Holotropic Breathwork is a therapeutic method of self-exploration that integrates breathwork, music, body and emotional work, art therapy and group process. It draws on the tradition of using expanded states of consciousness for healing - found in shamanic cultures, contemplative spiritual traditions, and now in the emerging field of psychedelic-assisted therapy - and brings these within a rigorously trained, ethically grounded facilitation framework.

The method was developed by Czech psychiatrist Dr. Stanislav Grof and his wife Christina Grof in the 1970s, emerging from Grof's extensive research into non-ordinary states of consciousness. Empirical studies have shown it can be beneficial in the treatment of trauma, with participants reporting improved self-awareness and emotional wellbeing, reduced anxiety, the release of deep emotional blocks, and - for many - profound spiritual experiences that carry their own therapeutic weight.

Understanding trauma — two kinds

From a Holotropic perspective, trauma is understood in two broad categories.

Trauma of commission occurs when something happens that exceeds a person's capacity to cope - emotional, physical, or sexual violence, serious illness, accident, natural disaster or witnessing a shocking event. When an experience overwhelms the system, one of the natural defence mechanisms of the body and psyche is to protect itself through dissociation: part of us detaches and the charge of the event cannot be naturally released. Instead, it is stored - in the subconscious and in the body - where it continues to shape experience and limits our capacity to fully engage with life, and over time can cause various psychosomatic symptoms, ranging from physical symptoms to mental health challenges.

When commission trauma surfaces in a Holotropic session, the approach is to allow the memory to be re-experienced - but this time within a container of safety and support. The expanded state significantly widens the window of tolerance, making it possible to face what previously felt unbearable. The breather can ask for support at any moment: a quiet presence, gentle words or physical contact.

Trauma of omission occurs when something necessary was absent - basic security, warmth, nurturing touch or consistent care, particularly in early childhood and the period immediately after birth. This kind of trauma is subtler but pervasive; it shapes identity, self-perception and the capacity for trust. Many people carry some degree of this.

When omission trauma surfaces in a session, the creation of a genuinely safe and held space can itself be profoundly healing. Often what is most needed is something simple: the unconditional presence of another person, a hand held, being gently embraced. In Holotropic Breathwork, respectful touch is not avoided - it is understood as a way of supporting forms of healing that may not be accessible through words or analysis alone.

Sources of trauma in the holotropic context

Grof identified three domains from which traumatic material may arise in an expanded state:

Biographical — experiences from our lived life, from birth to the present. These may surface as memories, or more often as bodily or emotional processes that carry the imprint of past events.

Perinatal — experiences connected to birth and time in the womb. Grof wrote extensively on how experiences related to the birth process itself can be encoded in the psyche, often following distinct patterns that may later influence how we relate in the world as adults. These experiences, though sometimes dramatic, are often the site of profound healing.

Transpersonal — experiences that extend beyond the personal self, including intergenerational, collective, or ancestral material. These reach into dimensions of experience that conventional therapy rarely touches.

COEX systems — how trauma organises itself

Grof developed the concept of systems of condensed experience - COEX systems - to describe how the psyche organises traumatic and emotionally charged material. A COEX system is a cluster of memories and experiences, drawn from different periods of life, that share a common emotional theme: shame, abandonment, constriction, fear or grief for example. These systems shape how we see ourselves, how we relate to others and how we move through the world - often without our awareness.

What makes COEX systems particularly significant is that they can operate across all three domains - biographical, perinatal, and transpersonal - meaning that a single emotional theme may have roots that extend far deeper than personal memory alone.

This helps explain why we sometimes react to present situations with an intensity that seems disproportionate - because we are not responding only to what is happening now, but to the accumulated weight of everything that resonates with it from the past. The reaction feels urgent because, somewhere beneath awareness, it is.

In a Holotropic session, these condensed patterns can surface vividly - as memory, sensation or emotion. Working through them in a safe, supported environment allows their charge to release, gradually reducing their power to shape behaviour and perception from the shadows.

Transformation

In a Holotropic session, we do not determine in advance what will arise. The invitation is simply to trust - to follow the guidance of your inner healing wisdom wherever it leads.

For many people who come carrying trauma, this is both the most challenging and most liberating aspect of the work. You do not need to know what to experience or how to experience it. You do not need an external expert to tell you what needs healing. That knowledge is already within you.

What we hear repeatedly from breathers is that the session brings exactly what is needed - though rarely what was expected. Someone braced for difficulty may find lightness. Someone seeking clarity may find grief. Someone carrying years of held pain may find, for the first time, a sense of genuine release.

The process does not promise outcomes. What it offers is a trustworthy container, a compassionate presence and access to a dimension of inner wisdom that knows - more than the thinking mind does - what the next step toward wholeness looks like.

Further reading

For those who wish to explore further, a range of books, talks, and resources are available that go into much greater depth: