What is breathwork?

You have been practising breathwork the moment you were born and you will continue until your last breath. Your first breath into this world brings you alive. Because your breath is such an intimate, moment to moment part of you, it is one of the most safe and powerful tools for transformation and self empowerment. Your breath is with you, unconditionally giving you life.

There are many different types of breath techniques, each with different applications, effects and benefits. The style of breathwork that Hridaya uses is BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System® (BBTRS®) and utilises a conscious connected breathing style.

Our normal, day to day breath has a brief pause in between the inhale and exhale (see if you notice as your reading this!). Conscious connected breathing takes the pause out of the breath and introduces a deeper and fuller breath.

Conscious connected breathing changes the chemistry of the body in such a way that blocked physical and emotional energy associated with various traumatic memories are released.

We taken a thousand breaths per hour. Breath is also the single most important source of energy that we take into our body on a moment to moment basis - energy that can be used to fuel the body’s healing mechanisms.

What to expect in a breathwork session

A breathwork session is run either online or in person and lasts for 75 - 90 minutes. The first step for you is to fill in an intake form prior to the session. This gives Hridaya a deeper understanding of your lifestyle, background, self-development tools, trauma or stressful elements of their life and their intentions for doing breathwork.

Hridaya will then explain BBTRS® and the 6 core elements that will be used throughout the session (Breathwork, Movement, Sound, Touch or Self-Touch, Conscious Emotional Expression and Meditation). Hridaya will demonstrate the breath and also discuss some of the experiences you may have during a session which include (but not limited to):

  • Numbness, buzzing or tingling throughout the body or in specific parts of the body, including

  • Trembling or shaking

  • Movement in the body eg: moving the joints, waving the arms, stamping the legs, unwinding the spine

  • Sounds eg: groaning, moaning, sighing, coughing, humming

  • Emotional release eg: crying, laughing, yelling

  • Colours

  • Visions or insights

  • Memories

These are all a completely natural by-product of the work. Conscious connected breathing gives us a chance to express in a natural, organic, unfiltered and uninhibited way. All expression is welcome to be expressed and this work gives us greater capacity to identify and feel different body sensations and experiences.

Benefits of Breathwork

BBTRS® can help heal and transform your life in many ways including:

  • Re-establishing the mind/body connection

  • Quiet a busy, chattering mind

  • Release repressed or suppressed emotion (such as grief, sadness and anger) in a safe space

  • Strengthen and recalibrate the nervous system

  • Reduce nervous system overwhelm and anxiety

  • Strengthen and affirm your sense of self, boundaries and needs

  • Integrate your inner child and inner teenage

  • Integrate parts of yourself that you have judged or criticised as being unworthy or unloveable

BBTRS® can also help ease signs and symptoms related to:

  • Attention deficit disorder

  • Apnea

  • Anxiety

  • Chronic fatigue

  • Depression

  • Difficulty focusing

  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder

  • Physical/emotional pain

  • Post-traumatic stress disorder

  • Stress

  • Stress-related medical illnesses

  • Trauma

  • Insomnia

The 7 Belts of Tension

Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian psychoanalyst and scientist known for his work on character analysis and body-oriented psychotherapy. He believed that psychological trauma and repression manifest as chronic muscular tension, which he called “body armour.” This armor blocks the natural flow of energy in the body and contributes to emotional and physical dysfunction.

Reich identified seven distinct zones where muscular tension accumulates due to emotional repression. These “belts of tension” align with major muscle groups, the 7 chakras in yogic traditions and psychological functions:

1. Ocular Belt, Crown Chakra (Eyes, forehead, scalp) – Linked to vision, expression, and emotional suppression in the eyes.

2. Oral Belt, Third Eye Chakra (Mouth, jaw, throat) – Associated with communication, emotional nourishment, and suppressed crying or screaming.

3. Cervical Belt, Throat Chakra (Neck and shoulders) – Reflects control over emotional expression, especially anger and sadness.

4. Thoracic Belt, Heart Chakra (Chest and upper back) – Connected to breathing, heart energy, and suppressed grief.

5. Diaphragmatic Belt, Solar Plexus Chakra (Diaphragm, solar plexus) – Affects breathing, anxiety, and fear responses.

6. Abdominal Belt, Sacral Chakra (Stomach, lower back) – Related to deep-seated emotions, gut instincts, and repressed childhood trauma.

7. Pelvic Belt, Root Chakra (Pelvis, hips, genitals) – Governs sexual energy, pleasure, and emotional release.

Reich developed Reichian therapy and later inspired bioenergetic analysis to release these tensions and restore emotional and physical well-being.

In BBTRS, we focus on releasing these belts of tension in a systematic way moving from the top down. This creates a pathway for the repressed and bound energy to rise up the body as it is released. In my 8 series of sessions, we explore each of the belts of tension using specific trauma release exercises, somatic meditations and breathwork to release and allow energy to flow freely.