Breath Work

Breath Based Body work practices are a range of breathing techniques that allow us to experience and explore the whole body

This strengthens our skills in ‘body awareness’, Revealing all of the places where we are holding tension and resisting the natural flow of the breath.

The aim of the practices are not to perfect a particular breathing technique but to hone our awareness of breath and body so that we can learn to keep noticing and thus letting go of unnecessary holdings in the tissues of the body – and thoughts forms of the mind.

We begin by initially becoming familiar with the body, its physical structures and its holdings. With practice and guidance, we then – in a very natural and organic way – begin to become aware of  thoughts and emotions that are there also.

As we become more comfortable with listening to the body and familiar with the art of letting go,  the body responds by presenting further sensations and  experiences to be explored in the same gentle and non judgemental fashion.

Why breath based body work is useful

Through her profession experience of working with many clients, and by encountering it herself, Angela knows first hand that excessive mental and emotional stress can easily lead to physical bodily tension. This tension becomes retained within the connective tissue of our bodies, increasing the likelihood of us suffering pain or injury.

In fact, Neurobiology tells us that this pathological tension extends all the way to our cellular level and is a contributing factor to ill health and disease.

The reverse of this is also possible. In that our mental clarity and judgement will reduce, mental chatter rouse, and our emotions stir, when our physical bodies are held in rigid postures over prolonged periods of time.

When our breath and body are unconsciously held rigid or frozen in poor posture, say in a period of intense concentration at our desk, it can activate the involuntary ‘stress response’ that we go into when feeling ‘threatened’ or fearful for our lives.

The difference being, when a threatening situation arises, usually, it has an end point, allowing the endocrine and nervous system to come back to a place of balance and harmony.

In unconscious, chronic holding or rigidity, the ‘threat’ is not taken away unless this stiffness, rigidity is made conscious (brought to our attention) and changed say by moving position and, or taking some conscious breaths. This requires ‘Body Awareness’.

How it works

At its essence, the attention, or awareness, of our body that is needed to help reduce the effects of this could be called ‘mindfulness.’

However, when our focus is specifically directed towards the body,  Angela likes to refer to it as ‘body awareness’.

Without ‘body awareness’, we are not in contact with our posture, alignment, tensions and holdings.. (body) And so,  Angela would go so far as to say, that it is impossible to change chronic patterns/habits of holding & bodily tension, or posture, with out it.

Cultivating an embodied awareness doesn’t mean becoming macho or masochistic, – it’s not a matter of making yourself better or eradicating unwanted tensions/sensations.

That attitude is disconnected from a genuine heart of self-kindness and compassion and will wear you out very quickly. The art is to gradually become aware of the felt sense of your relationship to the condition of your body in this very moment. The point isn’t to focus on or amplify the unpleasant sensations but to connect to the here-and-now effects of your intentions and attitude in a way that empowers you and gives you the choice of whether to sustain them or to relax, soften, and feel for a new possibility entirely.

Many of the breath based body work that Angela teaches begin in lying, in the Constructive Rest Position. When appropriate, the practices can progress to sitting and standing.

The practices are initially taught with guidance or audio recording until you feel happy enough to begin to explore the practice for yourself.

The combination of experience and expertise as a physiotherapist, Tai Chi  teacher, Yoga teacher and somatic meditation practitioner allows Angela to deliver carefully devised breath work practices for all ages and abilities.