On July 27th, 28th and 29th, I will be co-facilitating three TaKeTiNa and Clarity Breathwork evenings with James Word, Mary Gaetjens, and Natalie Word. The four of us have been exploring the synergy of rhythm and breath to experience heightened states of consciousness. We are very, very excited to share these powerful modalities with you.
The Clarity Breath Circles we have done doing TaKeTiNa before we breathe have been incredibly profound for those who have participated. Being able to do three nights in a row will be especially powerful as each evening energetically builds on the one before and take us deeper each night.
This workshop will deeply connect you with your inner guidance and integrate that guidance so you can manifest you highest intentions in your daily life. If you are interested in transformation, and balancing that shift on every level – emotional, mental and physical – this workshop is for you.
You can do one evening or all three. The cost is $35.00 for each evening and $90.00 for all three. At aMFa Gallery 1318 10th Street (at Gilman). Call me at 510-601-9632 to reserve a space.
I’m excited to announce that on May 12th and 13th I will be co-facilitating a TaKeTiNa and Clarity Breathwork with Mary Gaetjens, Natalie Word, and James Word.
This will be a weekend that will take all of us to higher states of consciousness and help us energetically integrate that consciousness into our daily lives. This is a wonderful opportunity to be in community with people who are focused on growth, balance and alignment in these evolutionary times. This weekend will create healing on many levels.
James Word is the first TaKeTiNa teacher in the U.S. to be trained at a senior level. Mary Gaetjens is an experienced and gifted Clarity Breathwork Practitioner and Natalie Word is currently training in TaKeTiNa and will be playing the surdo (a large bass drum) during the TaKeTiNa journeys.
Natalie and James have been coming regularly to the Breathwork Circles Mary and I have been holding each month. Last summer we organized a TaKeTiNa journey right before a breathing session and we were blown away at what a powerful experience it was. That’s when we came up with the idea of a longer workshop.
Clarity Breathwork is a practice of circular, connected breathing that raises the vibration of the body and energy field, thus releasing stress, physical tension, trauma and mental blocks. Breathing is a safe and effective method of creating deep healing in your life.
TaKeTiNa was founded by Reinhard Flatischler in 1970 and is group process for discovering your natural rhythm. TaKeTiNa has many emotional and physical benefits, including integrating both side of the brain. For more on TaKeTiNa check out this short video:
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The Workshop will be held in Berkeley, close to Solano Avenue. Each day we plan to do two Clarity Breathwork Sessions and two TaKeTiNa Journeys. No previous experience required. Call 510-601-9632 for more information and directions.
Jeri Lawson is a Healing Touch Practitioner and Clarity Breathworker in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.
I have always loved breathing with other people. Right after I started doing private Breathwork sessions with Maggie Ostara, I also went regularly to her monthly Breathwork Circles. The energy of a group helped me to release on different levels than I processed in my private sessions. When Maggie has moved to Sebastopol, I really missed her community Breathwork Circles.
So I decided to start my own Breathwork Circles in Emeryville with Mary Gaetjens. Mary and I had started trading breathwork sessions and after about six months we were so excited by our work together that holding Clarity Breathwork Circles just seemed like the next logical step.
We have been doing Breathwork Circles together for over a year now, and I am delighted at how much fun it is. I have to say I was a little nervous when Mary and I started out. Holding space for any kind of a group used to drain me, unlike my one-to-one work, which always energised me.
I found that holding a group space with Mary is extraordinary and fun. Mary is very psychic, although she thinks of herself as an empath. I tend to be more grounded, although there have been circles when we have flipped roles and Mary was more grounded and I felt more connected to the higher frequencies. Holding such a large sacred space with someone else who is so intuitively gifted is a blast.
It’s amazing how every Circle is so different. Every Monday night each circle has it’s own special quality, weather, and phase of the moon. Every person that comes to breathe also brings their special essence with them and that is really what creates the special energy of each circle.
Sometimes everyone breathing seems to be in some kind of sync with each other and sometimes everyone is having a uniquely different experience. Some Breathwork Circles are more like a deep meditations and some are more about physical release.
We have been breathing in the same space since we started the Circles and I have noticed the space is already “set up” energetically when we get there. There have been times I have walked into our space the night of the Circle and the energy seems to lift me up, as if the invisible realms have already arrived. I really think that regular meditative work like breathwork, yoga and meditation gains a kind of energetic momentum that builds on itself when done in community at regular intervals.
If you want to try Clarity Breathwork our next circle is Monday, 3/5/12. Breathing is done lying on the floor so bring what ever you need to feel comfortable: blanket, mat, or pillows. We start the circle at 6:30, we are done by 9:30. Mary is doing a free yoga class before the Circle at 5:30. Call me at 510-601-9632 to make reservations. We keep the circle to 12 or less and we have been filling up fast so call as soon as you can.
It would be great to have you breathe with us!
Jeri Lawson is a Healing Touch Practitioner and Clarity Breathworker in the Temescal Area of Oakland, California.
I have had several epiphanies in my Breathwork practice over the last five years. Insights that have fundamentally shifted my experience of being in the world.
One epiphany came to me while breathing with Clarity Breathworker and Trainer Andrzej Skwira. Part of the requirements to becoming certified as a Clarity Breathworker is to receive ten breath sessions with a man and ten sessions with a woman. I chose to do my ten “male” sessions with Andrzej.
My work with Andrzej was much more subtle, but just as profound, as the first 17 Breathwork sessions I had done with Maggie Ostara. You can read an article I wrote about my Clarity Breathwork journey here.
When I started breathing with Andrzej I was listening to CDs by Adyashanti and Eckhart Tolle. I had begun to sense a block or some kind of interference to being fully present and in the moment. Becoming more present became the focus of my work with Andrzej.
After each session with Andrzej, I felt a deeper, more tangible awareness. I also became more aware just how not present I was. This resistance felt different at different times, during the Clarity Breathwork sessions and also in everyday life. Sometimes it felt like a fogginess. Other times I felt a tiredness and a sense of being bored. And sometimes I felt like I was just slightly removed from my life. I found these experiences uncomfortable and frustrating and was very motivated to move through them.
During one of my later Breathwork sessions with Andrzej, I realized that I was resisting my resistance to being present. Bam! When I stopped resisting my resistance to being present, I instantly felt present and in the moment.
This was a subtle but radical shift with a very physical sensation, like my whole being just “clicked” into place. My senses felt sharper. I feel to this day that from that moment on I experience life differently, so much more clearly.
Weeks after this realization, I also found that just by acknowledging my resistance and my impulse to change whatever I was experiencing, I felt more compassionate and less judgmental towards myself everything and everyone in my life. It was really amazing and yet so, so subtle. It was like opening a door to a new level of being.
I decided to write this post after working with a Breathwork client who had her own life-changing epiphany in our sessions together. It is such a privilege to assist and witness these deep transformations. Breathwork is miraculous.
Being in my body helps me stay more present. Being in my body is a tangible, physical sensation that I can follow to keep me in the present moment.
How do you know if you may be “out of your body”?
You notice bruises on your shins and you have no idea how they got there.
You lose your car key frequently.
You feel bored, tired and not engaged in your daily life.
You find yourself tripping over steps, and knocking glasses of water all over the dinner table.
You catch yourself daydreaming….
How to “get in your body”:
Exercise.
Meditate.
Do yoga, or Tai Chi.
Take a day off, take a nap, do nothing and give yourself a break.
Get a Clarity Breathwork session or a Healing Touch Session.
Eat a piece of chocolate. Notice this is not my first suggestion, but it does make being in your body quite enjoyable.
“To connect with our bodies is to learn to trust ourselves, and from that comes power.” Mirka Knaster
“Great ideas originate in the muscles.” Thomas Edison (I was surprised to find this!)
“There is deep wisdom within our very flesh, if we can only come to our senses and feel it.” Elizabeth A. Behnke
Breathing in a group is a wonderful way to experience Clarity Breathwork for the first time.
Mary Gaetjens and I hold monthly Clarity Breathwork Circles in Emeryville, California. Our last Breathwork Circle was last Monday, and even though it’s now Friday, I’m still feeling the deep connection and healing energy that the circle created.
Facilitating these circles with Mary is as profound and as powerful as breathing in the circle. I am always amazed at the breakthroughs, insights and transformation that happen each month. Breathing in a group creates an energetic space that is incredibly supportive and consciousness changing. Breathing in a group is also a wonderful way to connect and be in community with other people who are committed to their personal growth.
In my Breath practice I regularly have private sessions that take me to profound states of higher consciousness and keep me emotionally, physically and mentally balanced in my daily life. Yet I have also found that breathing in a group gives me access to energies and supports me in ways I may never have experienced otherwise.
We invite you to check out our Circle! Our Clarity Breathwork Circles usually meet the first Monday of every month. The next Circles are scheduled for October 3rd, November 7th and December 5th. The circle starts at 6:30 pm and is over at 9:30 with plenty of time to integrate your experience after the Breathwork. The exchange for each circle is $35.00. Call Mary at 510-393-7671 or myself at 510-601-9632 for directions and to reserve a space. We do limit the number of monthly participants to 12.
The great thing about having a blog is sharing the ideas and practices that have made such a difference in my life. This guided meditation is one of those gifts.
I have listened to this CD hundreds of times. I still hear Ashanna say the perfect affirmation at the perfect time for the perfect breathe and, even though I know better, it feels like I never heard her say it before that moment. It’s an oracle breath session; I receive guidance and insights, as well as feel clear, centered and more focused afterwards.
This CD has also guided me to heal my physical body. I was hit by an SUV in a cross walk several years back. For months after I would feel my back “give out” in the middle of the day. To rebalance and energize my back, I’d put on this CD and breath for 15 minutes. I start with Track 4 for these shorter jumpstart sessions. Just 15 minutes of breathing helped me relax my muscles and rebalance my spine so that my body felt strong. Then I could work comfortably until the end of the day. It was quite remarkable.
Healing my own back injury made me realize that breathwork is a powerful modality for healing back and spine issues.
Click here to order Ashanna’s” Healing Yourself with Breath”. This CD also features the incredible harp music of Lisa Lynne. Click here for more of Lisa’s music and CDs.
I also have an article on the Clarity Breathwork website about how Clarity Breathwork and the CD “Healing Yourself with Breath” changed my life and healed my migraines.
One of the reasons I do Clarity Breathwork regularly is to release limiting beliefs. I have found many of my limiting beliefs to be imprinted in my body, dormant and therefore inaccessible until something activates them. The more I do Clarity Breathwork, the easier it is to detect if my intuition and my gut feeling about a current situation in my present life originates from my higher guidance or from something else– like my childhood conditioning.
Another dormant childhood belief spontaneously surfaced recently while I was working out at a gym with an outdoor 25-yard-lap pool. It had been raining on and off in California for weeks and on this morning it was starting to drizzle again. The pool was warm and inviting with soft white steam rising from the blue water. As I slipped into the pool, the first light raindrops started falling, creating intricate circular patterns on the water’s surface.
The pit of my stomach tightened. I ignored the sensation, started swimming and the feeling got worse. I even felt threatened, like my life was in danger. Being in the water was not safe. I stopped swimming after one lap and looked around. The other swimmers were leisurely doing their laps. No one looked dangerous or concerned. Why did I feel so uncomfortable? Should I get out of the water?
Suddenly it came to me. In Missouri where I grew up, we never stayed in the pool when it was raining. In my mind’s eye I saw images of myself and other children frantically scrambling out of the water at the first splash of a raindrop. We were told we would certainly be hit by lightning if we hesitated for even one second. My mother was especially vigilant about keeping us from getting killed by a lightning bolt, and understandably so. My mind had totally forgotten this experience of Midwestern life, but my body obviously still remembered.
I am still surprised at how physical this imprint was and how my strongly my body reacted to a situation it had been conditioned to believe was unsafe. I had never been swimming in the rain since I was a child, so my body had not updated the survival information: it’s safe to swim in the rain in California.
Before doing Clarity Breathwork, I don’t think I would have been able to connect with my body quickly enough to understand where the dangerous feeling was coming from. As soon as I became conscious of the childhood memory, the dangerous feeling vanished and I relaxed instantly.
That morning I had a remarkably soothing and peaceful swim in the gently falling raindrops.
