Christianity and Breathwork - are they compatible?

Note: I am extremely grateful for the experiences I have encountered that led to my interior struggle, for it has strengthened my relationship with God and I recognize that the people who made me question my path were used as instruments to get me to the place where I am today. I, to this day, love them very dearly.

I got baptized Christian (catholic) in April 2021. Very quickly I realized, there was a lot of uneasiness around me saying I was a "Breath Coach” when people I met at church, or through church asked me what I did. On numerous occasions I would be asked if I was teaching yoga. I actually don’t do much yoga – yes, I am one of those weird Indian people who didn’t really practice yoga even though I grew up in the East. I grew up playing tennis and lifting weights - both of which I thoroughly enjoy to this day.

None of the practices of breathwork that I teach have anything to do with yoga either – I have been trained in the Buteyko method (based in Russia), Oxygen advantage (which is really Buteyko repackaged for athletes) and Wim Hof method (based in the Netherlands), and after working with over 3000 people at this point, I have come up with things that I know works, through experience. For those of you who have no clue what a "breath coach" means - I help people breathe correctly, by teaching them the importance of biomechanics and biochemistry within their bodies, which then leads to them leading healthier and happier lives. I also utilize the cold as a tool to help them go deeper into their breath. As Wim always says - "Healthy, happy and strong!". Breathing correctly is as rudimentary as brushing your teeth every morning. If you don’t do it, your health will get impacted - physically and mentally, just like not brushing your teeth will eventually lead to terrible breath and tooth decay and eventually the loss of friends because no one wants to be around you 😊 We are seeing this today - with the numerous cases of anxiety, stress, depression, suicide. Pre covid the stats were 25% of Americans suffer from mental illness, now the number is up to 40%. Add on wearing a mask all the time, and breathwork just got way worse. And I haven’t even talked about people who are diagnosed with arthritis, auto immune diseases or cancer, etc. Breathing correctly is so basic - it impacts everything! - your digestion, your sleep, your energy levels through the day, balancing your hormonal levels, your appetite, your relationships, your fertility, the list doesn’t end! If you have a weight problem, a heart problem, a snoring issue - you need to check the way you breathe!

So going back to my journey being a breath coach after becoming Christian, I was repeatedly judged as doing something that wouldn’t normally be considered a "Christian practice". In the beginning, these instances pierced me deeply, probably because I had just become Christian, and I wanted to feel accepted in my own community. On 3 separate occasions, I considered not teaching anymore, based on things that people said, for I didn’t want to do something "wrong" in the eyes of the church. All those times, I sat down to pray, and the verdict was loud and clear, I felt the Lord tell me to continue teaching. So, I did. I am very grateful for the Christian Catholics in my life at that time that supported me and cajoled me to continue teaching - I am so indebted to the love that I received back in those months, for I know had it not been for that support, I may not have continued teaching.

During this struggle, I made a trip to Phoenix and San Francisco. Lo and behold, suddenly the Christians there were interested in breathwork. I taught at a parish, taught at 3 different convents, I talked to multiple religious people, and they were intrigued at the science behind breathwork. It was a normal conversation - one I would have had with the secular world. It was a breath of fresh air, pun intended :) I am grateful for these experiences, for it led to me recognizing my interior struggle.

It also made me realize, it doesn’t matter if we are atheists or Christians or Muslims, if we are breath coaches or not, we are all going to face challenges when we follow what we believe is our vocation, especially when our vocation is unique and different from everyone around us. I didn’t really fit any bill - I was extremely religious, but I wasn’t a nun, even though I seem to be around nuns all the time - I honestly love spending time with nuns, it is the most fun I have ever had, the jokes are pure, the laughter from our stomachs, I really have fun with them, we even sing together! Yet, my vocation isn’t to become a nun. I am a breath coach, but I had a very prominent corporate job as well which is one of the reasons why most people had no idea, I taught breath on the side. Not to mention, why did I feel the need to do anything else when I had such a good job in the oil and gas sector? Add to all of this the fact that I was an atheist for the longest time, and then became a devout Muslim followed by becoming a devout Catholic - all this is VERY confusing to another person. And our vocations change! As of right now, I believe my purpose is to teach breath, but I am fully aware that this might not be my vocation later this year, and I am open to the fact that the Lord might lead me down a completely different path when I have learned all the lessons that I needed to learn in my breath journey, before he brings me to the place where I really need to be.  The reality is no one knows what is going to happen tomorrow. And I consistently pray to the Lord, to be his hands and feet, maybe tomorrow, he doesn’t want to be a breath coach, well I am perfectly fine if his hands and feet want to be serving a different cause. And for me to feel that I was entitled to being accepted by my fellow Christians, just because I had become Christian was a flawed thought from the very beginning. I do admit, I wanted to feel loved by my community, but when we follow a path that is unconventional, we are bound to experience obstacles or challenges – no one is exempt from this rule – neither was Wim Hof, nor was Martin Luther King Jr.  Neither of them changed course because of the obstacles they faced, it is an important lesson that no matter how many times I learn, I feel like I have to re-learn this lesson every single time I face an obstacle.

So where am I at today? I am still crazily in love with Jesus and Mother Mary. I love Christianity, I think it is one of the most beautiful religions I have ever encountered. I try to attend mass every day, for I crave for the Eucharist (the body of Christ) - like breathwork, having his body every day makes me feel alive. I also love breathwork very much and I have seen breathwork do wonders in people's lives, especially during this time of covid, the world needs more natural ways to boost the immune system! We need natural ways to peak our mental and physical drive instead of resorting to drugs, alcohol, medicines and the internet.  I believe that being a breath coach, in no form or fashion goes against my Christian beliefs. I am so indebted to breathwork for it has made me a more loving, less judging, more patient as well as forgiving person, all those traits are in line with my religious beliefs. It also took away umpteen physical issues that I had, that I realized were major distractions in my life. It wouldn’t be a surprise to me if the Lord had been calling my name for so long, but I just couldn’t hear him because of the amount of clutter and distractions that were present in my mind. I don’t believe it was co incidental that my encounter with the Lord happened a year after I had been practicing the cold and breathwork - that was how long it took for my mind to quieten down. I pray that we can get to a place that we do not persecute people because of their religious beliefs, or for their lack of religious beliefs for that matter, that we can accept that we are all walking our individual paths and loving each other while doing it. That’s how it happened with me, God found me, I take no credit for my spiritual journey, and for that reason I am never going to look at some one and tell them they aren’t doing enough to find God, or that they aren’t living out their vocation. I believe we all need to have a personal encounter with God, and when that happens, we still have a choice on what we want to do about the encounter. When I encountered God, my life changed. Just like I am sure the shepherds or the wise men or St, Paul felt after they encountered Jesus. At the same time, I am very aware that you don’t need to have this personal encounter with God to love one another. Sometimes the act of loving one another is that personal encounter.  I thank the Lord every day for my personal encounter(s), and I continue to have these personal encounters every day fully being aware of his presence around me and in me at all times.

For those who question if my job as a breath coach is in line with my religious beliefs, it is like asking a doctor if they can practice medicine if they are Christian - simply put your question doesn’t sound logical to me at all, especially when the Vatican preaches that they are in line with science. That being said I am not saying that it is a stupid question, only that it doesn’t make sense to me. It also isn’t logical to me that you are perfectly fine recommending chemotherapy to a cancer patient to kill cells in their body - including healthy ones, but you wouldn’t suggest breathwork to them, especially when two years ago the people who won the Nobel prize showed that by changing the level of oxygen that your cells are exposed to can help you fight cancer - something you can naturally do through breathwork.

Religion and science go together - I love my faith and I love science; I choose to live in harmony with both. I pray a lot and I study and read a lot as well. I am consistently working on increasing my knowledge but I am fully aware that my ability to do so is a grace that I have received from the Lord. It makes me feel grateful that I can even study to begin with, and that I have the mental aptitude to assimilate what I am studying. Why am I so crazy about breath? because we breathe ALL THE TIME, even when we sleep! There is no easier way to master your life, than to master your breath. Not to mention, God breathed into us – our breath is a grace that we have received from God, our breath is what made us living beings (Genesis 2:7). If he truly made us in his image and likeness, I doubt he sits and taken 3 to 4 medications every day or suffers from stress and anxiety. I believe he equipped us to live a life, through the graces that he has given us, to live in his image and likeness. I believe understanding our breath and increasing our self-knowledge in that realm is a crucial way of tapping into that image and likeness. I believe prayer and love are the two strongest forces in the Universe, learning how to breathe correctly brought me closer to both.