By Leonor Tremblay

Breathexperience or ‘Middendorf Breath work,’ was developed by Ilse Middendorf in Germany, and is today is one of the leading somatic practices in Europe and around Berkeley, California.

This practice develops the consciousness of allowing the breath to come and go on its own, without the intervention of our will. People come to breath classes because they want to reconnect with their own personal resources, and bring balance and health into their lives. Breathexperience offers a path integrating emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of our being. The three principles that work together in healing and balancing through Breathexperience are:

1. Allowing the breath to find its own natural rhythm;

2. Sensation and awareness of breath movement throughout the body;

3. Presence and participation in every breath cycle: Inhale-Exhale-Pause.

How can these three principles of Breathexperience give support during pregnancy?

Practicing and integrating the principles of Breathexperience helps pregnant women understand and live through the natural process of labour and birthing. Allowing, surrendering to, and trusting the natural forces that work in the body will help support the intense experience of a birth. Allowing the breath instead of contracting into the pain is a key. Fear tightens – allowed breath frees, opens up the body, and facilitates the natural flow of the birthing process.

When a pregnant woman senses her breath movement, this helps her to connect deeper and develop her sensory awareness. Through this practice she also deepens the sensational and emotional connection with her child in the womb, which gives the mother a satisfying stronger bond with her baby. The baby is able to sense and recognize the rhythm of the mother, and thus experiences her breathing as a soft, almost rocking massage. Women who worked with Breathexperience before labour stated: learning to stay present in the breath cycle helped during labour to focus on the breath instead of focusing on the pain.

Breathexperience also inspires husbands/partners to remind mothers to focus on their breath. Being the reminder gives partners something important to do and it keeps them busy and connected!

Finally, we see the beautiful truth of a conscious breath cycle in the very moment of birth. The child, when it takes its first inhale, experiences an expansion. At the same time the mother, by letting go of the child, experiences a consolidation during her exhale. And then there is a pause: a moment of peace, joy, and bliss for all, mother and child and father/partner!

It is crucial for this very special moment of life – the birth of a child – that the mother and the father/partner work with Breathexperience. It is in this moment that the breath of life enters the newborn baby and determines the future path.

Breathexperience sessions are taught in groups or individually. Each session offers specific exercises for pregnant mothers depending on what trimester they are in, but it is especially useful for labour.

Every second Saturday/Sunday of the month Breathexperience is part of the program offered for couples at IDEAL Society in Jaffray, in collaboration with the midwives of Cranbrook.

– Leonor Tremblay, is a certified Breathexperience teacher for the past six years at IDEAL. She is also available for private consultations. Contact Leonor at [email protected] or 250- 430-7965

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