What I learnt from Holotropic Breathwork and why I want to facilitate it for others

By Meena Iyer

About 15 years ago, I realised that it was quite impossible to go on living the way I had been. It didn’t seem worth working hard and partying hard on a treadmill that wouldn’t stop or slow down. I hated myself with a passion. When I knew I’d hit rock bottom, things came to me; rather, they’d always been there, and I now noticed them and went toward them.

I learnt, applied my learnings on myself, emerged, sometimes fell right back into traps, strengthened my understanding, and then started sharing my experience and knowledge with others. I quit an 18-year long career in advertising sales to slowly evolve into the counsellor and therapist I am today. Studying counselling psychology, hypnotherapy, TA, NLP and more recently Gestalt and Logotherapy, I found my calling while continuing to work on myself. 

Out of the blue came Holotropic Breathwork. Just when I had started thinking I was done looking at difficult parts of me and my story, I came upon the work of Dr Stanislav Grof and his wife Christina Grof online.

Going High to Go Deep

In 1943, the psychedelic properties of LSD became apparent. It began to be used experimentally by therapists to heal deep trauma, especially for those who had not responded to conventional methods of psychotherapy. Dr Grof was one of those psychiatrists who played a pivotal role in this research with pathbreaking results up till the early 70s.

However, the substance itself was banned and the opportunity to delve further into its therapeutic use ended abruptly. It’s a different matter that it was available illegally and continued to be used recreationally. 

Dr Grof stumbled upon Holotropic Breathwork quite accidentally. He found that breathing a little deeper and faster than normal took LSD research subjects even deeper into their “non-ordinary states of consciousness”.

His wife Christina then used her extensive knowledge of the impact of music from different cultures to create sets of carefully chosen tracks that would support a person’s journey into their psyche. And that’s how the Grofs introduced Holotropic Breathwork to the world.

Journey into the Subconscious

In a session lasting about two and a half hours, breathers lie blindfolded with eye-masks and breathe a little deeper and faster than normal. The evocative music unfolds, having a unique impact on each person. Every breather is supported by a person who sits beside them attending to their needs – a sip of water, a cushion for support, or taken to the toilet and walked back.

Sitters have an opportunity to serve their breather by just being present. Breathers trust their sitters to keep them safe and attended to. It is a beautiful process to understand care with boundaries.

When the energy of trauma comes up in any part of the body, breathers move to intensify the sensation. This is an opportunity to complete what was earlier ignored or suppressed. Facilitators are available to offer appropriate bodywork when required as a support to fully feel and let go of pain.

I found out that training sessions were being held at Auroville in Pondicherry by Father KC Thomas, who is certified by Grof Transpersonal Therapy.

KC, as he likes to be called, is a psychologist and teacher of multiple psychotherapeutic modalities. He has taught many meditation techniques even prior to his exposure to Holotropic Breathwork back in 2013. Since then, he has facilitated over 150 workshops in Holotropic Breathwork in India and abroad.

I reached Auroville for my first breathwork module in August 2023. I was eager and as I lay on the mattress, blind to visual stimuli, drinking up the auditory treat that was served to me, breathing just a little deeper and faster than usual, my body started to do things. It shrank with horror, screamed with indignation, pulsed with anger, wept in pain, floated on land and water, laughed at itself – it was finally allowing itself to feel, very deeply.

There were scenes too, behind my closed eyes, some fleeting, some rolling very slowly, of consciously unknown places and times and yet smelling unmistakably familiar. They depicted pain and grief bringing up physical and emotional surges of energy, giving me an opportunity to see without denial the violence of human survival.

It was clear that I had unfinished business like everyone else. And I had discoveries and unearthed treasures, flights of fancy and hearty reunions too. For those too I was grateful.

Tapping the Inner Healer

Coming out of two and half hours of my inward journey, drawing my experience with baby strokes of a wobbly crayon held in the wrong hand, I just knew this is what I want to do. I knew that this work guided by none other than each one’s inner healer is simplicity itself.

It was Dr Grof who first called it the Inner Healer. Just the way a cut on our body heals on its own, our psyche knows just which parts of it are ready to let go of trauma and heal themselves.

I felt that all the hours of therapy and guided visualisations of blissful pastures could not compare with this. We just close our eyes and breathe and listen to the music that is playing, and our consciousness does the rest. All we have to do is let our bodies go. And sometimes that takes time. But it is so worth learning.

I have now done 18 sessions in the space of five and half months as mandated for certification as a breathwork facilitator. I sleep better, have made strides in accepting and expressing anger (the tough one for me) in healthy ways, listen and absorb more in my spiritual studies – all this for one who was anyway on the path.

I am deeply grateful and immensely excited about the possibilities of this work for those I coach and counsel, as well as anyone who wants to heal from a recognised issue or to take their spiritual connection to the next level.

The first batch of practitioners trained by KC (including yours truly) have just been certified by JIVA Breathwork Auroville, an organisation committed to healing and mental health run by regression therapist and homoeopathic doctor Sigrid Lindermann.

We are committed to taking this work all over the country to those who are keen to see what lies beyond the carefully constructed reality of our conscious minds. We will also bring it to those who, having tried every method to be freed from their mental and emotional suffering, are ready to take a wild leap of faith.

Meena Iyer is a psychotherapist, NLP master practitioner and breathwork facilitator based in Bengaluru. The next Holotropic Breathwork workshop is slated for 27 – 28 January 2024 in Mumbai. Contact Meena at +91 99999 66540 to book a spot.