Breathing Therapy
Breathing Therapy
Breathing Therapy
Therapy
Magda Proskauer
e-Book 2016 International Psychotherapy Institute
From The Psychotherapy Guidebook edited by Richie Herink and Paul R. Herink
DEFINITION
HISTORY
TECHNIQUE
APPLICATIONS
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Breathing Therapy
Magda Proskauer
DEFINITION
the desired change. The breathing function proves valuable for allowing
nervous systems: the voluntary consciously directed one and the autonomous
or vegetative one, which works without the mind. Normally, we breathe
automatically from the moment of birth, but we can also take a breath or hold
it for a certain time. In this respect respiration differs from other autonomous
by will. The breath thus forms a bridge between the conscious and
unconscious systems. By watching it one can observe a normally unconscious
function at work, one can learn to exclude interferences, and thus help self-
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HISTORY
calasthenics, athletics, and sports, I learned the sense of joy and release that
any genuine movement can bring about. In my case the release from too rigid
early studies the growing development of psychoanalysis had shed new light
on the psychosomatic character of many disturbances. Orthodox therapy was
psychology of C. G. Jung.
TECHNIQUE
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pattern, disturbed as it may be, as the point of departure. One concentrates on
the act of breathing, observing its inner movement until the breath left to
itself finds its way back to its genuine rhythm. One learns to experiment with
one’s own nature and harmoniously train the body for its own purpose We
try, for instance, to locate the place where we can feel the movement of the
breath within. Or lying on one’s back with the knees bent we focus on the
phase of exhalation by slowly and gently expelling the air while we allow the
abdominal wall to sink toward the back. We then wait until after a slight
pause, and the inhalation occurs by itself, as if a balloon were blown up within
as if the breath were sent into that particular space. We may choose to
experiment with a small movement of a joint, like the hip, by slightly bending
it with the incoming breath and releasing it with the outgoing breath as if the
breath were opening up a tight joint. After a few repetitions one is asked to
compare the other hip to find the possible difference. Or one experiments
with the weight of one’s body or its parts by trying to give it over to gravity
while exhaling, which leads to release of tensions and the experience of one’s
inner weight.
APPLICATIONS
Just as we behave, move, and act according to our specific makeup and
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express ourselves uniquely through gestures, so does our breathing pattern
express our inner situation. The usual arhythmic breath goes with our normal
stopping in fear, choking with sadness, sighing with relief, etc. Normally,
when at jest and at peace, one breathes more with the diaphragm. Complete
To express it simply: where the abdominal breath is disturbed, the inner life
is disturbed; one is driven, unreceptive, and may live too intentionally.
On the other hand, those who cannot open their chest cage are often
anxious, inhibited, self-conscious, with a sense of inferiority. With neurotics
abdomen gets pulled in tightly and there is almost no exhalation. The bottle is
filled with consumed air. In our work with the breath we allow these faulty
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