Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy (SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)

This book is full of wisdom about Holotropic Breathwork. The content if the book is great. I got the audiobook version and found that the reader was horrible. It seems as though the publisher went out of their way to find the most montone, boring, unengaged reader available. It would have been better if it was read by a robot. Why treat such an exciting subject with such a painfully dry approach? I had to strain to stay focused. Get the print version!

Dr. Grof is truly an amazing man, someone who is worthy of modeling one's life after. His intelligence and remarkable ability to rapidly adapt and shift to more helpful/effective strategies and/or perspectives are inspiring to witness!The intended audience of his books varies with the majority of them being geared more towards professionals and practitioners, some are extremely densely packed with highly technical data and observations from his research; however, I find his writing style makes them accessible to the lay person who has some prior familiarity with the subject matter and a genuine interest and thirst for information of the respective topics. This book is one of those which seems to be intended for those pursuing the path of using the technique professionally.

I have been teaching Breathwork for half a decade now and this book put a wonderful structure around all of my experiences. It's very well thought out and very well researched. I especially appreciated that part about this work not being just an artifact of hyperventilation. Recently I had a client share that exact sentiment and this book cleared it up. I give it a 4 our of 5 only because it's a bit dense. Love it. Well done! Jesse Gros - Venice CA.

Stan Grof is a solid researcher with many years of experience to back up his methods and conclusions. I have experienced the transformative potential of Holotropic Breathwork many times. What I appreciated most about this book was the excellent overview of why the traditional psychological paradigm leaves out two thirds of a more complete paradigm of "how come" things happen in our lives. The Holotropic Model correctly includes effects and influences from both the Pre-natal / Peri-natal experiences and the Spiritual (past life and cultural inheritances) in what it takes to heal and transform current life issues. The research on Epigenetics (Bruce Lipton's great book, "Biology of Belief") supports this work. I started reading Grof's books in 1987, beginning with "Beyond the Brain." He is a true contributor to the potential of Evolving the Human Soul.

This is a great book for someone with, or a family with a member whom has been diagnosed with a Mental illness. I'm Schizophrenic, and this really dives into some old, and recent studies that Grof, and Frued ( mentioned ) practiced on patients. It gives are a great outlook into Holotropic Breathwork, the power it has to heal the mind, and get into your consciousness on different levels.For someone like me, it was hard to keep my attention. But overall it's still a 4/5 star book.

the information was invaluable and inspirational. after being hospitalized and facing trauma it was good to know that medication isnt the way to go. the body knows how to heal itself, as was outlined in the book. i also appreciatedthe role of participant observer that psychologists tooks on. it beats the role of god and authority that conventional society bestows upon them. it put healing in the hands of the individual within a supportive and understanding envrionment.

I was really looking forward to reading this, especially after reading Grof's "Beyond the Brain" and having had a fair amount of experience with a similar type of breathwork. However, when I received this yesterday, I opened it and was shocked by how small the print is. Looks like it's about 6 point, and very tightly spaced. With my aging eyes, I would need to use a magnifying glass to read this, and the truth is, I'll probably just return this or give it way. Guess I will rely on YouTube videos to find out more about Holotropic Breathwork. Unbelievable to me that a book would be printed with such small type! (I'm a type designer, so I have a pretty good awareness of type sizes and spacing, etc.)

Stanislav Grof a pioneer in this domain, in my humble opinion the best in his field! The book is awesome and meticulously constructed, captivating your full attention!

I expected a book filled with breathing technics. Unfortunately it was very disappointing to learn that it was full of meaningless information.

This is a great book. It offers a unique and open approach to self healing where individual life experiences don't need to fit modern psychology beliefs and paradigms. Holotropic breathwork offers tools for setting up an amazing healing container with great humility.

This book is an important contribution to our understanding of ourselves, our difficulties and a path to exploration and healing. I have experienced a Holotropic Breathing session, and can only say that it draws me to explore this modality further. Talk therapy has its place, clearly, but for me this modality provides a way to circumvent the "rational" mind's tendency to censor and prevent the engagement with unconscious material that may be stifling any move towards health and wholeness. I found it interesting and hopeful.

I was hoping to get some breakdowns on HOW the breathwork is doneThe steps involved in learning to DO the breathing are not in this book

An early pioneer of psychedelics Stan Grof experimented with Sandoz-25, an experience he described as his ‘dharmakāya’. It was an epiphany moment that put into relief his long training in individual psychoanalysis with its “competing schools, very narrow indication range, strict application criteria and demands of enormous time, energy and money.” Now 87 years old Stan is “arguably the world's greatest living psychologist” (Wilber) and this book, published fairly recently, is a comprehensive overview of an integrated therapeutic breathing method developed towards the latter half of his professional life with his partner Christina Grof, called Holotropic Breathwork™.A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy (2010) is an excellent introduction into how breathing to evocative music can achieve “full on” experiences of “age regression including all original emotions and changes in body image and perception of the world corresponding at the time a trauma occurred.” These experiences can extend well beyond the Freudian post-natal biographical to healing phenomena of cosmic unity, the archetypal, karmic, demonic energies, and memories of physical traumas - significantly expanding the cartography of the human psyche. Interestingly, it is posited a physiological response to extreme altitude associated with extreme hyperventilation and a marked respiratory alkalosis (with an arterial pH exceeding 7.7) can support naturally occurring holotropic states.One of the goals of Breathwork™ is to intensify existing symptoms by weakening the psyche’s defense system and “increasing the energetic charge (cathexis) of unconscious material so it is not strong enough to prevent it from full emergence, conscious processing and integration.” A central discovery of this process is that psychosomatic disorders have an underlying psychodynamic structure in the form of a COEX of COndensed EXperiences. The spontaneous release (abreaction) of this material is isomorphically organised in “multilevel constellations of memories built in layers.” Superficial episodes relating to the developmental stages of the libido and ego (Freud) connect with various psychological defense mechanisms (as well as specific organs) which then give rise to deeper layers formed by memories during birth followed by the deepest layers of a transpersonal nature. Taking as a specific example psychogenic (non-organic) based asthma, it is initially uncovered as an abreaction to choking before further subconscious material is brought up to the surface related to an episode of near-drowning in infancy. The peeling back to deeper layers continues into experiences of choking in the birth canal, and eventually a past-life trauma of being strangled brings the COEX to resolution.There are a couple of advantages of the Breathwork™ format compared with those offered by the standard talking cures. Firstly, in having dedicated ‘sitters’ attending to the ‘breathers’ primal needs, as well as experienced ‘floaters’ on hand in case challenging material or and/or blocks emerge, the typical po-faced response of the analyst is omitted from all transactions which can often become confused with the analysand’s real anaclitic needs for emotional physical closeness wanting to be met. Secondly, not getting sidetracked by the “artificial melodrama of transference” stemming from a “psychological defense of resistance to change the relationship with the therapist into an intimate one”, positions the expert as a midwife to the healing process who can “safeguard, facilitate, and support the patient’s own profound psyche whose wisdom is tended and brought to flower.”Two renegades of psychoanalysis are mentioned in having had an influence on the Grof’s work: Otto Rank (1884-1939) who published The Trauma of Birth (1924) laid the basis for the Basic Perinatal Matrices (BPMs) (1) - (4): (1) before delivery, (2) uterus contracts but cervix remains closed, (3) the struggle to be born after the uterus dilates, (4) emergence. Carl Jung (1875-1961) “proposed the existence of a second, far deeper form of the unconscious” consisting of collective ‘archetypes’. The Grofs prep the journey seeker for undiscovered realms of consciousness that permeate all existence - a cosmic matrix of direct numinous experience belonging to an higher order that is integrated after the session with the aide of a mandala drawing.Finally, what seems particularly surprising from reading this book is just how close the natural state of healing resides in us all - not only in mountain goats! Why naturally occurring holotropic states as a mechanism for catharsis remain so removed from many people’s lives remains an absolute mystery, that maybe its time of widespread influence is now well overdue.