gentle healing

Trauma-Sensitive Breathwork as a Bridge to Body Wisdom.

In a time where fast transformations and intense experiences are often praised as the path to personal growth, I have chosen a different approach: a gentle, trauma-sensitive way of connecting back with ourselves through our breath.

The Power of a Gentle Approach

Perhaps you know this feeling: You sense a deep longing within yourself.
But longing for what exactly? For a greater meaning? For your personal purpose?
I believe most of us are (unconsciously) searching for a connection with ourselves.

And while we’re searching, it’s often not that easy to restore this connection (even when we’re aware that it’s missing). More often than we would like, our bodies don’t feel like safe places. At least, that is my experience.

Many transformative breathwork practices (such as Holotropic Breathwork or classical Connected Breathing) that aim for cathartic experiences can be overwhelming for our systems and may create an even bigger distance to our bodies instead of creating the desired connection.

This is where my trauma-sensitive breathwork approach comes in. It’s based on the deep conviction that true healing begins in a gentle and safe contact with our innermost being. Through the integration of Somatic Experiencing techniques, we create a space where you can follow your own rhythm and explore the connection to your body step by step, slowly restoring it at your own pace.

The Difference to Classical Breathwork Practices

Traditional breathwork methods often work with a very intense breathing rhythm and aim for powerful “breakthroughs.” While I generally work with connected breathing techniques as well, my approach takes a different path:

Gentle Approach: Instead of seeking cathartic experiences, we approach your inner world gently and safely. We explore step by step what your body is ready to reveal, allowing you to truly perceive what’s happening within you and giving you the chance to consciously experience emerging sensations and feelings.
Regulation Instead of Overwhelm: We avoid flooding your system with stimuli and repeatedly create moments of calm and relaxation. This ensures that your system can integrate the experiences long-term rather than just experiencing another moment of euphoria that ultimately doesn’t change much in your life.
Your Pace: You decide on the pace of your exploration while being mindfully guided. This might seem unusual and strange to many at first — after all, we’re all looking for quick solutions. However, real change typically requires time and a conscious awareness.

The Bridge to Body Wisdom

So, what exactly does our breath have to do with all this? Our breath is like a bridge between our conscious and unconscious self. Through trauma-sensitive breathwork, we use this bridge mindfully to ensure several things simultaneously:

Establishing Safety: Through gentle breathing techniques, your nervous system learns that it’s safe to relax. This feeling of safety is so important because it’s the only way your nervous system can leave the “fight or flight” mode and release experiences that previously drove you into and perhaps kept you trapped in this state.
Perceiving Body Sensations: Only when your system feels safe will it open up to new experiences, feelings, and body sensations. And only within this (safe) setting can you come back into deeper contact with your body and yourself.
Building Trust: The experience of being okay and safe to allow feelings and to sense your body more consciously will gradually build and strengthen trust in your body and its natural wisdom.

Practical Integration in Daily Life

While I consciously design my work as a breathwork coach and facilitator to be trauma-sensitive, trauma-sensitive breathwork is so much more than a technique – it’s an attitude of gentle self-care.

At this point, I’d like to share three ways you can integrate this approach into your daily life:

Micro-moments of Mindfulness: Take small moments throughout the day to notice your breath – without trying to change it. This doesn’t take long, and often you don’t even need to stop what you’re already doing. You can observe your breath while walking, washing dishes, or during a conversation. Briefly sense where you feel your breath (at your mouth or nose, in your chest or abdomen) and how your breathing is flowing (fast, slow, deep, shallow). Also notice briefly how your breathing feels (calming, halting, strained?).
Creating Safe Anchors: Explore your personal resources that help you feel safe and grounded. Resources can be internal or external anchors that you can connect with physically, emotionally, and mentally to help your system find calm. These might be objects that hold special meaning for you (e.g., photos, vacation souvenirs, or a stuffed animal), the thought of someone you love, or a positive memory that brings a smile to your face.
Using Your Senses: Often we’re so much in our heads that we don’t consciously perceive where we are. Allow yourself to consciously activate your senses from time to time and use them to experience the here and now: What can you see right now? What can you hear? What do you smell or taste in this moment? What objects can you touch, and how do they feel?

A Path to Sustainable Healing

The trauma-sensitive approach to breathwork might initially seem less spectacular than intensive breathing practices. Yet it’s precisely in its gentleness that its transformative power lies. It enables us to build sustainable connections — to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us.

This type of work creates a space where all experiences and feelings are welcome. A space where you can be exactly as you are. Because I am convinced: True healing begins where we feel safe enough to meet ourselves – with all our stories, fears, and hopes.

In a world that often searches for quick solutions, I invite you to choose the gentle path. A path that leads you back to yourself breath by breath and allows you to walk your own healing journey at your own pace.

If you’d like to learn more about my work, feel free to visit my website.

With love,
Svenja

Svenja (she/her)

To find out more about Svenja, take a look at her profile in Practitioners Corner

What do you enjoy about breathwork and how has it helped you?

Breathwork has been transformative for me because it touches that deep, unseen place where the mind and body intersect – exactly where sensitive souls often feel the weight of the world. As someone who feels everything intensely, I’ve struggled with overwhelming emotions, anxiety, and even fear for most of my life. Breathwork has become more than a practice; it’s a sanctuary where I can soften into my sensitivity rather than fight against it.

In every session, I feel the power of my breath ground and guide me, reshaping how I respond to stress and fear. Breathwork gently connects me with my nervous system, subconscious mind, and neural pathways, creating lasting calm and a sense of rooted confidence that traditional methods never fully reached. For me, it’s about reclaiming this natural tool to lead a life that honours my sensitive nature, and it’s why I’m passionate about helping other sensitive women find their way through breath, too.

Where did you complete your training (or where are you still in training)?

Graduate Facilitator, Mentor and Teacher at Breathing Space
Graduate coach, teacher and facilitator

Are you trained in any other modalities?

Trainee Advanced Instructor – Oxygen Advantage (course complete, case studies in progress).
Professional Coach for HSPs – The Highly Sensitive Human Academy
I am also a qualified holistic therapist (massage, reflexology, although I no longer practice).
I am certified in First Aid and Mental Health First Aid.

How do they integrate with breathwork?

I felt there was an element missing when practicing breathwork, and whilst working/specialising in working with those navigating high sensitivity and often the challenges that arise with this – anxiety, overwhelm, extreme emotions. Coaching has given me a more solid base to work with the mind – mindset and mindfulness – as well as the body through breathwork. We are one, and to be able to integrate the two I feel is imperative. I am also trained in both esoteric, and very science based breathwork, again, I feel the necessity and importance of understanding the full spectrum of breathwork here to best help those that need it.

What is your personal journey?

I’ve spent much of my life navigating the intensity of being a highly sensitive person in a world that often values resilience and hustle over sensitivity and rest. For years, I felt like my sensitivity was a burden, something I had to hide or fix. Society’s unspoken rules had me in a cycle of pushing down emotions, overriding my needs, and constantly striving to fit in a mould that just wasn’t meant for me.

But then, I reached a breaking point – a place of overwhelming burnout, anxiety, and an exhaustion that went soul-deep. It was in this low that I discovered the power of breathwork, embodiment, and gentle self-care. Through these practices, I began to reconnect with myself, finding that my sensitivity wasn’t a weakness; it was my strength, my superpower. I’ve had to unlearn a lot, redefine my relationship with fear, and embrace slowness as a guiding force in my life.

Now, I’ve created a life that supports who I truly am – a life that honours rest, healing, and the beauty of softness. And I’m passionate about helping other sensitive women find that same freedom, to come home to themselves without shame, embracing the quiet power within.

What do you stand for, and what do you stand against?

For :- I stand for a world in which sensitivity is respected and celebrated as strength, where women feel empowered to embrace their gentle power and pursue slow, meaningful growth. I believe in creating spaces that nurture compassion, authentic expression, and self-connection. I’m devoted to helping sensitive women find balance, strength, and resilience, offering a path that honours the natural rhythms of our bodies and minds. In a world that often demands too much, I stand for gentle courage, connection to nature, and holistic healing.

Against :- I stand against the relentless pressure to fit into fast-paced, disconnecting norms that undervalue rest, healing, and our emotional wellbeing. I oppose the societal demands for constant self-improvement that lead to self-abandonment and burnout. I reject the idea that sensitivity is a weakness to be overcome. I stand firmly against systems that shame our natural sensitivity and resilience, and I oppose the shallow solutions that treat complex emotions with dismissal rather than depth. Instead, I advocate for depth, self-compassion, and the freedom to feel and heal authentically.

What is your greatest wish for your clients

My greatest wish for my clients is for them to find a life of peace, clarity, and self-acceptance that feels completely true to who they are. I hope they discover the beauty in their sensitivity and see it not as something to overcome, but as a deep well of strength, intuition, and insight. I wish for them to build a loving relationship with themselves – one that honours rest, joy, and resilience, free from shame or societal pressures, and free from crippling anxiety, overwhelm and a distrust of the self. Above all, I want them to feel empowered to lead lives that feel rich and nourishing, not despite their sensitivity, or sensitive parts but because of it.

Contact Details

website :- www.naturallylottie.com

facebook :- https://www.facebook.com/naturallylottiebreathwork

instagram :- https://www.instagram.com/naturallylottie

A Gentle Path Back to Ourselves