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Using Healing Breath To Heal And Uplift Your Energy

9 Techniques for Self-Care Plus 5 Ways To Use Breath With Clients


We can do energy healing in many ways. Most commonly, we use our hands. But you can also use your voice, your eyes, your thoughts -- or your breath.

If you've read very much of The Energy Healing Site you know that I'm a big believer in using belly breathing, also called diaphragmatic breathing, to calm the physical nervous system and smooth and balance the energy field.

But there are many other ways you can use your breath to influence and heal energy. As an energetic link between the lighter vibrations of subtle energy and the denser vibrations of matter, it is a powerful tool for energy healing.

Read on for ways to use breath for self-healing, and further down, ways to use breath when you're working with another person.


9 Ways to Use Breathwork For Yourself

Beyond diaphragmatic breathing, here are some of my favorite ways to use healing breath to manage my energy. I often use these techniques with client during sessions as well.


  1. When am worried, angsty, getting sucked into some drama or problem, or just find that my vibration is slipping, I take several deep breaths and with it draw my energy up, like a ball of light, to my sixth chakra. From there, I have perspective on my problem(s) or mood and find that my sense of angst has evaporated. Of course, you can use your breath to move your energy to any of your chakras.
  2. When I'm feeling a little down, frazzled or depleted, I breathe light into my field. With each inhalation, I draw in more energy/light/life force, and see/feel my field expand and grow brighter and brighter. I can either use that light for myself, or send it to someone or something else.
  3. When I sense frozen energy somewhere in my body or field, I use my breath almost like a pump to get the energy flowing again. For example, recently I noticed that the energy in my right thigh was stuck. Starting with my exhale, I used my out-breath as a pump to get the energy unstuck and moving again. Then I used the inhale to draw in light, space and consciousness. (I continued for a few minutes.)
  4. As you breathe in, your diaphragm muscle pulls down to draw in the air. This "massages" the third chakra area. So when my third chakra needs some support (such as when I am stressed or overworking), I use deep a deep, healing breath, in and out, to comfort, balance and nourish it.
  5. When my upper and lower body or upper and lower energy field are feeling disconnected, I use breath, which bridges them, to bring them into greater unity.
  6. When I am feeling isolated and disconnected from my surroundings/the universe, I use breath to re-connect me. With each breath of air, I feel "ME" inhaling the molecules of "Not-Me." In other words, I feel what is outside my (supposed) physical boundaries being drawn inside my lungs and absorbed. (This is a physical reality, of course, as well as an energetic one.)

    Then when I exhale, I feel the molecules of Me being sent out into the atmosphere, where they mingle with the molecules of Not-Me. Once again, this is a material as well as an energetic reality.

    As I do this, I feel the boundaries between Me and Not-Me dissolve. I understand it both logically and in my cells. This is a powerful exercise that helps me feel, in an embodied way, my connection to All-That-Is. It also supports the heart and crown chakras in a beautiful way.

  7. I like to use breath as a quick way to center if my energy is feeling scattered. With each inhalation I draw back to me the energetic parts of me that are scattered around in time and space. With each exhale I breathe out whatever does not serve me at that moment. I repeat until i feel myself return to wholeness, calm and focus.
  8. Breath can be a lovely tool for grounding, too. When I'm feeling disconnected from the earth or just generally anxious or spacey, I open the chakras on the bottoms of my feet (using intention) and with each breath draw in the sweet, nourishing earth energy. Sometimes I draw the energy all through my body, but usually I just let it go where it will. This is a good way to support your 1st chakra as well.
  9. Toning is another great tool that uses both breath and voice. Learn how to do vocal toning for the chakras here.

Using Healing Breath With Clients

Healing breathwork is also an important tool in the energy healer's tool-kit when working with others.


  • Any of the above techniques are excellent to do before a session, to raise your vibration.
  • Your calm, deep and even breathing will help your client to relax and deepen their own breathing. (This is called entrainment.)
  • Almost every client can be helped by encouraging them to breathe more deeply (abdominal/belly/diaphragmatic breathing). Some clients know this technique well but can benefit from the support of verbal guidance; others you will have to teach it to. Watch out for "paradoxical breathing," in which someone sucks their abdomen IN when you invite them to breathe deeply.

    Also, I've found that it's important to encourage people to breathe at their own pace, and to time my verbal prompts to their rhythm.

    (And then there are some people who feel even more anxious when they try to control their breathing. Obviously, don't bother them with guided breathing exercises!)

  • A person will often sigh deeply as they release energy. You can support this by mirroring with your own deep exhalation.
  • Asking a client to breathe into a place of pain will often "unstick" the frozen energy and reduce or eliminate the pain.
  • And of course all of the above healing breath techniques can be easily taught to others so that they can do them at home.


Happy breathing! I love that something so simple can be so powerful and have so many applications. -Nancy





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