Art of Breathing

Breath reflects every move in your life on all levels of being.

The significance of breathing to reduce stress and subsequent negative effects has been recognized for a long time. Natural breathing goes far beyond learning techniques.

Breathing as key to awareness and a bridge between body mind and soul and a support in dealing with the demands of everyday life.

The Middendorf breathwork consists of concentrating on the process of breathing itself combined with attentive touching. The emphasis on the breath is key element. Growing sensitivity and self-awareness bring about positive change , well-being and the development of strength. Allowing the breath to come and go without manipulating it. Breath happens always in the now and connects us all. It integrates physical, mental, emotional and spiritual awareness. You will experience the physical and mental relaxation that accompanies this method and begin to learn to use your breath as a guide rope to come home to your true nature. With other words let your breath show you the way and become your best friend to be in touch with yourself and others and the world around you.

It is a holistic resource oriented approach that addresses the healthy core of the whole person rather than a client's symptoms.

In the field of bodywork there's an assumption that the unconscious - our emotional patterns, memories, fears and desires - is embedded in our musculature and literally shapes us. Every emotion is conducted through the breath and we control ourselves by controlling our breath. We learn from early on to contract muscles to keep from feeling ourselves. The aim is to release that control, free the breath and let it run naturally. The breath is the connection between the body and the mind, the unconscious and the conscious. How we live and manage ourselves can be read in the breath (breath reading), sensing where the breath moves and doesn't move in the body. Usually when we get scared we hold our breath, we want to learn not to hold our breath, to keep breathing, consciousness travels on breath and whatever comes up, breath will take you through it.

The problem with results:

We live in a results- oriented society with a lot of fear of failure.

When we are over focused on the results we want, we often miss the enjoyment of the activity itself.

Also we lack the advantages of presence since we are already preoccupied with the future (where the results are waiting).

In the coaching as well as personal therapeutic work I do I emphasize the value of being and staying present through body awareness and breathing.

The more we learn to stay connected with our breathing the more we are capable to cope with reality and the things that are happening in us and around us.

Mindfulness, body–awareness, felt sense, connecting the head with the rest of the body via the heart are key in my approach.

Learning from our own past to be alive and joyful and living our full potential in the presence creates a bright and shining future not only for ourselves but also for the ones around us. Self love and acceptance are very important and a lifelong lesson to be learned through awareness.

Be in the world but not of it is another way to put it which stresses also the spiritual dimension of ourselves as human beings.

Evolve from a human doing into a human being is the essence of my working with people.

Gabriele Osburg - Amsterdam

Her curiosity in human nature and her search for truth and authenticity influenced her choices in life. She studied sociology and ethnology and worked professionally as an actress. She was a student of Prof. I. Middendorf one of the great pioneers in breath therapy. She is a certified breathwork practitioner AFA ® and a SE practitioner (Somatic Experiencing®), a powerful method of healing trauma and a Narm® practitioner ( Neuro Affective Relational Model). Since 1998 she is student at the Ridhwan school founded by A.H.Almaas, a contemporary spiritual teaching called Diamond Approach, which has great influence on her way of working. She has a practice as a therapist since 1993.

Sessions are possible in English, Dutch and German.