wellness coaching – Beyond the Breath Online Magazine

Who the heck is this?

23/11/2024 No Comments

Hey! Sophie here. I’m an almost 30 year old red-headed Yorkshire lass just starting my journey with Breathing Space to become the best breathwork facilitator Yorkshire ever saw.

This belief in myself is not something I’m hugely familiar with – it has grown in the last few years and particularly since May this year when I experienced by first Conscious Connected Breathwork class whilst on a ‘wellness’ retreat in Greece (I use the term lightly as the trip was run by regular party goers who were aiming for chill vibes. They did alright to be fair).

But who is she REALLY?
Ya gal has been through some shit. The shit started when my ex died in 2020. This was bruuuutal I can tell you. Him dying changed my perspective on literally everything in my life. I was pissed at couples walking down the street holding hands. I was reluctant to pay off my credit card because what was the point? I might die tomorrow shrugs nonchalantly (Obvs I did pay my credit card because ya gal has anxieties that override everything else)!

BUT

Whilst navigating the classic stages of grief, I realised I was actually quite liking the person I was becoming. Pre-trauma Sophie was proper square. She was a rule follower to a T and her life was lacking fun because of this. I had been a people pleaser and would prioritise everyone else’s emotional well-being waheeeey before my own. Shortly into this grief journey, I started to become more selfish but in the best way. Being selfish isn’t a bad thing. Being selfish means introducing boundaries and honouring your own emotions and wellbeing before anyone else’s. I have feelings too dammit, and they’re absolutely valid.

Since 2020 I have also lost both my Dad and my Cousin. Again, this was horrific to go through. Sadly, feeling quite experienced in the realm of grief by this point, I was able to draw on the journey I’d already navigated and seemed to handle these things fairly well (in the grand scheme of things). Don’t get me wrong, I felt incredibly guilty for feeling OK again much sooner!

My dry sense of humour has always been a masking tool I’ve drawn upon. My ability to joke about ~dark~ stuff is one of my favourite qualities. However, in the last couple of years my spiritual side has ventured into sight and I am exploring all kinds of weird and wonderful woo woo worlds (top marks for alliteration here). Because of this, the dark humour no longer served me QUITE as well. I was being forced to confront and FEEL things.

I saw a post today about the term ‘lifequake’. “A significant and unexpected shift in the trajectory of your life that initially feels devastating but has the beneficial outcome of catalyzing personal growth, transformation and rebirth.” Not sure who to credit for this but all hail this being! Thank you to Martin, Jaygo and Dad for being my lifequakes (although, given the choice, would’ve preferred you not to have been)!

Why breathwork?
Having worked in the NHS for 7 years, I got myself into a bit of a mental pickle. I know it isn’t something I want to do forever but what the Dickens could I do instead?! Cue the aforementioned wholesome trip to Greece in May 2024. We had a list of add-ons to choose from beforehand with breathwork being one of them. I didn’t give it much thought, thinking it sounded a bit lame or me. Obviously I got FOMO from everyone talking about the AMAZING experiences they’d had.

Thankfully, more sessions were put on so I signed up. Boooooyyyy am I grateful for that! It was a conscious connected breathwork session. It was hard. It was uncomfortable. It was weird. I was feeling a bit on edge anyway so it wasn’t much of a surprise when I started crying. I wasn’t quite ready for the full on emotional release that followed, though. We breathed with open mouths into the belly, chest, head, on cycle for about 20 minutes. The facilitator touched my abdomen and it was like she was literally pushing tears out of my face. Incredible. Suddenly, I realised what I had to do. I NEEDED to become a breathwork facilitator. So here I am – one seminar into the Breathing Space Breathwork Facilitator Programme, going for gold.

What’s the plan?
So what’s next? Well, I’m going to put my absolute all into the course. I’m going to learn everything I can and experience everything I can to make me the absolute best facilitator I can be. I hope to help people through their lifequakes so that they too might go for gold.

Sophie x

Sophie | @sanguine.soph

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

In Practitioner's Corner

Karen Berry

26/04/2001 No Comments

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

The breath is everything. This simple statement spoken by the amazing founder of this space, has taken on so many meanings, from the obvious, we cannot survive without it, to the exponential transformational potential in each breath. So the truth in this moment, is the breath really is everything. I have walked a path of many truths, some old, some new, some rediscovered, some lost forever. the breath is woven so intimately, so integrally through my life now that i do not imagine a time without it. It has been a shelter, a sanctuary where i can rest from the storms in my life. It has allowed me to rise into the sky and beyond.
Creating a collection of poetry inspired by my experiences with breathwork was a wonderful way to channel and express newfound insights and emotions. Poetry can be a powerful medium for capturing the essence of inner experiences and transformations. As I embarked on my journey with the breath, I allowed the words to flow freely, letting them express the depth of my experiences and the richness of my inner world. I built up a trust in my intuition and the creative process. Allowing it to guide me to explore themes, emotions, and imagery that resonate with my breathwork journey. My writings are not just about the final product but also about the process of self-expression and discovery. Allowing myself to be vulnerable and authentic in my writing provided a supportive and safe space for me to feel into these vulnerabilities. Safety and security are recurring themes I have been working on, as I walk my own path towards wholeness through healing.
If I ever feel stuck or uncertain, I return to my breathwork practice, as this will serve as a source of inspiration and grounding, helping me reconnect with that creative flow within and support my expression in the outer world.

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

Karen Berry. I graduated as a breathwork facilitator in July 2024 with Breathing Space. I attained my level 3 in Reiki in 2022 but I usually just say I work with energy as that is what it is to me but reiki is an accepted modality title.

Are you trained in any other modalities?

Yes, i am a trained in holistic massage, reiki – level 3, Indian head massage. and i am a qualified and registered adult general nurse

How do they integrate with breathwork?

Breathwork will weave throughout all modalities. It is present in each moment. I use the breath to support spiritual journeying and connection to other realms of existence.

What is your personal journey?

Throughout my life I have struggled, I was bullied as a child, I struggled to form lasting relationships, I was consumed by the need to fit in, to be accepted. This drove me to clip and change to suit those around me and I became less me, and not even really like them, I just seemed to fade away. Throughout my adult life people have abused my very soul. They have taken the love I gave so freely and used it against me. I’ll not dwell on that as this blog is about my journey in breathwork. So for the past 20 Years I have searched. I have searched for me. I have explored holistic therapies and trained in various modalities of healing. I qualified as a nurse and supported people for many years, physically and emotionally. My path took many twists and turns. I left one abusive relationship, straight into another, this one worse. I eventually found the strength to leave. During these times I left my spiritual development and self care behind. I no longer practiced my craft, I hid it all from the world and from myself. I was consumed with being accepted.
Now breathwork where does this fit in. Well over the past four years I have taken myself on a journey of healing, initially I thought I was ok, but then when I took a course on mental health resilience, I realised that I was not ok, the truth then was that I felt broken. Not it a I can’t function way, I worked, I provided for my family, but I was definitely not living my life the way I wanted or in a way that served my highest good, I didn’t really understand who I was so how could I live how I wanted when I didn’t knew myself. So I took a trip down the rabbit hole and I discovered a lady in America who does witchcraft and shadow work. OO I thought this sounds good so off I went, like Alice, down the hole deeper and deeper, until I started to come across the term breathwork. Now here’s me thinking wtf is that all about, sounds kinda hippie to me but also I found a little voice saying go have a look, go see what this hippie S678 is all about. Furthermore you daft sod you’re just a little bit hippie with all your reiki, crystals and witchy spell work so maybe, just maybe you’ll fit right in.
So off I do down another rabbit hole, and further and further I went, searching on the internet talking to friends, to see what it is all about. And I start to build this picture in my mind of what this breathwork might actually be about. Of course I saw some lets say very interesting interpretations of what breathwork was and some vast differences in practitioner training. I knew I was looking for something more, something that felt less wishy washy and more substantial. Then I found Ben and Breathing Space. I attended a zoom call to find out more. Now there I was, trying to get the children ready for bed, whist cuddling the snake and listening to Ben talking about his work and this programme. I suddenly stopped what I was doing, this was it, I found what I was looking for. The energies of all those people on that call were amazing, old students, current students, facilitators, curious people like me and of course Ben. One lady made a comment of how the breath is everything. As I have travelled along this path, read more books, attended more sessions, the truth of this statement transformed, I came to understand just what she meant. The breath is everything, no more no less, it just is. If you are reading this thinking this woman writing this is mad, she is bonkers what is she going on about making such a daft statement? Hang in there, walk a little further along the path into breathwork and you will see. The penny will drop, you will just know.
Breathwork has helped to change my life. I am calmer, more resilient, happier because I know how to breathe. I know what I need to do to open my sub conscious, so I can connect on a deeper level to discover my truth. I can stay calm in the moment, and now I am ready to support this for others.

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

My mission is to combat the feeling of being alone. I have been there and it is not a very nice place. I am not saying i don’t relish my own company nor am i unhappy on my own. But feeling alone is something very different. I wish for communities to come together, to support one another, where we are now. Building spaces where people can just be present and loved. What do i stand against? well tyranny, oppression, and feeling alone, feeling no one is there and not knowing which way to turn. Above all i stand for being kind and nice, these do not come without boundaries but let us all just be kind.

What is your greatest wish for your clients

To find a space of respite. A space of safe refuge as they navigate the storms in their own lives. A place of connection, a place of compassion and a place of love.

My Bio

Creating Safe Spaces to Navigate Life’s Storms: Breathwork & Energy Facilitation to Build Your Centre of Wellness

Contact Details

email :- safehavenwellnesscentre@gmail.com.

In Practitioner's Corner

Tim Johnson is fine and dandy, thank you

18/07/2000 No Comments

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

Breathing is our most primeval instinct, without it we would not exist. I reference many times the energy created by our breath, how this relates to the Universe, planet earth, the tides, the waves, the cycle of day night day, these are all elements of breathing. I really enjoy the fact conscious breathing helps me to connect to the planet and keeps me rooted.
When I teach tai chi, the first thing we do is to gauge our respiratory rate, to gain a sense of how the day is treating us, whether any stress or agitation has crept into our bodies. If it has, that person can reference this during the class and allow them to focus on their breathing before each exercise.
Gaining the knowledge of breath work has enabled not just me, but the people I work with to gain an insight as to how our breathing can change how we feel, how it can empower us and balance us.

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

I am a Buteyko & Oxygen Advantage breathing instructor having studied with Patrick McKeown

Breathing Space – Mentor – I already run my business as a breath work facilitator, I am on the second year of the course, however, as we say in tai chi, I am a fool who knows nothing and will approach the Breathing Space course with the wide open eyes of the child.

Are you trained in any other modalities?

From a breath work perspective, only Buteyko & Oxygen Advantage, I am also a wellbeing coach with Dr Claire McGuire at Raw Horizons Academy and have been studying and teaching tai chi & qigong for the past 20 years.

How do they integrate with breathwork?

This is the holistic approach which runs through everything and everybody I work with. It goes back to the values of simplicity, compassion and balance. How do we achieve those and how does that make us feel. The key to life is breathing, it is where everything begins and how we build a foundation strong enough to withstand the travails of our lives. I find it impossible to envisage teaching wellbeing or tai chi without involving breath work. It would be like teaching tai chi or wellbeing without the why. It can be done, however, it leaves an emptiness.

What is your personal journey?

For many years, I created an artifice, well several actually, creating a mask to be liked, to be seen to do what’s right, to be able to fit in, when I didn’t feel that I did.
This began to change when I began to study tai chi.
After a couple of months I found myself getting to the bottom of the steps to enter where we were holding the class and not being able to go in. This lasted several weeks and initially I could not understand as to why this was happening.
After considerable thought, which of it itself was hard work, as I tended to gloss over introspection, I came to the conclusion that the tai chi classes and the philosophy of Taoism was forcing me to look at myself. I did not like what I saw and realised I had to make a decision. If I carried on, I would have to embrace everything, or I could stop and carry on with how I was and more importantly how I was feeling. As I was a fairly new Dad, I did not want to pass on those neuroses to my son and in a very flippant way, the tai chi was less expensive than seeking therapeutic help. So I decided tai chi was the moonlit pathway to follow. This led me to wellbeing and to the fundamentals of breathing. Whilst I still felt out of step with the role I had in the corporate world I found myself in, I was able to work releasing my real personality and thoughts, very slowly and found myself helping more and more my clients within the company with their mindset and more particularly their breathing.
This eventually gave me the strength to leave that world and stride out into the living breathing world of which I now feel so much part of, along, of course, with the residual ephemeral imposter syndrome trails still saying hello every now and again.

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

The values of my company are the values of myself, which are, simplicity, compassion and balance. I have only ever so slightly pinched and adapted these from the Tao the Ching by Lao Tzu. The change being patience from Mr Tzu to compassion from me. They help to remind me everyday how I should be and how I wish the world could be. I feel they create a solid foundation from which to live, work and be.

As for what I stand against? Ultimately authoritarianism in all its forms, whether politically or religious. I fail to see how people and societies are able to grow and flourish when the ego’s of man are constantly behind motives.

What is your greatest wish for your clients

To see them progress and to empower them to see what they are capable of. I work with some very vulnerable people, who have been very severely reduced in their sense of capability. Working with them to slowly unpick these strictures is profoundly gratifying, as you can physically see the difference they are able to make within themselves. There are sometimes bouts of giddy delight from them and me when barriers have been knocked over. Ultimately if I can leave a client in a better state than when we started, then that is a wish fulfilled.

Contact Details

website :- www.i-qi-coaching.com

facebook :- @i-Qi-coaching

instagram :- @iqicoaching

linkedin :- Tim Johnson

tiktok :- @tim.johnson173