What can you experience in a Conscious Connected Breathwork session?

Breathing in this way means taking in a lot more air (about 3 times more) than you would with normal breathing and this can cause quite powerful physical, mental, emotional or spiritual sensations or experiences. This can feel quite intense, especially the first time you try it.

I’ll go through each of these, including what I personally have experienced in breathwork sessions. I find that what I experience really depends on the day, how I’m feeling, the facilitator, the theme, the music...sometimes I really don’t feel much other than a bit more clear-headed and other days I cry, feel huge emotions and have full-body tingling.

Physical

What you might experience

The physical sensations are often the first thing you’ll notice when you start the practice: tingling in the hands, changes in temperature, numbness, a sensation of energy running up and down your body. You’ll very likely get a dry throat, which will self lubricate on its own. You may experience tetany - locking up of hands - due to the change in CO2 levels in the body. Whatever physical sensations you feel, the invitation is to breathe with it and see if there’s any tension to be released at the site of the sensation.

What I’ve experienced

I find the physical sensations are almost always there in a Conscious Connected Breathwork session, even if it’s just a bit of tingling in my feet and hands. At the more extreme end, I’ve felt an enjoyable buzzing in my whole body. I often feel a lot of energy and aliveness in my womb space, which feels really lovely and I place my hands there to connect to that sensation.

Mental

What you might experience

You may have great ideas or arrive at a solution to a problem. It’s common to feel quite creative after a session so it’s a perfect time to put pen to paper or do some other creative task.

What I’ve experienced

Personally, I’ve often found I’m taken back to memories with vivid clarity and sometimes given a different perspective. A few months ago, I wrote the first poem I’ve written in decades right after a breathwork session based on a fleeting vision I saw during the practice. The words honestly just poured out of me in a way I’ve never experienced before. Read it here. Sharing this has been an incredibly important part of reclaiming my birth story and has really enabled me to see the place of conscious connected breathwork in our healing journeys.

Emotional

What you might experience

You might feel a range of emotions from joy to sorrow and anything in between. Emotions move through us quite quickly so the invitation is to welcome what comes to the surface and breathe with the emotion to fully feel it. I like to think of it as dancing with the emotion and giving it space to express itself so you can then release it.

What I’ve experienced

I often feel a range of emotions, even if just for a fleeting moment. It might be the music that makes me feel something, or perhaps something the facilitator says. Or maybe it’s connected to a thought that passes through my mind. I quite often shed a tear or two, which can feel like such a lovely release.

I received a fantastic 1:1 session a few months back and I breathed into the theme of the anger and frustration I was feeling due to my daughter’s sleeping pattern and the relentlessness of motherhood. Using my breath and guided by the facilitator, I was able to give myself permission to fully feel my emotions in a held space instead of ignoring them as I can tend to do in my day-to-day life. I really brought my attention to how these emotions manifested physically in my body and then we did some physical movement after the breathwork to help move the emotions out of the body. Powerful stuff!

Spiritual

What you might experience

Conscious Connected Breathwork is not a religious practice but you may feel a spiritual connection or understanding of the divine.

What I’ve experienced

I have experienced a connection to my intuition and also universal energy in an intangible way. This feels beautiful and expansive and full of possibility.

Or, you might experience nothing at all...

It’s important to mention that you might experience absolutely nothing during a conscious connected breathwork session and that’s totally ok. Think of this as an opportunity to simply relax and listen to lovely music for 30 minutes, which in itself is a beautiful gift.

Your breathwork facilitator will always remind you that if anything feels too overwhelming or intense at any point during the practice, you are in control of your own journey. You can change the rhythm, add pauses in or breathe through your nose and the sensations will ease. The invitation, however, is also always there to breathe through any uncomfortable bits if you can and see what’s on the other side.

Keen to try Conscious Connected Breathwork for yourself now? Learn more about my breathwork offerings here.