Breath work has very ancient roots.  In the Buddhist Tradition of Tumo, meditators would disappear into the Tibetan mountains and meditate for enlightenment. They practiced a technique involving hyperventilation and breath holds referred to as apnea.  They found they could perform this virtually naked in the snow – and what is more; the heat that they generated, would melt the snow around them.  This has been reborn in our culture due to Wim Hof ( aka the Ice man ) and holotrophic breath work developed by Stan Groff.

In a nutshell; Breath work is the intersection of the voluntary nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. Through the practice of breathwork, you can influence your autonomic body functions, for example blood pressure, heart rate and immune system. Wim Hof demonstrated that by his breathing techniques he could have a quantifiable effect on his immune system.

At Wake up and Thrive, we practice many techniques based around Tumo breathing and have guest facilitators from time to time.