holotropic breathwork

Holotropic Breathwork has been subject to criticism, on points of medical and spiritual concern.

Holotropic Breathwork is usually done in groups, although individual sessions are done.

Participants in Holotropic Breathwork sessions report a wide variety of experiences (Taylor, 1994).

In Holotropic Breathwork, the sessions are less facilitator-directed and more client-directed, believed to be guided by an innate healing intelligence.

Eyerman goes on to conclude that Holotropic Breathwork 'offers significant benefits in terms of emotional catharsis and internal spiritual exploration, according to the participants.

Talbot often referenced Stanislav Grof, whose work on Holotropic Breathwork was also of obvious influence.

A "psychedelic experience" is an altered state of awareness induced by the consumption of certain psychotropics, holotropic breathwork, or sensory deprivation.

Grof's Holotropic Breathwork emerged from his study of the healing potentials of nonordinary states of consciousness since the mid-50s.

Participants in Holotropic Breathwork sessions report having images, emotions, physical sensations, and cognitions that convince them that they are remembering aspects of their own birth.

Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy (2010)

Grof disputes many of the medical criticisms of Holotropic Breathwork, arguing that they are based on misunderstandings of the physiological and psychological processes involved.

Stanislav Grof's Holotropic Breathwork can include hyperventilation, which Grof believes can aid emotional integration.

At Esalen, Price encouraged Grof to develop the therapeutic technique of Holotropic Breathwork, which functioned as a substitute for psychedelic drugs.

Some scholars have proposed that many of the qualities of a drug-induced mystical experience are indistinguishable from mystical experiences achieved through non-drug techniques, such as meditation or holotropic breathwork.

There is an Association for Holotropic Breathwork International which promotes professional and ethical practices governing Holotropic Breathwork.

'Holotropic Breathwork' is a psychotherapy form of breathwork developed by Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof, that followers believe allows access to nonordinary states of consciousness.

Research by Holmes et al. (1996) concluded that holotropic breathwork combined with traditional verbally oriented psychotherapy led to "significant reductions in death anxiety and increases in self-esteem" relative to just traditional psychotherapy.

In 1993 the Scottish Charities Office commissioned a report into holotropic breathwork, developed by Czech psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, having received complaints about workshops on it at the Findhorn Foundation.

Holotropic Breathwork is intended as an approach to self-exploration and healing that integrates insights from modern consciousness research, anthropology, various depth psychologies, transpersonal psychology, Eastern spiritual practices, and mystical traditions of the world.

Originally developed as an adjunct to psychedelic psychotherapy, Holotropic Breathwork is an autonomous psychotherapeutic practice which, nevertheless, retains many of the clinical precautionary measures that were implemented in the medical use of LSD.

Grof, S. "Physical Manifestations of Emotional disorders:Observations from the study of non-ordinary states of consciousness" in Exploring Holotropic breathwork: Selected Articles from a Decade of the Inner Door.

Both have the requirements of attendance at seven modules and a two-week closing intensive, covering training in transpersonal psychology (including psychopathology, spiritual emergency, and addictions), as well as the theory and practice of Holotropic Breathwork.

In its report on the event, The Scotsman also published several critical comments concerning Holotropic Breathwork as a form of therapy, made by Dr Linda Watt of Leverndale Psychiatric Hospital in Glasgow.

In a theoretical review article, Rhinewine and Williams (2007) offer the hypothesis that holotropic breathwork operates via a biopsychological mechanism that results in experiential exposure to feared internal representations, and consequently in extinction of covert avoidance behaviors.

The lack of even one single reported adverse sequelae in more than 11,000 Holotropic Breathing in-patients over more than 12 years, indicates that Holotropic Breathwork could be considered a low-risk therapy to assist patients with an extremely broad range of psychological problems and existential life issues.'