Learn about our language & terms
Dr Wilhelm Reich discovered that there are 7 segments of “body armouring” that results when energy is bound by muscular contraction and does not flow through the body. He believed that the chronic muscular spasms develops as a defense against the breakthrough of overwhelming emotions and organ sensations, particularly anxiety, rage and sexual excitation. The seven segments can be identified by the main feature of each area: the eyes (Ocular Segment); the jaw (Oral Segment); the neck (Cervical Segment); the heart (Thoracic Segment); the waist (Diaphragmatic Segment) ; the belly (Abdominal Segment); and the pelvis and legs (Pelvic Segment).
In Biodynamic Breath and Trauma Release System we work systematically with each belt of tension, helping to gently release the constriction and emotional energy held at each level. As the segments of psychological and somatic defenses mechanisms as released in the BBTR sessions, our clients experience a fuller access to their feelings, body sensations, and core self.
The term BioDynamic consists of two words. The word ‘Bio’ means Life and the root of the word ‘Dynamic’ means Power or Movement. Both words are Greek in their origin. In a context of BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System the meaning of the word BioDynamic represents the movement of bio energy. By unlocking dense and tight tissues within our body we unlock the vitality and life force as well as free the pathways for the unrestricted energetic flow. Once the deep core tension is released, it finds its way out through movement, emotional expression and a tangible physical sensation of actual space being created within the body. When inner tension that was used to hold this tension in place is released this unlocked energy is available for things such as creativity, sexuality, meditation, playfulness and many others. By working with BioDynamic Breath & Trauma Release we set free our bound-up Life Force energy.
A certified BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Practitioner has completed the necessary requirements for graduation of the BBTRI certified training program and can facilitate individual, private sessions for clients.
During the training, participants will resolve and integrate their personal traumas thus increasing their resonance, self-awareness, emotional intelligence and experience of felt-sense.
A certified Breathwork Practitioner has gained the appropriate BBTRS skills and confidence needed to provide a high quality, safe and effective environment in which the client may appropriately utilize this unique breathing technique (breathwork) and be supported by the complementary tools for the release of all body stored trauma.
To become a certified practitioner, check out our current trainings.
Breathwork is a common term for a variety of modalities using conscious, specific breathing techniques for therapeutic purposes and/or altering states of consciousness. Breath work is a body/mind therapy which fosters the ability to open up the breath from previously restricted breathing patterns. This opening stimulates and nurtures movement from dis~ease to health & ease and stress/tension to relaxation; cultivating a free, full and balanced life.
Breathwork is a powerful tool for exposing, resolving and integrating the stress & tension that has created stored trauma. The breath is a bridge from the subconscious to the conscious, initiating body awareness and supporting the controlled & defensive aspects of the mind to rest, therefore allowing a gentle & productive cathartic release of stagnant energies from the physical, emotional & mental structures.
In BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release, we use a deep, ”connected breathing.” The bridge is formed and through somatic movements, the innate wisdom of the body/mind will release and resolve the stored traumas and stagnant energies. This will naturally slow down and mobilize the parasympathetic nervous system to bring upon a state of rest, relaxation & integration.
Unwinding Movement & Breathwork Exercise
In this video, BBTRS founder, Giten Tonkov explains and demonstrates unwinding spinal movement, a key component of Biodynamic Breathwork. This movement, when done properly and slowly, opens dense contracted connective and muscular tissues around the spine and creates a free flow of energy thought the whole body.
Breathwork & Silence Practice
In this short self-practice video BBTRS founder Giten Tonkov introduces a 20-minute self-practice involving breath movement and silence. This practice can be done at any time of the day and supports relaxation, general well being and stress relief.
Breathwork Exercise & Felt Sense
In this simple yet very effective self-practice exercise you will experience the power of breathwork and the use of the concept of felt sense. We use this powerful tool in Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release workshops because it is proven to keep people present to the physical sense of their bodies and avid dissociation during breathwork experience.
BBTRS Guided Meditation – Felt Sense and energy harnessing
In this guided felt sense meditation you will be supported to bring your awareness to the interior of your body. Biodynamic Breathwork founder Giten Tonkov will guide you to keep your attention on your energy flow and allow stuck and trapped energy to release by simple but powerful muscular engagement technique. This will release and harness your trapped bio-energy. Through this guided meditation you will be able to gather, accumulate and use this energy when you feel necessary. Also read our blog on breathwork and get to know more.
In our case a “practitioner” offers individual/private sessions to clients after being trained, skilled and certified in the BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System (BBTRS).
Hence this definition for Practitioner:
A person actively engaged in an art, discipline, or profession, especially medicine.
“patients are treated by skilled practitioners”
(Except we don’t use the word patients.)
If you are interested in becoming a Breathwork Practitioner, please have a look at our Trainings & Workshops. We offer a 2-year certification training for those who want to become certified BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Practitioner.
Breathwork Facilitator
In BBTRS Group “facilitators” are sharing & safely guiding structures for the group’s processes in their personal journey of Breathwork & Trauma Release while simultaneously teaching the modality skills of BBTRS to students.
Based on a discussion on Facebook we had some really good contributions from people about their understanding of the words practitioner and facilitator. We want to share some of the definitions with you but please keep in mind that in BBTRS we have our own very clear definitions of Breathwork & Trauma Release Facilitators and Breathwork & Trauma Release Practitioners, which we explained earlier on this page.
Other definitions for the term Facilitator respectively Practitioner
“A facilitator holds space for others to have their own experience, with guidance. a practitioner is practicing something themselves.”
“A facilitator is a person who prepares the path, provides the safe ground, guides the conversations, offers tools to move along that path or create, solve or resolve something on that safe ground. A practitioner is a person who is actively engaged in an art, discipline, or profession; sometimes, one of a practitioner’s skills is to share their knowledge with an individual or a group of people.”
“From my understanding, a facilitator is a person who is professionally trained in a particular field or have many years of experience and is able to guide people to the proper way of doing things. While a practitioner is just someone that practice and may not be able to guide people”
“I think back to our men’s groups.. I’ve been trained to facilitate mens emotional healing work. And I use that to self-facilitate, so I’m a practitioner as well as a facilitator. Men who subject themselves to a facilitator’s guidance are practitioners.”
“To me traditionally a practitioner is someone more in a medical field, eg. “practitioner of naturopathy” — someone running a practice. A facilitator is someone more in therapy work — someone who doesn’t run a practice but a therapy work.”
Again, please keep in mind that these are other people’s definitions that we just share here to display the different ways to look at these words. In BBTRS we have practitioners who offer breathwork & trauma healing sessions and facilitators who are working with groups in this field.
Breathwork webinars (short for Web-based seminar) are an increasing popular way to present valuable information, guide classes and hold discussions using video conferencing software. This method allows students to learn at home without the costs associated with travel or taking time away from work. The breathwork webinars are presented live and students are also sent a recording of the webinars so they can refer back to them as needed.
The Biodynamic Breath and Trauma Release training uses breathwork webinars to teach important subjects such as anatomy, physiology, developmental psychology and trauma. Our breathwork webinars are open to both those wanting to learn how to facilitate breathwork sessions for others and for anyone wanting to learn more about their own mind, body, and trauma healing.
A medical condition of unknown origin that causes chronic feelings of exhaustion that doesn’t resolve with sleep or rest. In addition people with CFS often experience brain fog, poor short-term memory, chronic or re-occurring muscle and joint pain, feelings of muscle weakness, difficulty digesting certain foods and dizziness. It most commonly occurs in women in their 40s and 50s, but it can affect anyone. There is not currently a cure.
In Biodynamic Breath and Trauma Release System we work to increase the body’s capacity to take in and hold more vital life force energy and release held stress and tension in the nervous system, fascia, and muscles. There have been many people with CFS who have experienced greater relaxation, lessening of pain, and increased feelings of energy after experiencing Biodynamic Breath and Trauma Release sessions.
Connected breathing is a specific breathing pattern used to induce a non~ordinary state of consciousness. The mouth is dropped open, the jaw is loose & supple and there is no pause or separation between the inhale or exhale creating a circular cycle. In BBTRS, the focus is on the inhale, with a relaxation to follow: as the diaphragm relaxes, the exhale will naturally release.
When breathing in this cycle for some moments, the normal balance of oxygen and CO2 gets disturbed. The body takes in more oxygen than usual which shifts the CO2 levels in the brain. In this state, stress & tension as body stored trauma loosens and rises to the surface where it is accessible to be felt, expressed, released and integrated.
In a BBTRS session, the practitioner will offer conscious touch in a variety of situations using an assortment of techniques, approaches and appropriate levels of pressure.
We use conscious activating touch to stimulate the breath during a collapse response in the charging stage of the session. The touch brings immediate awareness to a particular physical location of the body and automatically encourages the breath to enter and expand.
During the discharge stage, it is used with intention to stimulate, provoke or trigger gentle, releasing cathartic movements. It also brings awareness to the felt sense experience of specific points or areas which are holding the trauma within the focused belt of tension.
Conscious compassionate touch is utilized to bring support & care to the client while encouraging the feeling of trust during the resource stage of a session. It can also be gently incorporated into the final part of the integration stage when reconnecting with the client.
Deep muscular and connective fascial tissue structures surrounding our spine and deeper interior of our body are called Core Tissues. The role of these muscles and other tissues is to stabilize our entire body. Our core muscles keep us erect and support our graceful coordinated movement. They prevent injuries make us feel physically strong and connected.
Due to stress and past traumatic events we start to build tension around our core muscles. Fear is one of the main factors that make us contract deep inside affecting our behavior as well as daily life, physical movement and coordination. It is absolutely imperative that these deep core muscular tissues and fascia remain free of tension as well as well lubricated and hydrated. Freeing these contracted Core tissues gives us an opportunity to get access to bio energy that was previously used to hold this tension in place.
Depression is a feeling or outlook on life that can be described as low, sad, down or blue and happens to most people occasionally for short periods of time. It is a normal reaction to experiencing the loss of a loved one or if life’s struggles are particularly difficult. If it continues for two weeks or more and occurs for most of the day that may indicate an illness called major depression. In addition to the persistent down or low mood, major depression also includes a lack of feeling pleasure in usually enjoyed activities. Often there are problems falling asleep, waking up one or more times during the night or awakening a few hours before normal and not being able to fall back to sleep. Sometimes someone who is depressed also feels tired, exhausted or has no energy, and may sleep more often than normal. Depression can also affect the ability to concentrate, have relationships, and include feelings of guilt, worthlessness or helplessness.
In Biodynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release System we work to increase the body’s capacity to take in and hold more life force energy, increase the capacity to feel pleasure and release held or depressed stress and tension in the nervous system, fascia, and muscles. There have been many people with depression who have experienced greater relaxation, sense of well-being, and increased feelings of energy after experiencing Biodynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release sessions.
As we know breath and emotions are very closely connected. When we try to control our emotional expression the first thing we do is to control the volume of our breath. By changing the amount of breath we take in we open up our emotional response.
In context of BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release (BBTRS), emotional release means allowing an expression of our emotions that have been brought up to the surface as a result of deep connected breathing in combination with bodywork and body movement.
Oftentimes our muscular tension or stiffness as well as pain in the physical body is related to a buildup of unreleased emotions such as anger, grief, anxiety, fear, frustration and others.
Emotions can be suppressed due to family, religious or cultural conditioning.
Many of us hold our emotions in for years and in many cases since childhood. It takes an exuberant amount of physical energy to ‘keep all together’ and pretend that ‘all is ok’.
We spend our entire lives trying to keep our emotions under control. We may succeed on the surface but deeper inside our body does not lie. Sooner or later we will feel the adverse effects of repressed emotional states.
The benefit of allowing our emotional expression is increased sensitivity and awareness of our emotional states.
Medical studies show that repressed emotions are often the case of onset of disease in the physical body. Psychosomatically it may result in pain syndrome, onset or diabetes or even cancer.
Healing benefits of emotional release are immense.
By allowing emotions to flow we start to live more healthy and fulfilled lives. We allow for deeper connections with ourselves and others. We create long lasting healthy relationships and invite intimacy and love into our lives. By releasing muscular tension we enable our circulation to bring nourishment to our physical tissues. Emotional intelligence means allowing ourselves feel all our emotions without being stuck or overtaken by any of them.
Our emotional states can be a nourishing passing experience. Through emotional release BBTRS supports to feel, ‘own’ and take responsibility for our emotional states thus developing emotional intelligence.
Every living thing needs energy to stay alive. Energy defines life itself. Some get this energy from water, air and sun, as all plants do, and others get it from eating plant based and animal based diet. This energy produces an electromagnetic field phenomenon. As any magnetic field it extends a certain distance away from our physical body. We call this electromagnetic filed an Energetic Field.
It can be measured with special devices or seen though special photo lenses. If we are sensitive enough we can even sense it with our hands. A BioDynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release practitioner relies on sensing their client’s Electromagnetic or Energetic Field during sessions. This allows BBTRS practitioner to stay in contact with a client without actually using his or her physical touch. When a client senses the presence of the practitioner through this energetic field a certain rapport or resonance is established between a client and a practitioner. This resonance or rapport is extremely important to support our clients to feel safe. Feeling safe is by far one of the most important qualities in supporting trauma release and trauma healing.
PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress disorder. It is a mental health condition that can develop after a person has experienced or witnessed a traumatic or terrifying event involving actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation. PTSD symptoms develop in about 1 in 3 people who experience severe trauma and may start within one month of a traumatic event, but sometimes symptoms may not appear until years after the event.
PTSD may be classified as acute (duration of symptoms is less than three months), chronic (duration is three months or more) or delayed onset (onset of symptoms is at least six months after). For some people, symptoms may emerge years later when another trauma or distressing event triggers the original trauma. Common symptoms include reliving the event, avoiding reminders of the event, losing emotions and always feeling that something bad is going to happen. Symptoms can vary over time or vary from person to person.
The word Somatic simply means physical body or “relating to the body”. BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release is a somatic modality as it is rooted in supporting our group participants and individual clients to be aware of and to track their physical sensations during a session. Bringing attention to what, how, and where they feel various sensations in their physical bodies moment to moment creates an opportunity for trauma release and healing.
The BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System (BBTRS) combines 6 elements that are all connected to the somatic experience
BREATH
MOVEMENT
SOUND
TOUCH
EMOTIONS
MEDITATION
Transcript of the Trauma Healing Video:
“Hello, my name is Prema Mckeever and I am a somatic therapist and Biodynamic Breath & Trauma Release System training facilitator living in Vancouver, Canada. I’m recording this short video in hopes of answering some common questions about trauma healing and what we can actually do to regain our health, happiness and fall back in love with our lives.
Firstly I think it’s really important to understand that trauma is stored in our nervous system and in the memory of our body. We are used to thinking that only events like war, severe car accidents, or assault. But I think a more helpful way to look at trauma is that it can be anything that is too much, too soon or too fast for our nervous system to handle without being overwhelmed. And that can be from any of a thousand different reason. Anything like a child feeling bullied at school or neglected by their family at home, or adult realities such as severe work, financial, or relationship stress – anything that gives us a sense of being unsafe or even threatened.
Because during a traumatic event our body experiences, at the cellular level, a surge of intense fight or flight energy and stress hormones. And we need to feel safe and our body needs to sense that the threat is over in order for our nervous systems to come back to a state of rest and balance.
Now if for any reason we don’t feel safe enough -if the stress is long-lasting, or the trauma is so severe and sudden – we can go into what is known as the freeze response.
Now, this state – the freeze response – it may look calm on the outside, but internally there is still this huge amount of fight or flight energy. And this freeze response can look like dissociation, numbness, or even fainting. Being stuck in that freeze is why we can still suffer from something that happened to us months, years, even DECADES ago
And this shows up commonly in our body as:
Panic and anxiety
Hypervigilance
Insomnia
Addictions of all kinds
Migraine headaches
Digestive problems
Chronic pain no matter how many messages we get
Or a general sense of feeling disconnected, numb and depressed
And of course these sort of symptoms affects millions of us around the world, many of us don’t realize that it may be unresolved trauma at the root.
So healing trauma is about going from just trying to survive to actually thriving in our lives, it’s about coming out of that freeze in our body and mind, restoring the healthy flow of energy in our nervous system and returning to a place where we can connect with ourselves and others, we can feel safe, relaxed and present.
Now our bodies and our psyche are built to heal. Our nervous system patterns can change, we can come out of a chronic freeze pattern and move towards health and connection no matter how deep or old our stress or trauma may be.
Now there are many different approaches to trauma healing – some are more psychological, some focus more on the body, while others prefer to focus on brain chemistry through medication.
I believe the best approach to healing trauma works with the wisdom and the innate healing capacity of our body. And that is what we do with BioBTRS – through breath, movements, conscious emotional release and more we work on the energetic, the physiological, psychological, and developmental levels to come out of this freeze and restore a sense of safety and aliveness.
To find out more information please visit our website – biodynamicbreath.com – there you will find all sorts of free resources; videos, articles, as well as webinars, a practitioner directory and a list of our courses held all around the world so you can experience this deep healing work for yourself, and if you’d like learn how to facilitate this work with others.
Thanks for listening, I hope you have learned something valuable here and be sure to check out further trauma healing resources on our BBTRS website. Thank you so much and hope to see you at a training somewhere soon.”
– End of the transcript
A definition of Trauma
Trauma is an injury that affects our entire system and often leaves us feeling overwhelmed, powerless, confused and anxious. The basis of these symptoms lies in a branch of our nervous system known as the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is made up of 2 branches – the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches. It is these branches that are responsible for our body’s fight/flight/freeze response when faced with a traumatic event. The ANS can get stuck in the response to trauma, causing a wide range of emotional and physical symptoms and leaving us frozen in the past. The process of trauma healing is a resetting of the ANS, allowing the stuck trauma energy to begin to deactivate and discharge through the body.
There are different modalities of trauma healing, including the BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System (BBTRS), to help us process traumatic experiences and restore our natural instincts and flow of energy through our ANS. In our BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release sessions we support the body to safely discharge the stuck energy, complete the held fight/flight response and to come out of any freeze that is held in the ANS. This highly effective means of trauma healing helps our clients develop resilience, a deeper connection with themselves and others, and live more fully in the present.
Any event that interrupts our natural coping mechanism of our body has a possibility to become traumatic. As all mammals we are wired to respond to a traumatic event by activating ‘Fight or Flight’ or ‘Freeze’ responses. The situation only becomes traumatic when these responses for whatever reasons do not get a chance to fully complete.
As the founder of the trauma healing modality ‘Somatic Experiencing’ Peter Levine said ‘Trauma is not in the event, it’s in our nervous system’.
‘Fight of Flight’ response when it becomes undirected or incomplete lodges itself in our physical tissues and becomes tension that alters our reality, impacts our behavior and our health.
In simpler terms when the energy is released into the body and not fully expressed it gets stuck in our system and impacts our lives. In a case of a traumatic situation we do not choose these responses consciously, our body chooses it for us during the times when situation requires it.
In trauma release and healing modalities we support individuals to complete uncompleted ‘Fight of Flight’ response or come out of the ‘Frozen/Dissociated’ response. This is done through body awareness, use of Felt Sense and Resourcing.
Trauma Release in BBTRS Sessions
In BBTRS the main tools used are Deep Connected Breathing in combination with Movement, Touch, Emotional Awareness and Expression, Sound, and Meditation to integrate the entire experience.
The BioDynamic Breathwork approach to healing trauma our primary element is breath. We use deep connected breathing through the mouth to activate the sympathetic nervous system. This activation is used to a small degree not to overcharge our nervous system. When the nervous system is activated we support individuals to access the tension in the body and release this tension and emotions associated with it. This is done by applying touch and bodywork to the places that feel ‘stuck’ or tight so the breath can come in to various parts of the body, which have been ‘frozen’, sometimes for many years. Arrested ‘Fight or Flight’ can be released by slow aware body movement, which is activated during a BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release session. Emotions that are related to the mobilized body tension begin to surface. When that happens we support individuals to express whatever comes but stay fully connected to their expression. The intensity of this expression is monitored that it does not become overwhelming for their system. In this case ‘Resource’ (a place of physical comfort and safety) is used during the session.
‘Unwinding’ movement is necessary to release deep core trauma related tension that comes up to the surface.
Meditation is used as a practice between trauma release sessions as well as at the end of a trauma release session to support individuals to develop their Felt Sense and Resource and integrate all that’s happened in the session.
Tension and Trauma Release Exercises, TRE® is a method to activate our body’s natural muscular tremor reflex in order to release stored tension, stress and trauma from our nervous system. The therapeutic tremors that start to happen are a part of our body’s biological response to stress and trauma. By activating the tremor we are able to discharges the energy of stress or threat that is stored in the nervous system, muscles and fascia.
The TRE® targets the legs and specifically the psoas muscle. The psoas muscle is one of our main hip flexor muscles, part of our core muscle group and automatically contracts whenever our fight or flight response is activated. With the shaking and trembling that occurs we are able to unwind stuck holding patterns in our pelvis that then can travel up our spine, producing feelings of deep relaxation and reducing stress levels.
Trauma Release Exercises by itself are effective to release tension, in our experience they do not go as deep into the nervous system and muscles to release stuck trauma as the work we do with BBTRS. We want to encourage you to learn more about the Trauma Release and Trauma Healing work we do at the BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Institute.
TRE® is a registered trademark of TENSION AND TRAUMA RELEASING EXERCISES, LLC