In this interview, Stig Severinsen explains the origins, principles, and purpose of Breatheology, a breathwork framework he created based on decades of personal experience in swimming, diving, martial arts, and yoga. He recounts his childhood fascination with water, competitive swimming achievements, and early exposure to yoga breathing, describing how these diverse practices converged into a systematic method for influencing the nervous system. Severinsen defines Breatheology as a platform that teaches people to "rewire" their nervous system, enabling them to manage stress, anxiety, trauma, and PTSD. He highlights its use with veterans and individuals who have experienced various forms of trauma, emphasizing breathwork as a key that can unlock emotional states, release stress, and shift perception of challenging experiences. The overall message is that controlled breathing can serve as a powerful tool for mental regulation and emotional healing.
Chapters
Apa itu Breatheology? Breatheology is a method, you can say, a framework, a structure I created many, many years ago from the experience I had in my life. So I started out loving water. I was very curious as a child. I investigated nature, diving. And the more I could dive down and see animals, the more fun it was, the more I could hold my breath, the more animals I could see. So it was a natural play, a child's play. Then I was lucky we had a boat, so I sailed with my family. They wanted me to be a good swimmer if I fell in the water in Denmark, very cold. So I started very early with baby swimming, and then at 5, I got selected for something called the talent team. So the trainers, so the coaches selected me. They saw I was good in the water, and I always liked moving. I always liked using the body. So I swam competitively all my childhood years, all my teenage years. Then I did also judo, martial arts. Yes. I was the Danish champion a few times also for the swimming. I won 4 national championships as a child. So I was always very competitive. So the sport and nature and competition and travel. And my life has stayed the same. So breathology was actually my life experience because also at a young age, I was introduced to the ancient wisdom of yoga, breathing, the calmness, how you use breathing to affect your mind because the mind is difficult to regulate with the mind. If it was easy with the mind, there would be no depression, no negative thoughts, no dark place in your mind. Everybody would be happy and run around. They would tell themselves, I'm happy, which helps, but it's not always the best way if you're really, really sad. We all in life have ups and downs. So I found that this method also for veterans, we help people with trauma, anxiety, fear, PTSD, so post-traumatic stress after some big events, some big trauma, illness, seeing your best friend die, being a soldier, losing a loved one. It can be many traumas, can be childhood trauma. And I just realized that with the breathwork, we had a magnificent key to open and to go into people's minds, into the emotions. So we could go into the emotions and feelings of people with breathwork, and either they could release the stress or the trauma, or they could learn to manage the stress and view the stress in a different way. So Basically, Breathology is a platform that teaches you how to rewire your nervous system.
