By Brigitte Martin Powell
Adapted from my keynote speech given at the International Breathwork Foundation Conference, Greece, 2026.
The best thing about getting older is the accumulation of experience. Mine has included the exciting as well as the excruciating, and it has led me to one conclusion about breathwork: gentleness and kindness matter enormously.
Breathwork has become a mainstream approach to wellbeing and self-exploration. This is a good moment to remember that all our clients were once newborn babies. They needed unconditional love, gentleness and consistent boundaries in order to learn to trust the world. Breathwork often reconnects people with that tender phase of life, so we must guide them with sensitivity and care.
The tough cookie
I grew up in rural Switzerland at a time when women could not vote and were often mocked as weak and vain. So I decided to be a boy. Boys don’t cry, so I didn’t. Boys are tough, so I took the toughest jobs on my father’s farm. I studied economics, not because I loved it, but because it was a man’s domain and I needed to prove myself.
By my twenties I had become bulimic, and I kept it secret for ten years, full of shame and self-loathing. Healing took years of therapy, bodywork and meditation. I threw myself into every personal growth technique I could find, including harsh courses where I was told to “fight” my ego and let go of my “laughable stories”, and breathwork workshops where I shouted and thrashed until I hurt. I am grateful to my teachers of that time, but without kindness, these approaches only left me feeling more inadequate.
In 1990, I discovered Rebirthing Breathwork and felt I had come home to myself. Gradually I met the frightened little girl inside me, who had no one to turn to. I had to learn a very gentle way of breathing, and to stop beating myself up. Slowly she began to trust me, and she brought with her creativity, intuition and love.
This is not a pink and fluffy journey. Meeting our inner child takes real courage. It means turning towards the feelings we spent years avoiding and staying with them without running away or trying to fix them. Gentleness is a warrior’s path. The tough cookie in me did not disappear; her strength found a better use.
Gentle Rebirthing Breathwork
My approach uses the natural breath and five elements throughout a session:
- Conscious connected breathing: using the natural breath, connecting the inhale and exhale without a pause, and relaxing the exhale.
- Relaxation: of body, breath and mind, even through tears or anger.
- Awareness of detail: noticing sensations in the body and letting go of thoughts and expectations.
- Not making anything wrong: welcoming whatever arises, including pain or nothing at all.
- Willingness to be present: this alone is enough for the process to support you.
(Adapted from Leonard, Jim, and Laut, Phil: Rebirthing/Vivation – The Science of Enjoying All of Your Life, Trinity Publication, California, 1983)
From the outside, it may look as if nothing is happening, but the effects can be dramatic.
Recommendations for practitioners
Many people tell me they tried breathwork and were put off, or that someone was left distressed afterwards. It is now easy to gather large groups online, and some people with little training do so for quick money. This damages the reputation of breathwork. Many of the points below are also in the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance Ethical Standards (GBPA), but not everyone abides by them, so they bear repeating.
Gentleness is not weakness. It takes courage and steadiness to sit with someone’s pain without rushing to fix it. I believe, as practitioner, it is important that we:
- Screen and obtain informed consent. Ask about health, medication and mental health history, and explain what to expect. Take particular care with conditions such as epilepsy, serious cardiovascular conditions, pregnancy, personality disorders or a recent psychiatric crisis.
- See our clients as whole and complete. Listen, ask about their past, and avoid labelling them or telling them what we think is true about them.
- Respect boundaries. Ask before any touch and accept a “no”.
- Treat them as unique. No one-size-fits-all agenda, no ready-made conclusions, and no insistence that they must scream or hit cushions.
Rather than expressing or suppressing emotions, we look at integrating them.
- Let the client set the pace. Invitations, not orders. More is not better.
- Meet them where they are. In a session, clients may regress to a much younger self. It is not appropriate then to tell someone reliving abuse that they attracted it.
- End with grounding and integration, especially online.
- Keep online sessions safe. Know where participants are, keep groups manageable, and have a plan for anyone in distress.
- Make sure follow-up support is available locally. Online groups alone are not enough.
- Know our limits. Breathwork is not a substitute for psychotherapy or medical care, so be ready to refer on.
- Do our own inner work and have supervision.
- Stay humble about our power. Never encourage dependence.
- Market honestly. No promises of cures or instant transformation.
- Honour the origins of breathwork and its teachers.
- Keep evolving. Our understanding of trauma has changed, and long-standing methods should be regularly reassessed.
- And of course, abide by the GBPA code of ethics https://breathworkalliance.com/ethics/gpba-code-of-ethics/.
Choosing a practitioner
If you are thinking of trying breathwork, you might ask:
- Are they trained, and do they have regular supervision?
- Do they belong to a professional body with ethical standards?
- Do they ask about your health and history first?
- Do they explain what to expect, and let you set your own pace?
- Do they offer follow-up and tell you where to find support?
- Do they avoid promising cures?
- Do you feel safe, and free to say no or stop at any moment?
If not, trust your instinct. You are always free to walk away.
Where to experience Gentleness and Kindness in Breathwork?
Despite looking like it may be the easy option, the path of gentleness and kindness can powerfully transform you and help you move towards your dreams.
To find a practitioner trained in this way, check amongst the graduates and apprentices of the AIR School of Breathwork at https://airschoolofbreathwork.com/new-page.
If you are already trained in another breathwork modality but would like to try the gentle and kind way described here, you can also attend just the one module with the AIR School. List of modules at https://airschoolofbreathwork.com/rebirthing-breathwork-training/
For more on Rebirthing Breathwork and working with your inner child, see Michael Brown, The Presence Process: A Healing Journey into Present Moment Awareness, Namaste, Canada, Revised 2nd edition 2010.
Brigitte Martin Powell is a Master Breathworker, former President of the International Breathwork Foundation, and co-founder of the AIR School of Breathwork. She is also a pilgrim, an artist and a life adventurer.
