Conscious connected breathing, a technique known as "breathwork," is another adjunct to talk therapy that I have incorporated into my practice. I find it particularly helpful when clients are having difficulty getting to an elusive source of their psychic discomfort. Like hypnotherapy, the process is an experiential exploration to complement (and often "jumpstart") cognitive understanding. Participants experience healing on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels by entering a so-called unordinary or trance state that allows them to re-experience past events of their lives that have never been fully resolved.

The act of breathing is the very source of life. Using techniques to control the breath - eliminating pauses between breaths, deeper inhalation and exhalation - we can connect our consciousness to the source of our thoughts, feelings and sensations that exist on an unconscious level. The result is an expanded sense of who we are.

How does the technique work? Consider that when your body experiences an injury, you don't have to "think" about the healing process. The body just goes to work spontaneously sending more white cells to the site of the wound, repairing tissue and restoring the health of the injured area. The psyche also has this ability to heal itself! But we have to allow our inner wisdom to work spontaneously to heal the ethereal body. In the trance state induced by controlled breathing, that process can take place.

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