Rebirthing - Breathwork
By Jackie Christensen, BS, HHP, NC, MH
Faculty Member of GCNM
Rebirthing-Breathwork was discovered by Leonard Orr in 1962 and then later refined into a complete therapeutic modality by Orr and his team of researchers in 1974. It was named rebirthing because through the use of the breath, early practitioners of rebirthing discovered the tremendous impact their birth had on their lives, thoughts and beliefs. Very often these beliefs have been imprinted into our consciousness at birth and even during our conception and prenatal life. The conscious connected breathing of rebirthing helps to access these early imprints and then change them by breathing through those feelings and through the use of affirmations. Since its early days, rebirthing has undergone many changes and has now evolved into a more holistic approach that addresses any negative or specific traumatic events from birth, childhood and adult stages of life.
Leonard Orr defines rebirthing as "breathing air and breathing energy" and "breaking the birth-death cycle". One follows a certain pattern and observes the emotions / issues / thoughts that come up and one just breathes through those too. Rebirthing has also been referred to as conscious connected breathing and divine energy breathing.
Rebirthing breathwork works by clearing away the negative effects that early events and past experiences have had on psychological, emotional and spiritual growth. Rebirthing is similar to psychotherapy in that it believes in accessing the information in the subconscious mind. However, it differs in that it does not require an analysis of the situation or a reliving of the feelings. Rather it is a simple, gentle, connected breathing, which allows a person to breathe into and release their feelings.
It has been used as a method for healing issues relating to addiction and abuse, compulsions, obsessions, depression, anxiety and phobias. Regular practice of rebirthing breathwork has been known to reduce stress, improve conscious clarity, clear emotional blockages, heal past traumas and has even helped people overcome various ailments and diseases such as diabetes, asthma, migraine, blood pressure, common cold and sinusitis.
As a spiritual recovery program, it uses nontraditional as well as traditional ideas, both ancient and modern approaches to healing. Using a deep connected breath for approximately one hour, the rebirthing process releases stress, tension and stored emotion from the body. Rebirthing breathwork opens the body’s energy channels, which accelerates the flow of creativity and intuition.
Rebirthing may be done is several different settings: dry rebirthing, wet rebirthing or group rebirthing. Dry rebirthing is done lying down on the bed or floor (clothed) next to your rebirther who guides the session. Wet rebirthing is done in a hot tub or bath tub, using a snorkel and nose plug to breathe as you float face down in warm water, sometimes in the fetal position. Group rebirthing is done in a large room where a group of people (who have been well prepared) lie down together with the guidance of experienced rebirther.
Rebirthers recommend ten sessions with a rebirther of your choice. Each session helps to identify birth trauma, family patterns, inherited attitudes and specific negative thoughts. The rebirther guides the rebirthee’s breathing into a gentle connected rhythm where the inhalation and the exhalation are merged. The rebirther aims to support the rebirthee in using the breath to ground themselves safely in their body while emotional and physical tensions are released and spiritual insights are discovered. After a few minutes, life energy starts to flow in the body and various physical or emotional tensions might be experienced and released through the connected breathing. The session ends after about an hour to two hours when the flow of life energy lessens and finally ceases. The result of a completed session or energy cycle is deep peace and total relaxation. Today, rebirthing breathwork has spread to more than 100 countries and has been taught to over ten million people.
Book Review
Holistic Health Care Careers
By Gillian Tierney
Holistic Health Care Careers provides a plethora of useful information to anyone looking to make a career choice in holistic health. It begins with a discussion on holistic health by looking at who practices holistic health care and the differences between orthodox medicine and holistic health care. Then it begins in-depth discussions on the different holistic health care careers. The philosophies, the types of clients and common problems, the employment settings, the working conditions, training, qualifications and salary and job outlooks are included for most of the health care careers among other practical information. The last edition was published in 2006 and provides current internet resources on each holistic care field. This is a must read for anyone looking to enter holistic health care.
Reviewed by Kathryn Marcinak, HHP, BA, C-PT, Editor 
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Exercise of the Month
Exercise: Seated Row
Target Muscle: Middle to Lower Trapezius
Description: Begin the exercise by sitting down on a chair or bench. Make sure you are sitting up tall and straight. Keeping your back straight, you want to lean forward and bring your chest closer to the thighs. If the chest and thighs are touching, sit back up at least a hand’s length. Let your arms hang down with elbows slightly. When bending the elbows and pulling up, you want to keep your elbows close to your sides and think about squeezing your shoulder blades together. To return to start position, simply let the arms drop back down in a controlled manner.
Additional Article
Roadmap for Success
By Theresa Pallanti, Certificate in Direct and Interactive Marketing, BA, MBA
Independent Consultant
A Business Plan is Your Roadmap for Success
Congratulations, GCNM graduates! You have worked hard and made an important step on the road to becoming entrepreneurs. Or, perhaps you already were working in the field and decided to pursue additional training.
What’s your next step? Are you ready to do business, but don’t know where to start? Are you expanding your existing enterprise and need a little assistance?
Either way, a business plan is a professional roadmap to take you where you want to go. It also keeps you from getting lost on divergent paths along the way. And, like a GPS system for your car, it should access the latest conditions to help you avoid traffic jams.
Highlights from the sample business plan:
What is an "elevator pitch?"
See page 3.
Who is my target market?
See pages 4 and 6.
How do can I find research on the latest trends?
See page 6.
How do I define the competition?
See pages 7 and 9, plus Exhibit B.
How can I market my business?See pages 11 through 13.
What kind of financial statements will I need?
See page 14, plus Exhibits C-J.
GCNM is now offering business plan coaching as an optional benefit for our graduates. Theresa Pallanti – a former GCNM admissions advisor, who’s also an MBA and small business owner with over 20 years’ marketing experience in corporate and not-for-profit businesses – will be providing this service. For a limited time, GCNM graduates who enroll in this coaching service can take advantage of a special $100 rate and receive a sample business plan for a holistic care business; a review of their own business plans with specific feedback; and two hours of personalized business coaching. This will be done via phone, email or Skype as you work on completing your business plans. Theresa will be a sounding board, helping you determine what to research and how to get the information you need.
To learn more, read the Business Plans thread on GCNM’s Student Forum, http://www.studentforumonline.com/viewtopic.php?t=8797, or visit Theresa’s website, http://www.tpallanti.com/BizPlanning/index.htm.
Search online for values in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
