In today’s blog I am going to focus on the following:
- Breathwork for my mental health
Disclaimer:
None of this should be treated as professional mental health advice. As with my podcast, social media and any other materials I produce on topics around mental health, self esteem, confidence and personal growth this is me sharing my own experience as an individual, working with a coach, being formerly a coach and other unnamed individual stories (unless permission gained to share their name). I am not a qualified mental health professional. Please seek professional help where appropriate to do so.
One of my biggest challenges recently has been over-thinking. Admittedly I didn’t think I had much of an issue with this but with increased self awareness and experiences in the last year I’ve proven myself otherwise. I’ve gone through a LOT of personal growth and mindset work and to be honest I think the idea ‘mindset is everything’ is absolutely bullshit.
Mindset is important but it is not everything, it is only the starting point. If you have a good attitude to do something and don’t do it, often it’s deep psychological patterns running the show subconsciously. I am fascinated by the subconscious. Nearly everyone I meet has a good money mindset, they want money and they’d work for it. Why do most people (including myself) struggle with money or hitting what they’d actually like to earn?
Psychology! The conscious and subconscious patterns going on in the background, that just pure mindset does not address. Sure mindset is a good starting point you need but it’s impacted by psychology. I learned this from one of my mentors Joseph McClendon.
One practice I’ve found, if not one of the best tools to address deep psychological blocks, is breathwork. The emotions I’ve experienced in this have been like no other. What I’ve learned is that our stories and beliefs are stored at a deeper level in the body. So purely talking about them, which I advise is super helpful, can only go so far if the tensions are not released from the body.
I’ve been applying somatic breathwork and breathmasters from some great teachers. Often in these sessions I will scream our stored pain in my body or cry massively, after it all though I feel so relieved and relaxed like nothing I’ve experienced before. They say we also have ancestor trauma and pain stored in our body too.
This has been a huge game changer for me. In fact I’ve been reliving past memories I didn’t think of much, like losing a relative or being lost as a small child going back to that point and feeling everything I was feeling. The magic of breathwork is incredible for both relaxing and releasing (depending on what you do). As always though this is just my personal experience and not a substitute for any professional advice.
In summary, today, I have my highs and lows. Journaling is useful, speaking to people is super helpful and those combined with decent nutrition, exercise and breathwork I feel pretty good.
Jonny Pardoe, 11th May 2023
