Down the Breathwork Certification Rabbit Hole
By Kristine Kaoverii Weber | December 4, 2022
Recently I was asked for my opinion about a particular breathwork training. I don’t know when breathwork started to become popular – maybe it goes all the way back to the 60s when Stanislav Groff figured out how his own version of something like prolonged bhastrika could mimic psychedelic experiences?
Anyway, in the past decade or so there’s been some interesting research about the benefits of breathwork. So perhaps this, plus the recent rise of celebrity breathers, has spawned the current trend.
So, I decided to take a trip down the internet breathwork certification rabbit hole to see what’s happening.
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Naturally, I found a lot of “Drink Me” signs.
I had no idea how trendy breathwork has become and how many ways you can get certified to be a “breathwork coach” or “breathwork facilitator.” I think it’s great that more people know about breathwork and that breathwork is becoming popular. What concerns me is that these trainings often avoid the word “prāṇāyāma”, as well as the context and the wisdom tradition of yoga – as if breathwork miraculously parachuted down to earth from outer space.
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It was about 30 years ago when the American asana fitness trend started to gain traction. But at that time, the Google gods had not yet convened. You knew about fewer trainers, you had fewer choices, and you would typically base your decision about who to study with more on the teachers’ reputation, years of experience, training, and advice of friends (although you may very well have been influenced by their Yoga Journal appearances too).
It’s a lot harder to know who to study with these days, so I get why people ask me about stuff like this. There is just so much more out there, and it can feel like a mosh pit on social media.
As I perused various breathwork training websites a few things stood out. First, very few lead instructors have anything in their bios about a yoga background or training. Secondly, many of them have nothing in their bios about anything other than how they figured out how to breathe and it solved their problems so it will solve yours too.
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That’s a problem – while it’s nice to find something that helps you, that doesn’t mean it will help everyone, which is why it’s useful to understand the traditional context of prāṇāyāma within yoga where communities of practitioners have been practicing and sharing their data with each other for centuries, and passing that information on to new students.
The issue is very similar to the asana craze that began it’s tour of the morning show circuits back in the 90s and continues today – reductionism. While in the 90s, asanas got extracted from its roots, in the 2020s it appears the same thing is happening to prāṇāyāma.
Of course, many of these breathwork trainings have value. But yoga practices are a system. And good yoga teachers will help you prepare to learn how to do breathwork within the context of the system – which means not only that the practices will work better, but also that your nervous system will be prepared for them.
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Whenever you have a system and you extract something from it, not only does the thing you extracted become relatively impotent as it stands alone, but you’ve also just collapsed the beauty and functionality of the entire system.
In the system of yoga, yamas and niyamas are used to prepare for and sustain you on the journey, then asanas prepare your body and all your respiratory structures for prāṇāyāma. Specific asanas prepare for specific prāṇāyāma-s. It’s not random, and it can take a while, and a lot of consistent effort, to learn to do it and to teach it.
Prāṇāyāma, with its ability to powerfully affect your nervous system, in turn prepares your mind so that you can meditate more deeply with less distraction. My Indian teachers warned that prāṇāyāma should be practiced with a lucid mind in order to avoid ingraining anything negative or unhelpful further into your psyche. They also warned that prāṇāyāma could potentially blow your gaskets if you weren’t careful with it (okay, I admit that’s a paraphrase 😁.)
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It appears that many of today’s breathwork certifications are largely devoid of the context of yoga – and that’s problematic for several reasons: lack of training, lack of knowledge about the yoga system, cultural appropriation, lack of trauma awareness, nervous system risk, etc. But the yoga world is also lacking solid prāṇāyāma trainings – which, I assume, is why folks look outside of it for learning more.
As I went down the breathwork training rabbit hole, admittedly, there were a few moments where I felt my pitta rising and recognized the need to regulate my nervous system with some prāṇāyāma, which is what us old timers still call it.
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Thanks Kristine,
Great article, the truth will out!
thank you!
Yes. Well written and appreciated. I feel that the tools of yoga are being used much like pharmaceuticals these days.
Treat a symptom and then treat another that arises.Like using it as an instant coping mechanism rather than a practice over time for transformation. People want a quick fix with no effort and there are plenty of other people ready to capitalize on that. I also try to keep pitta in check when having the discussion with new people about “what I do” and the ultimate assumption that they already know what I do when I say I am a yoga teacher/therapist. Thanks for the post.
right, please see my comment to Holly Jones. I totally agree!
Thanks Kristine,
I think I may have missed any possible offerings in pranayama, but will you be offering a pranayama class sometime? I’d be interested.
Thanks,
Claudia
perhaps, we haven’t decided yet. For now I recommend Gary Kraftsow’s Yoga International training. https://yogainternational.com/ecourse/pranayama-unlocked-a-practice-based-intensive
Definitely. Pranayama such a sacred practice.The breath, a natural beautiful gift of this life. And has the sacred woven right in! Pranayama helps us become aware of the divine weaving within and in everything 💖
so true!
Great article, and I agree. I’m a senior yoga teacher who is now also a breathwork teacher! I always knew the power of pranayama but in years gone by found it hard to communicate this to my students u till now with a change of name and fashion. Whilst I was researching who to train with I experienced so many dodgy sessions and trainings, witnessed things I felt were plain manipulation.. I also witness a lot of people seeking out and plenty providing pranayama as non drug highs and a quick route to mystical experience. There are some companies who have put a load of money and hard sell into online advertising, especially on YouTube. The fact that people now begin to realise that breath/energy matters is great, but it’s also the latest bandwagon. I for one will be patiently ploughing my furrow and will still be teaching pranayama still when this has blown over
Thank you for this article. In Indra Devi’s Yoga for Americans, originally published in 1959 (and my very first yoga book—1968 paperback version, and the cover photo is a whole ‘mother article), she cautions readers against engaging in pranayama on its own. Until my first teacher training, I had wondered why she had gone so far as to say it could even be dangerous. I understand the power of the practice now, and that it is, as one of my students puts it, only one-eighth of the practice of yoga. Your expression is much more elegant.
thank you Sara – yes it’s amazing how cavalier folks are with something that can deeply affect the nervous system. Indra Devi was a goddess truly!
Thanks for this article. I agree with your perspective on this completely. There is one training that I must give a shout out to: Restore Your Prana Professional Certification Program developed by Robin Rothenberg and based on her book, Restoring Prana. Robin has done a masterful job of weaving the ancient traditions of yoga and pranayama with western science. This book and her training takes the ancient yogic teachings and melds it with current western science to create a deeply informative and comprehensive examination of the intersection of the yogic concepts of prana with modern breath science. More information can be found at https://essentialyogatherapy.com/rypcert.
thank you. I appreciate Robin’s work, and I think pranayama takes a long time to learn.
I love your article, thank you for sharing. It helps me understand even more the beauty of practicing yoga. I was just talking with someone yesterday who has no interest in understanding the deeper part of yourself, she believes in the science of evolution and stops there. I’m always left confused, how people would not want to explore, but know it’s their journey.
Had to laugh at “recent rise of celebrity breathers’ … I love your blog posts! I’m one of a group of teachers who volunteer to teach an annual RYT 200 Level certification program. We teach some foundational philosophy and techniques of pranayama in the level 1 200 hr program, and then offer a 10 week Advanced Asana + Advanced Pranayama module as part of our Level 2 RYT 500 program. Because there is so much interest in pranayama in our community, this year we are opening the Advanced Pranayama portion of the 10-week module to the public!
that’s great!
I haven’t done the training you refer to but I have Robin’s book Restoring Prana , it is interesting to read that she wrote the book after having taken a training course with Patrick McKeown, author of The Oxygen Advantage and The Breathing Cure. He himself is not a Yoga teacher but a teacher of breathwork. I have taken Gary Kraftsow’s training and other pranayama training courses yet I can honestly say that I learnt more about the science of breathing and how it affects the body from Patricks books than from any Yoga training on pranayama I have undertaken.
I think the science of breathing is super important and I have read many studies and books. The research, time and again, shows that long, slow breathing is beneficial. Then there is the practice of breathing. Which is quite a different animal! All I can say is that yogis have practiced breathing in the context of the yoga tradition for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years. There is nothing new under the sun.
Yes I agree with you, it’s also good to know that science is catching up with Yoga 🙂. I was interested to read in Robins book Restoring Prana that in her research she couldn’t find a single reference in the original texts to “anything resembling the full or complete Yogic breath” she talks about the complete yogic breath that’s taught in most yoga classes is actually a form of dysfunctional breathing, “ which over utilises the accessory breathing muscles, encourages hyperventilation and potential ally de-oxygenates the body” wow!
This is a great commentary and valuable insight. I was trained in the Integral Yoga lineage and we were instructed to teach Kappalabhati in every class. It wasn’t until I took some additional training in therapeutic yoga that I learned that this practice isn’t for everyone and there are several contraindications. It really changed my teaching and the way I look at everything (cues, etc.).
Thanks Lyn. It’s tricky because we want to honor lineage – and not everyone is as open minded as you are. thank you for your comment
This is so important. Thank you for writing this piece. I work in the mental health/disabilities field. Over the last couple years, I have noticed a big interest in our field gravitating toward “pocket practices” to share with the individuals we serve. For example, I have heard/seen so many people talking about square breath, 4/7/8 breath, belly breath, and finger-tracing breath. But there is never any context for these. It’s just a “quick fix” type of thing to relieve anxiety, which everyone is talking about, regardless of their level of knowledge. People are using google searches and YouTube “reels” to learn something quickly and then teach it to their clients. It makes me heart-sick as someone who has studied the yoga tradition for 20 years. I would love your feedback about how to respond when these situations arise. I find myself holding-back but I really want to say something that would offer an opportunity to investigate more than these “hot topic” notions of breath practices.
I talk about this all the time Holly in my trainings and my courses. Very important point. How to respond I think from a MH perspective is that there is a difference between “state change” and “trait change.” For state change, sure Tiktok is fine, but if you want trait change, you need regular, daily, and accurate/authentic practice. I hope that helps.
Love this ‘state change vs trait change’.. thank you for all your honouring and clarifying actual yoga. Thank you 🙏
Right on! Yoga is for life 🙂
Excellent article and love the explanation of ‘state change vs. trait change.’ Very helpful, thank you!
thank you!
A unit on the society would be useful for this. Great article.
Excellent blog post. I have been thinking the same thing about all the sudden breathwork facilitator trainings. The problem is when something like this takes off – the “powers that be” (including people in the medical/mental health field) often want you to be certified in something without understanding that anyone who is truly a yoga therapist and has studied and practiced for awhile in accordance with lineage and tradition, IS a “breathwork facilitator”
exactly!!
Great article thanks. As a doctor and therapist I think some breath practices like “belly breathing”, box breathing ARE really helpful as stand alone practices , although “state not trait “ changes as you point out. For some clients hopefully it may be a gateway to ongoing yoga practice. To not teach them outside a yoga practice would be a real shame. One thing I will remember going forward is acknowledging the ancient origins.
thank you for your comment. it’s not that these things can’t be taught of course they are helpful. it’s just that they should be contextualized and there needs to be more awareness that there is a whole system of breathing that is ancient and time tested
Thanks for articulating the importance pranayama. Pranayama is yoga & yoga is pranayama. They are both part of what it is to practice yoga. If you are practicing yoga without connecting to the breath you miss out on many of the beneficial effects that the practice offers. When offering trauma aware yoga it is so important to know how to include pranayama, in a way that helps to calm & not trigger any negative responses. In trauma aware classes, I’ve found that I often don’t mention the breath at all & let it come, as it will, naturally & notice that most often, my clients breath will find it’s own rhythm, this too is pranayama. I guess my point is that it doesn’t need to be a strict practice, you just need to know what most appropriate for the needs of your clients.
Thank you. I just started looking at breathwork certification this weekend. I ignored every website that did not mention yoga or pranayama.
I recommend Gary Kraftsow’s 12 hour course on Yoga International https://yogainternational.com/ecourse/pranayama-unlocked-a-practice-based-intensive
“ Whenever you have a system and you extract something from it, not only does the thing you extracted become relatively impotent as it stands alone, but you’ve also just collapsed the beauty and functionality of the entire system.”
Such an important point, and so well said.
In our commerce-driven, marketing-hyper society, I feel like this happens with a lot of concepts – not just yoga.
Yes I agree. Thanks Susan!
One aspect of breath work/ pranayama that is often overlooked is the fact that for most of us, living a western lifestyle, have compromised breathing apparatus. We spend far too much time sitting which drops the rib cage, we sleep on soft beds which does not pressurise the breath in the way our bodies were designed. Therefore when we then attempt fancy breathing exercises, without the accompanying understanding or awareness of our spine, ribs, diaphragm, shoulders we are just putting unnecessary stress on a system not ready yet. Hence the need for asana. I love the instruction one of my teachers gives: find the breath of the pose. Ie don’t impose an idea of what the perfect or healing breath should be, at first we just need to observe and notice what the breath actually is. As zen master Thich Naht Hahn said “Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in. Breathing out, I smile”
I agree that the first step is knowing your breath. absolutely! And that can take quite a bit of inquiry. There are many elegant, simple pranayama practices that can help guide that exploration.
Excellent article! Thank you so much for speaking on this topic.
The only person you mention by name is Stan Grof. There is no evidence I’ve aware of that he’s had any connection to yoga during his career.
And the breathing encouraged in Holotropic Breathwork is quite different from bhastrika.
It’s a poor choice in supporting the point you’re making in the article.
This article assumes that all breath work practices have come from yoga. That’s not necessarily the case when you dig into the history. Circular Breathwork or conscious connected breathing is not pranayama.
Early Breathwork pioneers are Wilhelm Reich and Alexander Lowen. Then, after that Stan Grof. They are not yoga practitioners, so why are people practicing and teaching circular Breathwork obligated to follow a yoga lineage.
I find so many yoga teachers to be passive aggressive and judgmental yet they love to claim how spiritual yoga has made them.
What is construed as “passive aggressive and judgmental” to one person (which quite, frankly, is an aggressive and judgmental statement) is an expression of concern about the proliferation of the cultural appropriation of yoga to another. Have a lovely day.
Absolutely agree, 100%!!! Yoga is a holistic practice, and removing any one aspect from the whole has proven to give less results. What I see happening is many people trying to develop their own “systems” to make money and/or gain a reputation for being unique.
And to answer some of these negative comments – most of these breathing techniques did originate from the yogic lineages. Even Wim Hoffs technique is strikingly similar to a tantric technique. However breathing in and out through the mouth continuously is something I have not personally found in the yogic lineage, and imho it does not feel right. I’ve tried these types of techniques from different western teachers and ended up coughing for days.
Wow! Thanks so much for your comment and for sharing your experience. I am fairly used to ruffling feathers at this point – but I’ll keep plugging away here – I feel like it’s important for people to understand that yoga is a holistic system and that most of these breathing practices, as you said, did indeed emerge from the tradition. xo