Binnie A. Dansby is an inspiring teacher and a gifted therapist, healer, writer, and philosopher. She is among the most experienced breathworkers on the planet and founder of a personal and professional development system called Source Process, which has a host of amazing tools and techniques for empowerment. For over thirty years, she has been guiding people in the healing and release of life long wounds of fear, inadequacy, and limitation. Her work focuses on how the memories of our time in the womb are held in every cell of our bodies. How our consciousness of society is established and nurtured in the womb, and how the quality of our birth affects the quality or our lives, and in turn shapes the quality of society. Healing birth trauma is the process of changing life-limiting decisions that we made when we took our first breath. Healing begins in the moment we accept the possibility of change, the possibility of continuing to evolve on all levels of being, just as we did in the womb. Healing the first breath, however, is a process that is not always ecstatic and pain-free. In fact, the process of growth and evolution is one of pushing beyond our old concepts of comfort and testing new frontiers. We can move to a new and expanded experience of union with our body. It is possible to trust the process of life as a healing process. In a chat over lunch at a conference last year, Binnie said: “Source Process and breathwork is both a philosophy and a psychospiritual practice that includes the breath as a tool to release physiological and psychological stress. It is possible to eliminate primal trauma and transform the subconscious impression of birth into a gentle, awakening event.” The core purpose of Source Process is to free the breath from the physical constrictions caused by the pain and fear we experienced during our birth and to support the integration of the “archetypal affirmations.” The archetypal affirmations are fundamental thought forms that bring up specific life-limiting thoughts in order to release them from our consciousness. They are the healing response to the “archetypal negatives.” The use of conscious, connected breathing together with the use of affirmations is a time-tested method for creating change in awareness and behavior. Uniting these two powerful forces with attentive guidance produces sustainable psychological and physiological results. Each archetypal affirmation corresponds directly to a specific energy center, or chakra, and the color associated with that center or body system. These are: First chakra, base of the spine, red: “My body is safe, no matter how I may be feeling. I am the earth; I am creativity.” Second chakra, navel, vibrant orange: “I am surrounded by love and support from all the beings in my life. Everything and everyone in physical form is here to support me in physical form.” Third chakra, solar plexus, yellow: “All of my feelings are safe. I am the one who chooses what to think and how to use my energy.” Fourth chakra, heart, green: “I am the innocent child of a gentle universe. I deserve to experience all of my love and compassion.” Fifth chakra, throat, aquamarine: “I am an expression of love. My expression is welcome.”Sixth chakra, third eye, deep blue: “I am connected in love to all that lives and all that breathes. I am connected to divine intelligence that knows my good.” Seventh chakra, crown, royal purple (a blend of the color red for safety, and the color blue for connection): “I am spirit manifest in beautiful physical form. I am a gift from God to the earth. My love is received.”
Breathe Now: Archetypal Affirmation Practice
Tens of thousands of thoughts are generated by our mind every day. The choice we make about what to give attention to is determined by our source beliefs, the archetypal decisions and thoughts that are held at the ground of our being. We are conscious of some of these deep beliefs and not of others. The breath combined with archetypal affirmations can lift the veil and reveal the false beliefs about life and ourselves that we have been holding on to since birth.
- Begin breathing gently and fully in a continuous, connected rhythm, and pay attention to the thoughts that are triggered when an archetypal affirmation is introduced. Allow all your thoughts to flow. Don’t take any of those thoughts personally.
- Take a deep breath and choose whether you want to place your attention on an archetypal affirmation or the negative thought that it brings up. Choose your source. Breathe and know that: Who I am is not any of my thoughts. Who I am is consciousness that is cocreating and choosing in every moment how to use my precious life energy.
- Breathe deeply and fully and ask yourself: “What way of thinking is going to produce a feeling of connection and peace, joy and satisfaction? What thoughts or environment do I consciously choose to nourish with my breath, my life energy, to produce optimum health and well-being? What do I choose to inhale? What do I choose to inspire?” The word “inspiration” refers to both the breath and to the creative principle. What inspires you becomes the inspiration you are to others. Be aware of the creative impulse arising in you when you breathe consciously. Allow it, and inspiration will expand in you. What inspires you awakens your true being and your true purpose. When you allow yourself to be creative, you awaken the impulse in others. The expression of your true being is an inspiration to everyone.
Dr. Stan Grof and Holotropic Breathwork
Breathwork could produce many of the benefits of psychotropic drugs without all the chemical risks. He is one of the founders of transpersonal psychology, and was the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association. Dr. Grof has introduced the world to a new paradigm in psychotherapy, a new form of psychology that integrates the spiritual and mystical aspects of life, where healing is self-regulated and takes place in the heart. It is a radical innovation, and differs entirely from cognitive, talk-based therapies. Holotropic Breathwork focuses on a flow, a process, rather than on a goal or outcome. It naturally leads the soul to an experience of our own divinity. People are encouraged to begin a session with faster and somewhat deeper breathing, tying inhalation and exhalation into a continuous circle of breath (very similar to the Rebirthing Breathwork technique). Once in the process, they find their own rhythm and way of breathing. Holotropic Breathwork can be used to intensify the emotions and physical energies underlying various issues and symptoms, and bring them to conscious experience and full expression. The quality of attention and the attitude toward the experience is more important than the speed and intensity of the breathing. Sessions include loud, provocative, rhythmic music, which varies depending on the stage of the process. The combination of music with faster breathing has a remarkable activating effect on the psyche and consciousness-expanding power. Participants are encouraged to suspend any intellectual activity, which is a way of avoiding the emotional impact.