Types of therapy
At Paracelsus Recovery, our holistic approach includes breathwork as a complementary therapy. The aim of our breathwork treatment is to strengthen the mind-body connection and enhance well-being by intentionally using specific breathing patterns.
What is breathwork?
Breathwork is the practice of consciously using specific breathing patterns to enhance physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Breathwork has its roots in ancient yogic and religious traditions but has become popular in the last few decades as its benefits have become more widely understood. Breathwork works by enabling you to upregulate and downregulate your nervous system through breathing in certain patterns. This allows you, for example, to move from a stressed and anxious “fight and flight” state to a relaxed and grounded “rest and digest” state by simply changing how you breathe. In this scenario, when you breathe slow, diaphragmatic breaths, your body and brain receive the message that it is safe to relax, helping you to calm down.
There are various styles of breathwork. Functional breathing techniques help optimise natural breathing patterns in order to improve respiratory efficiency and enhance overall health and well-being. Another style is pranayama, the breathing exercises that are part of a yoga practice, which aims to strengthen the mind-body connection. Aside from this, there are transformative breathwork techniques that use a connected breathing pattern to induce altered states of consciousness, facilitate emotional release and spark profound personal insights.
What is breathwork helpful for?
Breathwork has many benefits, depending on the type of breathwork practised, the length and regularity of practice and various other factors. For example, it offers a way to manage stress, enhance focus, promote rest and relaxation and increase self-awareness. In general, as breathwork enables individuals to reconnect with their bodies, emotions and feelings, it can be a powerful complementary tool for treating various mental health and addiction issues. Breathwork can be used to improve a vast range of conditions such as anxiety, chronic pain, depression, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance-abuse disorder and trauma.
Breathwork is one of the many complementary therapies that we offer as part of our treatment programmes at Paracelsus Recovery. Your treatment plan is entirely bespoke, meaning that your breathwork sessions will be curated for you by our highly-experienced breathwork facilitators. They will lead you in specific breathwork techniques that will not only support your healing journey but also provide you with valuable coping tools that will help you meet the stresses of life.
Is breathwork evidence-based?
There is a rapidly growing body of evidence that supports breathwork’s profound therapeutic potential in addressing a variety of physical, emotional and psychological issues. For example, research indicates that breathwork is an effective tool for reducing stress and improving mental health as well as managing pain promoting emotional well-being. It has also been shown potential as a valuable therapeutic tool for managing anxiety disorders. And when combined with mindfulness and relaxation, breathwork shows promise as an approach to treating both anxiety and depression.
Breathwork is also thought to have a profound impact on overall health and longevity due to its ability to reduce stress and facilitate healing. Research into breathwork’s potential as a tool to both manage stress and improve overall well-being is similarly promising. When it comes to trauma, research indicates that conscious connected breathwork may be a valuable therapeutic tool for trauma recovery. In addition, a study into the transformative breathwork technique, holotropic breathwork, found it to improve self-awareness, underlining its potential as a complementary therapy to facilitate personal growth. There is also some evidence of breathwork as an effective complementary tool for addiction recovery. While the evidence of breathwork’s potential continues to expand, it is important to note that more research is needed to confirm findings.
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