Take a deep breath
Columbus practitioner says breathwork can heal what ails you
We’ve all seen the evidence that deep breathing can calm the body and quiet the mind.
But what if breathwork could heal you from past trauma and help you live in the present? For Rebirthing Breathwork practitioner Laura Wosiak, one session was “like 10 years of therapy.”
“People think it’s woo woo, like what yoga was 20 years ago. But it’s commonplace in New York and California—and it works,” she said, adding that, though the practice is very new to Columbus, now is a great time to learn how to heal yourself with breathwork.
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“You have the external stress of the pandemic, unemployment, and childcare paired with internal stress from unhealed trauma from the past—feelings of shame and guilt,” she said. “We feel like something is off in our lives. These things don’t go away unless you heal them properly.”
So what makes Rebirthing Breathwork so therapeutic? It requires changing your breathing patterns by taking deep breaths from the bottom of the lungs instead of breathing shallowly.
“We can trick our nervous system and change this response,” she said. “You have increased energy, improved immune response, and a changed response to stress. After one session of breathwork, you have improved memory and focus. It really changes our bodies at the chemical level.”
If you are ready to dig deep, with some guidance you can remove the blockages that are holding you back, she said.
“For an hour we talk about your story. We look for family patterns that are leading to emotional blocks. Then we breathe together for an hour,” said Wosiak. “I’ve had some people journey really far into their past. It’s a very individual experience. Some people are angry during their breaths. We also include forgiveness as a way to heal and let go through conscious circular breathing.”
Creating your reality is your own responsibility, Wosiak said, and the first step to healing is to pause in between thoughts. She learned how to do this through her journey to become a certified Rebirthing Breathwork practitioner, after witnessing how breathwork impacted her husband.
Wosiak said her husband was struggling with an injury and subsequent depression when he discovered the Wim Hof Method, an admittedly more extreme technique that involves not only breathing, but also meditation and cold hydrotherapy and exposure.
“It shifted his path for him at that time,” said Wosiak.
If you are not into climbing Poland’s tallest mountain in shorts and bathing in icy rivers like Wosiak’s husband did on his Wim Hof retreat, Rebirthing Breathwork may be more your speed.
“For Rebirthing, which is different from Wim Hof, we are really focused on coaching and unearthing your limiting beliefs,” she said. “If you think about it, most of us think negatively and are bad and mean to ourselves. We tell ourselves that we are not enough or that there’s something wrong with us. When you let go and close your mind, you open yourself up for new inspiration and ideas.”
Wosiak found this power herself when she faced an abandonment issue during her first Rebirthing Breathwork session.
“I was overworked, unhappy, screaming at my kids; my head was in 20 different places,” she said. “The stress of all that caused this digestive issue. I had one breathwork session and no longer had pain.”
Not only did her symptoms disappear, but her outlook on life shifted.
“Before I was this shy little mouse. I felt very unworthy,” she said. “Now I know who I am and my worth.”
Wosiak says that anyone can benefit from breathwork to eliminate those limiting beliefs we all face.
“You are not your thoughts. You are not your parents. You are not their mistakes,” she said. “You have every right to shine, know who you are and be you. You are not your story. You are you.”
For more information, visit boundlessbreathwork.org.
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