From its mystical origins to its rediscovery period in the 1960s and 1970s, rebirthing has come a long way. Some would even say rebirthing has finally come out of infancy. After four decades of being sidelined and misrepresented, it is finally taking its rightful place as a valid and effective healing and psychotherapeutic modality.

Rebirthing is, in fact, just one of the terms that fall under the label of "breathwork". Others include conscious connected breathing, holotropic breathwork, sacred breath renewal, spiritual air purification, emotional release counselling and transformational breathing. Even though these terms have been used interchangeably, there are major differences between each of these styles. The one common thread that unites them all is a specific breathing technique. The Baghavad Gita refers to the process as "sacrificing the incoming breath to the outgoing breath and sacrificing the outgoing breath to the incoming breath in order to attain trance''. Apart from this common feature of connecting the inhale to the exhale and then the exhale to the inhale without a gap in between, the emphasis and end result can differ dramatically.

The diversity of approaches is a direct reflection of the major differences in the evolution process of what are viewed as the two original foundations of rebirthing. These two original Western forms of rebirthing breathwork and holotropic breathwork have formed the foundation of what has become the Art and Science of Breath. Rebirthing was named by its founder, Leonard Orr, who developed it after a decade of experimentation with spiritual purification techniques in the USA. At about the same time in what was then Czechoslovakia, the next foundation of rebirthing breathwork, holotropic breathwork, was discovered by Dr Stanislav Grof. He developed this technique as a result of a government-endorsed study of the effects of LSD on the psyche.

Two gentlemen, pioneers from opposite ends of the globe, using totally different disciplines and with totally different backgrounds, at approximately the same time in history, stumbled on what is actually universal and doesn't belong to any particular science, religion or spiritual philosophy. Very simply, the time was ripe in our collective evolution to receive this gift from the universe. Pretty dramatic for a breathing technique, you may think. But this is not some run-of-the-mill breathing technique you learn from a book. It's something you have to be taken through by an experienced professional to fully experience and understand.

Conscious controlled breathing

Conscious controlled breathing has always been viewed as the key to our unconscious mind, higher states of awareness and cleansing of the bodymind. From Buddhist breath awareness meditations and qi gong exercises to the 101 ways of pranayama of the yogis, breath is and has always been a major focus in the spiritual philosophies that have given us practical keys to a spiritual experience.