Question: Is Unity Breathwork the Same as Holotropic Breathwork
Hello, I just returned from Austin after my first Holotropic breathing experience and I am in awe. My friend and I are opening the first spiritual retreat in Victoria Texas and I’ve been blessed to learn all different types of healing and therapies but Holotropic breathing has opened my mind to focus on learning breathing techniques in order to bring true healing to our community. Although I had worked out past trauma years ago, my heart was so full for the people around me last night. I want to be able to help heal people in the way I think only the breath can do.
I’m interested in training to become globally certified with you and am wondering, is Unity breathwork and the training you offer the same as Holotropic Breathwork?
Answer:
Hello, thank you for sharing your inspiration for becoming a facilitator! I think it’s amazing you’re opening a spiritual retreat in Victoria, Tx and want to train so that you can share the power of breathwork with others.
I need to let you know that the breathwork training we offer is a subset of Holotropic breathwork but not the exact same thing. The breathing technique, music, and inner journey are pretty much the same but the key difference is with official Holotropic breathwork, the sessions are supposed to be 6 hours minimum – with 3 hours devoted to breathing, and 3 hours to sitting and holding space for another attendee to breathe. Is this how yours was? Not everyone follows this rule but that’s what a Holotropic session is technically supposed to include.
Although you could do workshops in this style with the breathwork training we offer, we don’t typically have a ‘sitter’ and breather and make the participants take turns. Our participants come to breathe and we facilitate for them. This is more practical and appealing to a larger audience as most people do not want to spend 6+ hours on the workshop, and you still get the full transformative breathwork experience in 1.5-2 hours. Typically the breathwork itself is approx 60 minutes and there is time before to thoroughly explain the technique and what might happen, and time after for grounding and a sharing circle.
The sharing circle is integral to the process and plays a very helpful role in integration. This is something else that sets our training apart from Holotropic breathwork. In Holotropic, the breather can share what happened, but technically the facilitator is not supposed to say anything after to support the breather in understanding and integrating their session.
How Unity Breathwork Parallels Holotropic Breathwork
Unity Breathwork is an offshoot of Alchemy of Breath and Make Some Breathing Space, and an an amalgamation of Holotropic Breathwork and Rebirthing. All schools use circular breathing with no pause between the inhale and the exhale to create an altered state of consciousness conducive to rapid healing. Similar to Rebirthing, Unity Breathwork emphasizes the inhale, and encourages a passive exhale. And much like Holotropic Breathwork, the music is meticulously composed to skillfully steer the journey.
If this interests you, you can book an online or in person Breathwork session with us here. And if you’re interested in finding out more about the Trauma-informed Breathwork Training we offer through Breathing Space, you can request our Breathwork Training Brochure here.
Big hugs,
Megan
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