BREATHWORK WITH DISCERNMENT A TORAH-INFORMED SERIES FOR WOMEN
MAH NISHTANAH? WHY IS THIS BREATHWORK DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER BREATHWORK?
Many of you know that I teach self-regulation tools such as meditation, breathwork, guided relaxation, imagery, and somatic practices. These methods can help the nervous system settle, organize, recover, and become more resilient. They can be powerful and deeply beneficial. They can also arrive wrapped in language, rituals, assumptions, or spiritual frameworks that may not be fully compatible with Torah and Judaism.
That is where discernment becomes essential.
We do not need to reject every helpful tool because it originated somewhere else. We also do not need to swallow every practice whole simply because it sounds calming, scientific, popular, or healing. The work is to separate the wheat from the chaff, the physiology from the philosophy, the nervous-system support from the spiritual packaging. Some practices are mostly biology. Some are biology wearing philosophy. Some are philosophy wearing a lab coat and calling itself wellness. And some are just a balloon with an anxious nervous system, floating around the internet with lovely colors and slightly suspicious strings attached.
Beginning Tuesday, June 23rd, for four consecutive Tuesdays, I will be teaching a kosher breathwork series for women. This series is designed for those who want the benefits of breathwork without confusion, syncretism, or spiritual compromise.
Together, we will clarify which elements in certain practices may be problematic, including religious framing, mantras, invocations, visualization practices, altered-state techniques, and concepts that do not align with Torah. We will also explore how breathing influences the autonomic nervous system, heart rate variability, vagal tone, carbon dioxide tolerance, stress physiology, emotional regulation, and the body’s ability to shift from alarm into steadiness.
Breath is not everything. But it is one of the most immediate bridges between body, mind, emotion, and neshama. Used properly, it can help us pause before reacting, soften before speaking, settle before prayer, and return after overwhelming experiences. The body should not be an obstacle to spiritual life. It is where spiritual life is lived.
WHY WE NEED A MAP
The word breathwork has become a very large umbrella. Under it, you can find gentle relaxation breathing, medical respiratory retraining, trauma-informed grounding practices, yogic pranayama, Buteyko-style nasal breathing, coherent breathing, HRV biofeedback, Wim Hof-style activation breathing, Holotropic Breathwork®, rebirthing breathwork, and many other variations.
They are not all the same. Some are physiological. Some are psychological. Some are performance-oriented. Some are explicitly spiritual. Some aim for relaxation, emotional processing, altered states, athletic endurance, or awakening a sluggish system.
A Torah-informed approach asks: What is this practice trying to do? What language is being used? Is there a mantra, invocation, deity reference, surrender formula, or worldview embedded inside it? Is the breath being used as a practical tool, or as a doorway into a spiritual system that does not belong to us?
At the same time, we will not throw away physiology because some people have packaged it poorly. The diaphragm is not idolatrous. The vagus nerve does not need a hechsher. Carbon dioxide tolerance is not a cult. The exhale slowing the heart rate is not an Eastern doctrine. It is part of the magnificent design of the human body.
THE FOUR SESSIONS (Please bring your 4 Questions!)
Because each session is just over one hour, this series is not a comprehensive certification in breathwork, respiratory physiology, trauma treatment, or halachic analysis. It is a careful, practical, Torah-informed introduction.
Deadline has been extended. Join by midnight, Sunday, June 21 at $159.96.
AFTER JUNE 21, the series fee is $175.00Secure your spot today and save. Call Nechama: 917-526-2612
June 23: The Map
We will explore Torah discernment, breathwork systems, and the science of regulation, including the autonomic nervous system, heart rate variability, vagal regulation, nasal breathing, oxygen, carbon dioxide, overbreathing, and breath holding.
June 30: Relaxation
We will learn breath practices for downshifting the inner alarm system, including slow breathing, coherent breathing, extended exhalation, nasal breathing, humming, and patterns such as 2:4, 4-7-8, 4:6, and double outbreath.
July 7: Grounding
We will focus on coming back to the room, the body, and the present moment. These tools are especially important from a trauma-informed perspective, where breath must be an anchor, not an escape hatch.
July 14: Activation
We will discuss breathwork for sluggishness, heaviness, fogginess, and low motivation, while distinguishing healthy activation from overstimulation. We will also survey more intense methods with appropriate caution.
By the end of the series, participants will have a clearer understanding of what breathwork is, what it is not, and how to approach it with openness and discernment. They will leave with practical breath tools for calming down, coming back, and gently waking up.
This is not breathwork as performance. It is not breathwork as a spiritual buffet. It is breathwork as self-regulation, taught with respect for the body, respect for the soul, and respect for Torah boundaries.
SUGGESTED READING
Benson, H., & Klipper, M. Z. (1975). The relaxation response. William Morrow.
Brown, R. P., & Gerbarg, P. L. (2012). The healing power of the breath. Shambhala.
Dana, D. (2018). The polyvagal theory in therapy. W. W. Norton.
Lehrer, P. M., & Gevirtz, R. (2014). Heart rate variability biofeedback: How and why does it work? Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 756. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00756
McKeown, P. (2015). The oxygen advantage. William Morrow.
Nestor, J. (2020). Breath. Riverhead Books.
Vranich, B. (2016). Breathe. St. Martin’s Griffin.
Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignani, A. (2018). How breath-control can change your life. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353
With Gratitude,
Rus Devorah
