May/June 2003 Alternative Health
Shamanic Breathwork

by Jeff Berger M.D.

I was in the middle of a deep spiritual dying; I was, as they say, at the end of my rope despite having spent years in sincere and ardent Buddhist-oriented meditation practices. I stumbled on the Shamanic Breathwork Process on the advice of a friend. The new age feel at first turned me off, but I was desperate enough to try something new. In our opening circle of fifteen people, I was immediately struck by the down to earth, friendly, and loving attitude of the group leaders, Linda Starwolf and Brad Collins. As alienated as I had been feeling, their presence included my alienation. They welcomed it, they reached out to it and invited me in, setting the emotional tone for the actual breathwork itself that was to begin the following morning.

In the morning after a brief check in by the entire group, we chose partners, one designated as the breather, the other, the co-journeyer. Then we breathers got down to the business of creating a small nest for ourselves out of mattress pads, camping pads, sleeping bags, blankets, pillows. We were told to dress in loose layers so that we would be comfortable. Some people brought eyeshades. Nearly everyone had a water bottle. The windows had been blackened by plastic; light New Age music played on the speaker system. An air of excitement, anxiety, and expectation seemed to hang over the preparations. As the breathers settled onto their backs in their nests, the co-journeyers sat beside them. Next came the instructions: use the breath like an accelerator on a car until you "feel something." "Breathe," Brad said, "until you’re surprised." The co-journeyer’s task was to hold the space for the breathers, to watch over them and care for any needs that might arise. We were told that each person would be going on a unique journey fueled by the breath and specially chosen music—loud music to awaken the various chakras or energy centers in our bodies. This process is meant to activate a healer who lives deep inside of us, an inner shaman. Anything could happen and the ultimate goal was to help us reconnect to our deepest selves. We were told that literally anything could happen, that we could find spirit animals, we could fly into other galaxies, we could touch bliss.

Starwolf walked through the darkened room with a drum invoking our spirit guides and spiritual helpers. The drum simulated our heartbeats. Beside her voice and the drum, the room was quiet. And the quiet shimmered with energy. We were like astronauts ready for lift off. Our co-journeyers by our side gave us a sense of trust, of safety. As the drum beat sped up, we were instructed to begin breathing, open-mouthed, full-bodied, filling our abdomens, our chests, no pause between the inhalation, the exhalation, faster, deeper as the music began, loud, very loud, tribal, wild, breathing, deeper, faster, until. . .

The journey was brought to a close by the drum. The music, at first wild, cacophonous, had taken its own journey from the depths to the rarefied and heavenly spheres, back to the opened heart. For some the hour-long journey felt like it lasted five minutes; for others, two days. The co-journeyers said that their own experiences were fantastic, though their consciousness was not officially altered. There was a feeling of being immersed in a powerful and intimate energy. There were the beginnings of an otherwise unknown group of people coalescing, of discovering each other beyond appearance and personality. There was a sense of sharing something profound, mysterious, personal. Each breather was led to the art table where they were asked to draw a mandala, something in texture and form, color and shape to express the essence of the journey, a way to begin sharing with others something that occurred beyond words, perhaps beyond time. A sense of shared awe, of mystery, of intimacy occurred. There was a deepening sense that the participants in the workshop had become one organism with its diverse and intricate parts, its complex organic interrelationships. One begins to get a sense that whatever one feels, wherever one goes, and is an act of returning home.

What distinguishes Shamanic Breathwork from other kinds of breathwork is the process whereby the journey one has taken by oneself is brought back and reintegrated into the larger group. As I have discovered doing this work the past eighteen months, it is during this reintegration where the lasting healing takes place, for not only do we integrate our experiences into the larger workshop community, we integrate them into our heart, our bodies, our partnerships, our lives. The Shamanic Breathwork process recognizes that for genuine healing to occur on the deepest spiritual and psychological levels it must find its expression with others who are touched by this personal transformation and therefore transformed by it. For me, the Shamanic Breathwork process has been the way through death, many deaths, toward a new and renewing expanded life.

Jeff Berger, MD has been a psychiatrist in private practice in Portland for fourteen years, focusing on spritual issues and individual and couples therapy. He has been involved in Buddhist meditation for over ten years and has been deeply touched and consequently deeply devoted to shamanic breathwork as a spiritual practice. 503-450-9911