Integrative breathwork

Domain X · Body, movement, breath & physical · Jacquelyn Small · 1970 · Austin, Texas, United States

What it is

What the sources say it is. Jacquelyn Small is described by her publisher as a "pioneer in the transpersonal or spiritual approach" to treating addiction. She is also named as former director of training for the Texas Commission on Alcoholism and co-director of Eupsychia, Inc., "a training and…

Format

• Prepare and consent. Give information about likely effects and risks. Agree any touch boundaries in advance, and confirm that the client knows they can withdraw at any time. Criterion to move on: the client can say in their own words what may happen, how to stop, and who to contact afterwards.
• Integration in psychotherapy. Over the following sessions, work with what emerged. The aim is "skilful integration into everyday life". Criterion to continue with further breathwork: the client is stable, functioning, and integrating rather than flooding.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Format as published. Facilitator-led group workshops and individual sessions are described. Participants breathe consciously, in yoga-derived variations, to a music programme, and memories and emotions may surface. Eupsychia is described as a training and certification institute. Its curriculum, levels, hours and certification criteria are. The typical number of sessions, criteria for progressing, and whether…
• Session (trained facilitator only). The breathwork itself is led by someone trained in the school's method. A psychotherapist without that training does not lead it.
• Who may deliver it. Leading breathwork sessions needs training in the specific school. There is no government regulation of breathwork. The GPBA is a professional alliance, not a regulator. It sets ethical standards, certifies schools that have "taught the required curriculum" and graduated practitioners for at least two years, and uses a restorative-justice model for complaints. Whether Eupsychia or the Small…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Integrative Breathwork Therapy (IBT). This is a "three component breathwork model" reviewed by Lalande, Bambling, King and Lowe (2011) in the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy. The review describes support as resting largely on anecdotal clinical evidence. The three components and the model's…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the warning signs listed in 4.6. Also watch for facilitators who encourage continuing through chest pain, faintness or panic. It is working if the client experiences the session as safe and…
• clients who blame themselves for not "doing it right", and a facilitator who brushes off concerns. It is working if the client is safe and supported, and the concern has been formally raised.
• Expectations of dramatic breakthroughs or of "releasing" trauma in one session. Reasons to pace more slowly. It is working if the client has realistic expectations, grounding skills they have…
• Vague answers about training. No intake form. Promises of cures. Pressure to keep breathing through distress. Discouraging the client from medical or psychological care. Pressure to sign up for…
• Minimising symptoms in order to qualify. Recent hospital admission or a change in medication. Active suicidality. Recent psychotic or manic symptoms. Current heavy substance use. It is working if…

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.