Friday 19 November 2010

Hyperventilation and 'tetany'

Normally, our breath can be shallow - in which case we will be receiving too little fresh oxygen, or it can be too deep or too fast - in which case we may even get an overdose of oxygen.
The question sometimes arises, "Does Rebirthing involve, or lead to, hyperventilation?"
'Hyperventilation' is a medical term for the effects of 'exagerrated breathing'. It usually refers to a breathing pattern that is accompanied by a state of anxiety. In such a state one may find themselves inhaling so much oxygen that they become dizzy and have cramping sensations in some muscles (specifically the 'peripheral skeletal muscles') due to a process that is triggered by low levels of carbon dioxide. This condition is called tetany and it is quite common for some practitioners to experience it in the first sessions.

It is sometimes claimed that if Rebirthing causes tetany, then it is because it is a form of hyperventilation. This seems logical, however, if the technique itself were the 'mechanical' cause of the tetany then one would expect to always develop tetany when applying the Rebirthing Breathwork technique, but the experience of tetany tends to subside after the first few sessions, specially after one learns to release one's anxiety through the breath.
Given this fact it seems to make more sense to associate the tetany with the presence of anxiety combined together with the low carbon dioxide levels, rather than attributing it only to the technique alone.

Leonard Orr, in his writings on Rebirthing has suggested that the tetany effect may be due to a release of birth trauma, which is of course difficult to verify objectively, but the fact is that it doesn't tend to arise after the first few sessions, which would seem to at least confirm the idea that it was arising due to something that has later somehow been cleared.

It should be remembered that Rebirthing Breathwork, as traditionally taught by Leonard Orr, involves a relaxing use of the breath and when one learns to release one's anxiety through the breath, it has been repeatedly found that the tetany or any other discomfort or pain - even chronic problems such as rheumatism, or asthma - can pass by themselves over the course of one, or several, sessions.

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