What Is Holotropic Breathwork?
The simplest way to describe Holotropic Breathwork is simply that it means paying close attention to your breathing. Proponents of holotropic breathwork say that being conscious of your breathing can influence your mental and emotional state. Many people in recovery have used breathwork practice for addictive disorders.
Does it really work? It depends on where you’re coming from and what else you’ve tried. What works for one person may not always work for another, even with the same substance misuse issues. It is important to exhaust all options when it comes to recovery. You never know what will work for your specific addiction.
Breaking the Cycles of Addiction with Breathwork
I personally have known a lot of different people who tried rehab multiple times and never were able to figure it out. I think the majority of addicts have to try over and over to get clean before actually getting there.
I’ve found breathwork to be extremely rewarding and I recommend it whenever I can. Your mental health can benefit greatly from breathwork and it can help you become more in tune with your inner self. It’s one of the best tools for long term recovery that I have experienced. I have used breathwork to control anxiety and also have found a lot of clinical evidence for breathwork that portrays it as an effective method. When we are in recovery, we are trying to teach ourselves a different state of mind. Holotropic breathing can help you reach a different state of mind that can be much more fulfilling than getting high.
Altered States Without Chemicals
If you trust the process and submit to the process, controlled breathing can put you in an incredibly calm and altered state of mind. You will become much more in touch with yourself when you discover the power of breathing for recovery. I attended rehab seven times before I got clean. I tried to get clean on my own at least two dozen times.
Relapse in this way can be a natural part of the process but it can be an extremely frustrating process. There were times when I had an extended period of sobriety before one little thing took it all away. A momentary lapse of judgment or rationalization and you are back where you started. The frustration begins to make you feel like a failure.
What I realized was that I couldn’t find any methods that really spoke to me. It was difficult for me to have any faith in the treatment process. Once I learned about alternative treatment and breathwork practice, I finally had somewhat of an open mind. I would try anything in order to get clean. Reading books like the Wim Hof Method and discovering other teachings such as Leonard Orr’s Rebirthing Breathwork all made sense to me and I felt the benefits immediately.