Energy is the vital life force that moves through all of life and indeed moves all of life. Indian traditions refer to this vital force as Prana. Asian traditions such as Acupuncture, Tai Chi, QiGong, call it Chi. Wilhelm Reich, the theorist and practitioner upon whose work so much of Western somatic practices are built, called it orgone. It is so fundamental to life that nothing happens, nothing moves, nothing exists without energy. It is so essential to every moment of life that you may only really understand what energy is or feels like when you don’t have it, such as when you are sick. Some people say that time is our most precious resource. I would say that energy is, because you need energy to make the most of the precious gift of time and of life.

Life is the process unfurling of who we really are, of the dream we have for ourselves and our lives. This unfurling is the steady movement of our being physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Our bodies are constantly moving whether we are aware of it or not. In fact, we need to move. The fluids – blood, lymph, interstitial fluids need to move constantly in order to maintain optimal health. Growth - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual growth - is a form of movement, of expansion of our consciousness, our potential, our capabilities, our being. Movement and growth require energy and without energy, movement and growth stop. Attending to how we move energy through our bodies, how energy gets stuck in the form of tension in our bodies, how we can balance the charge and discharge of energy in our bodies and how we can increase our capacity for more energy, will increase our capacity to express ourselves, to live more fully with more peace, joy and pleasure in our lives.

Our bodies are the vehicle through which we experience the world and express ourselves. Energy is the fuel that moves our bodies and the systems within it. Too much energy flowing in our bodies contributes to feelings of anxiety among other things. Too little energy flowing in our bodies contributes to depression among other things. Balancing the charge and discharge of energy in our bodies enables us to feel comfortable and at home in our bodies in the present.

In addition, when we are overwhelmed by events in our lives, the energy that arises from these events can be stored as tension in our bodies if we don’t release the excess energy. If we create a habit of reacting in this way to overwhelm or trauma, over time we will build armoring in our body in the form of muscular tension that inhibits the free flow of energy through our bodies. This armoring reinforces in our patterned ways of reacting to life rather than having the freedom to respond. Our bodies hold our patterning, which we experience as character, habits of being and prevents us from having the freedom to respond and live in a different way. This is how our past repeats and continues to inform the present and the future that we create.

Many of us can feel this armoring around our hearts and the consequences of being armored. We want to both to love and be loved but it feels as though something very subtle and invisible to us constricts our hearts, holds us back from reaching out, of taking the risk to extend ourselves. This moment of restriction over time turns into a life of love lost and we don’t know why. This is what armoring does, it protects us and our vulnerable hearts, it defends, us, but it also holds us back from loving and living more fully with an open heart.

Felt sense is many things to many people. For me, first and foremost, felt sense is the language of the body. Our bodies our communicating with us constantly. But sadly, in western culture, we have mostly been trained to ignore our body in favor of what our mind is telling us. Felt sense is the feeling that ebbs and flows moment by moment in our bodies. It is the discomfort of anxiety, the feeling of tightness in our chests, it is the feeling of a fluttering in our hearts when we engage with someone we love. Felt sense is also a “gut feeling”, that sinking feeling in our stomaches when we know we are about to hear bad news. It is that instinct that we experience as “hairing raising on the back of our necks” when we feel we are in a dangerous situation. Felt sense is also the language of intuition, the soul’s knowing and way of communicating with us. This can be experienced as an anchoring, a knowing, a feeling of certainty or stillness when we receive a message or ask for guidance, such as asking ourselves a question and then listening for the answer. Felt sense matters because it is the language of other parts of ourselves that must be included in the conversation of our lives in order to navigate us to the greatest possible outcome for our whole Self.

Let’s consider that the mind/body is the seat of awareness and attention is the process of directing the mind to what we want to focus on, whether it is a thought, a feeling, an emotion, or an object or person outside of ourselves. And, let’s also consider that our attention (what we focus on) and what we intend (what we consciously want to focus on) is what gives us the power to create or reinforce what is arising in us and our lives. For example, let’s say that someone criticizes you and you notice yourself beginning to tell the familiar story, “My dad used to criticize me constantly. I can’t do anything right. This person is just like my father.” You have a choice in that moment to either give your attention to this story, which makes it bigger and reinforces your perception that you can’t do anything right. Or, you redirect your attention to something else, say the emotion that may be present, or to what is being said and what gift might there be in this person’s words, however unskillfully they were delivered. This is why working with our minds matter: having the skill to consciously intend and then to direct our attention to what we intend, gives us the freedom to choose what we want to cultivate in our lives. Energy follows attention.

Breath is the one physiological process that is both voluntary and involuntary. Our bodies breathe automatically whether we give it our attention or not. And, we can change our breathing by bringing our attention to it, to deepen it, to slow it down or speed it up, to breathe through our nose or mouth or both. The rate and depth of our breathing as well as breathing in and out through the nose profoundly affects our nervous system, which affects how we feel in our bodies, anxious or calm, activated or in a state of rest. This also affects our emotions, our level of energy, activity, or rest as well as our body’s ability to function. We can use breathing techniques to train our bodies to move more fluidly between these various states and to positively influence how we feel in our bodies and what emotions arise given what is happening in our bodies. So, breath is the one physiological process that we can use to influence and change our habits, our physical, mental, and emotional states.

Wilhelm Reich was the first to identify how habits of attention (where our attention goes when we feel overwhelmed) and the strategies we develop when we feel overwhelmed become a form of muscular tension or armoring in our bodies if we repeat the habits enough. When we repeat these habits enough, they become part of our character. Reich identified habits of attention for five different character structures. By working with our habits of attention and the tension in our body that holds the energy and emotions from past traumas, we can begin to free ourselves from the bondage that these habits and strategies create. This frees up the energy used to maintain the armoring for other more joyful pursuits. And, by working with the character structures within ourselves, we can begin to see where our attention goes when we are triggered and take actions to bring our attention and us back to the peace and joy of being in the present moment. In my personal experience, Reich’s character structures is the one paradigm that allowed me to understand why I am the way I am and why I do what I do and tools and strategies for changing my character and how I show up in the world. When I first discovered his work, I felt I was given a user manual for myself.

I was drawn to pursue my own healing and study BBTRS, Biodynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release system because Giten Tonkov’s approach aligned perfectly with my own understanding of the relationship between mind/body, trauma, Reichian character structures, and energy. If that weren’t enough, his use of breath, meditation, sound, touch, and movement to help people free themselves from the bondage of their past also aligned with my decades of study in breathwork, meditation, movement, and energy as vehicles for healing. I knew that Giten had discovered a very authentic and effective modality for healing the whole person.

I have tried other breathwork systems and what I really value in the BBTRS method is that it is a very gentle approach to healing the tender, wounded parts of ourselves. Through the use of breathwork and pendulation, it gives the body the opportunity to retrain itself and develop more enduring nervous system resilience, bringing a greater sense of calm, ease, and peace long after a session ends. I also appreciate that this approach gives clients the power to determine for themselves the pace and unfolding of their own healing. Most importantly, by doing my own work with this method, I healed old wounds that kept me bound to beliefs that for most of my life determined the course of my relationships with others. And, as a huge bonus, BBTRS directed me to healing a misalignment in my hip that caused me pain for decades.

Perhaps what I love most about this method is that it requires the person to listen to their bodies and to be willing to be surrendered to their body’s wisdom, guidance, and knowing. This is such a departure from conventional ways of being with ourselves but a path that brings such freedom, peace, and joy if you are willing to take the leap and truly listen to your body.

I have studied and have certifications in Reiki and other energetic and breathwork modalities. With these types of practices, the practitioners are facilitating the energetic work, redirecting and rebalancing the flow of energy and the healing that comes with it, which is a very effective way of bringing relief. What I endeavor to do in my workshops and one-on-one sessions, is to teach you the skills to perceive, redirect and rebalance the flow of energy in your own body, to work with you to build habits and practices to notice what arises in you, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, to bring energetic balance to your body and life. In breathwork sessions with me (as with other BBTRS practitioners), we will partner, much like dance partners, to perceive what is arising in you and what is held in your body from your past, energetically, emotionally, physically, mentally and what needs to be released in order for you to experience enduring freedom, peace, ease, and movement in your life moving forrward.

The biggest difference I believe is that therapists have the training and certifications to work with people with mental health, substance abuse and other challenging issues, as well as the day-to-day challenges and struggles. They have a breadth and depth of skills and experience to guide people through these challenges.

As a coach and a breathwork practitioner, I work with people who are functional but perhaps not reaching their full potential. Although talking about issues and challenges is part of the work we do together, it is not the main focus. The main focus of our work together is your relationship with energy and patterning in your body as it holds your story, your history, your wounds and armoring. And, we also explore your relationship with your emotions, mind, soul. Working with character patterns, how you run energy in your body, where does your attention go when you feel overwhelmed, what are the strategies you employ to cope with overwhelm is part of what we will explore. More of the work we will do together though is experiential, whether we will explore through breath, touch, sound, movement, felt sense, and meditation what is present in you that needs your attention for healing. Above all, I always endeavor to teach my clients the skills they need to be present and embodied in their lives with the ability to honor what is present for them. Your awareness is what heals you. This is what I facilitate and teach, to connect with the resources within you that bring you healing and more peace and joy to your life.

Working with personal energy is still very much a fringe pursuit even though energy is so fundamental to life and to personal development and growth. So, it may be difficult to find therapists and practitioners who have a background and training in energy work. In my experience, breath and energy work enhance and support conventional forms of therapy.

I use the term “practitioner” to include anyone in the healing arts, whether it is a therapist, psychologist, coach, bodyworker, Reiki practitioner, Acupuncturist, teacher etc.

For me, the most important quality is coherence or resonance. All biological beings are instinctively drawn to a coherent field because the body knows that it can draw from this coherence to heal itself.

This may not make sense to you if sensing into energy is new to you. So, one good way to measure if this quality is present in the practitioner is how do you feel in their presence, how are you affected by the sound of their voice, by what they say and the way they say it? Do you feel a sense of calm arising in you? Do you feel more at ease? Do you feel safe? Do you feel you can be yourself, be vulnerable and take risks with this person?

Also, equally important, what does this person align with? What is most important to them? Where do they speak from? Do they speak from their heart? Their mind? Their ego? Their soul? How easily can they access and remain aligned with those parts of themselves that matter most to you? This too may be difficult to discern so here is a suggestion. When they speak, what do you notice in your body? Does what they say feel right to you? Do you feel a sense of ease and agreement, even if they speak truths that are difficult to hear?