Rebirthing Breathwork

Breathwork is the process of total self-renewal at the mind-body-soul level through sacred breathing practices. Due to the depth of transformation that its practitioner experiences, it is known to empower one to ‘give a spiritual birth’ to himself, hence “Rebirthing Breathwork”. Originally founded by the great immortal saint of the Himalayas, Mahavatar Babaji, it is the long kept secret of the radiant rishis who reside there. Leonard Orr, disciple of Babaji is known to have brought it to the World. Dr. Kavita is a trained Rebirther by Leonard Orr and is a member of Rebirth International, the parent body that propagates Breathwork for self-mastery in the World, based in Virginia, USA.

Rebirthing Breathwork is a powerful, self-healing tool for which we only need the one thing that stays with us from birth to death- our breath. Our breath is a provider of not just oxygen, but also of life-giving cosmic energy- called prana- which is circulated in our body through subtle pranic channels. Along with our physical body, therefore, our energy body (or aura, the electromagnetic field of energy around every human being) is also nourished by the breath.

Human beings have largely been conditioned to breathe incorrectly, (due to stresses/trauma/pain etc.) which has resulted in physical illness and mental-emotional suffering. Leonard Orr, the founder of Rebirthing Breathwork in the modern era, talks about ‘The 8 Biggies of Human Trauma’ which succinctly describe the collective and individual pain that human beings go through on Planet Earth:

Every individual at the foetal stage is intimately connected to the mother and is very much alive, alert and sensitive, just a few weeks after zygote formation. In particular, it is sensitive to the mother’s physiological and psychological state. In case the mother is experiencing stress, the foetus senses it and starts to develop fear-based impressions. This is known as pre-birth trauma and explains phenomenon like cord-around-the-neck, breech babies and even miscarriage.

Being used to the environment in the mother’s womb, it is a huge shock for the foetus to be born because it is separated from the mother and suddenly finds itself in an alien environment. From darkness to light, from water to air as a medium, from warmth to cool or cold temperature and the sudden cutting of the umbilical cord are some contributing factors to this primal shock which embeds fundamental beliefs about life in the subconscious mind.

When a child feels abandoned, neglected or rejected at an early stage, it experiences deep emotional pain and shuts itself off from the nourishment of one or both parents. In this sense, it disapproves of the parent, and it is not uncommon for such individuals to spend their lives proving their parents wrong or establishing themselves as superior. They develop strong feelings of being unloved or unworthy and become mistrustful in nature. These feelings carry forward well into adulthood, resulting in negative life experiences like loneliness, failure and disconnection from one or both parents.

School can be a very traumatic experience for a child which is well-characterized by children often crying on their first day of school. It does not only entail separation from home but new kinds of rules and regulations, the punishment for evading which can be very harsh for young children. They are often forced to adhere to fixed ways of thinking and doing and are the mercy of the school staff and other children, which often display insensitive behavior. Research has shown that many limited beliefs are etched in the young minds in their first few years of schooling.

Every human being, without exception, at some point in their life, has an “unconscious “ urge to end its life on Earth, which only rises to the surface when triggered by events such as death of a family member, the loss of a loved one through separation (such as heartbreak in romantic relationships) or a serious illness/injury. Our modern lifestyles are more death-affirming than life-affirming, as characterized by increasing levels of pollution, rising stress levels and unhealthy eating, sleeping and breathing patterns. We can also see the fear of death reflected in our social and economic institutions (for instance, it is the basis of the existence of the life insurance industry). Most mindsets are geared to achieve the maximum material growth before the later years of adulthood start, after which it is considered apt to retire and wait to die. As a result, human life span is limited to well below a hundred years whereas there are many saints, even today, who are living testimony of the hundreds of years that humans have the potential to live to, if they release their unconscious death urge.

Emotional pain gets trapped in the energy bodies of individuals and interacts with each other in the form of EEP. One may unknowingly transfer the same to another with projecting hatred, anger, envy or any lower vibration emotion. Extremely crowded places also bring out Eep to a great degree, the idea is to not to be a recluse but to learn to deal with this real time issue with spiritual purification technique of Breathwork.

These are subjective truths which are true only for the person holding onto them. They have no basis in facts and develop as a result of strong subconscious beliefs. If a person has a strong negative belief, she or he tends to attract situations in life which confirm the belief. For example- people always betray me or I can never earn more than my father.

It is ancient knowledge that human beings are eternal souls which incarnate multiple times on Earth to get varied experiences for soul evolution. The physical body may change across lifetimes, but the soul remains the same, carrying with it impressions from each lifetime, embedded in the DNA of each new physical body obtained. Therefore we are affected not just by the events of this lifetime but an accumulation of events of many past lifetimes. We come across cases of child prodigies, wherein a toddler or pre-schooler possesses extraordinary skills that could not have been picked up in this lifetime. For instance, detailed information about a geographical location never visited by the child, instances of deja vu etc.

Senility is a consequence of the death-oriented thinking mentioned above, which makes people believe that their physical and mental faculties deteriorate with age, and they can do nothing about it. It is characterized by feelings of victimhood and helplessness due to old age.Religion trauma is a deep wound in the psyche caused by religious injunctions and ideas of sin and punishment. Simply put, fear is instilled in people, men and women, old and young, in the name of God. Rebirthing Breathwork helps to transmute the negative effects of the above listed traumas. It therefore works at a very profound level to eliminate blockages from the root. With regular practice, it helps us to not just transcend negativity, but also remain active, alert and self-aware at all times, as we are always aware of the great healer and teacher, the incoming and outgoing breath. It is the easiest way to remain connected to one’s essence, the Supreme power, while being absolutely grounded in everyday reality.

The first 10 sessions of Rebirthing Breathwork must be conducted with a certified Rebirther, after which one is equipped to practice this technique on oneself.  One session typically lasts about 90 mins to two hours, in which the Rebirther (or facilitator) assists the client in the following manner:

• Discussion about the client’s current (psychological/emotional/spiritual) issues and point of focus for the session: This is the Counselling session prior to commencement of sessions and is done on Skype/Phone.
• The schedule for the Rebirthing sessions is fixed as per available appointments.
• In the Rebirthing session: there are three main parts.
• Demonstration and guidance of three kinds of breathing: clavicular (shallow), diaphragmatic (deep) and oral breathing
• Relaxation through breathing techniques
• Commencement of session: continuous, conscious breathing cycles of incoming and outgoing breath
• End of session; integration and reflection.

The key is to surrender to this uncomplicated, intuitive breathing technique which will lead us to our own very own unique breathing pattern, the one we had at the time of birth, thus resulting in expanded Consciousness and return to the state of Oneness with all life.