by Leonard Orr, edited by Piotr Rajski
Rebirthing Breathwork is not Attachment Therapy. Condemning and outlawing Rebirthing because of the Colorado accident is the case of a mistaken identity.
A little girl was wrapped in a blanket. The attachment therapist was
using psychodrama to reenact her birth in the hope that she would bond
with her adopted mother.
It wasn't working. The little girl complained that she couldn't breathe.
She said she was dying. The therapist said, "Well die then. Go ahead
and die." Then there was no sound from the little girl for over 20
minutes before the therapist unwrapped the blanket and found the little
girl had suffocated. The therapists were convicted and sent to prison.
As the founder of the largest Rebirthing Breathwork Movement, I have
never been interested in psychodrama or techniques that force people
into their trauma and drama.
I have always felt the people have enough drama and trauma in their
everyday lives and my goal is to teach people to relax and go for peace.
The kind of Rebirthing Breathwork I represent is also called Conscious Connected Breathing or Intuitive Energy Breathing.
The attachment therapists had no decent training in Rebirthing
Breathwork. Yet their behavior damaged the reputation of Rebirthing.
Rebirthing
Breathwork has spontaneously spread to millions of people since I
started the movement in 1974 almost without incidents of any kind.
Learning to breathe better is totally harmless and health enhancing.
Rebirthing
Breathwork is so successful because it is so simple. Everyone who
experiences ten high quality sessions is amazed by its simplicity and
power. Most people who learn it enjoy sharing it with all their loved
ones and friends.
Teaching
high quality Rebirthing Breathwork is easier than riding a bicycle,
prayer, cooking, or playing basketball. I've trained medical people,
psychotherapists, ministers, priests, nuns, body workers, school
teachers, yoga teachers, and people in all professions. I've lectured
at NIH on the subjects of Rebirthing Breathwork as well as in hospitals, medical schools, and universities around the world.
It can never be legislated nor should it be because learning to breathe the Breath of Life is our birthright.
However, I am glad that laws, if necessary, are being passed against using force in any therapy as well as against therapists using their position of
trust and intimacy to take advantage of their clients.
Good Rebirthing Breathworkers only guide a person's breathing rhythm into the most natural way that humans can breathe.
It is a gentle, relaxed, connected breathing rhythm. We teach people to
breathe the way newborn babies breathe and the way that we breathe in
the middle of deep sleep.
It is totally inappropriate to label Rebirthing as harmful when most
Rebirthing Breathworkers only teach people to relax and release stress.
It is as wrong to blame Rebirthing for the death of Candace as it would be to blame education or the public schools for the Columbine tragedy.
It is as wrong to blame Rebirthers for the action of low quality
attachment therapists as it would be to blame school teachers for the
action of the students who shot their fellow students.
It
is just as unbalanced to smear all airplanes because one crashes, or to
condemn all automobiles or drivers because some crash. We also don't
arrest all the people whose name is Smith just because someone of this
name committed a crime somewhere in California.
I am saddened and upset by bad people in any profession. Medical doctors and nurses according to USA Today
kill over 100,000 people per year by accident in hospitals. Still we
don't close hospitals or ban medicine as a profession because of these
deaths.
I always recommend that people seeking a good Rebirther Breathworker should interview three Rebirthers before choosing one to do ten sessions with.
Clients and students of Rebirthing Breathwork should learn from someone
they feel good about and feel safe with. Most Rebirthing Breathworkers
are gentle, loving, intelligent people.
Rebirthing Breathwork is normally taught in ten high quality private
sessions about one week apart. Each breathing session is done in a
reclining position so that the student can feel comfortable and safe.
Each session normally lasts from one to two hours. During the ten
sessions, people experience a basic transformation of their breathing mechanism as body memories and
tension is released.
I
have maintained a full time training center since 1974. This training
center offers high quality 5 Day and 9 Day Trainings every week of the
year so that high quality trainings are always available to interested
people.
It
would be good for legislators, media people, and community leaders to
get accurate information and to experience ten sessions before
condemning it or trying to make laws about it.
Rebirthing, in the main form that is practiced around the world, is as
basic to human health and well being as good nutrition and exercise.
There are many good books about Rebirthing in many languages.(1)
Rebirthing was researched using scientific methodology.(2)
Rebirthing was successfully used in clinical treatment of many disorders, such as
alcoholism.(3) Standards of Rebirthing Breathwork as therapy have
recently been established by a group of professionals from Canada,
France, Ireland, Italy, Poland and the United States.(4)
There are Rebirthing organizations and training centers in many countries throughout the world.
(1) Begg, D. (1999). Rebirthing: Freedom from your past. London, UK:
Thorsons. Dowling, C. (2000). Rebirthing and breathwork: A powerful
technique for personal transformation. London, UK: Piatkus.
Duncanson, A. (Ed.) (1996). Birth of a rebirther. Stockholm, Sweden.
Leonard, J., Laut, Ph. (1983). Rebirthing: The science of enjoying all
of your life. Hollywood, CA: Trinity Publ.
Morningstar, J. (1994). Breathing in light and love. Milwaukee, WI:
Transformations.
Orr, L. (1986). Breath awareness. Staunton, VA: Inspiration University.
Orr, L. (1998). The healing manual. Staunton, VA: Inspiration
University.
Orr, L., Ray, S. (1983). Rebirthing in the New Age. Berkeley, CA:
Celestial Arts. (First published in 1977 by Trinity Publications, CA.)
Sissons, C. (1985). Rebirthing made easy. Auckland, NZ: Total Press.
(2) Heyda, A. (2000). Wp_yw treningu Swiadomego Po__czonego
Oddychania na stany emocjonalne. [An impact of the Conscious Connection
Breathing training on emotional states.] Unpublished master thesis,
Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.
Reggios F. (1985-6). Des mots pour un corps, un corps pour des mots.
Bulletin de Psychologie. Sep-Oct; Vol 39(16-18)[377]: 891-899 Rubin,
B.K. (1983). Cognitive, affective and physiological outcomes of
Rebirthing. Part of a doctoral dissertation, American University,
Washington, DC.
Sudres, J.L., Ato P., Fourasté R., Rajaona E. (1994). Le rebirthing:
une thérapie á médiation corporelle? Essai d'évaluation et réflexions
prospectives, Psychologie Médicale, 26, 13: 1362- 1368.
(3) Rajski, P. (in press). Alcoholism and Rebirthing. International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling.
(4) Rajski, P., Delgado, T., Dowling, C., Heyda, A., Sudres, JL,
Vignali, E. Standards of Rebirthing-Breathwork as Therapy. (unpublished
manuscript)
Leonard Orr - PO Box 1026 - Staunton, VA 24402 - phone (540) 885-0551 /
fax-1230 - www.Rebirthingbreathwork.com
