While I was doing my breathwork facilitation training I had a very memorable breath session on the final training day as the breather. It was very dynamic session and as it progressed I had a feeling of activation in my body. I felt an energy surging through all of my limbs – a tingling, buzzing feeling. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the feeling – was it good or bad? Should I welcome it or try to dissipate it? As the session ended and we broke for lunch the feeling continued and I became overwhelmed and decided that I needed to rid myself of the energy. I tried some calming box breathing – no change. I went for a walk in the woods nearby and ended up running up a hill until I was out of breath and couldn’t continue – no change. It would be a couple of restless days before I eventually felt the feeling dissipate.
Back at the training after lunch there was a demonstration breath session with the trainer and one of the other trainees. After the short but powerful demo, the breather described a feeling in his body very similar to what I was experiencing with one key difference. He described it as overwhelmingly positive. How could this same feeling be interpreted in two such polar opposite ways? What was I missing? Should I be welcoming this energy? Why did it make me feel so awful and him so good?
It has been a little while since that breath session but I now think I have an answer to this conundrum. I just listened to a phenomenal podcast which was discussing the link between anxiety and creativity (link below). Author and Life Coach Dr. Martha Beck describes the mechanism of how anxiety can kill creativity and conversely how we can use creativity to reduce the effect that anxiety has on us. The two are linked through brain structures that mirror each other – anxiety in the left hemisphere and creativity in the right hemisphere. As she described how she uses right brain activation to quell her anxiety and how the creative force felt in her body I was transported back to that breath session. I believe that session mobilized my right hemisphere and that creative energy. However, my anxiety riddled brain did not recognize it as such. My left hemisphere took over again after the session and started making up stories about my experience as it is wont to do. It got anxious and told me that this feeling was new, different and therefore must be bad and we must get rid of it. It thought it was trying to protect me. The problem with anxiety is that it never follows through on its promise of keeping you safe. You can’t feel safe if you are always on high alert for danger.
We live in a culture that highly values left brain activity, we believe we can think our way out of any situation and if we prepare ourselves well we can handle things better and be safe. We live in a constant state of hypervigilance, worry and fear. We feed the brain negative information and then are surprised when it comes up with more negativity. Our brains and our culture combine to create the scourge of anxiety that is taking over western society. Until we begin to nurture our lives with meaning, connection, compassion and creativity we will be stuck in this loop. You don’t have to be a great painter or accomplished musician. Just go out and do something you enjoy – make something with the right side of your brain – I know I’m going to.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sounds-true-insights-at-the-edge/id307934313
Raven's Breath Somatic Facilitation 