Ashlene Patten: Breath as Medicine- The Power of Breathwork and Somatic Therapy

“What I love about breathwork is that I feel like it really shows us the untapped potential that we have as something that comes so natural to us, but it can be something that is so profound.” Ashlene Patten

Breathing. Yes, that simple, automatic act we usually don't give a second thought to. But what if we told you that paying attention to how you breathe could change everything?

Today, we're joined by Ashlene Patten, a holistic breathwork facilitator and somatic therapy practitioner. She's here to share some impactful insights on how breathing techniques and somatic therapy can be transformative. We're talking about healing trauma, managing stress, finding relaxation, and unlocking emotional healing—all through the power of breath.

Ashlene breaks it down for us, explaining the different types of breathwork and how they influence our nervous system. Whether you're aiming to trigger your parasympathetic or sympathetic response, she's got insights to help you navigate.

Proper breathing isn't just about chilling out. It's a game-changer for focus, clarity, and overall well-being. Ashlene reveals how mastering your breath can literally shift your brainwaves, leading you into states of rest and restoration.

Now, combine that with somatic therapy, and you've got a powerhouse combo for overcoming trauma. Ashlene walks us through how these approaches work hand-in-hand to help individuals break free from the past and embrace a brighter future.

And, parents and caregivers, this isn't just about you—it's about your kiddos too. Ashlene shares how these practices can help children regulate their emotions and tackle anxiety head-on. It's all about building trust and emotional release. With somatic therapy and breathwork in their toolkit, kids can learn to trust themselves and let go of those heavy feelings holding them back. Because let's face it, we could all use a little more peace and clarity in our lives, no matter how old or young we are.

So, stay tuned. We've only scratched the surface of what's possible when we start paying attention to something as simple yet profound as our breath.

BIO: 

Ashlene is an Intuitive Embodiment Guide, Reiki Energy Healer, and a Facilitator of Holistic Breathwork in Denver, Colorado. Using a grounded, heart-centered approach, Ashlene creates an open container for her clients to breathe into their edges, express the unexpressed, and reunite with their wise inner being. Ashlene’s mission is to create a safe space for you to tap into your innate power of being in your heart, trust the wisdom of your body, and open yourself up to explore your subconscious.

RESOURCES/ REFERENCES:

Ashlene Patten’s Practice, Heart-Led Prana: https://www.heartledprana.com

Instagram: @heartledprana

TikTok: Heart-Led Prana

Transcript

[00:00:00] But I do give people tools and things in their little toolbox to help them just to breathe. Because the whole point of this is not just to do it once a week. It's for us to integrate it into our lives so that when things are happening, we can choose to react differently. Welcome to this way up. We are bringing you engaging, informative and inspiring conversations.

Surrounding all aspects of mental health from the perspective of us as parents and caregivers. I'm Andrea Nenigian and I'm Emmy Waters. When someone you care about is struggling with their mental health, this can be an incredibly stressful and challenging time. So we're here to provide valuable resources to support you as you navigate this journey.

Today, we've got Ashley Patton, who is a breath somatic therapist in Denver, Colorado. And she shares how intentional breathing and somatic therapy are really positive ways to influence your, your mental health. Yep. She's going to get us out of our head and into our body. Ashleen is an intuitive embodiment guide, Reiki energy healer, and a facilitator of holistic breath work in Denver, Colorado.

And we're adding to her list, uh, newly trained and certified somatic therapist as well. Using a grounded, heart centered approach, Aislinn creates an open container for her clients to breathe into their edges, express the unexpressed, and reunite with their wise inner being. Aislinn's mission is to create a safe space for her clients to tap into their innate power of being within their heart, to trust the wisdom of their body, and open themselves up to explore their subconscious.

Ashleen, thank you so much for being here with us. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be on here. I can't wait to learn all about these various healing modalities that you are involved with. But to start off, let's begin just talking about breathwork. If you could just tell us what the breathwork is that you do, how you qualify or describe it.

Absolutely. So yeah, so breathwork, we can think of as an umbrella term. And so there's many different types of breathwork. There's many different lineages. What I love about breathwork is that I feel like it really shows us the untapped potential that we have of something that comes so natural to us, but it can be something that is so profound and so powerful when we use it in a conscious and intentional way.

So how I found out about breathwork was through my own healing journey. I was highly dysregulated and I didn't even know what that was. I just thought my personality, that I just, Was anxious and I did put myself in situations of being anxious. I, I really. I didn't like, um, when I was fearful of something and to, um, kind of challenge that.

So there was times where I was afraid of public speaking. So I went and became a tour guide at a whiskey distillery. And so, phenomenal, Ashley. Yeah. And so, um, I did that for two years and I did it on, while I was. Disregulated and just didn't know and so there was um incident that I had a breakup that really Just kind of offset it in a way that I was like I want to I want to heal.

And so I did somatic therapy and she recommended breathwork. And so I did breathwork and I did this one called holotropic. So breathwork, there's many different types. And so the holotropic one, it actually activates the different, the autonomic nervous system that is the sympathetic. So that is the fight or flight.

And so it was interesting because I was feeling this buzzing and tingling in my body and it was probably the most empowering feeling that I felt in quite some time. And once I was doing that one, I heard about another breath work that was now what I'm leading now. And that actually activates the parasympathetic, which anyone in an anxious state, I highly recommend doing.

Nose inhale or the, or activating the parasympathetic, the reason being is because if you're already in the sympathetic state of the highly alert and anxious, to have your nervous system calm down and oscillate to the parasympathetic is absolutely amazing. It was the first time that I felt so calm and relaxed and I feel like it shifted from Even my personality.

And I was like, wow, I was just anxious the whole time. Like this wasn't my personality. This wasn't me. It was just my nervous system being dysregulated for a very long time. Yeah, so the one that I teach is the conscious connective breath work. It's called the sacred breath method and I studied for a year under the sacred breath academy and so it was during the pandemic times and so I did online but then there was a time where we did an intensive for nine days and it was an amazing training.

I absolutely felt like I got more out of it of just for myself personally and then it just really helped me step into my leadership and just see how this goes beyond just breath. This is something that, um, if we can really tap into it, we can get into different layers of our subconscious and really allow ourselves to get the most clarity that we can get and really truly see ourselves in such a deep way.

I loved it because I first started out with one goal and I got something so much more out of it. So I started with just wanting to regulate my nervous system. And then it just really allowed me to not only help me, but now my clients really see themselves in such a deeper and different way while regulating their nervous system, while alkalizing their blood, while helping them with their digestion and really helping anxious people to realize that's not them.

That is totally just a state that they're in and that they can get out of it. once they really learn about their nervous system. Wow. I find that fascinating that different practices of breathing, which again getting back to what you said, is something that we just do, you know, just unconsciously, we just breathe, but can activate different parts of your nervous system.

And I could see a lot of people, breathing has become so popular these days, it's really become this new thing that people are wanting to learn more about, that they may end up getting into a type of breathing that is it, that could be counterproductive for them, especially if they're in, you know, struggling with anxiety or depression or something.

Yeah, 90 percent of people actually breathe improperly and they don't even know it. And so, um, that can really cause people to be anxious, but also I really feel that what's important is for people to really trust themselves and feel like if one modality doesn't fit them, it's not one size fits all. And to really understand that.

So, um, there's certain types of breath work that could be helpful for one person and then not the other, but definitely if you are an anxious individual or have anxiety, sometimes It's just learning about why you would want to get into the parasympathetic or why you would want to get into doing a breathwork that does the sympathetic to really help you to advocate for your own healing while you're on this journey of understanding and learning yourself.

So, Aisling, did you say parasympathetic related breathing is better for someone who has anxiety than the sympathetic style? Yeah, so I would say it really, it's just understanding more about what your, what your goal is. Okay. So, say an anxious person is trying to just feel more calm and really allow themselves to feel like they can regulate.

And so it's really titrating the nervous system and having it oscillate from getting from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic, but not staying there. We never wanna stay in the parasympathetic or in the sympathetic. So if you're in the parasympathetic for a long, long period of time, usually that's people in depression.

And so if you're in the sympathetic, it's usually people that are stuck in anxiety patterns. So, I learned that in my somatic therapy, and so that's why it's really tied it all together, is that, um, learning different modalities to help people in their end goal. So, say someone's end goal is, I want to be able to just sleep, I have these anxious thoughts in my head, I'm ruminating and I can't, I just can't get out of it.

Yes, I would definitely tell them to get in. I, I would guide them into their parasympathetic and help them to really allow them to get back into oscillating from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic. And that's what's so beautiful about this breathwork is that it helps to breathe in a way that right now where in the beta brainwave, so as I'm talking, we are.

Um, you are analyzing, assessing, judging, even the people listening to this are having their own judgments, own assessments. So we are so focused on the external that it's hard for us to get internal. And so when we're, when I guide people to breathe into this way, I'm their timekeeper and I'm also, uh, guiding them through it so that They can get [00:10:00] not only from the beta, but their brain waves will slowly slow down and get into the alpha.

So they'll feel more into their body. They'll feel the buzzing and tingling just from their own oxygen, which is so cool. You're increasing the oxygen. You're decreasing the carbon dioxide and it's allowing you to feel your energy in your body, because 90 percent of our energy comes from oxygen. And then eventually you're slowing down the brainwaves to get even into the theta, and that's the goal.

And so about 20 to 25 minutes, you'll be into theta brainwave. And what's so beautiful, beautiful about the Theta is that you're in this dream time state, so you're no longer focused on the external and that's what gives people so much clarity while also regulating their nervous system. So they're calming the nervous system, getting into the parasympathetic, the rest I just restored state, and then it's allowing their bodies to feel safe enough to access this brainwave state to allow themselves to be in the state.

And so what can happen with that is there can be many different things. Also a fun fact in our lower lungs we have DMT and a little bit can be released It's not like a huge dose so people can see sacred geometry They can see it's also can be spiritual you can see past loved ones But also, um, it gets into this beautiful realm where you're just getting your higher consciousness and your subconscious is coming through and anything that you're needing to see or experience or witness at that time is going to come through for you.

It's, I feel so honored to witness people in it. It's, it's a really cool experience. And you're fully aware while you're, the person doing the breathing exercises is fully aware of what's going on. No, they're not. They're not? No. I did it with Aislinn and I would say no. Sorry, Aislinn, what would you say? So, um, sorry, what was the question?

As the person doing the breathing exercises and you get into this theta state, which by the way, I don't know what DMT is, but I want to understand that too. Yeah. But are you fully aware of what is going on? Like are you, even though you're tapping into your subconscious, are you consciously aware of what's happening?

Yeah. Okay. For the most part, people are consciously aware of what's going on. But they're in such a dream time state that sometimes it's even hard to explain what is going on. It takes a while to integrate because just it's a different, again, it's not like the external that we're in right now. You're in such a lucid state that so much can happen.

And I mean, if you want to explain more of your experience, I would love to hear more of that as I was guiding you through it, how it felt for you. Yeah. You know, it's so funny. I didn't think I was going to talk about this, but. Oh, you don't have to. Because it, it, no, I'm fine talking about it. It's, I still, to this day, have a really hard time putting it into words, Aisling, because it was, I know some of the things that happened during the session, which by the way, lasted two hours.

I would have thought 15 minutes went by. So I had no concept of time. I was regulating a prescribed breathing pattern that Aislinn guides me through, but because two hours went by and I had no idea how that much time had passed, I to this day don't understand how I maintained the pace of breath without thinking about maintaining a pace of breath.

So that is really. That is a tough one for me to understand. Now, what I actually experienced was, again, if it didn't happen to me and somebody said this, I don't think I would really believe it, but I was definitely in a different place in my brain. I don't know how to explain it. I was, I was there, but I wasn't fully aware of time.

I was definitely, I guess, in a dream like place. And I was going through a very intense grieving process at the time. So I actually thought I reached out to ashlene to have what would feel like a massage and have a really good cry. That's what I thought it was going to be like. And it wasn't that it was this unbelievable release that I had no control over and I was very self conscious.

I wasn't. really comfortable with, like, let it all hang out in front of Aislinn, who I didn't know. But it was a tremendous release, and I did have the experience of my loved one who had passed being literally with me. So it was, to this day, I can just, I'm so thankful for that and I, I just can't believe that that's what happened.

It was beyond beautiful and the piece I walked out, out the door with is still with me. It never, it just transformed my life. It never went away. Wow. Okay. So do people do this? Emmy did it a little while ago. Do people do this regularly? Yeah, so a couple things I want to just point out is that because now I know how to explain it a little bit better Just through what Emmy was saying, but so there when we're breathing in this way There's a part of our brain called limbic brain that gets activated and it doesn't know the difference between past present and future So anything can happen as if it's in real time And what's really amazing is that there's a thing called time dilation.

And so it could feel like 15 minutes when we've been breathing for actually like 40 to 45 minutes or to an hour. So it's really beautiful and it was so amazing to witness you. I mean, you did such a beautiful, um, and for our first time. Oh, you can remember that? I remember it like it was yesterday. Yeah.

Yeah. Wow. I remember it like it was yesterday and it was really beautiful because I could tell that you were nervous when we first did it and you were like, I don't know what to expect. And so we took a really long time in the beginning just for you to kind of get to know me and be able to ask questions.

And the way that I explained it, I just kind of explained it in more, I knew that you were very curious, but you wouldn't have done something that you didn't feel like you had full. Like control or were able to like stop at any time. And so I really wanted to reiterate that and knowing that, um, this isn't about me, this is about you and you being able to access these parts of yourself.

And some people aren't ready to do that. And it's not, it's not for me to decide. And so I always allow people, you know, at any time, if you want to just open up your eyes, look around the room and be like, I'm done, um, At some points I do tell people like to slow down the breath before they do that So it's not so jarring the whole point of this Process is for us to regulate the nervous system not for us to to create panic.

So, um, Yeah, I I I just loved your process and that you fully, once you're in it, you fully committed and you got something that was so beautiful. I mean, I remember like you leaving me having tears just from being like, wow, that's, that's really special that I, I always feel honored that I get to be a part of someone's really intimate sessions that, that can occur.

So, and it's, and, I mean, if you want, if I'm being honest, that's not an uncommon thing that, um, at least for my clients, I have many clients that have been through very similar situations that you have, especially through a grieving process. And I think what's so beautiful about breath work is it helps us.

tap into the emotions that sometimes we're just not available on our busy days and it gives us so much space and when we're when we feel like we're in a safe container it really allows us to allow that that process of the grieving because if we can't fully feel grief, we also can't feel joy. So it really helps us to, to really feel into that.

So to answer the question about, um, how many times people do this, I have people that have done a three month program with me and every single week they have done a breath work. And it's usually anywhere from the first session is always two hours, I always just leave, like to leave that space and I never want feel someone to feel incomplete in that and then we leave it from one and a half hours to two hours after that and then now I'm doing the somatic therapy so I'm helping with the integration process with us just like kind of In the next couple of days or that week that I I do that process with them.

And so, um, Yeah, I always tell people that we do want to leave time for it though It's not something to do every single day, especially this breath work But I do give people tools and things in their little toolbox to help them Just to breathe because the whole point of this is not just To do it once a week.

It's for us to integrate it into our lives so that when things are happening We can choose to react differently if say we were usually anxious in times where Our mother in law our mother came to us and you know They would come to us with the same things we could actually choose differently and react differently And so our patternings would be different and we can we see that we have the power to React in different ways because our nervous system isn't so amped up.

How did the breathwork sessions with you? Let's say I have anxiety and I do a breathwork session with you and then I go home and I'm back in my environment, my normal life. How do the breathwork sessions impact me in my day to day to help me with my anxiety? How is that actually working? What's happening?

Yeah. So I would say when people are in an anxious state, they're in the sympathetics of a fight or flight. So even just doing a breathwork itself, I mean, there's a psychologist that says, Two hours of breath work is associated to about equivalent to two years of psychotherapy So this is like really impactful Work, I mean people can Like you said it has impacted [00:20:00] you.

I mean to this day we did that what like a year ago and so it's it's really profound because it helps people to access parts of themselves that they haven't but also it helps them to Be in a calmer state so that yeah maybe the next time that they come out of the breathwork and they go home and They are now in this integration process where it's like the breathwork is kind of like inertia.

It started something and it's really allowed them to kind of see things and see themselves differently. They're no longer thinking that this anxious person because they have that proof right now that they are calm. So then what, what it may actually help them do is say they get into an anxious state again, and they.

Act as they did before if they go into another breath work and then it gives them another Reference for their brain for themselves that wow, like I am calmer. I can be common So maybe the same thing happens to them and now they react a little bit differently or they act in more of a calmer way because Their nervous system is no longer triggered in the way that it was before because what i'm helping people do Is retrain their nervous system?

to have a different story. I re train their nervous system to be like, you know what, I don't always have to stay in the sympathetic, and because because what happens is, if a if a situation happens, so I see my dog all the time I have a chocolate lab, when we're walking and something stresses her out she will immediately shake and then she's this happy, she's smiling my dog smiles all the time and she's just back to her cute little self.

And so we don't have those situations. We don't have those opportunities or we don't allow ourselves to have those opportunities. So we stuck in store trauma in our cellular memory and in our tissues. So what I'm helping people do is to release those traumatic situations through either a catharsis release or certain purges.

It could even be as simple as a yawn. People wouldn't know, but a yawn is actually a purge, um, or even Coughing and so it's a way that our system tells us in our bodies tells us these little subtleties Of even just a tear of release that that is actually releasing things Especially in a breath work or in a somatic therapy That it's it's allowing our bodies to release things that we've been stuck in and storing I've had people that have had a breath work and they've been trembling and that's actually trauma being released in the body Um, so it could be as severe as that, you know, curating these valuable conversations is really about our shared passion for promoting mental wellness.

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I'm hearing all of this and I'm thinking about how as an adult it can be so freeing. But then I'm also now relaying it back with my parent hat on and thinking, gosh, if I could teach this to my youngins early on, might be preventative for them to be storing all of that stuff and be able to better manage themselves moving forward.

Is this something you teach to kids or kids can learn? Yeah, that's a great question. So I would say the type of breath work, uh, the prolonged one, I wouldn't do with the kids. First, they don't have that attention span. Sure. And then also because it changes brainwave states and any kid that is, you know, The way that their brain is developed.

I mean, they don't have before even seven, their prefrontal cortex isn't really fully developed. So I personally, I haven't done enough research to really know that. So I don't, I don't take an on any clients that are, they have to be 18 or older, um, is usually what I. But I still do. I mean, I do yoga and a little bit of breath work.

Just even like, like being intentional with the breathing with kids. And I used to be a nanny and I did this all the time. And it really helped them to be more aware. And so absolutely, I think this is a great thing to do. teach kids or even just tell them to shake it out or like, you know, like it's okay be, you know, like when they're, when they are angry, instead of suppressing that, like allowing them to, to be able to express it because emotions are just energy in motion.

They just need somewhere to go. So if we don't allow that, I mean, I remember when I was younger, I was told that I was too sensitive and that, I was a cry baby and I cried too much. So now I went through a process of handling that within myself and being like, Oh, actually my emotions are beautiful. My sensitivity and vulnerability is the reason why my clients and friends and loved ones feel safe around me.

Because they know that they don't have to put on a fake face. They can actually be who they truly are. And so I had to change that story around that. I think the biggest thing that I would love for kids to know is that their emotions aren't who they are, but it's allowed to be expressed and that, and learning how to breathe and calm them and calm the nervous system.

Once they got it all out, I think is a really beautiful process that we, we can all help. Children to really understand and come to strengthen their ability to trust themselves and also like trust that what they're feeling is valid and that we don't have to shy or push it away. You know, I think that, Emmy, I think that's been the big shift.

in narrative over the past few years, don't you think? Like when we were younger, it was, you suppress, buck it up, suppress your, your feelings. Rub dirt on it. Yeah. Now it may still be, you need to buck it up, but go ahead and feel first. Yeah. And then move forward. And I think that is such a valuable lesson to all of us and something I wish I could even go back and have reiterated to my children when they were younger.

To express what they're feeling. To express what they're feeling. It's okay to have those feelings work through them because eventually, you know, we, we work through them and then they go, you know, we learn how to manage them better. But as a child, you know, I don't know what I told them, but I'm sure I was like, okay, well, let's, you know, let's go do this and we'll be happy again, you know, whatever.

But it's like, okay, it's fine, you know, go ahead and have those emotions. And then let's move forward and yeah, um, because they, if they don't, they suppress it. Yeah. Especially actually, Andrea, that, that makes a lot of sense too, when we're talking about our kids that even have anxiety too. Those are a lot of times when they're showing early signs of that, that we're immediately trying to fix it and we're not just allowing everything to come through without interruption.

Yeah. Earlier, Ashley, and you made a comment about most people are improperly. What would improper breathing look like? So a lot of people are mouth breathers. It's really interesting. Our bodies are so fascinating that when it's just like any other, like doing yoga or strength training, you're building muscle.

So when you stop breathing in through your nose, the body is like, okay, they don't see use in it. And what will happen is you can actually have atrophy in your nasal cavity. So that's why some people have to get surgeries and open the airways because they have been breathing through their mouths.

They've seen an even, um, Breath by James Nestor is an incredible book and it talks about Yes. Yeah, and it talks about, um, the evolution, how sometimes evolution, it's not always beneficial to To us we've actually been we've actually evolved in ways that isn't beneficial one of them is Um not breathing properly and breathing in the way that that is sustainable for our health and and beneficial for us Mm hmm.

Did you read it andrea? You read that didn't you you know after I was gonna say, after reading that, I went to the gym and I was just like, okay, I am gonna breathe through my nose. I am doing this. I did one lap around the building trying to just breathe through my nose. I thought I was gonna pass out. I was like, this is hard.

I didn't realize how much, I mean, I think I breathe through my nose. I've got a big enough nose. So I know that the navel passages are open for, you know, all of that airway, but, but, And actually trying to do it when you're in a state where you're breathing heavy is, is very difficult. It is very difficult.

And a lot of our exercise is meant to push, push, push, go as fast, as hard as you can. So yeah, you do lose your breath. One thing that I like about our yoga, actually, Aisling, you, you know this too, but, um, In our yoga, we're always queuing for breathing, right? And I'm often when I'm leading a class, I'm often reminding people that this yoga is not about push, push, push.

It's not about give it your all. It's really about focusing on that slow pace of breathing. And when you feel like you lose that slow pace of breathing because you got too hot or you're just exhausted in a pose or whatnot, your cue is to come back to that slow breath. So I would always. I love to preach to people and say that the yoga does kind of change.

your response to hardship to discomfort and to challenge because now you train yourself whether it's in your brain where you start having like monkey mind or you do lose your breath [00:30:00] you then train yourself to come back to that slow breathing so you're learning an alternate response wouldn't you say ashleyan yeah absolutely and i love that it's so amazing that way it is it's it's so helpful and what's interesting is um Tonight is gonna be my first time that I teach at a, it's a, it's a HIIT workout place.

So high intensity interval training. So they're used to pushing go, go, go. So I'm doing a restorative flow for them. So I think it's going to be really challenging for them and interesting how it will, how I will, you know, Cue them to slow down and do more long restorative poses. And I know it's going to be really challenging because they are used to the go, go, go and just to help them to breathe.

But that's what I love about the yoga practices or just the yoga that I have done because that's exactly what it does. It helps me to get into the mind body connection. And allow me to breathe in ways that I'm like, Oh wow, I haven't thought about my breath this entire, like this entire day before I went into this 60 minute class.

It's incredible. Yeah. I think there needs to be a balance of both. I will tell you, yoga is one of the most frustrating things for me. I get in there and I'm like, Oh my gosh, how much longer do I have to breathe and not think about anything else? But I also know that I really, I think I need to take like a, maybe a seven minute yoga class and then move to a 12 minute yoga class.

Maybe that would be the way I would do it. So well, and all the yogas are so different too. So there's that, right? Aislinn, can you speak, um, teach us a little bit about somatic therapy? Absolutely. Yeah. So what I love is that it really helps us to understand that If we were to Talk our way into a solution We probably would have already done it already and that if we were able to really Talk things out in a way that it solved all of our problems wow, I would have solved so many problems at this point, but um, what it really does help is that there is an important piece for Talk therapy and to talk things out.

Like I'm actually I process My emotions by talking it through i'm very analytical. So when I talk about something and i'm crying i'm like wow Okay, I I was I really felt this is how I feel Um, so I think there's there's an importance to it. I think our mind really the What it's trying to do is of course help us to survive.

It also makes meaning out of things and makes stories. And sometimes those stories and meanings aren't necessarily true. Oh, the stories, yeah. That trips us up. You're right. And so, um, what I love about, uh, somatic, therapy, especially what I'm, what I'm learning and in my, um, in the training that I've learned is that there's different channels in order for us to really understand ourselves and what we went through, um, especially trauma and like really, The things that we told ourselves about ourselves when we went through those certain experiences.

So, what I love is that it gets us not only from the mind, so there's five different channels, and there's the mind channel, there's the imagination, and there is the postures that you can help people to get into to really feel what they're feeling if they're so in their head they're like well what would that what would that posture like angry like what would that feel like for you if you could get into that posture or even before that getting them into the imagination so being like can you so say someone is just like i'm talking and i'm going like this and you're just like seeing me tap my foot or my hand you would and i'm just talking like this maybe wouldn't take note of it, but that as a facilitator, I would see that.

And I'd be like, Oh, is there, is there someone somewhere you want to run to? Cause what I would see that as a flight response. And so I would see that as like, their body's telling me something that they're not telling me. And so they're like, Oh, actually, yes, I do feel flighty right now. And I feel like I want to run.

You're like, Oh, can you imagine yourself running somewhere? And so you really help them to kind of. actually, uh, complete the process of the flight and not trying to deter them away from it. So that's what I love about somatic therapy is it's really helping to complete the response that someone is in. So say if they're in flight, i'm talking about flight, fight, or freeze.

So freeze is actually when they can be in the parasympathetic and just stuck there and they're talking very like slow and very They're almost losing their thoughts. Someone could be in a freeze pattern. So you really help them to navigate that and to actually help them be aware of it, complete the process in these different channels.

Yeah. So I said the mind, the imagination, the posture, sensations, and then emotions. And what's beautiful is that eventually you will see them get into, um, what we call a purge. So it's either they'll have a deep Like, um, just spontaneous exhale or sigh and you're like, wow. And you just make them note that that's really good.

Like I saw that you sighed and, um, or they'll have this beautiful, uh, release or cry, or they'll feel like a tremble in their jaw. And that's actually another release response. Um, there's many others, but that's just something even burping can be a purge that happens. Oh, Yeah. So a couple of things with this.

I want to take us back just a little bit. First of all, I want to say that trauma doesn't need to be major trauma, right? It can be anything that is perceived as trauma in your life. And it could be micro traumas that are, that go on that. Aisling, can you, somatic therapy is what if you were just going to explain what it is for somebody who doesn't understand, um, even like myself, what it is.

Can you just share shortly what it is? Yeah. So SOMA means the body. And so somatic therapy is relating to the body and really allowing the body to help to process certain emotions or stored emotions or the little or big traumas. I'm sorry that I didn't explain that before, but yeah. No, no, no. That's okay.

So you help people then identify what those traumas are. And then how it relates to them physically, or to their body. Right. I think what it does is, um, it helps people to access the deeper meanings to it. So I think when people, um, they come and they're like, Oh, I got in a, in a fight with my boyfriend. Um, they're thinking that that's what we're going to talk about.

But then as you go into it, You help them to slow down and be like, how did that make you feel? And so you really get into like the root of what is going on in their body Um, what's really beautiful is that peter levine? is um the one that is like, um, he's like the godfather of like somatic therapy and It's awesome because he actually credits it to plant medicine ayahuasca.

And so he was saying that um somatic therapy And and plant medicine pair and go really well together and that's actually the ayahuasca was the one that showed him about somatic therapy and so Yeah, it's pretty amazing. And so my teacher Kyra Maestro, she really helped to, for me to see that it's really about us getting out of the mind, because we try to analyze and make sense of everything.

But that really gets us in the way of, of really finding a way that we don't have to make a story out of it, and we can really feel it. feel it. I think it takes us away from not being able to feel what we're truly feeling in this moment at this time. And that's what somatic therapy does is it makes sense.

It like makes what's happening now, not only relatable, but acceptable. And it makes it so that it's like what you're feeling is valid and true. It's making what's here and what's living, like able to be expressed so that. It's not stored and stuck in the body anymore. Yeah. Earlier, when we were talking about breathwork, we talked about an individual potentially with anxiety.

So using that same type of a client, can you walk us through how a somatic therapy session could potentially help somebody with anxiety? Yeah, absolutely. So I would first orient them and I would just have them, I would just say like, what is, what is your goal for this session? And as they're talking, you can kind of see certain.

Things that are showing up for them in their body. Um, and say they're like talking, then they go into a thing that has happened to them recently. And so, they're talking, and if someone is an anxiety pattern, at that time, or anxious, they might have a fight or flight response. So say they're like, going like this as they're talking, they have no idea that they're doing this.

They're just kind of like talking, but they're not. I would make it aware of what they're doing, but I wouldn't stop them. They would want to stop probably at first and be like, Oh, I didn't know I was doing that. And you'd be like, no, what would it feel like if you continue to go slower and let yourself actually feel into that?

And so what it helps them do is it helps them to actually be more aware. The body is showing them that they're probably in a fight because that's going towards the, Like in fight you see it as going towards the thing and uh, flight is going away from so when people are like [00:40:00] tapping and they're Like tapping their foot or something you're seeing them as like they're wanting or they're looking At the exit sign it can be as subtle as that and you just ask them questions to see To get more in alignment of like what is here that's making them anxious.

And so what's cool is you help them complete that. And then a purge happens and they feel so much better and lighter and they completely don't feel that anxiousness anymore. For anyone who can't see Aislinn, the example she's sharing is when somebody might subconsciously run their hands through their.

Hair and it would might look like a nervous behavior But so I just wanted to point that out because a lot of us are just gonna be listening through and not seeing your your Movements, of course. Yeah. Yeah, or like tapping your foot or something. Sorry So Ashley and you said that you got into breath work because you were doing the somatic therapy Yeah, are these two?

Um, practice is typically something that people do in conjunction with one another or do they start with somatic and then move into breath work to help control once they've already healed some of the, the traumas that they've gone through? Yeah, I would always say it's an individual, um, it's an individual thing in their goal, but, um, they go really well together.

So I would say it's something that definitely pairs really well. But some, I would say some people like the breath work and then other people can get into the somatic. Sometimes when people are way too into their head, um, and analytical, it does take some time to get them into even imagining something or get them out of, out of that state.

I'm planning to do in a program to get people to do the breath work, but also part of their integration after that in the next couple of days, just whatever comes up for them. We do the somatic practices to really help them to integrate what has been coming up for them. Gosh, I really want to try that.

Have you ever done anything like that, Andrea? No, no, not at all. Oh, I'm open to doing it to both of you. That's all right. Let's do it. Does Andrea have to come to Colorado to do that? No, not at all. I do it online and yeah, it's really cool. Um, I actually have a client in Seattle, Washington and she, yeah, and she's done about like five sessions.

So it's been our four sessions now and it's been really awesome to, um, see her do it. She first did breath work. And then she actually had someone that said she would somatic. Something about somatic therapy and she's like I've been wanting to try it. I'm like, well, I am doing this training So interesting.

I want to do the breath work. I didn't realize I could do it. Um online So we're gonna have to make sure in the in the show notes We're gonna put your information down because I also am thinking of several people Names not to be included in this who might be benefit from this and i'm glad to know you can do it online Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I do it online and in person and I have my in person is in Cherry Creek, Denver, in Denver, Colorado in the Cherry Creek area. Emmy, you know, we talk about perspective. Yeah. So much. And you mentioned, Aislinn, the imagination and the stories that we tell ourselves and the stories that kids tell themselves of how they perceive a situation just messes with us long term.

I've never really put it into perspective of imagination, but that's exactly what it is. It's the imagination. Oh, absolutely. And we're always working a narrative. Always. It is. We need to be teaching our kids how to shape that narrative positively. Yeah. We need to remind ourselves and our people that one, we need to recognize what that narrative is.

And two, know that we have full editing rights over that narrative. You can shift it, change it. at any time once you have the perspective. So, um, Ashleen, if somebody were to try to find you, we're going to provide all that information, but outside of that, what are some of the keywords that somebody should search?

How do they find appropriate breathwork close to them? If they're looking for in person, what are we actually looking for? Cause breathwork is such a, a buzzword out there. It could be all, yeah, it could be all different things. Yeah, I would say someone who is trauma-informed, and I personally conscious connective breath work is what I guide, and so it's just making sure that they ask the question of what type of breath work is this?

Is this a mouth inhaler, nose inhale so that they're aware of which one. That they're going to be the autonomic nervous system that they're going to be activating So again, the mouth breath works or the mouth inhales is going to be the sympathetic which is the fight or flight And then the nose inhale is the parasympathetic, which is the rest.

I just restored state and so Just looking out for that and looking for just really trying it out. I feel the best way to do something is to try it out and see it for yourself and being open enough, but knowing that it might not be for you and that's okay. Yeah. And it's different for everyone. You've said that before.

It's always a different experience too. Totally. Yeah. Yeah, so if anyone has any questions, they can always connect with me, even if I'm not in their area. I'd be happy to guide them through that, and if I can help them in any way, and my Instagram is heartledprana, and yeah, that's one way to get in touch with me.

Also, my website is heartledprana. com. You can do a consultation call there. As well just to get more information. Thanks for sharing that and I will say Not only are you a very skilled facilitator of these different healing modalities You are undeniably Very gifted on an intuitive level too. So I think that that's a really nice blend in the healing space Um that you create and the the work that you really are doing for people.

So Thank you for putting good out there and all that you do. Thank you so much, Emily. I really appreciate that. Aislinn, you need to use that as a testimonial on your website. That was great.

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