The Power Of Conscious Breathing
 by Dave Krajovic

Over the last few months, phenomeNEWS writers such as Donna May, Karen Stokes and Susan Smith Jones have all referenced the importance of breathing. The ancients talked of the breath as a way to access higher consciousness. Breath is an integral part of yoga and meditation. What is it that is so special about breathing? It is true that we can only live about three minutes without air. It is also true that breathing is voluntary and involuntary. We can control our breath but ultimately it controls us! We have to breathe. It is in both the control and the letting go that is the secret and transformative power of conscious breathing.

Our bodies are energy. Our thoughts and feelings are energy. The entire Universe is energy. Our breath is the major method through which we take in (inhale) and release (exhale) energy between our field and that of the larger world. Some of you know this as Prana. Our emotions too are energy that we experience in our bodies. For example, as we experience fear, we may describe the feeling as “butterflies” or a “knot in our stomach.” As we experience life, the energy of our emotions can become trapped in our bodies. When we are young, our emotional bodies are not developed enough for us to adequately process emotional trauma. We interpret traumatic events in a way that allows us to survive them but the emotional energy often remains stuck in the body. For example, we may observe our parents going off to work but interpret that as abandonment. This emotional trauma often remains energetically trapped within our body as a repressed emotion. Another common trauma is birth trauma. The cord may have been cut too soon causing a searing pain. This painful memory resides deep within our subconscious always reminding us that it is painful and not safe to breathe. These and other emotional traumas restrict our physical breathing pattern. Every breath we take after an emotional event is restricted. This builds upon itself causing more and more restrictions but we seem to never notice because it is a gradual and involuntary process. T

he restrictions in our breath create a breathing pattern that is unique to us. The breathing pattern is actually a metaphor for how we lived our life. A lack of breath in the chest (heart) indicates a closed love expression. We may have had well meaning but willful parents. To survive, we had to constrict the heart center. Shallow or lazy breathing indicates a lack of self-worth. This person may have trouble accepting good into their life.

These patterns and others are the reason that we can be so easily triggered emotionally. We snap at our spouse or get angry with our children for no apparent reason. Afterwards we feel shame and wonder how it ever got to be this way.

There are many ways to work through these repressed emotions. One of the most effective, self-empowering and transformative ways to resolve restricted breathing patterns and blocked emotions is through conscious breathing, which is the result of transformational breathing process.

The first step is to resolve the physical restrictions. This is necessary to create full resolution of the blocked energies. Resolution at this level can bring about personality changes as well as increases in health and energy. The increase in oxygen that the body receives as a result of conscious breathing is profound. Can you believe that 90 percent of the population has at least a 50 percent restriction in their breathing pattern? Is it no wonder our population suffers from so many debilitating diseases? Imagine the health benefits that can result if the breath is opened and relaxed.

The second step is to clear and integrate the subconscious by addressing the mental and emotional levels. This can only be accomplished once the physical breath begins to open. By creating a high vibrational energy through the breath, an entrainment process is created in the electromagnetic field. This allows lower vibrational patterns such as repressed feelings to be permanently transformed into higher vibrational energies. Integration at this level can include resolution of birth and other lifetime traumas, authority and parental issues, addictive behaviors and other negativity in the subconscious.

The third and deepest level of breathing is when we connect to higher levels of consciousness. As a result of the integration and clearing of the unconscious and subconscious mind, an opening is created to the higher planes of consciousness and higher dimensions of reality. I have had expanded experiences of awareness as well as mystical experiences when I reached this level of breathing.

As a result of conscious breathing, I have not been sick since I began this practice over two years ago. My energy level has increased. I am less angry and less reactive. I go through life with more grace and ease. Things bother me less. Mental clarity and creativity have increased. I have experienced a connection to a Source greater than myself and have been humbled, overwhelmed and experienced joy too profound to put into words.

Yes, the power of the breath is magical, mystical and miraculous. I guess the ancient ones knew what they were talking about.

Dave Krajovic is an MBA and CPA and is a nationally certified massage therapist, crainiosacral teaching assistant and certified transformational breath facilitator. With advanced training in various energy healing modalities, he maintains a healing practice with his partner and wife, Pat, in Plymouth, Michigan at BodyWorks Healing Center and gives workshops, seminars and presentations designed to enhance awareness of the human potential. He can be reached, at dave@bodyworkshealingcenter.com or (734) 416-5200.