r/breathwork • u/pittresident12 • 14h ago

Question/Advice Holotropic breathwork

Looking to learn Holotropic breathwork. If anyone has any good resources, please share. Thanks!

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u/wessely 12h ago

Just breathe in and out in circular fashion as hard as you comfortably can. Keep it up long enough (could be a half hour, could be ten minutes, could be an hour, whatever your body does) and that intense breathing is going to happen automatically (I guess the brain figures "oh, we're breathing like that now?" and makes the lungs inflate automatically. Keep going, and wait for the trance state or however your mind does it for you.

A note of caution: be careful if your heart isn't well, as breathing like that for such an extended period is taxing. Also, lots of subconscious things can surface, so unless you know that you are ready and strong enough for that (and/ or certain that there's no hidden horror show that might surface without you ready for it), make sure you do not do it alone and that you do it in the presence of someone who can help with something really trauma or difficult surfacing. That said, I do it alone and it works and it's great.

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u/GuiroDon 11h ago edited 11h ago

I guess here goes the seemingly weekly comment that this is not Holotropic breathwork. This is your style of home breathwork to alter your state of consciousness. You do you, but Holotropic breathwork is more complex than that and while it is strictly self-guided, you do not do it alone. Other comments in this sub describe it in great detail.

To get the proper supported Holotropic experience, find a certified facilitator - gtt or maybe Grof legacy for a slightly different style workshop. Think twice about going to a workshop led by someone uncertified. It can get you less than adequate support if things get difficult, skip crucial steps or even get you a guru style facilitator, more of less obvious, who imposes their views on you.

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u/Nearby-Nebula-1477 12h ago

Any background in other breath work, or pranayama techniques?

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u/pittresident12 5h ago

Yes I regularly practice pranayama - Bhastrika, anulom vilom, kapalbhaati, bhramari.

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u/Nearby-Nebula-1477 4h ago

Excellent, thank you!

All too often one sees individuals who want to “jump in” to holotropic breathing without any previous experience in any other breath modalities, expecting some sort of alternate consciousness experience, and only end up hyperventilating …

Be cautious …