Mental Health-ish
Welcome to "Mental Health-ish". This podcast is dedicated to women who are seeking to redefine life by prioritizing their mental health and exploring all aspects of their well-being. Join us as we dive deep into conversations about mental health, self-discovery, personal growth, relationships, career, and everything in between. Our goal is to provide a safe and supportive space where women can freely explore their challenges, triumphs, and aspirations. Each episode features insightful interviews, empowering stories, and practical advice from experts in various fields or people from all walks of life. Get ready to redefine what wellness means for you and embark on a transformative journey towards thriving on your own terms. It's time to embrace your mental health and unlock your limitless potential.
Hosted by: Susie
IG: @mentalhealth.ish
www.mentalhealth-ish.com
Mental Health-ish
Healing Trauma Through Breathwork Transformation
What if you could unlock profound healing and release deeply held traumas through your breath alone? Join us as we journey with Megan, and discover her life-changing encounter with conscious connected breathwork. Megan is the founder of Unity Breathwork and a passionate, caring, intuitive, and highly experienced Breathwork Facilitator and teacher. Ever since her life-changing first Breathwork session 7 years ago, she has made it her mission to bring this profound self-healing modality to the world and to help make Breathwork as accessible as yoga.
Through this practice, Megan was able to confront and heal childhood trauma and bulimia, leading to a transformative shift in her life. Her story shines a light on the power of breathwork in accessing altered states of consciousness and her mission to make this self-healing tool available to everyone, much like yoga.
Guest: Megan Ashton
Website: http://www.unitybreathwork.com/
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Hi Megan, Hi Susie, how are you? I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 2:Good thanks, hi. It's nice to meet you on this online platform.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no worries. Where are you from? Where are you located?
Speaker 1:So I'm from Canada, just outside of Toronto, and I spend about maybe four months of the year here and then the rest of the time in Salida Mexico.
Speaker 2:Okay, so what made you decide to go there, to that part of Mexico, like what kind of brought you there?
Speaker 1:I had actually spent basically my entire adult life over 15 years traveling the world and I was ready to put down some sort of roots. And of any town I had ever been to, this town Salida had the most I was looking for. It was like this beautiful vibe of a warm, welcoming community, lovely weather, beautiful sunsets and a lot of wellness and spirituality vibes, and it's just really easy living. You don't need a car, and it was kind of just it's what I'd been looking for all along. So I figured it was time to put some roots down. Plus, it's really convenient to be so close to my family, with direct flights back and forth to Toronto. And that was about three and a half years ago and I've been living there most of the year since then.
Speaker 2:Okay, and what kind of got you started on your journey? Because I was I was really interested in like the type of work that you're doing. Can you speak?
Speaker 1:a little bit more about that. Yeah, have you tried conscious connected breath work before?
Speaker 2:I haven't no Okay.
Speaker 1:So, along with all of my traveling all those years, I was also on a little bit of a concurrent healing quest, just trying everything. Basically, I had a lot of childhood trauma that was very much just suppressed. So I was just kind of living in a state of numbness and then, to like put everything on top of that, I also was struggling with bulimia for almost 15 years and then I had some adult abusive relationships. And so over the 15 years I tried a lot of things. I had become a clinical hypnotherapist, a holistic nutritionist, I got my yoga teacher training, I got certified in Reiki. I obviously spoke to some talk therapists, I did some shamanic healing. I feel like I just tried so many things but nothing gave me that healing breakthrough that I was looking for. And so, even with all my different wellness certifications, I didn't feel really authentic offering them. And then I was living in Bali and a friend just told me you have to try this breathwork. And she told me straight up she's like you know, this actually cured my bulimia. And I was like wow, that's, that's a big statement and I've been trying for 15 years. So I'll try anything.
Speaker 1:And I remember being like slightly skeptical because during my yoga teacher training, I had a lot of resistance to the breathing practices, to the daily pranayama we had to do. I was like I don't like this, this is boring. Like when is this over? I had all that ego resistance so I'm like I don't know about these breathing things. But I thought, you know, I just show up with an open mind and give it a try and within 10 or 15 minutes I was in this altered state of consciousness. I was brought back to like my little two-year-old self and I was just like bawling out my mother's love and affection and like I want to side note she did the best she can. She's a wonderful mother. But this was my own inner feelings of what was happening and it was stuff that I had suppressed and not allowed myself to feel. And so I went back and I felt it fully and I did it in this really safe container where I had, you know, a breathwork facilitator there to offer me the supportive touch that, like my inner child, always longed for and the care and affection.
Speaker 1:And after that session I just I was exhausted that night from crying so much. I'd cried more than I had my entire adult life, it felt. But the next morning I felt reborn, I had more confidence, I didn't care as much people thought about me and I was able to kind of feel more feelings Like I used to rely on alcohol to feel happiness. And I was able to kind of feel more feelings like I used to rely on alcohol to feel happiness. And I was able to start to feel more happiness without alcohol.
Speaker 1:And within a couple of weeks I was in the teacher training and it's a 400 hour training and as part of the training we did weekly breathwork sessions and I would say after about like after that first session, the bulimia already started to lose its grip on me, but after a couple of months of doing this weekly it just no longer resonated, already started to lose its grip on me, but after a couple months of doing this weekly it just no longer resonated and for once, like finally in my life, it didn't have a calling on me. Even when things got tough, I didn't feel called towards it. It just like was something. It just kind of switched off. And since then I've just been so passionate about bath work. It's been almost seven years now that I've been facilitating. I've become a teacher so they can offer to teach others how to facilitate, because I've really made it my life's mission since that very first session to help make breathwork as popular and as accessible as yoga, because I just think it's such a profound self-healing tool.
Speaker 2:Oh, that sounds amazing. That sounds amazing Just how powerful breathwork is. Yeah, I even think about, right, like when you're going through something people don't really think about. Oh, let me try breathwork, right Like there's other things. And so you mentioned, you tried, tried everything, and then this was what had the biggest breakthrough.
Speaker 1:I think it's because we're working with altered states of consciousness. So you're probably aware how you know, some therapists are starting to incorporate ketamine or psilocybin into their treatments. But with breathwork we don't have to take anything outside of ourselves. We can alter our state of consciousness and then we can start to access these deep subconscious things that are, you know, been buried from our conscious mind. We can start to actually create like deep and lasting change, versus just working with the conscious mind, which is so much more limited.
Speaker 1:So, actually, like I had even done a whole week of ayahuasca in the Colombian jungle about a year before I discovered the breathwork, and it didn't. If anything, it left me traumatized and more sick. My body was so worn down from that, and so when I did my first session I was like, oh my God, that was what I was looking for with the ayahuasca. But I didn't get sent into hell for 18 hours and stuck there. And it's really empowering, because not only is the breath our own medicine, but we can come out of it at any time. So it's not like you've taken ketamine or plant medicine and you're stuck in it. Now you can just come back to a normal breath if it's overwhelming, and so you really get to regulate the intensity of your experience.
Speaker 2:You feel like it's the. It provides the same effect as the I don't know how to pronounce it the ayahuasca type thing, except without having to put anything in your body. Or is it a different?
Speaker 1:So yes, I know so it's very as far as the different, like transformation sites, healing potentials, getting in touch through inner wisdom all of that's basically the same across the board, depending on, like, no matter what psychedelic type substance you're taking, you can get access to that, but it's not nearly as harsh of an experience. There isn't. Some people do get like colorful psychedelic visions just from their breath, but it's often more emotional. Sometimes you go back and like visit a trauma from a higher perspective, or you go back and offer your inner child some love. The whole realm of things can happen and it can. The benefits and experiences can be very similar to psychedelics or plant medicine. However, it is, I just think, way less harsh and way more empowering, because the breath is the medicine.
Speaker 2:And what does that look like? Like for someone that doesn't know? You know they're hearing the word okay breath work. Like what does that look like? What does that mean? Okay, so that, okay breathwork Like what does that look like? What does that mean?
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's a very broad question. Basically, when we say breathwork, it's kind of a short form for conscious connected breathwork. Sometimes it's called circular connected breathwork. The primary part is that it's connected, so there's no pause between the inhale and the exhale and you're taking in deeper breaths than usual. And this deeper, rhythmic breathing without pauses is what leads to all of the physical and chemical alterations and the alterations in the brainwaves and all those other things that lead to the altered states of consciousness. So you might have people calling it connected breathwork or just breathwork for short, and it's like breathwork without a space between breath and work. So some people get confused because there's like functional breathing and they call that breathwork. But that's like learning how to breathe more optimally optimally in everyday life and this has nothing to do with that. We're actually breathing through our mouths in most breath practices and that's like not optimal at all in your daily living. But when it's used for a short period of time for therapeutic purposes, it's okay.
Speaker 2:So there's actually like a technique to it Because, like in therapy, we I'm a therapist, by the way we tell clients. Like you know, if you're feeling any anxiety or whatever, like you know, do some breathing, some deep breathing, right? We tell that to clients and sometimes the clients are like okay, like how is this helpful, you know, whatever? So like this is a different type of breath work, like there's actually a technique to it in order for it to be effective.
Speaker 1:Yes, I think it's really important here for me to note that those types of breathing practices that you're giving to people probably things along like the box breathing or like doubling your exhale, any of that kind of conscious breathing where you're just bringing focus to the breath those are more like I would categorize as breathing practices or breathing techniques and they're really great for in the moment, for reducing stress or coming into the moment or getting rid of insomnia, but those activate the parasympathetic nervous system branch, which for anyone watching, is the rest and digest branch. Whereas with this type of breath work we're actually purposefully activating the sympathetic nervous system branch, but we're doing it in an empowered and safe way, because anytime we've had stressful experiences, adverse experiences, traumas, we're in that sympathetic state. So by revisiting that state, but doing it in an empowered and safe way, we can actually start to get to the root of some of these things that may be stuck in our bodies. And sometimes you know I've mentioned earlier that people might revisit a trauma, but other times, like, the body can just process these stuck emotions and these stuck things and help to rebalance the nervous system without even having to revisit what happened to them. So some people will just maybe like bawl their eyes out or feel anger, or feel sadness or fear, whatever it is, and we encourage them to unite it with the breath.
Speaker 1:And then when you're breathing and feeling at the same time in this altered state, then it allows for actual shifts to really occur and most will feel a lot lighter afterwards. And then we always kind of use like the onion analogy like each session you're peeling back an onion and sometimes like for myself, for instance, and for a lot of my breathers like that first session can be life changing and other times you need to peel back some more onions before you can have such a dramatic experience. Like some people just need to feel things in their body because they've numbed themselves out, so for the whole session they're just feeling all these different sensations. And really every session is different for every person every time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I would imagine too, like the person has to be open to feeling these things right, or like open to the experience. Or do you find people that are kind of like resistive Is it still work the same? Or like what do you? What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 1:It's a bit of both. So actually, like, my favorite people are people that are skeptics, that have been dragged there by their partner or by a loved one and they're like I don't believe in this. This is woo, woo, my breath's not going to work, you know, because if I can just get them to follow the breathing technique, all of that resistance there's always resistance for everybody, including myself the first 10 or 15 minutes, like the ego really kind of like pops its ugly head up and really tries to talk you out of it. But then after that you're in the altered state. So if I can get them to just keep breathing, in spite of that resistance, for that first 10 or so minutes, they will reach that different state and by the end of it they're like, oh my God, like something worked.
Speaker 1:And then I've had men you know, who will admit I haven't cried since I was a child. I've been told not to cry, so I've suppressed my entire adult life and I finally just let tears out. So it's like all of these different resistance and these egos and masks manifestations, they kind of just come crumbling down. If you can just follow the technique for 10 or 15 minutes, you get into that state. That bypasses all of that resistance and I love that. The only time it doesn't work for people is when they're just doing kind of like a really soft, slow breathing pattern because I use the analogy the breath is a medicine, so if you're breathing basically normally, you're not going to create any change.
Speaker 2:It's like a micro dose okay, so does it have to be kind of like a very like deep breath, like, uh, like a deep type of breath?
Speaker 1:yeah. So some facilitators will teach it through the nose. I teach it through the mouth. Most, most schools are teaching through the mouth now because if you think about it like a wide, open mouth, like you're biting into a fruit, see how much more air you can get in than my two nostrils, yeah. And then we really encourage you to breathe deep into the belly, so much so that it inflates the chest, so like full body breath, really inflating all of your lungs and then releasing it and the emphasis is on the inhale. So it's like, and you can't see my belly, but it's really inflating. And so sometimes, like you know, I might place a hand on the participant's belly and be like breathe into my hand to help, like get them used to it, because most of us aren't breathe used to breathing deeply.
Speaker 2:You know, we kind of forgot how to do that after we're babies okay, yeah, and I see, like, as you were doing it, your body's also moving because, yeah, right, like moving with the breath naturally, like because you're taking it, when you take in a deep enough breath.
Speaker 1:it's almost impossible to take like a full body, like a full, full inhale without moving your body, like like it takes so much work to try and hold still. So if you're just taking in a full body breath, it will naturally move kind of like out and in, like that, and then we actually do encourage natural body movements that happen in a session, like sometimes someone's body might start to shake naturally and again that's a really good release of tensions and these stuck things from our bodies the nervous system has a way of balancing out by shaking, and so that might happen. Sometimes people's arms might start to move like the whole realm is possible. Sometimes we'll vocalize and you know, like I mentioned, that the crying is big, but other people just get absolute bliss or euphoria or you know they feel like they've met some deceased loved ones, like the whole realm is possible in. Every session is so different that it's just seven years later. I'm just as passionate about it. It never gets old.
Speaker 2:It sounds very, very interesting and yeah, like it was just very interesting and helpful, I feel uh, one of the things to I know, like with breathing.
Speaker 2:So for this example, like is there a certain way or cause, something that I hear a lot like when people try to do any kind of breathing and obviously we're not doing it to like, as you are right Like the breathing that we tell people to do and therapy and things like that. Like one of the biggest things that I hear people say is it's really hard to just sit there and breathe because your mind starts racing. You start thinking about all the things like your mind's just racing with thoughts Like, um, what? Any like tips or suggestions for people on like how to get past that in breath work?
Speaker 1:so yes and no, because actually that's one thing that I love about this type of breath work is that um a, you have a facilitator, so that's one of the reasons people are able to stick to it.
Speaker 1:And people say can I do this alone? I'm like you can try, but like 98 people can't, because of that resistance exactly that you were speaking out. But two, the whole reason like I couldn't get behind pranayama is my whole overactive mind was having all of those things. But what I love about with this breath work is that after 10 or 15 minutes that just goes away and then the rest of the time flies by and like nobody can believe it's an hour at the end and nobody even wants to come back to normal breath. They're like no, like I want to stay over a year, and so as far as like everyday breathing practices go, I don't really have advice because I'd be hypocritical to give it, since I felt that way myself and I still do, and that's why I'm so passionate about breathwork, because that like it gets you past that resistance and just into a deep, altered state.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah so this is the to do this type of breath work. It is kind of like encouraged to have a facilitator, like it would. It's the best practice for it.
Speaker 1:For two reasons. For one, there actually are contraindications because you are working with the sympathetic nervous system Like that's our fight or flight stress response. So say you have, you know, severe heart issues. You don't necessarily want to be elevating your heart rate. Or if you have glaucoma it can elevate your blood pressure. You don't want to have the blood pressure in your eyes. So first of all, for that safety reason, you want to have a facilitator. And then, secondly, it's just that you get the most out of it because almost all of us, even facilitators, even my trainees, that resistance just comes right up and you find yourself kind of just going back into more of a soft normal breath when you don't have someone there to continually coach you, and then you almost never reach like those great depths where you're actually creating some lasting change and transformation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so then that's where you would come in, like you're a facilitator, right? So then what is typically like your role in these types of sessions? Like some examples of like what types of things that you do?
Speaker 1:I think it's different. So we kind of have, like we it's guided by music and when it's in person, I'm also offering supportive touch, and music starts off slow and then it goes up towards a peak and as music builds, I'm more focused on getting people to follow the breathing pattern, to build their breath to really, like, get in as much air as possible. But then after the peak, that's usually when the body's taken over and you're in an altered state and that's often when emotional releases will come out, physical releases will come out and all of those. So it's more of a nurturing role where I'm there to, like you know, put a hand on their heart or hold their hand or just offer supportive touch in any way that they feel, you know, safe, of course with their approval in advance, like we don't just go touching people without their consent. And so it's kind of like a mix of breath coach, like getting them to do the technique, getting them to stick with the technique.
Speaker 1:Sometimes after the peak, when the music gets mellow, they forget to breathe. So I'm there to remind them but also to give cues, just for I usually just speak to like kind of universal things that most of us struggle with, like because you are actually in the state you're accessing the subconscious minds, you can start to reprogram some of the limiting beliefs and negative thoughts that a lot of us have. So you know, I might speak to like you are more than worthy, you are deeply loved and lovable just things that, like a lot of us have doubts about. You know you're strong, you're resilient. Whatever comes to mind in the moment, I just kind of say. And because they're in an altered state, I trust that if they're not meant to hear it, they won't, and if they are, they will, and then often, like those words will help kind of bring them to a place of a new insight or breakthrough or release for them.
Speaker 1:And then the music is really carefully curated too. Like I really I choose music that's going to really build the tempo and pace moving up, so it's almost like shamanic, but then after the peak it's more emotional based and I try to choose ones that have really inspiring lyrics, because I know that they might pick up on some of those lyrics and I want that to be positive things that they're hearing. And yeah, mostly I'm just holding space. So that's what I love about breathwork is like I'm not healing anybody, I'm not like some person who thinks they're a guru. I'm just giving people tools to be their own healers yeah, yeah, definitely okay.
Speaker 2:Do you feel like this? I like I'm just giving people tools to be their own healers. Yeah, yeah, definitely Okay. Do you feel like this? I'm just curious Do you feel like going into the altered space, accessing your subconscious, do you feel like that helps with people healing or kind of like moving past, you know, whatever traumas they have? Do you feel like that is a necessary step for everyone or is it different, you know, per person? Yeah, because I'm thinking of maybe someone listening, thinking okay, do I have to go into this altered state in order to heal? Am I healed? Or just by going to therapy, do I need to do this type of work? Would you say it's extra helpful?
Speaker 1:I don't know for for an average person yes, I think for all of us we can benefit from it because it's putting us in touch, their inner wisdom. So even if we're in a really happy, healthy place, there's still more confidence or more insights we can have, or just everyday stressors. It's an opportunity to feel and release everyday stressors or just come into presence. There's always like I feel like as long as we're alive, there's always more layers to go through. We're always like healing and evolving, you know, and the thing is like having the awareness and the tools to deal with our everyday stuff is so important and that's like so helpful with therapy.
Speaker 1:But until you bring it into the body, like you need to get the body and the subconscious mind on board as well, because as long as your nervous system is still dysregulated, because it's still in that past state, like stuck of trauma, it hasn't processed it, even though you've mentally processed it, you're still stuck in that high activation state or you're still triggered or you're having a really hard time because you're only using your willpower to come over, get over that addiction and try and resist it. But when you start to work in the altered states, you actually get to the root way quicker and actually like most of my clients in where I am. When I'm in Canada, they are referred to me from a therapist. Because I think the two together is so beneficial, because you get the support and the tools and professionalism and awareness with a therapist and then you bring it into the body and you bring these new insights into the subconscious mind with the altered states of consciousness. So the two together can just be such a beautiful and powerful pairing.
Speaker 2:I could see that actually, now that you've kind of explained that the body part of it because I've, you know, I've had people that have done therapy I feel like in the mind, like you said, everything feels great, like'm okay, like I'm good, but then something can happen that triggers that physical responses or, like you know, something can come up that kind of makes you not feel good again. So maybe that's connected to the body part of it. Right, the body's still storing a lot of the trauma or, you know, experiences, and so it can keep coming up.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, it's like when you get that, when you have the conscious side of it, that's so important Awareness is like the first step for any change. But until you bring it into the body anytime you haven't slept well, you've had a really stressful experience, or you have too much on your plate, or somebody just triggers you it's like it kind of has like a full bucket and then everything just comes right back up again that you thought you had under control. But when you start to actually take it into the body, then you can really actually create like a clear state, clear slate and like really process these things so that you don't get triggered anymore and that you can actually like bring your newfound insights and awareness into your actual body and into your subconscious programming now, with this breath work, is there like an end goal, like, okay, I need to do this breath work, I, you know, I, I feel like I, I feel great, you know whatever.
Speaker 2:Or is this something like people should do continuously, if that makes sense?
Speaker 1:So it could go either way. Like typically, when people come to me and they want to make, like some, some big, lasting change, I'll say okay, like let's sign up for six sessions and we'll do it either weekly or bi-weekly. And then after that I'll be like, okay, but let's do, like you know, just a top up session every month or two because, like, as long as we're alive, there's still more stuff to go back into process. Um, but also, like some people will just come sporadically, or some people will just come to two sessions and they'll still check in a year later and be, like, you know, like ever since that session I got an insight and now I've forgiven my parents and we're all closer. I'm so much closer to my partner. I've let down my heart, like the guards around my heart, and I've called in a new soulmate.
Speaker 1:Like lasting change can happen in just a couple of sessions, which is really amazing. But I do think like, ideally, you want to, you know, keep doing a session every once in a while and sometimes you just use your intuition. Like you know, things are feeling a little crazy right now. I don't feel like I can handle it. I'm getting overwhelmed, like I think I need to do another breathwork session. It's kind of like a reset.
Speaker 2:Okay, so are you still doing breathwork yourself, like just personally?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, of course I do it at least twice a week. I always try and do at least a short session before every session that I facilitate. I'm also a teacher for other facilitators, so I'm just and when I'm not like facilitating this type of breathing is really just creating like a new. There's just a new resurgence of it. Recently it's becoming more popular and well-known and I want to help with that and I want people to understand kind of what's happening. You know what's happening with the nervous system, the vagus nerve, the brain waves and everything and how it creates these changes.
Speaker 2:And are you practicing in Mexico and in Canada or where you're practicing? Are you practicing in Mexico and in Canada or where?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so when I'm in Canada for the summertime, I practice just outside of Toronto, and then when I'm in Mexico, I practice just outside of Puerto Vallarta. There's a couple little towns called Busuris and Celita and I offer weekly group sessions, but I also offer online. So I have clients from around the world and I offer one-on-one sessions. For some people they do better in one-on-ones and for others they actually do better in groups. Hearing other people breathe around you can sometimes be supportive. It helps, kind of like keep you accountable to the breath. So I offer all of it One-on-ones groups online in person wherever I happen to be in the world.
Speaker 2:And will people find more information if they were interested in?
Speaker 1:learning more, absolutely so I've made my website a bit of a learning resource, and it's called Unity Breathwork, which is my company's name, and so I'd recommend going there. I do also have Instagram, unity Breathwork, but I would say most of my heart and soul goes into my website, and that's where you'll find so many different resources and you'll be able to get a really deep dive into understanding what this is all about.
Speaker 2:And if you wanted to do a session with me, you'll see all my contact details there. Thank you, so much this really interesting, and I will for sure be checking out your website and just reading some of your stuff. Yeah, yes, everything is there, okay, so, yeah, definitely checking it out. But, yeah, it sounds very interesting and I'm really glad it's helping so many people, including yourself, right? And so, yeah, I appreciate you coming on to talking about it and I will be checking out your website to myself.
Speaker 1:So okay, great, I hope you'll give it a try sometime, whether it's online or in person. Thank you. Thanks, susie.
