I'm fresh off the most uplifting weekend completing my Level 2 Breathwork Teacher Training with wellness expert Niall O'Murchu. To be completely honest, I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. My week had been long and tiring, and the sun was shining, so I thought to myself, "I would love to spend the weekend swimming, hiking, and meeting friends." This was a great lesson, though: sometimes the thing you are resisting is exactly what you need.
I have come away from the three days with a deeper level of my own practice, a new sense of excitement to share the power of breathwork, and an amazing community of breathwork teachers.
Here are some key moments from the weekend:
I have a client in Canada, and the time difference and our schedules make it a bit challenging to coordinate our coaching calls. Our call this week was on Friday from 4:30-5:30 pm, and the course started at 6 pm in Irishtown. I knew I wouldn't make it from my office to Irishtown in 30 minutes on a Friday, so I took the call in a hotel three minutes from the Chapel of Ease, where the course was being held. I left the hotel at 5:35 pm, and it took me 40 minutes to make the 750m journey. I should have walked, but I thought driving would be quicker given the time constraints. Niall, very calm and understanding (thanks to all the breathing), greeted me with a welcoming smile and hug and told me not to worry, as many of the other course attendees were also stuck in the mayhem.
We sat down to get started, and Niall began by guiding us through a breathwork session. My patience had been thin all week; I noticed myself being extra short at several moments—staring down a slow barista like I was in a western movie while waiting for my coffee, clenching my jaw like a clamp in traffic, and generally quick to get frustrated. During the session, I battled once more in my head, with thoughts racing and the internal berating of myself to "focus."
"Just be here now," I told myself.
I felt like the breathwork hadn't worked. I hadn't been able to quiet my mind. But I was wrong—so wrong. When I got home, I sat out on my balcony, and the effects of the session became apparent. I was calm, so very calm, relaxed, and intensely present in that moment. It was a reminder of the powerful and sometimes delayed benefits of breathwork.
On Saturday, after an action-packed morning where I squeezed in a 7 am sea swim, an 8 am gym class, and then a 25-minute cycle to the course, we spent the morning learning new methods for preparing the body for breathwork and a new breathing technique. Lunch was an hour and a half, which I felt was long, but Darren, one of the other teaching students, kindly offered to do a sound bath for us. It was my first ever, but I had been wanting to do one since last year. Well, what an experience! All I can say is everyone needs to experience it to understand. It was soothing and calming, and I am so excited to host Darren and share the magic with my own breathwork class in Enniskerry next month.
We spent much of the weekend being tested with exercises of delivering different teaching scenarios in groups of three. Another unforgettable session came from the amazing Charlotte of 'It All Starts With A Breath,' who traveled from the UK to complete Levels 1 and 2. She brought us on a journey with the breath and skillfully delivered a huge (tear-inducing) release for all three of us during the session. It was a memorable moment in my breathwork journey.
On Sunday, we graduated and wrapped up with a powerful circle moment captured in the picture above The excitement to share our new skills was bursting from all of us as we move into the world connected as better teachers and friends.
My mission in life is to help others and show them that they can achieve more than they thought possible, and teaching breathwork is such a powerful way to do that. It creates a pause, which allows for a better connection with ourselves. This means we can live an intentional life and not get swept away in the chaos and stress.
As a solid sleeper, I couldn't sleep last night because I am so excited to share what I have learned with my next class on Friday. If you are reading, I hope to see you there or at one of my upcoming sessions.
Yorumlar