Medical Contraindications
Aneurysms
If either you have had an aneurysm or if more than one person in your immediate family (parent, child or sibling) has had one. – In breathwork, while many times the participant just lies or sits quietly with all of the processing being internal, there are also times when the participant spontaneously starts moving around and/or vocalizing while emotional material is being released which could place the arteries of the brain under strain. If you have already had an aneurysm, this type of experience may put you at increased risk of having another. In most cases, brain aneurysms are not hereditary, and there is generally only a single case in a family. Occasionally, however, an individual with a brain aneurysm will have other family members who are affected. When two or more first-degree relatives (parent, child, or sibling) have proven aneurysms, these are called “familial aneurysms.” Individuals in these families may be at higher risk of developing aneurysms than the general population.
Asthma
If you have asthma, you are welcome to breathe, but your must have your inhaler available as sometimes, during breathwork, in cases of psychosomatic illnesses such as asthma, your psyche may actually intensify the symptoms as it is trying to ameliorate the condition.
Cardiovascular disease and/or irregularities including prior heart attack
Historique d'accidents cardiovasculaires
Detached Retina
Breathing faster and deeper reduces intraocular pressure. This increases the risk of having permanent vision damage for a person with a detached retina.
Epilepsy
There is a slightly increased chance of having a seizure during breathwork due to the faster deeper breathing.
Glaucoma
Sometimes, during an intense process, the breather may stess and strain internally, which could temporarily increase intraocular pressure which would make the symptoms of glaucoma worse. In addition, if, after a session, you have blurred vision, it could be a symptom of an undiagnosed case of glaucoma and you should get your eyes examined before continuing breathwork.
High Blood Pressure that is not controlled with medication
Strong emotional release and/or intense physical movement can exacerbate high blood pressure issues, raising it even higher than it is.
History of strokes or seizures
Osteoporosis
That is serious enough whereby moving around actively could cause physical damage to your body.
Pregnancy
In breathwork, the deeper breathing creates certain physiological changes in your body, including making your blood more alkaline. This is the same blood that goes through the fetus. Since there have, to our knowledge, never been any studies on the impact of this on the health of the fetus, we do not allow pregnant women to do breathwork. In addition, later in pregnancy, if a breather has a “rebirthing” style of experience, it could trigger premature contractions.
Prescription blood thinning/anti-clotting medications such as Coumadin
Sometimes breathers move around quite actively during breathwork. If he/she were to, for example, bang their head on something and create an internal bleed their body would find it difficult and/or impossible to heal the bleed through its standard healing mechanism of clotting.
Psychiatric Contraindications
Bipolar disorder or schizophrenia (Prior diagnosis by a health professional)
If you have bipolar disorder, breathwork could trigger a manic episode.
Hospitalization for any psychiatric condition or emotional crisis in past 10 years such as an attempted suicide or nervous breakdown
If this is the case, we ask that you contact us before breathing and get written approval. We want to make sure that you are grounded enough to handle any of the intense emotional or physical releases that may occur during your breathwork session.
PTSD (possible contraindication)
Many participants have had profound healing experiences in regards to PTSD. However, if you have a severe case and are under a therapist’s care, we ask that you get his or her approval to participate so we are sure that you are grounded enough to handle what might come up during the session, including possibly reliving the experience which caused the PTSD in order to release it out of your system.
Any other medical, psychiatric or physical conditions which would impair or affect ability to engage in activities involving intense physical and/or emotional release.
One possible example might be a neurological issue or disease.
Please e-mail us at if you are at all unsure whether one or more of the above apply to you.