Importance of integration
- Generally speaking, the integration of such an intense breathing session is of equal importance with the session itself.
- It is therefore important to give yourself time and space to let your system complete the process started during the session.
Integration?
That's all well and good, but what does « integrating » an experience mean?
It's everything that allows you to bring what you have experienced, opened, released and transformed into your daily life — so that it does not just remain an intense experience, but has a real long-term impact on your system.
Experiencing lasting change after a session
- For the effects of emotional releases and the unblocking of old patterns to last in your system, it is important to give time and attention to the days that follow, to move more slowly and consciously, and to give yourself care.
- Ideally, a daily practice of nervous system regulation really supports the work that has been done, and anchors the states you wish to experience daily in place of those that led you to intensive breathwork.
- I offer one-to-one sessions to assess somatic habits and support the creation of a routine that sustains you.
My post-session advice
Give yourself gentleness and welcome what is there
- Take particular care of yourself in the few days following the session.
- Sleep as much as your body seems to need.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Eat as healthily (and joyfully) as you can.
- Avoid stressful environments and situations that usually cause anxiety in you.
- Do things that put your nervous system at ease and don't strain the machine too much, whether at work or in your personal life.
- You will really benefit from observing your states — emotional, physiological — in this phase, and noting them in a journal for example.
- You may experience unusual emotions during this phase, and feel destabilized. You will get the most benefit by welcoming what comes out with curiosity and compassion: your system is updating and letting go of feelings from past experiences it had no room to move through when they took place. Everything is fine, and everything passes.
Continue the work in progress
- If you want to engage proactively with what emerges, you could take up spontaneous creative practices: free writing, painting, movement or dance, to music that inspires you according to what is there for you.
- My sense of things is that the more you can « dance » — literally and symbolically — what emerges for you, the more the transformation can happen naturally, quickly and joyfully.
- We can also schedule an individual session together to deepen the work started during the workshop.
Avoid big decisions immediately after the session
- You may come out of the session with quite strong and new desires, positive or negative. This is common, and it is not unusual for these emotions and sensations to settle into a more peaceful version over the following days — this is precisely integration.
- For this reason, I advise against making any decision that would structurally impact your lifestyle, your relationships or your work for about a fortnight (or however long feels right). It is a precaution I apply after every intense event in my life.
How long does integration take?
- The answer largely depends on how you felt during and after the session: the more intense it was, the more time and attention I suggest dedicating to it afterwards.
- In all cases, I suggest a minimum of 48 hours of close attention after a session.
What if I don't feel « complete » after my session?
- Sometimes we come out of a session with the impression that a door has been opened but not closed, that the process is still ongoing, and we feel stress, anxiety, a depressive state or strong emotions.
- This is possible and healthy: in this case it is likely that the session allowed a vast and well-guarded subject to emerge, and that this subject needs more space and attention to be fully released. This is your opportunity to learn more about your system and take care of it more than ever.
Give yourself real space and time
- Take a few days off.
- Plan a space where you feel particularly good.
- Take care of yourself: eat and drink things that make you feel good, get a massage, practise gentle physical activity (spontaneous dance, yoga, stretching), meditate, breathe, walk in nature, spend time with people you find inspiring.
- Share what is happening for you with one or more people you particularly trust, from whom you will receive unconditional, enlightened and consistently caring support. It could be your therapist, a support group you already attend, a very close friend, your partner. Be careful in choosing: it is important that you feel completely comfortable and validated in your experience. If you have a doubt, there is no doubt — find someone with whom sharing will go better.
If you need additional support
Schedule a session with your therapist on this specific topic: they will be able to support you and act as a caring mirror for what you are going through.
We can create a one-to-one session for you
- In order to deepen and complete the work started during this session.
- The session will be personalised around the specific subject that emerged for you, regardless of the theme of the workshop you attended.