Can Breathwork Release Trauma?
Exploring the Healing Power of the Breath
“Trauma is not what happens to you; it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you.” – Dr. Gabor Maté
Trauma can be stored deeply within us, not only affecting our mind but also manifesting in the body. As we explore whether breathwork can help release trauma, we’ll look at how trauma impacts our nervous system, the role of breakthrough breathwork, and why certain breathing practices have proven effective in trauma release.
What Is Trauma?
Trauma isn’t simply the stressful events we experience; it’s how our body and mind react to them. According to trauma experts like Dr. Gabor Maté and Dr. Peter Levine, trauma results when our nervous system becomes overloaded, and we’re unable to process the experience effectively. While stress and trauma often overlap, trauma typically leaves a more lasting imprint. This stored energy remains “trapped” within our body, creating emotional, psychological, and physical symptoms that can affect our daily lives. Symptoms can vary, from numbness and dissociation to hypervigilance, fatigue, and even physical pain.
For more on trauma responses and treatment, check out Breathwork Techniques for Anxiety and Freediving, where we dive into managing stress and anxiety.
How Trauma Is Stored and Released
Trauma is stored in the body, often surfacing as automatic physical and emotional responses. It’s stored in the limbic system, the part of the brain that manages survival instincts, rather than in the logical, narrative-based regions of the brain. To release trauma effectively, approaches that engage the body can be crucial. Somatic therapies, which include breathwork, create a safe space for the nervous system to relax and allow deeply rooted trauma to surface and be processed.
Practitioners like Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and Dr. Peter Levine have shown that physical methods, including breakthrough breathwork and yoga-based approaches, can be profoundly effective in trauma healing. Breathwork, specifically, bypasses the conscious mind, accessing and releasing stored trauma directly from the limbic system where it resides.
How Breathwork Can Release Trauma
Breathwork works by deactivating the sympathetic nervous system, allowing the body to switch from “fight-or-flight” mode to a relaxed state. In this relaxed state, traumatic energy can release, reconnecting the body and mind to reprocess stored experiences. Breakthrough breathwork, a technique developed specifically for trauma work, creates a safe space for energy discharge, allowing for emotional and physical release.
In a breakthrough breathwork session, slow breathing promotes relaxation and organizes chaotic memories, connecting them to a coherent narrative. Faster breathing techniques activate the sympathetic nervous system in a controlled environment, bringing suppressed feelings to the surface so they can be expressed and released.
Practicing Breakthrough Breathwork for Trauma Release
Starting a breakthrough breathwork session involves setting an intention, which can include releasing a specific memory, emotion, or stress pattern. This process is often facilitated by an experienced practitioner who creates a safe space for self-expression and inner exploration.
A Typical Breakthrough Breathwork Session Involves:
1. Setting an Intention: The practitioner and breather discuss the goal for the session, focusing on personal needs.
2. Connecting with the Breath Rhythm: The breather gets familiar with their natural rhythm of breath, starting with slower breathing.
3. Building Activation: Faster breathing activates the body, allowing feelings and sensations to surface.
4. Energetic Release and Integration: As suppressed energy is released, the breather can experience profound relaxation, insight, or an altered state of consciousness.
This powerful combination of relaxation and activation facilitates a transformative process, allowing the breather to reconnect with their true self and release trauma that has been held within.
Breathwork: A Pathway to Transformation
Dr. Peter Levine, a pioneer in trauma therapy, notes that trauma healing has the power to be a profound awakening. Through somatic experiences like breathwork, trauma can not only be released but transformed into a source of emotional resilience and spiritual growth. As trauma is released, the nervous system can fully reset, creating a pathway to a more peaceful, connected life.
Final Thoughts on Trauma and Breathwork
Breathwork offers a unique approach to trauma release by accessing the body’s innate healing processes. By using breath as a tool to calm the nervous system and access stored trauma, breakthrough breathwork has proven to be a powerful approach to healing. As Dr. Levine beautifully says, “The healing process can be a catalyst for profound awakening.”
If you’re looking to incorporate breathwork into your practice or start your journey of self-healing, consider exploring Breathwork Techniques to Enhance Health in Freediving and Beyond for powerful techniques that benefit both body and mind.
References:
1. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
• Author: Bessel van der Kolk, MD
• Link: Amazon Link
• Description: Dr. Bessel van der Kolk’s groundbreaking book on trauma explains how traumatic experiences affect the brain and body, and highlights various therapeutic approaches, including breathwork, for healing trauma.
2. When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress
• Author: Dr. Gabor Maté
• Link: Amazon Link
• Description: This book by Dr. Gabor Maté discusses how chronic stress and trauma can manifest physically, causing health problems, and explains the importance of mind-body techniques in processing trauma.
3. Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation
• Author: Stephen W. Porges
• Link: Amazon Link
• Description: Porges’ Polyvagal Theory explains how the nervous system responds to trauma and stress, and how practices like breathwork can activate the parasympathetic system for emotional regulation and healing.
4. Controlled Breathing, Meditation, and Yoga for PTSD
• Authors: Kimberly R. Kelly, Deborah A. Teti
• Link: NCBI – PubMed Link
• Description: This research study explores the use of breathwork, meditation, and yoga in managing symptoms of PTSD and supporting trauma recovery, noting significant improvements in symptoms with regular practice.
5. Physiology of Long Pranayamic Breathing: Neural Respiratory Elements Provide a Mechanism That Explains How Slow Breathing Shifts the Autonomic Nervous System
• Authors: Jerath, R., Edry, J. W., Barnes, V. A., & Jerath, V.
• Link: NCBI – PubMed Link
• Description: This study details how controlled breathwork (like pranayama) can regulate the autonomic nervous system, making it effective for reducing stress and supporting trauma healing.
6. Breathwork as a Therapeutic Tool for Healing Trauma and PTSD
• Journal: Frontiers in Psychology
• Link: Frontiers Link
• Description: This journal article examines the use of breathwork in trauma therapy, emphasizing how certain breathing techniques help release stored energy and address emotional blockages.
7. Somatic Experiencing: Using Interoception and Proprioception as Core Elements in Trauma Recovery
• Author: Peter Levine, PhD
• Link: Somatic Experiencing International
• Description: Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing focuses on the physiological response to trauma and how body-centered approaches, including controlled breathwork, can be essential in trauma resolution.
8. The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Mental Health and Well-Being
• Journal: Journal of Psychosomatic Research
• Link: ScienceDirect Link
• Description: This study reviews the effects of mindfulness practices, including mindful breathing, on reducing stress, improving mental health, and supporting the body’s response to trauma.