Steven Jaggers explains somatic breathwork as a healing practice done with others, not alone. Breathing helps access sensation and emotion, which enables connection. The nervous system, regulated by breath, mediates how we relate to and heal with other people.
So I've had so many people ask me, is somatic breathwork something that I can do by myself? And there are so many different breathwork practices that you can do by yourself. Somatic breathwork is actually done with another person because there is so much hype around the self help personal development. And my personal opinion is that self help is bullshit and we actually need each other. And something that happens within somatic breath work, especially in these bigger group sessions, it collective healing. It is communal healing. Breath work is just the driving force of what's going on. It's just part of the modality that's helping people tap in. But you're hearing other people express, you're hearing other people maybe release emotions and that will bring something up for you. Maybe it gives you permission to feel emotions. We're all giving each other permission and we all need permission from other people. We all want to feel each other and that is community. A lot of the times in these breathwork sessions, someone will be crying and it'll make someone else actually feel, or someone will be yelling and it makes another person yell. And we have the opportunity to give each other permission to be the fullest expression of ourself. Because so much of our wounding actually happens in relationships from our parents, from our friends, from our lovers, that most of our healing actually has to happen in in relationships. It's not that the wound is inside of us, it's the wound is in our ability to connect with other humans. It's a defense system. And if you're by yourself, well, those defense systems aren't going to get triggered. Those defense systems start to come up in relation to another human. And so as a practitioner, I have the opportunity to re pattern a healthy, safe connection with another human via my respiration, my breathing, via my hands on touch, via my words, via my sound, all the ways in which we are communicating to each other. And your breath controls your nervous system. And the primary function of our nervous system is to communicate. Our nervous system is communicating with everything. It's picking up on everything inside of the room. It's picking up the energy of all the people around you. And it's also the thing that's communicating inside of you. Your nervous system is communicating to your muscular system to contract a muscle. And do you actually have connection to be able to understand what's being communicated through your nervous system? Or do you have the sensory awareness? Are you sensitive enough to actually feel what's going on inside? And with breathwork specifically, it allows you to feel what's going on inside. And feeling is the opposite of being numb. And when you're feeling inside, when you have a deep connection to self, it allows you to have a deep connection to another human. And so Somatic Breathwork is actually about helping someone develop a deep connection to themselves so that they can develop deep connections to other people. They because we are community beings, we are relational people, and relationships are what matter most to us. Relationships are our currency. Take this out in the world. Share your story. All right, I love you guys. I'm clocked out.
