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Rebirthing
Breathwork is safe
By Leonard Orr
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Rebirthing Breathwork is not Attachment Therapy. Condemning and outlawing
Rebirthing because of the Colorado accident is the case of a mistaken
identity.
A
little girl was wrapped in a blanket. The attachment therapist was using
psychodrama to reenact her birth in the hope that she would bond with
her adopted mother.
It wasn't working. The little girl complained that she couldn't breath.
She said she was dying. The therapist said, "Well die then. Go ahead
and die."
Then there was no sound from the little girl for over 20 minutes before
the therapist unwrapped the blanket and found the little girl had suffocated.
The therapists were convicted and sent to prison.
As the founder of the largest Rebirthing Breathwork Movement, I have never
been interested in psychodrama or techniques that force people into their
trauma and drama. I have always felt the people have enough drama and
trauma in their everyday lives and my goal is to teach people to relax
and go for peace.
The kind of Rebirthing Breathwork I represent is also called Conscious
Connected Breathing or Intuitive Energy Breathing. The attachment therapists
had no decent training in Rebirthing Breathwork. Yet their behavior damaged
the reputation of Rebirthing.
Rebirthing Breathwork has spontaneously spread to millions of people since
I started the movement in 1974 almost without incidents of any kind. Learning
to breathe better is totally harmless and health enhancing.
Rebirthing Breathwork is so successful because it is so simple. Everyone
who experiences ten high quality sessions is amazed by its simplicity
and power. Most people who learn it enjoy sharing it with all their loved
ones and friends.
Teaching
high quality Rebirthing Breathwork is easier than riding a bicycle, prayer,
cooking, or playing basketball. I've trained medical people, psychotherapists,
ministers, priests, nuns, body workers, school teachers, yoga teachers,
and people in all professions. I've lectured at NIH on the subjects of
Rebirthing Breathwork as well as in hospitals, medical schools, and universities
around the world.
It
can never be legislated nor should it be because learning to breathe the
Breath of Life is our birthright.
However, I am glad that laws, if necessary, are being passed against using
force in any therapy as well as therapists using their position of trust
and intimacy to take advantage of their clients.
Good Rebirthing Breathworkers only guide a person's breathing rhythm into
the most natural way that humans can breathe. It is a gentle, relaxed,
connected breathing rhythm. We teach people to breathe the way newborn
babies breathe and the way that we breathe in the middle of deep sleep.
It is totally inappropriate to label Rebirthing as harmful when most Rebirthing
Breathworkers only teach people to relax and release stress.
It is as wrong to blame Rebirthing for the death of Candace as it would
be to blame education or the public schools for the Columbine tragedy.
It is as wrong to blame Rebirthers for the action of low quality attachment
therapists as it would be to blame school teachers for the action of the
students who shot their fellow students.
It is just as unbalanced to smear all airplanes because one crashes, or
to condemn all automobiles or drivers because some crash. We also don't
arrest all the people whose name is Smith just because someone of this
name committed a crime somewhere in California.
I am saddened and upset by bad people in any profession. Medical doctors
and nurses according to USA Today kill over 100,000 people per year by
accident in hospitals. Still we don't close hospitals or ban medicine
as a profession because of these deaths.
I always recommend that people seeking a good Rebirther Breathworker should
interview three Rebirthers before choosing one to do ten sessions with.
Clients and students of Rebirthing Breathwork should learn from someone
they feel good about and feel safe with. Most Rebirthing Breathworkers
are gentle, loving, intelligent people.
Rebirthing Breathwork is normally taught in ten high quality private sessions
about one week apart. Each breathing session is done in a reclining position
so that the student can feel comfortable and safe. Each session normally
lasts from one to two hours. During the ten sessions, people experience
a basic transformation of their breathing mechanism as body memories and
tension is released.
I
have maintained a full time training center since 1974. This training
center offers high quality 5 Day and 9 Day Trainings every week of the
year so that high quality trainings are always available to interested
people.
It would be good for legislators, media people, and community leaders
to get accurate information and to experience ten sessions before condemning
it or trying to make laws about it. Rebirthing, in the main form that
is practiced around the world, is as basic to human health and well being
as good nutrition and exercise.
There are many good books about Rebirthing in many languages.
Rebirthing
was researched using scientific methodology.
Rebirthing
was successfully used in clinical treatment of many disorders, such as
alcoholism. Standards of Rebirthing-Breathwork as therapy have recently
been established by a group of professionals from Canada, France, Ireland,
Italy, Poland and the United States.
There are Rebirthing organizations and training centers in many countries
throughout the world. |