Gyrating for trauma-release: “a cathartic, orgasmic experience.”
 |
| Every night at sunset in Arambol there's a drum session on the beach which becomes a venue for dance, yoga, poi, hula hoop, selling jewelry, smoking hash and enjoying life. |
I tear my eyes away from
the heavily panting woman writhing around on the floor in front of me. Forcefully
ignoring her gyrating hips, convulsing chest and outbursts of laughter, I
alternatively study the woven mat under my feet and the enthralled faces of my
friends across the circle. I’m grateful my friends don't return my childish glances,
as it might put me over the edge and getting
a case of the giggles right now would be embarrassing and entirely
inappropriate. Christine*, the soft-spoken facilitator, speaks with conviction
and calmness as she guide Donna*, her hyperventilating guinea pig, through a BioDynamic Breathwork demonstration.
“Wow, that was a lot more
intense than I was expecting,” Donna says breathlessly a twenty minutes later,
after she has been instructed by Christine to "return to her body"
and rejoins the circle.
It was a lot more intense
than I was expecting too, but I've learned to go with the flow here in
Arambol, Goa where there exists a niche for new-age and spiritual anything. In this small community filled to the brim with hippie expats, normal is boring and predictable doesn't exist.
Today's session is a sneak
peak of a ten day course Christine and another guru are offering called
"BioDynamic breathwork for trauma release.” It sounds kind of "out there," and it
kind of is. What I gathered during the demo is that by breathing
"into" different parts of our body, we can help to release trauma, or
baggage, that we are holding onto. Despite the awkwardness I felt at watching such an intimate demonstration, I'm
curious enough to try a private session with Christine. She compares
the experience to “having a full body orgasm,” which makes me simultaneously intrigued and
afraid!
A week later I'm on lying
on my back on the floor of Christine’s roof-top “clinic,” panting like a maniac
and flopping all over the place. I'm trying to "lose control" but
isn't the effort of trying a form of
control? Nonetheless, I shed my shyness and inhibitions and give it an honest
go, essentially hyperventilating myself breathing vigorously through my
mouth.
“Lift your hips up and down,” Christine instructs me and I comply, trying not to
think about how this would look to a passerby (thankfully, there are none). I'm aware that my head is rolling, my legs are in motion and now I'm gyrating my hips, under the command of a complete stranger, albeit facilitator. Send me to the loony bin before things go further!
Yet some minutes later,
without realizing the passage of time or the change in my actions, I realize that
my body is still, my breathing has returned to normal and my arms are resting comfortably
above my head. I'm the most relaxed I've ever been and feel as though I
couldn't move if I tried. It’s like my whole body is encased in cement, but in
a good way. I'm not sleeping and I'm not meditating; I'm somewhere in the
middle. And it's heavenly.
Slowly my awareness returns and Christine guides me gently back to seated. I'm not entirely sure what
happened, but man, do I feel good! Rejuvenated, uplifted and at peace, like nothing in the world matters right now. Christine holds my gaze silently for long
periods of time, like she’s reading the secrets of my soul and I let her. The peaceful smile
on her face likely mirrors my own happy yet dazed expression. While I’m more than mildly surprised by the results of the treatment, this is nothing new to her.
Although I'm still not
entirely sure what “Breathwork for Trauma Release” is, especially in a
scientific sense, I will say that my experience was memorable. While I don't
personally feel like I'm carrying a lot of trauma around, I guess we all are,
to some extent. I just know that I felt amazing for the rest of the day and that
an issue that had been seriously irking me that morning became inconsequential after
the session. I was on cloud nine.
An orgasmic, cathartic experience? You decide. But the facilitators advise against trying this on your own, so get in touch with a professional. Check out The Energy of Breath Institute for more info.
*names have been changed to protect the identity of the facilitators and subjects.
No comments:
Post a Comment