Breathwork

These are typically 4-hours in total, and usually run as 1-hour sessions across a 4-week period. I usually run them at the same day and time for the 4 sessions and prefer to use a room in one of Hook's many community buildings.

The type of breathwork that I teach is meant to be an everyday type of practice. The breathing techniques taught are gentle and have a subtle impact on the way feel, by nudging our nervous system to be slightly more awake, or slightly more calm depending on the type of practice. There are many different types of breathing practices out there, some are quite extreme hyperventilation techniques, but that's not what I teach on these workshops. Whilst breathing is a topic that I cover in the 5-week mindfulness course, it is covered in more depth in the breathwork workshop, with more variation of breathing practices. Breathwork can be a lovely gentle way to start practising sitting quietly, as it requires some focus on the breath, this may then lead naturally into other mindfulness practices.

Why do we need it?

Many of us are living our daily lives in a slightly heightened state of readiness for action. The brain wiring that saved us from the saber-toothed tiger is still present in our modern day brain, but now we are likely to be reacting in a similar way to an over-flowing to-do list, or a difficult email we need to send. This can result in us living in a constant state of heightened alert, which can be damaging for our overall health and our ability to live our best life. Altered breathing patterns can be one of the unhelpful consequences of this heightened state.

What do we cover?

Each week on the breathwork workshop we will cover a teaching topic, such as-

• week 1 - breathing tests
• week 2 - mechanics of breathing
• week 3 - science of breathing
• week 4 - breathing and the nervous system

In each of the sessions I will lead us through three breathing practices together  -

• a technique to help us feel more alert and focussed
• one to help us feel more balanced
• one to help us to feel more calm, settled and promote better sleep. 

Following each session, the participants will receive an email providing access to videos of me teaching the exact same practices that we covered in each session. These techniques are progressed throughout the 4-weeks to provide participants with a range of practices to choose from when continuing after the course.

Bonus content

We'll also cover some extra topics along the way, such as-

• how to make new habits stick
• what is stress and how it shows up in our lives
• how stress and breathwork can impact our sleep.

If this sounds like the workshop for you, check out the full course content on my website here and then simply  email me to book in, or to ask any questions.

Course details

Thursdays 5.30-6.30pm on August 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th

Venue the Life Church building on Elms Road, Hook.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness and breathwork are fairly closely linked, however, whilst my breathwork workshop is much more focussed specifically on the use of the breath, my mindfulness course includes some breathwork, but primarily focusses on the mind, and the mind-body/ body-mind connection.

The mindfulness course runs for 1 hour 15 minutes weekly for five weeks. During each session I will guide participants through 4 mindfulness practices, 2 short ( 2mins) and 2 longer (10mins). In between these guided practices we will cover a teaching topic each week. 

The topics

Each week we will discuss a different topic around mindfulness, including -



• What is mindfulness
• Body, breath and stress
• Dealing with our thoughts, being mode vs doing mode
• How to deal with our emotions
• Kindness and self-compassion

Practising mindfulness can help us to become more aware of our thoughts and help us notice and recognise unhelpful thought patterns. We can then begin to create new ways of thinking. It can help us to become kinder to ourselves and to others. It can boost our sense of compassion and help us to find more gratitude and awe in our daily lives. It helps us to become more aware of the present moment, helping us to feel more connected to ourselves, to others and to the wider world around us.

The guided practices are aligned to the teaching topic each week and participants receive access to audios to help them practice at home after each session.

If you feel like you've been living on autopilot and want to get back in the driving seat of your life, check out the full mindfulness course details on my website here and then simply email me to book on.

Course details

5-week mindfulness course

Thursdays 5.30-6.45pm September 25th - October 23rd.

Early bird price of £135 ends on 31st July (full price after this date £160)