The Breathwork Experience: Exploration and Healing in Nonordinary States of Consciousness

While week-end shopping back in 2007, the title of a paperback book in a small book section of a general store grasped my attention: "Respiracion (Metodo basico) "- Kylea Taylor. I decided to buy it and it just became one of those things that completely changes your life! The book bought then was the Spanish version of this, Kylea Taylor's first book, English version which I have also read and reviewing today.Two years prior to buying the book, I had started a Jungian based outpatient clinic for veterans belonging to a five town catchment area in Puerto Rico. As a Psychiatrist, I had been applying Carl Jung's thought to clinical settings all the way back since 1979, when training a Jungian-based inpatient clinical team for a newly created 7 East Inpatient Unit at The Walter P Carter Center-University of Maryland Complex in Baltimore, Maryland. Little did I know that Kylea Taylor's book was related to research done in Maryland by Stanislaf Grof, research of which I knew about back then. Research that was being frequently still discussed in Baltimore in 1979 and one that had a strong influence for my decision to organize the Jungian 7 East clinical team.The most fascinating thing about the book is the extraordinary way Kylea organizes the subject matter, considering we are talking of a very complex subject. After practicing her simple methodology for just a week, I realized I had discovered something extraordinary. The way Kylea writes about practice and theory allows flexibility to adventure into numerous (clinical and non-clinical) applications.Practiced at their most simple level (30 minutes once or twice a day 3-5 days weekly) these breathing exercises can considerably improve all your life (water diving and car driving inclusive). They can be adapted for wheelchair exercises. Do a bit before a possible painful medical procedure and, no pain. Use it for anxiety and even for falling asleep or to sleep better. You can also loose, in fact, abdominal weight within the first months of practicing these.ANDIf one day you decide to go for a longer continuous breathing time ride... then the benefit becomes a spiritual one... and a real deep spiritual one.I'm not going to tell you everything I've discovered from this little book, but will give you some clues: Having no available sitter or trainer in the island at the time I read it, I immediately ordered Kylea's "Exploring Holotropic Breath work - Selected Articles from a Decade of The Inner Door" along with Nancy Swayzee's "Breathworks for Your Back". I devoured all three books and within a year I had elaborated numerous practical, theoretical and spiritual applications.It is that good!My recommendation:Buy this book and give the exercises a trial. most likely you will decide it is worth searching for further training.Ubaldo Morales-Ramos

Kylea Taylor's beautiful little book (135 pages of text, expanded with Appendices)is a labor of love, and a testimony to her devotion to the work of Stanislov and Christina Grof. Their particular combination of accelerated breathing, spirituality, a supportive field, and evocative music is called Holotropic Breathwork. The short descriptions of experiences of amazing healing and remission of symptoms, and relative freedom from unwanted recurring behavior patterns are compelling. As a breath-worker myself, I longed for the text to live up to the overly-expansive title. Only 8 (of 20 or so)leading breathwork approaches are even named, and the barely adequate descriptions are given in one or two paragraphs buried in Appendix A. In short, this is a manual on Holotropic Breathwork masquarading as The Breathwork Experience.

If you're curious about Holotropic Breathwork and don't want to spend the time reading really in depth psychology books on the subject, then this would be a good book for you.Also it is written in a style that makes it easier for woman to identify with.

This book is more like a infomercial, doesn't talk about the techniques at all..

I came to this page to send the link to someone and saw some negative reviews that , I believe, misunderstand the purpose of the book. Breathwork in this fashion isn't something that is best done on your own or without a trained facilitator. It is an amazingly powerful tool for opening up the psyche, and one can experience virtually anything in a session, for some of which you would want guidance and support. Yes, Kylea focuses mainly on Holotropic Breathwork, but the information she presents is relevant for all similar techniques and styles. Many folks who are considering trying Breathwork want to know what might happen for them, and this is the perfect resource to find that out and get your questions answered.

If you want to know the technique, here it is: deep, accelerated breathing. I just saved you the purchase price because you will learn nothing else about breathing from this book. There are no exercises; no take-aways, and you can't even do it alone! The book is an ad for continuing your exploration through group-guided workshops which have to be scheduled, are inconveniently distant (because they don't happen in your home), and are expensive, because they cost more than $.00, presumably--I didn't check. Breathing is presented as if it were a patented process. I'll be more weary in the future.