathwork is a powerful therapeutic technique that involves conscious and connected breathing to access and release emotional blockages, trauma, and limiting beliefs. Rebirthing Breathwork was developed by Leonard Orr and has been used by many people worldwide to improve their physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.

The principle behind Rebirthing Breathwork is that most of us have experienced some degree of emotional trauma, conditioning, and negative beliefs that impact our lives in significant ways. These experiences can cause us to hold onto emotions that are no longer serving us, creating physical and emotional blockages that limit our ability to live our lives to the fullest.

Leonard Orr developed rebirthing breathwork in the 1970s, while living in California, and took nearly 12 years to fully develop it. In 1962, Leonard Orr discovered the method while taking long baths. Leonard would sit in the bathtub beyond the urge to get out and have profound emotional and physiological experiences related to his birth. The technique then evolved to include circular breathing with Leonard having an idea to use a snorkel and nose clip to be able to be completely immersed in warm water in order to simulate a womb-like environment.

He then started guiding people through these emotional and physiological experiences in water, and each time a person would go through some kind of experience, he would tell them to breathe through it. He noticed in the sessions that everyone had a similar connected breath rhythm. In this evolutionary stage he would also have the participants read outloud from Frederick Leboyers book, “Birth Without Violence”, before a session to bring birth memories to surface. Some participants would have a rebirth experience simply from reading the book aloud prior to the session.

Because people were having very intense experiences while practicing this technique, he decided to experiment with facilitating “dry” sessions on land, using the connected breathing rhythm. He found that people still had incredibly healing and transformational breathwork rebirthing experiences while on land instead of in water.

The style of Rebirthing breathwork has shifted and changed throughout the decades and can include breathing in water or on land, through the nose or mouth. The name ‘rebirthing’ arises from the fact that people will often experience during one or more sessions a memory of their birth, and re-experience particular feelings that became imprinted at that stage.

During a Rebirthing Breathwork session, the individual is guided to breathe deeply and rhythmically, with no pause between inhaling and exhaling. This process helps to oxygenate the body, increase circulation, and stimulate the release of endorphins, creating a state of deep relaxation and allowing the body to release tension and stress.

As the individual continues to breathe, they are encouraged to become aware of any sensations or emotions that arise in their body. These sensations may include tingling, warmth, coldness, or even physical pain. The practitioner will guide the individual to focus on these sensations and emotions, allowing them to fully experience and process them.

As the individual continues to breathe and release, they may experience a sense of profound connection to themselves and the world around them. This connection can help to create a sense of peace, clarity, and renewed energy, allowing the individual to move forward in their lives with greater confidence and ease.

Rebirthing Breathwork includes the practice of connected or circular breathing, as described above, as well as spiritual psychology or creative thinking, and spiritual purification techniques (inspired by the practice of immortal yogis, and guided by his Guru Babaji). Rebirthing breathwork can also be defined as; the physical experience of Divine Energy or Infinite Being or cosmic relaxation.

Rebirthing tends to the nine big traumas human beings experience that disconnect us from our natural divine nature. These experiences create a snowball effect, resulting in a lack of self-awareness and creating self-defense mechanisms, destructive behaviors and thoughts.

The nine big traumas of human beings, according to Leonard Orr, are;

  • The Personal Lie - which is the most negative or limiting thought-belief-feeling someone has about themselves and the Universe.
  • Repression of the feminine
  • Past lives
  • Birth trauma and infancy memories
  • Parental disapproval syndrome
  • Subconscious death urge
  • School trauma
  • Religious trauma
  • Senility

Breathwork rebirthing is a dynamic and powerful experience that releases deep-seated emotional and physical patterns stored in the subconscious and unconscious. By consciously breathing (mind intelligence + body intelligence) with an active inhale and a passive exhale, you can access deep levels of your subconscious and unconscious mind and release stored trauma, emotions, limiting beliefs and rebirth yourself (with the support of a trained facilitator).

We are all born with the potential to breathe fully and with Divine energy. However, as a result of repression, karma and trauma, we develop unhealthy breathing patterns. These unhealthy breathing patterns limit our ability to breathe in vital life-force energy in the ways we need, thus widening the gap between a person and their connection with Spirit.  

There are two stages to narrowing this gap and uniting the body, breath and Spirit;

  1. The first stage is to learn how to inhale as much vitality (energy) and air as possible, and complete a minimum 10 high quality breathwork sessions led by a trained breathworker.  The main aim of the first 10 breathing sessions is to unblock the respiratory mechanism while learning to breathe Energy as well as air. In general, 10 breathing sessions are recommended because it is what most people need to unblock their breath and develop the capacity to rebirth themselves.
  2. The second stage is about unraveling the birth-death cycles, and completely healing our emotional mind until all our thoughts and emotions are immersed in the Spirit.

As limiting breathing patterns become unlocked, and our trauma and karmas are released, the opportunity for the participant to fully embody vital life force energy becomes more accessible. The rebirthee is then released from the tensions and unresolved emotions which were repressed in corresponding areas of the body.  

Can I practice Rebirthing Breathwork alone?

Though a breathwork rebirthing experience can happen at any time in any breathing practice while using the circular conscious breath, it is recommended that you do not engage in a Rebirthing Breathwork experience alone and to always allow yourself to be in support of a trained facilitator.  The important role of the facilitator is to connect people with the Energy they are breathing and support them allowing that energy to heal them. Rebirthing breathwork facilitates breathing through tension, pain, drama, fear and trauma, until the participant experiences peace and relaxation. The role of the trained facilitator is to remain grounded, continue motivation of the continuous circular breath, and guide the breather through the energy cycles appropriately.

If you’re looking to learn more about breathwork and healing trauma be sure to read Learn Breathwork: Why Training in Somatic Therapy is Important .

This blog was all about Breathwork Rebirthing to help you release deep-seated emotional and physical issues and reconnect with Spirit

One Breath Institute provides breathwork healing and training programs, if you would like to experience breathwork with us, CLICK HERE to register and join for free. See you then!

Debbie & The One Breath Institute Team

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