Understanding Somatic Breathwork
Somatic breathwork is a practice centered on intentional control and awareness of your breath to enhance overall wellbeing. Conscious breathing becomes a tool for connecting your body and mind.
The practice uses various breathing techniques, ranging from deep and rhythmic breaths to specific patterns, to support physical, emotional, and mental health. The breath becomes a tool for relaxation and fostering a sense of calm.
This approach operates on a different level than conversation-based work.
When you talk through problems, you're using your prefrontal cortex. This part of your brain handles logic, analysis, and decision-making. It's where you process information consciously.
The breathing technique I use targets the amygdala instead. This deeper brain region manages your emotional responses, stores unresolved experiences, and holds onto things your conscious mind has forgotten. It's where fear, anger, and sadness live. It's also where your fight or flight response gets activated.
The issues bringing you to this work often originate in this deeper place, not in the thinking part of your brain.
How the Breathing Works
The breathing pattern itself is active, not passive. You'll need to focus and sustain effort for anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes or longer. This isn't a standard relaxation technique or a lung capacity exercise. Think of it more like physical training for accessing parts of yourself you don't normally reach.
I'll show you how to position yourself and breathe in a way that quiets your prefrontal cortex. When that analytical part of your brain relaxes, the deeper material can surface.
What You Might Experience
During the breathing, your mind will offer clues about what needs attention. These clues take different forms for different people.
Physical sensations are common. Burning throat. Pressure somewhere in your body. Heat in your face. Tightness in your chest.
Emotions surface without obvious context. Sudden nervousness. Unexpected jealousy. Grief you can't explain in the moment.
Memories might appear as flashes or fragments. A playground from childhood. A specific conversation. A face you haven't thought about in years.
None of these are random. Your mind is showing you what it's ready to process.
My Role in Your Process
When something surfaces, you'll tell me about it. I'll ask questions to help you explore what's there.
If you mention burning in your throat, I might ask what that sensation reminds you of or when you've felt it before.
If an image of a playground appears, I might ask who else was there or what was happening.
If you feel jealousy, I might ask when you first felt that way or what triggered it then.
You're driving. I'm navigating. You control where this goes and how fast. I just help you find the route through whatever comes up.
I'll remind you to stay with feelings instead of getting caught in storytelling. I'll ask for context when it matters. I'll encourage you to let your body lead rather than your analytical mind.
The Emotional Work
What surfaces during these sessions needs to be felt, not analyzed.
This is where you cry if crying needs to happen.
This is where you express anger if that's what's been stuck.
This is the space for emotions you've been avoiding or suppressing, sometimes for years.
It might take several sessions before you can fully release control and let the process work. The more you're able to let go, the more effective the work becomes.
You won't be retraumatized or overwhelmed the way you were during the original event. You'll experience enough of the feeling to locate where it lives in you and work through it without being consumed by it.
What to Expect
This work is direct. You won't spend months building up to addressing what matters. The breathing takes you there quickly.
That directness makes the work challenging. It asks a lot of you emotionally.
It's also what makes it effective. Some people find this to be the most meaningful personal work they've ever done.
I'll be there guiding you through every step of the process.
Somatic Breathwork at Healing Arts Center
At Healing Arts Center, somatic breathwork is offered as part of an integrative approach to working with stress, emotional patterns, and nervous system responses. My role is to guide the process, help you stay oriented to what’s happening in your body, and support you in moving at a pace that feels workable and contained.
This work is collaborative and responsive, not prescriptive. Some people come in with a clear intention. Others discover what needs attention as the session unfolds. We adjust the approach based on what shows up, how your body responds, and what feels supportive in the moment.
Somatic breathwork is one facet of a broader somatic coaching approach that we offer, which includes helping people understand how their body and nervous system interact with thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. You can read more about this work here:
What Is Somatic Coaching?
https://www.healingartsvb.com/blog/r4pasfzkeoeun0a67gqr9szn7u3ndiSomatic Coaching in Virginia Beach
https://www.healingartsvb.com/blog/somatic-coaching-in-virginia-beach
Depending on your needs and preferences, somatic breathwork may be used on its own or alongside other practices we offer, such as guided reflection, nervous system education, and movement-based awareness.
Learn more about Healing Arts Center:
https://www.healingartsvb.com
Schedule a session or consultation:
https://www.vagaro.com/healingartscenter
