My first Rebirthing Breathwork experience, as I’ve mentioned before, was a very intense and powerful event. And I mean it in the best possible way. The second time was no less, the third was a bit “softer” and it was about the fifth session when it was much more subtle. In a nutshell – I hit a wall…
When I say ‘I hit a wall’ I mean that, in a way, the first few sessions were a lot about “cleaning the surface”, it was new, exciting, energetic and strong. It was “working”. There was, well, there is, only one catch with a very intense experience – most people (myself included) get attached to it. Meaning, by the fifth session, after cleaning the surface, I got to a deeper and subtler layer of my mind, the experience was gentler, compared to previous experiences, and I was certain that Rebirthing is not “working” anymore.
Sure enough, you can guess for yourself that I realised how wrong I was. Nevertheless, this is a phenomenon I’ve seen enough times to know that a lot of people go through. It happens a lot, in Rebirthing specifically and in therapy in general – as humans we get attached to experiences we identify with and without even realise it, we expect to have the same adventure over and over again.
Going back to Rebirthing – I saw quite a few clients begin their process, work out a lot of issues. But, at some stage, in which their experience is not as they expected it to be, they take a step back and resist the reality as it happens. This is the wall I was talking about. In many respects, this is a crucial point in every therapy – do I quit or keep going?
Rebirthing Breathwork is an adventurous journey – it never stays the same. If we try and picture the structure of our mind as layers on layers, we have to keep in mind, that each layer is different. Therefore, there are bound to be different experiences along the way. Some of them would be very intense, some others could be more subtle and the rest could feel a bit weird, scary, mysterious – everything is possible.
The “trick” – first, take a deep breath, literally. Don’t get attached to one kind of experience, because if you do, you are not only bound to be extremely disappointed, but you’re also preventing yourself from taking your own ‘Magical Mystery Tour’.
Allow yourself the freedom to go through anything that comes along, it might be challenging at times, it might be a bit uncomfortable sometimes, but it’s worth it. ‘Green Day’ said it best – ‘It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right. I hope you had the time of your life’.
