Exploring Breathwork in Pleasure-Centered Trauma Recovery.
Breathing is a truly remarkable system within the body—both automatic and intentional. We rarely think about it as we go about our day, yet we can consciously manipulate it to influence how we feel. This unique quality makes breath a powerful “bridge” between the autonomic nervous system and conscious self-regulation, giving us the ability to shift our physical and emotional states.
For those navigating trauma recovery, breathwork can offer a pathway to greater awareness, choice, pleasure, and connection in the body. It can also be misused and is often misunderstood.
Breath as a Bridge Between Body and Mind
Breathing is part of our autonomic nervous system, meaning it happens automatically—without conscious thought. Whether we’re asleep, stressed, or at rest, our body ensures we keep breathing.
Yet, unlike most other autonomic body functions (like digestion), we can easily consciously control and change how we breathe. This ability to intentionally influence an otherwise automatic function makes breath a unique gateway for tending to our nervous system.
For example:
Deepening our inhales activates the sympathetic nervous system (associated with energy and activation), creating feelings of alertness, excitement, or even hyperarousal.
Lengthening our exhales engages the parasympathetic nervous system (associated with rest and relaxation), helping us settle into calmness, bliss, or hypoarousal.
By consciously playing with our breath, we can explore how it impacts our state of being, widening or narrowing our access to feelings, sensations, and nervous system regulation.
Breathing and the Nervous System
The way we breathe directly affects our nervous system and overall sense of safety in the body. When we alter our breath with intention, we can influence how we feel in the moment:
Short, shallow breaths: Is how many of us breath, at least some of the time! This breathing style is associated with stress, hyperventilation, or anxiety. These can signal danger to the body and perpetuate states of dysregulation.
Slow, nasal breathing: Supports nervous system balance and encourages calmness and stability. Programs like the Buteyko Breath Retraining that I took by Jennifer Snowdon emphasize the long-term benefits of breathing less, breathing lightly, and breathing consistently through the nose.
This approach can be especially helpful for those who habitually hold their breath, sigh frequently. mouth breathe, or experience irregular breathing patterns due to stored traumatic stress. Retraining the breath to be steady and soft can help settle chronic dysregulation and create a foundation for healing.
However, it’s important to remember that the breath is just one piece of the puzzle. While retraining breathing patterns can offer transformative impact, it’s also vital to explore the bigger picture of what might be causing nervous system dysregulation, such as unresolved traumatic stress or unsafe environments.
Breath and Pleasure
Beyond regulation, the breath also plays a pivotal role in how we experience pleasure. Breath has the power to shape our sensations, emotions, and access to feeling within the body. For instance:
Intensifying inhales can cultivate excitement, heightening sensations and creating an “upward” sense of energy and arousal.
Extending exhales can enhance feelings of bliss, promoting relaxation, fullness, and an “opening” to pleasurable sensation.
These dynamics make the breath an incredible tool for widening or narrowing our access to pleasure. There are a variety of pleasure-based breath work practices that can be used in erotic contexts to offer an added dimension to erotic play. And, most importantly, by experimenting with how we breathe, we can learn to cultivate specific feelings and sensations at will, enriching our experience of embodiment and adding more tools to our erotic toolboxes.
A Practice of Curiosity and Play
A key way to explore the impact of breath is through curious experimentation. By creating intentional containers or learning goals around breathwork, we can uncover what works best for our unique needs.
Some ways to start:
Begin with Awareness: Notice how you’re breathing in different situations. Is it shallow? Rapid? Are you breathing through your nose or mouth? Awareness is the first step to understanding your patterns.
Experiment with Dynamics:
Try deepening your inhales for a short amount of time to play with building energy or excitement. If you notice you’re instead feeling unwanted feelings of hyperaroused activation, this is great information! Practice settling your system and try something else when it’s feeling right.
Practice lengthening your exhales to create calmness or bliss. If you notice you’re instead feeling unwanted feelings of hypoaroused activation, this is great information! Practice settling your system and try something else when it’s feeling right.
Notice how these shifts affect your access to sensations in your body.
Set Intentions: Create a goal for your breath practice. For example, “I want to explore down regulating-style breathing,” or “I want to explore what makes me feel energized during solo erotic play.” Try to make your intentions simple and achievable. Use this intention as a guide to explore different breathing patterns.
Remember the Bigger Picture: While breathwork is a powerful tool, it’s not the only one. If you find that breathwork alone isn’t enough to address dysregulation, it’s worth exploring other factors like somatic therapy, relationship dynamics, or environmental changes.
The Role of Breath in Trauma Recovery
Breathwork offers us the ability to connect with and influence our bodies in profound ways. It can be a tool for calming the nervous system, accessing pleasure, and deepening our relationship with sensation. But like any tool, its effectiveness depends on how we use it and whether it fits the needs of the moment.
By approaching the breath with intention, curiosity, and an openness to play, it can be a powerful tool in our toolbox.