About BreathYoga

“Stop playing small. Heal your hurts. Get stronger, clearer and find your true potential as you open yourself to the transformative power of your breath”

Those sound like big claims if you are new to these practices. Perhaps you have been told to “just take a deep breath” when you were angry and felt how it can transform your state in a moment. You might have noticed the times when you could “breathe a sigh of relief” when a threat has been resolved. But beyond returning to ‘normal’, there is a dimension of experience possible for you when you make your breath conscious that goes beyond words.

Humanity has encoded this wisdom in many languages. Words like “inspiration” (Latin), “気” (Chinese/Japanese), and Prana (Sanskrit) carry both literal meaning referring to the physical act of breathing as well as symbolic meaning as it points to life force energy. As you continue to explore your breath, you will experience for yourself the benefits and mysteries which are at the heart of life itself.

Hello, this is Adrian

When I came to my first experience of breathwork I had already been learning, practicing, and teaching yoga, breath practices and meditation for two decades. But I couldn't get my teaching to gel around one main idea, except that I loved it all and I tried it all. I struggled to connect the dots. What was my system? What was the main message? What was the main focus? And despite me having a certain level of mastery, when it came to myself and my own heart and mind, I found I was unable to successfully apply these tools to overcome a period of deep crisis of my heart. In my state of despair, I would practice my yoga, I would meditate but I couldn’t let the sadness go.

I didn't know that unprocessed emotions from my childhood was still affecting my breath until adulthood

In a bid to restore myself, I flew from Japan to Cyprus and took a training in Conscious Connected Breathwork with Viola and Layla Edward. Over a period of a month of in-depth training, I experienced the simple process of this method of Rebirthing Breathwork. In a one-to-one session, I was guided to close my eyes, relax, and simply and gently connect my breath- inhale to exhale, exhale to inhale. Within a few minutes I would enter a different state of consciousness and often leading to profound states of catharsis, realization, and insight. Sometimes I would find myself laughing as I got what had previously been opaque to me. Other times, I would be sobbing like a baby as I relived and healed difficult, unprocessed experiences that had happened at earlier times in my life. I emerged from each session clearer and lighter and somehow more myself than I had been before.

This wasn’t what I had understood the breath to be until that point

Although I had spent countless hours in various yoga asana and pranayama up till that point, I had no idea that simply by breathing consciously, one could transform to that degree.

BreathYoga was born from an observation

Despite my background of teaching, I simply had never observed someone breathing so closely as I did during that training. The breathwork instruction is simple; "breathe powerfully into the chest and relax the breath out".  There were the ones who could do it easily. Yet others had chests which were almost 'frozen' and could barely move. Some could not easily let the breath go without forcing it out.

If and when a client could reach the point of releasing their breath, stuck emotions would dissolve and you can see how the body visibly opens up, and the breath becomes full and easy. That’s when you know the session has taken someone across the threshold.

However, this was not a guaranteed experience because the person might simply not be able to allow full breathing at a physical level. Suddenly it clicked for me - that by working with the body and the breath, the two disciplines come together in a powerful system.

I could clearly see that breath is about mind and body.

The mind affects the breath, even beyond temporary states. Patterns from our early years can affect the breath pattern into adulthood, such as trauma limiting the degree to which a full, life-affirming breath can be allowed in the body. To breathe fully into the diaphragm and chest requires a certain vulnerability and openness. The exhale is linked to our ability to express emotions. These patterns weave into lines of tightness and weakness in the body which solidify these patterns into the way a person holds themselves and moves through life. Through the healing intelligence of conscious breathing, blocks and protective mechanisms in the psyche can dissolve. The mystery is how the body, breath and mind reflect each other and how we can use any one of them as starting points to heal. And they are most powerful when they are joined together. 

If we want to take a full-deep breath that feels good, certain places in our body need to be able to expand freely. Other places need to have sufficient strength. And both these areas affect neighboring chains of muscle and fascia. Between them they run like lines from the head to the toes. When your breath is restricted, it shows up as tightness or weakness anywhere along these connections.

Experience BreathYoga

We are working on series of new online BreathYoga trainings and workshops to be released in 2023. Join the waitlist and you can get first access along with discounts. Until then, take one of our courses on breath practices and consider a zoom private and experience BreathYoga directly!