07/22/2022
INTRODUCTION TO SPIRIT BREATHWORK FOR THE HEALING HEART
Breathing practices, rattling, drumming, and singing were some of the earliest and most accessible ways humans learned to become more open to the deities and other spirits of land, water, sky, fire, as well as plant, and animal spirits!
The practices and instructions here were initially drawn from Druidic,Yogic and Daoist breathing, Heart Rhythm Meditation, Shamanic Breathwork, the Buddhist Meta practice and my own experiences contacting and feeling spirit(s)!
Invoking (inviting) deities and other spirits with the breath is a way of connecting to and communing with Spirit(s) that is always available as long as we can consciously breathe! We can all do it as long as focusing on breathing doesn't trigger severe anxiety! Even then, just using the sensation or imagery of reaching out to helpful Spirits can still be effective!
Doing these practices allows strong feeling contact with deities, while remaining grounded in our bodies and their feelings, and happens in a safe space constructed with the spirits. This connection may result in being taken on spirit journeys, receiving verbal or feeling messages of guidance, receiving feelings of love and comfort, the surfacing of painful feelings for healing or on the other hand experiencing ecstatic states!
You may want to loosen any tight clothing and find the most comfortable position you can in your space. It is OK at any time to sit, stand, lie down, move, readjust.
If you are doing this masked, inserts may give you a bit more room for breathing.
Many prefer closing their eyes while doing this, while others prefer gazing at a neutral space with soft eyes, and others like to focus on an altar or beautiful plants, bodies of water or a garden!
The breathing can be to any depth as long as it's conscious and full where you can really feel it moving in and out of you! Begin by paying attention to it entering and then exiting your body. Give yourself a minute or so to really feel it!
The words for Breath and Spiritual Beings are the same in many languages like Greek, Latin, Hebrew and those of many indigenous cultures. Breath is a deity that loves us and They literally give us life every moment! Breathing in feel Her entering your nose, throat, and your lungs, spreading to your heart which spirals Him through your blood and other fluids to every part of your body! When breathing out let Her take anything you need to let go of! Feel everything! Just say hi to any mind chatter but focus back on feelings, sensations or any voice or vision this Spirit may give you! These voices and images are loving and never condemning and are different from your usual mind chatter and idle fantasies ! They are frequently accompanied by warm or relaxing sensations in the gut, solar plexus and heart areas, or shivers or undulations throughout the body. Some describe these feelings as something that just "fits". If they don't sit right, picture or feel them leaving on your exhale!
You may also play with what happens while inhaling and exhaling. On the inhale feel or imagine reaching out towards the Spirit and then on the exhale feel Them coming into you! Do this for a minute or so, noticing any differences. Other spontaneous spirit breathing patterns may occur during this invocation.
In a few moments you can also reach out in your minds and hearts to any other specific deities, ancestors, or other spirits you want to invoke in order to connect for healing and/or guidance at this time. You may also ask, without specifying, for protective or helpful spirits who care for you and are willing to guide you, to give you a message, vision, guidance or to heal you at this time! It's also OK to just feel their presence and love!
Inhaling, send your roots down into Mother Earth, reaching toward the presence, guidance and love of underworld deities, ancestors or other spirits and exhaling feel them rise up through your feet, legs, bellies, hearts, and heads! Notice feelings in your heart, solar plexus, belly and other parts of your body! Or maybe you see this in your mind, or have an inner knowing about it! Each of us experiences the practice in our own way! Do this for a minute or so, and then if you like, draw in the spirit presences with the inbreath and breathe out as much as you need to release as you are able to. Continue either pattern or both for as long or short as you wish.
Now reach up to touch with your inhale the Sky, the Sun and Star spirits and as you exhale allow the spirits to come into or through our heads, hearts, and bellies, and the rest of our bodies!... Or inhaling we can draw the spirits towards us, and exhaling let go of whatever we need to! You may once again call specific spirits or allow beneficial spirits to choose you! Let them shelter your Sacred Space from above! Continue as long as you like or as time allows.
Now with your breath reach out to or draw in towards you helpful and caring spirits from all around, before you, behind you and from your left and right, asking for and allowing connection, healing, guidance, a message or a journey! Do this for a minute or so.
Now let all your spirit connections collect in whatever feels like the center of your body once again noticing feelings of warmth, love, centeredness or that "right fit". Let the Deities, ancestors and other spirits fill you and surround you with protection, guidance and love, completing and embracing this Sacred Sphere!
Continue with this experience as long as you like or as your pre allotted time allows. Offer gratitude to the Deities, Ancestors and other Spirits for this time with them.
When you are ready, you may want to flow into another practice like focusing on healing or sending other blessings to other humans, animals, plants, or further inner work like Shamanic Breathwork. Whatever else you do, if you are in a circumstance that requires devoking, please do so in a manner that suits you or as suggested below. In my daily practice with my deities, I don't devoke them as everywhere I go, I feel their presence around and in me. I also consider my home space to be continually filled with their presence as I renew the connection in daily practice and filter out unfriendly or hostile spirits. If I do this with others in a communal space, I do devoke as appropriate.
To devoke, say farewell with gratitude to all deities and other spirits who you invoked who wish to depart or who you wish to release, and close any opening or portal to any unfriendly or hostile entities! However it's possible you have made a bond that you and the Spirit will remain in each other's presence, but this usually should be tested through recurrence and other signs. Otherwise say something like " Thank you for your presence, love, guidance and ____(whatever you have received)___! I now release this connection and Sacred Space and close this portal to any unwelcome entity! Blessed Be!"
