Trauflexive™^* Breathing

A well-known psychologist once said that "anything you can breathe through loses its grip on you." I will add that full-bodied breathing and ecstasy are largely interdependent.

*Indicating the possibility of a traumatized breathing reflex. Trauflexive breathing can be observed by the quality of inhales, exhales and pauses in the resting phase plus breathing balance during stress.

This assessment is to be integrated with the Optimal Breathing ™ Assessment Criteria included in the #191 Secrets of Optimal Natural Breathing manual.

When any of the following issues present themselves, it is recommended that the breathing be attended to at the earliest opportunity.

• Abrupt mood swings, e.g., rage reactions or temper tantrums, shame
• Amnesia and forgetfulness
• Attraction to dangerous situations
• Avoidance behavior (avoiding certain circumstances and phobias
• Chronic fatigue or very low physical energy
• Constriction
• Depression, feelings of impending doom
• Difficulty sleeping
• Diminished interest in life
• Dissociation (including denial)
• Exaggerated emotional and startle responses
• Exaggerated or diminished sexual activity
• Exaggerated startle response
• Extreme sensitivity to light and sound
• Fear of dying, going crazy, or having a shortened life
• Feelings and behaviors of helplessness
• Feelings of detachment, alienation, and isolation-"living dead"
• Feelings of helplessness
• Frequent crying
• Frequently stressed out)
• Hyper-vigilance (being "on guard" at all times)
• Hyperactivity
• Hyper arousal
• Immune system problems and certain endocrine
• Inability to love, nurture or bond with other individuals
• Inability to make commitments
• Intrusive imagery or flashbacks
• Mental "blankness" or "spaceyness"
• Nightmares and night terrors
• Panic attacks, anxiety, phobias
• Psychosomatic illnesses, particularly headaches, neck and back problems, asthma, digestive, spastic colon, and severe premenstrual syndrome
• Reduced ability to deal with stress and to formulate plans
• Thyroid dysfunction

Much care is necessary to process the memories and feelings in a safe and manageable manner. Insights from Chi-Gung (they refer to this erratic energy as chi deviations) and voice/singing coaching plus my own personal experiences and the experiences of many others lead me to believe that the long way is often the best way. The short quick fix of cathartic breathwork too often overloads the energy circuits of the body and while it seems to resolve past emotional experience does rarely allow for the grounding and centering needed for the day to day stresses of life as well as the maintenance of therapeutic progress.. Although with the support of an experienced counselor/therapist it can be processed and "breathed through".

That implies to me that techniques need to be utilized that incorporate all relevant styles of breathwork, advanced breathwork, breathing work, Chi Gung, pranayama, Yoga, voice training, nutrition, ergonomics, and environmental influences so that the client/patient can be guided into safe and long lasting balance and internal power.

I repeat that in the case of severely traumatized people, there most often need be high skill levels generally reserved for the professional therapist.

"All traumas are a major doorway to bliss."

-- Gay Hendricks Ph.D.
www.Hendricks.com Group

But I have observed that some people can, with proper (even over the phone) guidance into the healthy and balancing aspect of the way they breathe, that they can be able to resolve some of even the most horrendous experiences, by themselves, in their own time. The high energy used by the cathartic breathwork school would never work in this regard as the re-stimulation would confuse or overwhelm the solo breather, take them out of the "incident" needing resolution and perhaps cause overcompensation and resistance to further breath work or breathing work (God knows that must happen quite enough in the therapeutic environment anyway. Why increase the odds for its occurrence?).

But teaching the client to GENTLY breathe through their resistance on their own, can be tremendously empowering to that person. Of course some of the Cathartic school teaches this as well but I have seen too much abuse from the lay examples to feel confident in recommending many of them as professional breathwork facilitation sources.

I agree with George Leonard and Michael Murphy as implied in The Life We are Given and Jesus ("teach a person to fish," etc.) that self determinism is almost always the key to lasting results. Daily practice of proper breathing that engages the 7 chakras or "segments"-(Reich) is where I believe we should direct everyone for balance, grounding, and accelerated emotional stability. The therapeutic environment should be used for breakthrough work, spiritual principles, practical solutions and to train, monitor and re-enforce daily breathing practices.

I have used mostly gentle techniques and exercises in the manual and have purposefully avoided the high intensity "Cathartic" styles. I am trained in them (Radiance and Rebirthing and have received over 150 Reichian sessions) and I rarely use them. I believe, to be safe and "first do no harm" they should be solely for the purpose of the professionally trained therapist. AND, in as much as the unbalanced breath can result in emotional confusion and overall convoluted energy management, I feel strongly that the professional therapist should know how to develop the breath in the fastest, safest, most grounding and centering way possible. This is largely why I have developed the Optimal Natural Breathing Somatic Education System.

Anyone, including therapists, may do in-person, group or phone consulting where I train you to receive one's deepest breathing related insights, work through stuck energy that is often called trauma, and/or strengthen your connection with your deepest essence and higher power.. I highly recommend them.

"Children learn bad behavior exactly the way they learn good behavior. They learn by imitating the significant adults in their lives. No one should be surprised when a child who is routinely exposed from an early age to a particular behavior, begins in turn to exhibit that behavior.

The Beaumont Enterprise is to be commended for its series on bullying. Hopefully it will address one of the major sources of bullying: educators who model the behavior by battering students on their buttocks with wooden boards. That happens about 400,000 times a year nationwide. It's legal in 23 states. The "professionals" who inflict those beatings are the quintessential bullies, in my opinion. And if one is serious about solving the problem of bullying, the first step should be removal of adult bullies from any contact with, or control over, children. It that isn't possible, at least disarm them."

Sincerely,
-- Jordan Riak
Exec. Dir., Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE)
P.O. Box 1033, Alamo CA 94507-7033
Tel.: 925-831-1661; FAX: 925-838-8914
Web Site: "Project NoSpank" at www.nospank.net

From Mike:
The ?http://www.nospank.net Web site is an excellent one addressing spanking and various forms of abuse.

From a newsletter reader in response to this article:
Very interested in the article on breathing and trauma. I have a daughter, adopted from overseas, who spent a long time in an institution. She has been severely traumatised by the experience and operates in hyper-vigilant mode. I had also noticed that her breathing is very shallow, so it was an interesting article in that it connected the two. Keep up the good work. I recommended it to my friend, whose son has similar background.

From Mike:
I would make sure you work on your daughter with the techniques in the video. Make a game of it.

NOTE:

IF YOU EXPERIENCE STATES OF BEING IN THE TRAUFLEXIVE LIST YOU MAY WELL HAVE BEEN SERIOUSLY TRAUMATIZED IN SOME WAY THAT YOU ARE NOT EVEN AWARE OF. THE BREATH CAN RESOLVE TRAUMATIC INCIDENTS HOWEVER YOU MAY WISH TO CONSIDER WORKING WITH A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCED IN TRAUMA RESOLUTION. TAKE THE #191 Secrets of Optimal Natural Breathing with you and have them read it. YOU CAN WRITE TO MY OFFICE OR E-MAIL ME FOR THERAPIST REFERRALS.

Trauma release breathing technique

Professional Breathing Development as it relates to trauma resolution