“I believe that all the best faculties of a mature human being exist in the child, that one of the most deeply human, and humane, of these faculties is the power of imagination.” -Ursula Le Guin
As a child, I was deeply connected to magic and nature. I could read by age 2 and did so voraciously. I drew, wrote, created art and books, dressed up as a witch every Saturday, and would go on solo adventures gathering weeds and flowers in the forests near my suburban Toronto home.
As I grew up, though, I learned that these parts of me were not welcomed in my home or in broader society. I learned to colour inside the lines, diet and exercise, and harness my energy towards getting straight As rather than taking in the wonders of the world around me.
That little girl in love with magic grew up to be an anorexic university student struggling with mental health, then a Dean’s List law student who had sweaty, palpitating panic attacks at the thought of not getting an A. It was exhausting and a war against my true nature.
It was the simple, soft yet potent practice of Breathwork that brought the magic and wonder of that witchy little girl back into my life.
The first time I tried it, I felt like my heart was going to explode from how bright my inner world shone. I felt utterly held by the arms of the universe. Things that felt like platitudes like ‘universal love’ and ‘trust yourself’ suddenly made sense in my limbic system.
Breathwork is an active meditation performed lying down in a safe, supportive environment. The student is taught a breathing pattern which oxygenates the cells, opens the heart, releases stuck emotional energy and provokes non-ordinary states of consciousness. At all times, you are in control of your experience. Many students describe Breathwork as “what heaven feels like” and “like twenty years of therapy without uttering a word.”
Over the years of working with groups and private clients, I have developed my own signature Breathwork method, Elemental Visioning, which combines evocation of the natural elements- earth, air, fire, water, as well as minerals, with guided imaginative journeying in order to expand, probe, and deepen one’s consciousness and gain expanded answers to life’s most probing questions.
I designed my online course, Vision Quest Breathwork, to systematically unblock and revitalize your whole being. Read more about it here.
I teach Breathwork at Lotus Yoga Centre, privately 1:1. I look forward to sharing its magic with you.