Learn to Facilitate MoS Breathwork

Breath of fire is a great practice to use in order to connect to your belly muscles. If you are brand new to Breath of Fire then you should practice this on and off for the next few days. You want to have your belly muscles very connected and very strong, because this breathwork requires it!

This is what the breathwork looks like! If you do not have a drum yet then you can do the breathwork along with me, but you better get yourself a drum!

If you do have a drum then do your best to drum along with me the second time you watch it.

It will be best to watch this video at least 5-10 times and only start week 1 on your own once you can stay on beat.

Be sure to give yourself at least 5 minutes of silence, either sitting up or laying down to enjoy the benefits of the breathwork

4 cycles of breath = 1 round

Breath is held between each round

3 rounds = 1 segment

Rhythmic breathing between each segment (example later in course)

Don't worry if you do more or less than 4 cycles of breath per round, since the breathwork is meant to be disorienting! As long as you are solid in the sound of your breath then you will be a solid leader and people will follow.

After doing the breathwork a few times you should get an idea if this is a path that you would like to go down. If it feels like a yes then I am excited to have you join me for week 1! If its a no then I hope to see you on one of my other courses, breathwork is not for everyone so there are no hard feelings :) :)

For week 1 we are only doing one segment of the slow breath.

One Segment = 3 rounds

This is intended for you to ease into the practice of breathwork and to gain the synchronized muscle and connection to your belly.

Do this 5 times throughout the week, if that is multiple times in one day then that is fine. Each one should take about 5-10 minutes so its not that long. Don't forget to incorporate some meditation at the end, a few minutes at least!

Also do this all with a Blindfold  or a sleeping mask or something that will be covering your eyes. The idea is to block out all light! It is also a key element for the participants of the circle to be able to feel comfortable to release and fully open to whatever they are going through.

Week 1-6 you will be experiencing what its like to be the participant. Blindfold on.

Week 7-12 you will be experiencing what its like to be the facilitator. Blindfold off.

Now you have some experience doing the slow breath, and hopefully you have built up some muscle! We will get you to incorporate 1 round of medium speed breath after you have done your cycle of 3 slow rounds. If you need to then you can do a transition round, so that you have a bit of a ladder to climb between the slow and medium breath. Incremental speed ups are always a good way for you to make the transition without a giant leap.

Remember to keep up with doing this 5 times per week! It doesn't take much time, so commit to it!

Time for the fast breath! Or as fast as you can without over straining. Be honest with yourself though, and if this whole thing has been way too easy for you so far, then feel free to incorporate more that just 1 fast round.

My suggestion here is 3 slow rounds, hold breath, 1 medium round, hold breath, 1 fast round. Sit/ lay down in meditation.

You can now incorporate a break.. sort of! As I mentioned in the video, you are inhaling and exhaling continually for an approximate count of 3-6 seconds depending on what is comfortable for you. No stopping at the top or the bottom of the breath! Do this for a different length of time each practice this week and see how it feels. Ie. 3 Rounds, 2/3/5 minutes rest, 3 rounds.

Week 4 layout:

1st segment- 3 rounds slow- each round is 4 cycles of breath

Break/ Rhythmic breathing

2nd segment- Medium Round, Fast Round, Medium Round - holding your breath between rounds!

Sit/lay down meditation

Now it is time to construct your own segments! Do it based on how you feel of course, but be sure to always push yourself to your limit of what you can handle. We are still early on in the course and we haven't even really got to the hard stuff yet ;)

Between each round hold your breath for as long as you can, no break

Between each segment take a "Break" of continual breathing for 3-6 seconds of each in and out breath with no stopping at the top or the bottom

At the end of 3 segments constructed however you wish, lay or sit in silence and/or ambient music for 10+ minutes

By this point your meditations should really start to get interesting. Some people experience visions and messages, but if you do not then don't worry. You are at first opening yourself up, and then you will experience the good stuff!

Oh and don't forget to keep your blindfold on for the next 2 weeks! It comes off for week 7, where you will now become the facilitator

Blindfold is removed for the rest of the course, because you are now beginning the process of becoming a facilitator.

Welcome to the next step in the process, which is standing up!

Week 7 do the breathwork standing with your back/ body leaning against the wall.

Week 8 do the breathwork away from the wall, standing on your own.

For either week feel free to take a knee, or to sit for a round or 2. Remember this is supposed to be challenging, but you are also required to keep yourself safe. Please never let yourself feel more than a 7/10 head rush, a 10 being that you pass out.

Enjoy the same structure we have been working with, 3 times per week:

1st Segment- 3 rounds constructed however you prefer. Slow/Medium/Fast - Hold your breath between each round.

Break/ Rhythmic breathing

Repeat for second and third segments

Integration: Meditate/ Lay down in silence or to ambient music

Make sure you are incorporating at least half of the rounds to be medium or fast!

By now you may have discovered a combination of breathwork that you prefer, so keep doing that while walking. Flowing with the beat of the breath so you do not look/ feel too awkward. Its okay if you do at first though, since this is all new and when we first start something new we will always feel a bit weird while doing it.

Walk back and forth through the room!

For the break you can sit down, since if you are facilitating this for a group you will definitely want to have some breaks from being on your feet.

Now we get to incorporate the largest challenge in the whole series, which is to dance. Not to worry tho! You are not required or expected to dance for the whole thing, not even close!

Lets divide the breathwork into 3 sections:

First segments - Sit with everyone

Second segments- Stand/ walk around

Final segment- Move/Dance!

When doing this breathwork we are building up a lot of energy and then contrasting that with our final meditation. At this point of your journey I would like to encourage longer and longer meditations at the end, as long as you have time for! 10-30 minutes is suggested

The entire breathwork session truly is about energy, and when you dance you are being a conduit for more energy to come through. If people join in with you then that energy will multiply and get very powerful!

On that note only encourage people to dance if you have plenty of room in your space and let them know beforehand that they should not flail around or fist pump, safety always comes first!

Dancing is fun and exciting and I hope by watching me it inspired you to give it a shot. You may have noticed I threw the 4 cycle suggestion out the widow and went for more rounds and quicker at the end. I always do that to finish the breathwork as a final build up/ crescendo of energy.

Have fun! :)

Congrats on making it this far! This is not an easy undertaking, and the fact that you have made it this far is indicative of your commitment to learn and grow.

I was mostly joking about making you do the dancing, but you SHOULD have experienced it at least a few times so that you know what it is and how it feels. Also that you get to experience the contrast of intensity, so that when you sit back down to do breathwork, it will feel much easier in comparison.

If you were not in a position to be able to dance at any point in the course then I hope you still went through the 12 weeks and experienced the breathwork anyways! :)

Keeping the air flow going in your space is a must! As many windows open as possible is going to help people get into more of an oxygenated open space. We don't want constriction, stuffiness and excess heat (outside of natural climate)

It my space I have a ceiling fan, a window open and an air purifier. All 3 are not necessary, but I would definitely suggest 2!

Adding different scent elements to the breathwork ceremony are going to really help to evoke different energies, thoughts and emotions.

Lighting incense or sage are good ways to add a level of sacredness to your circle. However, you will definitely want to be aware of air flow and not smoke the place out.

Rose/Frankincense/Palo Santo water are great options if you do not have very good air flow in your space. Spray during the rest portions or during the meditation at the end.

Participants are going to go through a range of different emotions during the breathwork! You can expect things to get very raw at different points.

If you are like most of the population then you have an aversion to pain and a preference for pleasure. Deep profound healing comes from people confronting the discomfort that they naturally want to avoid. You might feel a little bit uncomfortable if people look like they are having a rough time. This is an opportunity to check yourself and bring yourself into a space of openness and compassion, and to feel with them instead of resist them/ their feelings.

Ask at the beginning of the circle if any of the participants are opposed to having a hand on their back or having their hand held. Always let them know as well that they are free to change their mind ie. push your hand away or off of them. Yourself and the helpers must be willing to receive that response if that ends up happening.

To begin the circle its a good idea to have a sharing circle so that people feel less like strangers. Sharing how their name, how their week was, if they have done breathwork before ect.

To conclude the circle it is a good idea to have a closing circle where everyone shares what they went through. Some people might not feel like talking much, so allow that to be part of their process. I always keep the door open for people to share with me what their experience was like over email if they are short of words after the session.

Normally you will not need to regulate the sharing of participants, but periodically people take up a lot of time. If that is okay with you and how you would like your sessions to go then that is not a problem. If you are on a time constraint then it is best to give everyone an idea before sharing that they have approx. 2-5 minutes of sharing or something like that.

Thank you! Great work!

As with any training some of you are going to be more called to facilitate this for a group than others. Either way you have a solid background of breathwork that you can use at any point.

Some things to consider regarding holding a session:

Some people are not going to like this, its part of it! Breathwork is hard and some people are lazy

Some people are going to have way more challenging of an experience on their first time than you ever did, and I am talking emotionally. Allow them to go through their process without panicking, because they are going to be okay.. trust that they are going to come out of it better than they entered into it.

If you are new to facilitating then your first 10 sessions I would suggest doing them for free/ donation based so that you can get a hold of how it feels to be a facilitator.

Beyond that, holding package deals are a good way to get people to commit to a set of sessions. The more breathwork they do the more of an opportunity they will have to transform, so create a business plan that reflects that. Charge based on the going rate in your area, if there is one, or based on the demographic of where you live.

Have fun by spreading the vibes far and wide and enjoy Medicine of Sound breathwork!