Holotropic Breathwork,(HB),

is a bodily psychotherapy developed by Stanislav and Christina Grof.

HB has developed since

the end of the 1970s and is now taught worldwide. Stanislav Grof still travels to teach the method, although not as much as he used to.

Its name is derived from the Greek ‘holos’, meaning whole, and ‘trepein’, meaning to move against.
The name therefore means to move forward as a whole. Holotropic experiences describe how subjects move towards a more holistic existence.

HA is a powerful method

for self-development and healing. It combines experiences from contemporary consciousness research, depth psychology and various spiritual practitioners working with

  • breathing
  • expressive music
  • focused body therapy
  • mandala painting

This creates an altered state of consciousness, a dimensional change, which leads to healing. The client remains orientated in everyday consciousness, while his or her perceptual ability expands to include all the psyche’s levels of experience,

  • to make contact with previous themes in his personal history
  • to reach psychological death and rebirth themes
  • the entire spectrum of transpersonal (spiritual) experiences.

Everyday consciousness is present throughout as a reassuring observer function, but one that does not control. The inner healing power of this method structures the experiential content of this approach.

Therapists that work with this method:

Bo Wikström

“Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?
Mary Oliver

“Breath in I smile, breath out I
calm my body.
Dwelling in the present moment,
it is a wonderful moment.”
Thich Nhat Hahn

“One day we’ll all die…
All the other days we don’t!”
Jan Stenmark

“The only journey is the one within.”
Rainer Maria Rilke

“As you grow older, you will discover
that you have two hands,
one for helping yourself,
the other for helping others.”
Audrey Hepburn

Sat – Chit – Ananda
Being – Consciousness – Bliss
Sanskrit

“Follow your Bliss
and the universe will open doors for you
where there were only walls.”
Joseph Campbell

“Gate, gate paragate parasamgate
bodhi svaha”.
“Gone, gone gone beyond
gone altogether beyond,
O what an awakening, all hail !”
The Heart of Prajnaparamita Sutra

“Consciousness does not just passively
reflect the objective material world;
it plays an active role
in creating reality itself”.
Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof
https://www.stangrof.com

References:

Arntz, Chasse, Vicente : Vad vet vi Egentligen? – Om ändlösa möjligheter att förändra din världsbild och ditt dagliga liv.
David B. Cheek : “Prenatal and Perinatal Imprints: Apparent Prenatal Consciousness as Revealed by Hypnosis.” Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal 1 (Winter 1988):97-110.
Henry Corbin : Mundus Imaginalis or the Imaginary and the Imaginal
Henry Corbin : Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth
Coveney & Highfield : Tid utan ände
Jane English : Different Doorway – Adventures of a Caesarean Born
Bob Frissell : You Are a Spiritual Being having a Human Experience
Göran Grip : Allting finns
Stanislav Grof : Healing our Deepest Wounds : The Holotropic Paradigm Shift
Stanislav Grof : The Psychology of the Future
Stanislav Grof : When the Impossible Happens
Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof : HOLOTROPIC BREATHWORK : A New Approach to Therapy and Self-Exploration
Amit Goswami et al : The Self-Aware Universe – how consciousness creates the material world

Gustav Hansen : Åndedraetsterapi
Rick Hanson : Buddha´s Brain
Arthur Janov : Imprints – The Lifelong Effects of the Birth Experience
Arthur Janov : Life Before Birth
Arthur Janov : Primal Healing – Access the Incredible Power of Feelings to Improve Your Health
Ludwig Janus : The Enduring Effects of Prenatal Experience – Echoes from the Womb
Erich Jantsch : The Self-Organizing Universe
Menas Kafatos & Robert Nadeau : The Conscious Universe – Parts and Wholes in Physical Reality
Frank Lake : Tight corners in pastoral counselling
Ervin Laszlo, Jude Currivan : CosMos – A co-creator´s Guide to the Whole-World
Frédérick Leboyer : The Art of breathing
Gunnel Minett : Exhale – An Overview of Breathwork

Allessandra Piontelli : From Fetus to Child – An Observational and Psychoanalytical Study
Stuart Sovatsky : Words From the Soul
Kylea Taylor Ed. : Exploring Holotropic Breathwork
Kylea Taylor : Holotropic Breathwork Facilitator´s Manual
Kylea Taylor : The Breathwork Experience
Alfred Tomatis : The Conscious Ear
Colin Wilson : Nya frågeställningar inom psykologin – Maslow och den Post-freudianska revolutionen