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Breathing in Culture 

A transformative breathwork course that will help you connect to yourself and make sense of the world. 

What to Expect:

  • Guided breathwork sessions in small groups, led by Inspirational Breathing practitioners

  • Develop your own breathwork practice 

  • Learn from thought-leaders in cultural studies, technology, media and politics to support your practice

  • Explore peak experiences that enhance sensemaking, creativity and problem solving

  • Unlock reading lists, films and useful resources

  • Join a community of like-minded explorers from around the world

Beginning 13 November 2024, finishing 18 December

Price: £425 / $560 (Early Bird £395) 

Apply for a partial scholarship here

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Learn a life-changing practice. Go on a journey into the deepest parts of yourself and unravel the deep code of culture.

Teachers and Facilitators
(Click to read bios)

What is Breathwork?

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Breathwork can refer to any practice in which we intentionally use the breath to elicit an altered state of consciousness. Breathwork has been used in yogic traditions for thousands of years, and today it is practised for everything from personal development, cold exposure, free diving, creativity enhancement, trauma release and consciousness exploration. 

Breathing in Culture is a collaboration between Alexander Beiner and Inspirational Breathing, a breathwork school founded by Nicola Price. Alexander chose to train with Nicola after trying a variety of breathwork modalities and landing on Inspirational Breathing because of its unique combination of movement, music, physiology and personal inquiry, as well as its deep-rooted ethos. Nicola and those trained in Inspirational Breathing teach with a vibrancy, positivity and nuance that sets them above many other modalities out there.

 

Inspirational Breathing uses a technique called ‘Conscious Connected’ breath, which involves deep intentional breathing through the mouth to elicit a powerful altered state. Breathwork isn’t only about our minds and emotions: it’s also physical. You take 20,000 breaths a day, and each of those breaths fuels your body. A growing body of research suggests that learning how to take full breaths can have a significant impact on our wellbeing. 

This combination of physiology and psychology is one of the most fascinating and rewarding aspects of breathwork. No two breathwork sessions are alike. We might come into contact with our unconscious thoughts and feelings, or gain new insights into our deepest desires. Perhaps we release a physical tension and notice how our whole torso suddenly fills breath in a way we've never experienced. Or, we might have creative ‘eureka’ moments and find practical solutions to problems. We might release emotional pain and physical tension, or experience a deep sense of bliss and relaxation. Sometimes, this can all happen in a single session. 


The more we practice, the more we start to tune into our unique breath pattern and improve it. Identifying and correcting unhelpful breathing patterns in our day to day lives is a big part of Inspirational Breathing. One thing you’ll learn is how to return to a ‘baby’s breath’. If you watch a baby breathe, you’ll notice their whole torso expands with the breath. They’re using their diaphragm and effortlessly filling their bodies with air. As adults, we’ve often strayed far from this physiologically efficient way of breathing.
 

As you read this, tune into your breath. Does it feel like your diaphragm is working effortlessly to help you fill your lungs with air? For most of us, the answer is no. Throughout life we develop unhelpful breathing patterns in response to our experiences. We all have breathing dysfunctions; we might be breathing up into our shoulders, with our secondary shoulder muscles taking the role of the diaphragm. Or, we might breath too far into our bellies and not be taking full breaths into the chest. 

 

As we develop a breathwork practice, we start to notice where our breath is stuck and work through those tensions to improve our breath pattern. Learning to breathe more fully can have profound effects on our lives. Many people who practice breathwork report finding it easier to regulate their nervous systems, process emotions, improve lung capacity,  and tap into more energy and zest for life. 

Why This, Why Now?

Peak experiences can give us powerful insights into our hearts and minds. When we alter our state of consciousness, we radically reframe who we think we are, how we solve problems, and what we dream is possible.

But insight is only half of the story. The times we live in call for something new: an approach to personal development that orients us toward the outside as much as the inside. When we have a transformative experience, it can change our lives and fill us with potential. But if that potential stays just inside us, we miss an opportunity to impact the world in new ways. Likewise, focusing too much on trying to understand the world without first understanding ourselves leaves us prone to self-deception.

That’s because insight and outsight are mutually arising. They need each other. Outsight is the act of looking out into the world so that we can have a meaningful impact. That means harnessing our unique inner experiences and perspectives, and applying them to how we make sense of culture and politics, how we solve collective problems and imagine new futures.

 

Breathing in Culture is a breathwork course that doesn't shy away from what's happening in the world, but incorporates and explores it deeply. It will take you on a powerful journey into your own consciousness, emotions and thoughts. To support your practice, you'll also have the opportunity to learn from thought leaders offering new perspectives on society, technology, media and politics. 

You will develop your own personal breathwork practice over six weeks, working with trained breathwork practitioners in small groups. As a group of pioneering explorers, we’ll inquire and experiment on the leading edge where our inner worlds meet the outer world.

Weekly Schedule

Week One: Introduction with
Alexander Beiner and Nicola Price (13 Nov, 8pm UK time)

Week Two: Sex and Gender with
Katherine Dee (20 Nov, 8pm UK time)

Week Three: Politics and Polarisation with Peter Boghossian (27 Nov, 8pm UK time)

Week Four: Vibe Shifts with Peter Limberg (4 December, 8pm Uk time)

Week Five: AI and New Religions with Alexander Beiner (11 December, 8pm UK time)

Week Six: From Insight to Outsight: Group Inquiry and Closing (18 December, 8pm UK time)

The weekly breathwork sessions will be 2 hours, while the thought-leader sessions are 90 minutes. The thought-leader sessions will be recorded and shared for rewatching, while the breathwork sessions are participatory and won't be recorded.

The schedule for breathwork sessions will be designed and shared shortly before the course begins, once we know where people are based geographically.

Logistics

Breathing in Culture involves two different kinds of sessions. One is your breathwork training in small groups, working with a trained Inspirational Breathing practitioner each week. We will have a variety of time options available to accommodate different time zones around the world, focusing mainly on morning and evening time slots so that the course is easy to incorporate into work and family commitments. 

Each week, we’ll also have a session for the whole group where a thought-leader comes in to lecture and do a Q&A around a particular topic. These sessions always happen on Wednesdays at 8pm UK time / 3pm New York / 5am Melbourne. These sessions will be recorded so you can watch them back or catch them if you miss them, while your breathwork sessions won’t be recorded and are participatory.  When you book your ticket, we'll ask you where in the world you are so that we can schedule in the breathwork sessions at as convenient a time as possible. 

Breathwork can be very powerful, and this is likely to open a deep personal process for everyone. Our ethos on the course is to create a safe and exploratory environment, so that you feel contained and supported. We will have biweekly ‘Safety Net’ calls, where you can dive deeper into what’s coming up with the help of a clinical psychologist, Dr. Ashleigh Murphy-Beiner, who has expertise in helping people integrate altered states. 
 

We will also use a buddy system so that you have another participant to connect and reflect with throughout; it’s also a great way to keep each other accountable as you develop a regular practice. 


There are some conditions that are contraindicated for breathwork, which you can find on inspirationalbreathing.com/resources. If you have any questions about these, just write to us at courses[at]alexanderbeiner.com.

 

Having run personal development and sensemaking courses for thousands of people, we believe Breathing in Culture marks a new kind of collective and individual journey, one that will take us all, as the breath often does, somewhere inspiring, creative, beautiful and unexpected. A journey that invites us to create solutions, to marry the internal and the external. To identify new opportunities, new beliefs, new behaviours and bring them into the world to create real change. 

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