Tucked away in this corner of the world the Breathwork Community is alive and breathing!

When our breath and minds turn east there is a Breathwork community in New Zealand which we have been mutually reaching out to every now and then to strengthen the Breathwork community overall in this region.

At the recent Breathwok Global Inspiration Conference in California our attending team met Louise Waswo a Breathwork Practitioner for New Zealand. Eli Thomas described her recently as "one of us" after meeting and breathing with Louise in California.

Since then Louise has contacted the ABA:
"Hello, I have just returned from GIC and delighted to meet some of the Australian breath workers.  I am interested in possibly coming to the Australian Breathwork conference. If you can forward dates and information that would be great.  I would like to forward to you also the details of our Retreat in New Zealand for those that may be interested. Thank you  Arohanui(Big Love)"

It is with great pleasure that the ABA introduces you to this community "over the ditch".
You have been invited to attend the NZAB Conference 13-15 September 2019.
At the time of writing registrations are still open until 30 August 2019. Patricia - Conference Co-ordinator (Auckland/Taupo) conferencenzab@gmail.com

There is so much talent among the Breathwork community in Australia and one of those little gems comes in the form of Rebecca Moore.

Some may remember Rebecca from a Breathe Australia Conference in 2014 when she played some of her beautiful music to entertain us. Rebecca started her relationship with Breathwork when she was 14 after finding a book on Breathwork at her Aunt’s place which had a huge impact on her. In 1999 Rebecca first saw Claire Belton for Breathwork sessions in Fremantle, Western Australia. She began her relationship with the ABA through an associate membership as a "friend" of Breathwork. In 2017 Rebecca commenced her Breathwork Practitioner Training with Claire Belton and graduated in April this year after moving to Perth to complete the training.
 
Well Rebecca has also been up to other things. 
 
In April this year she released a new album called "Return". This is what Triple J Unearthed had to say about Rebecca's work:

"Western Australian artist Rebecca Moore is an award-winning singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Her songs traverse the plains of psychedelic rock, blues/roots and alternative folk.
She has supported many great artists including the Afro Celt Sound System at the Sydney Opera House, Xavier Rudd, Christine Anu, Archie Roach, the John Butler Trio, Sarah McLeod (The Superjesus), Jon Stevens and The Backsliders. She won an APRA Professional Development Award in the Rock category for her debut album ‘The Uluru Concept’. She is the co-ordinator of the Myanmar Orphans Concert Series, which raises funds and awareness for Orphans in Myanmar.

Rebecca's new album spans a decade of touring the songlines both in Australia and the UK. It was recorded with David Sparks at Pirate Studio’s in Tathra, NSW and Martin Russell of the Afro Celt Sound System in London. Her record titled ‘Return’ was released on the 19th April 2019."

Breathwork is a big part of Rebecca's life and when I contacted her not long after the album’s release she wrote: "The Breathwork training was instrumental in my process around the album release, to the degree that I don't think it would be coming out now if it wasn't for that!" The Breathwork training has also been a huge factor in Rebecca’s healing journey with a chronic illness.
You can check out the amazing Rebecca Moore here: http://www.rebeccamooremusic.com

On 4 August 2019, the ABA launched the inaugural Online Member Mentoring Program with John Stamoulos.  The mentoring program is intended to provide a way for ABA members to connect with other members and provides a forum for Breathwork peer discussion and guidance from Breathwork trainers and elders in our community. The program also attracts 1.5  CPE points for each mentoring session

John has run successful Breathwork and bodywork practices for many years from his base in Adelaide and Melbourne. He has also held a community Breathing Circle for the past 15 years in Adelaide and travels 5 months of the year delivering Breathwork training in Asia and other countries. 

Mentoring participants ranged in experience from freshly graduated practitioners, to practitioners who have been in business for up to ten years all looking to gain some connection and insights into being a practitioner. Reasons participants joined the online mentoring:
"I have literally just graduated as a Breathwork Practitioner and am looking to start my practice. I thought is was a great way to tap into the knowledge and get some tips"
"I practice in another well being modality and have not yet found a way to bring Breathwork into what I currently do. I am looking to stay connected to Breathwork and other practitioners"
"I have been in business for 7 years and am looking for insights into specific client issues"
"I am 3 years into starting business and looking for ways to grow and learn more from those who are already doing it".

John covered tips for starting up in practice to mentoring around client examples and his experience with breathing circles and client work. It was an open forum so that participants could ask questions relevant to their stage. The session is supported by a person who makes sure everyone is heard and w stay on time. 

The Online Member Mentoring has been recorded in ZOOM and will be available to all members in the future. We are looking to grow participation and are seeking feedback as to the format and topics. 

Ann Harrison has graciously agreed to lead the next Online Member Mentoring.
Details are:
Mentor: Ann Harrison
When: Sunday 3 November 2019
Time: 9.30 - 11.30 am AEST
Where: ZOOM link provided closer to the date via email
All members welcome.

Contributed by Jennylee Taylor

In 2016, at the ABA Committee Inspiration and Planning weekend I was sitting with Cindy Aulby (current president) and Mirabai Rose (past president), Robyn Fernance (then membership officer)  and the rest of the committee at the time talking about the depth of the Breathwork lineage in Australia. We had just worked out that Mirabai and I could have the same “grandparents”.  My lineage belongs to the Breathwork Family Tree that started with Ahrara Bhakti who trained Michael Adamedes who teed up with Quentin Watts to train Robyn Fernance who was my trainer.
​
Mirabai’s lineage also started with Ahrara Bhakti who, as stated above, trained Michael Adamedes who teed up with Quentin Watts to train Denise Burgess. Denise teed up with Michael and Quentin to train Jonine Lee-Gabay who in turn trained Mirabai. During her training, Mirabai was also supervised by Karen Daniel – Ahrara’s daughter, through whom Mirabai says: “I feel the lineage through her so strongly, its an honour to work with her.”

In July, nine Aussies attended the GIC (Global Inspiration Conference) in Joshua Tree USA (Mirabai , Anne , Fey, Josh, Lisa - Canberra; Eli - Melbourne; Alakh, Ghislaine - NSW and Russel - Perth).
I have been attending the GIC for a decade and have loved every single one. 

The GIC was attended by almost 300 people, many new to Breathwork. 
Asked about the highlights.... I would say that definitely it is the community of breathers, who come together every year and share, reconnect with the breath and inspire each other. We fill each other up for the year ahead. I am so nurtured, nourished and held. It is delightful. 

The speakers this year largely focused on conscious connected breathwork and I enjoyed that SO much. It was good to reflect on the foundations of connected breathing practice, and to hear different ways of demonstrating CCB (Conscious Connected Breathwork) and holding space. There were also workshops on working with people with trauma, and also teaching teachers to use conscious breath in classrooms. 

I had a lot of fun of an evening, drumming, ecstatic dancing in community; and morning breath practices with the breathairians who taught me so much about life and prana. Truly grateful for their wisdom. 

Lastly, I have been chairing the AGM for a few years and it is THE BEST way to engage with our peers. At the AGM the IBF voted in a new definition of Breathwork - which relates specifically to Conscious Connected Breathwork. The IBF recognises that the term 'breathwork' is used as a blanket term for various breathing practices. Given this, there is a need for a term/definition that refers more specifically to our profession. The term Conscious Connected Breathwork was agreed to (although we are open to suggestions for a less clunky name!) and a working definition was approved. Phew! At last...we can EASILY answer the question 'what type of breathwork do you do?'

I invite you all to join us in Sweden in 2020 - reconnect with breath, with spirit, and with our breathing community the world over.
​Love xx Mirabai 

A special and massive vote of gratitude and appreciation to the ABA Training Endorsement Subcommittee team for their work over the past two years. The team made up of Cindy Aulby, Robyn Fernance and Ann Harrison put together the process to have individual Breathwork Schools Breathwork Trainings endorsed by the ABA.

Breathwork Practitioner Training has a minimum of 450 hours of theory and experiential work to ensure a sound standard is maintained to enable quality care of Breathwork Clients. This Standard was developed over years of working with the Elders of the Breathwork community in Australia and follows the requirements of the International Breathwork Foundation and Global Professional Breathwork Alliance for Practitioner Training in Conscious Connected Breathwork (CCB).

In 2018, 12 ABA Breathwork trainers, from 10 Breathwork schools/colleges within Australia, made application to have their practitioner trainings endorsed, from which the ABA endorsed all 10 Australian Breathwork Practitioner Trainings

What does this mean?