Ilse Middendorf developed the Der Erfahrbare Atem (Breathing Experience) in Germany in 1935. Middendorf Breathwork helps establish harmony between body, soul, and spirit. Practicing Middendorf Breathwork can help connect with vitality, resolve stress, and maintain clarity. The Middendorf Institute for the Breath Experience offers weekly classes, retreats, and individual hands-on work in Berkeley, California.
Born in Germany in 1910, Ilse Middendorf spent her early life developing a path to balance and healing through a connection to natural breathing; Der Erfahrbare Atem (Breathing Experience). Her first institute dedicated to the experience of breathing was opened in Berlin in 1935. In 1965, she began to train other teachers in this form of somatic or bodily education. This therapeutic work spread easily in Europe. However, it was not until Advanced Seminars, located in Berkley, California, partnered with the Berlin Institute in 1986 that Middendorf Breathwork was brought to the United States.
Middendorf Breathwork is meant to help you establish clarity and harmony in your life. Middendorf Breathwork is a way to establish harmony between the body, soul and spirit in their relationship with the inner and outer world. When you focus on the inward and outward movement of the breath, you focus on the give and take, the filling and the emptying, the masculine and the feminine seeking growth, balance and harmony together.
The basic principle of Middendorf Breathwork is to establish an awareness of the breath that moves throughout the body. The interactive experience of allowing the breath to come and go freely without interference allows the Self to relax and blossom into a fulfillment of true balance. Additionally, feeling, experiencing, and connecting with the natural harmonic rhythms of your breath can help you connect with vitality, resolve stress, flow rather than react to life’s challenges, and maintain clarity and effectiveness in communication.
The unadulterated experience of feeling the movement of the breath and the natural rhythms of the breath provides access to what practitioners call “somatic intelligence.” Somatic intelligence is not limited to the intellectual realm. Rather, it refers to the physical domains of posture, health, and fitness, as well as the spiritual and mental domains of feeling, thinking, and intuition. With this intelligence, your goal is to step away from control of your life process and live a deeper truth accessed through your connection to the movement of your breath.
To try Middendorf Breathwork at home, sit on a stool with your feet on the floor. Focus on letting your breath flow in and out freely as you circle your pelvis. Bring your presence into the pelvis and focus on the movement of your breath. Keep circulating, keep listening to the natural rhythms of your breath.
When you stop spinning, place your palms on your lower abdomen and you can feel the movement of your breath under your hands. According to experts, feeling this movement will allow you to experience vitality, power, and purpose not just because you thought of them, but because the experience of the movement of your breath makes these sensations available.
If you liked the test at home and would like more information, contact the Middendorf Institute for the Breath Experience. They offer weekly classes, retreats, and individual hands-on work in Berkley, California. For those who are not from the Northern California region, the institute also provides a list of professionals located throughout the country.
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