For a more detailed account of some of the ideas expressed here, and the empirical research support, read the paper, "Breathwork: An Additional Treatment Option for Depression and Anxiety?" Download the pre-publication version. The final publication is available the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy published by Springer.

A major premise of Integrative Breathwork Therapy is that our ability to self-regulate mental and emotional states and flexibly respond to the environment is influenced by the level of habitual inhibition present in the functioning of our breathing.

Inhibited breathing patterns develop as a defense against awareness of aversive somatic experiences, that is, breathing becomes inhibited as a way of coping with overwhelming or uncomfortable feelings. This leads to a lack of integration of these experiences.

The word "integrative" in the name Integrative Breathwork Therapy refers to the fact that in this approach integration of experience (past and present) is regarded as the most fundamental aspect of successful human development and the achievement and maintenance of wellbeing. IBT facilitates integration of unintegrated somatic experience that has been previously suppress through the adoption of inhibited breathing.

The ability to sense, explore and accept internal feeling states is fundamentally important to integration and the process of change.

The sustained, focused exploration of body sensations and the breathing rhythm adopted in Integrative Breathwork Therapy leads to a state of expanded consciousness. Disidentifying with all except the body leads to identifying with life itself - through the body. The distinction between inner and outer, subject and object, breather and breathing, eventually dissolves.

Non-attachment to the flow of experience developed through practice of Integrative Breathwork Therapy leads to awareness of the projections of the mind which in turn leads to differentiation. That is, the realisation that, "I am not my thoughts, feelings, emotions." We move from identification with the content of our lives - the story we tell - to experiencing ourselves as the conscious author of our lives.

Integration is the result of Integrative Breathwork Therapy. Change is a physical experience with distinct physical sensations that you can recognise. You feel connected and integrated with your body, and through your body with your environment. Integration is a felt sense of wellbeing and inner peace.