I am constantly in awe of the power of breath – it is so simple, and so under-valued. It is shocking how many of us do not harness the power of our breath – and the implications of that are far reaching.

We breathe approximately 18 times per minute, 1,080 times an hour and 25,920 times a day. We breathe automatically without having to think about it, and so many of us dismiss the breath, and get into bad habits like shallow breathing, and lose lung capacity. When we do so we overlook the potential of our breath to impact our lives, to improve our health and life expectancy, to help us to deal with emotional challenges, to open us up to creativity, and to expand our awareness and consciousness.

I’m very glad that as a singer and choir leader, I have breath awareness, and some discipline around diaphragmatic breathing for which I’m very grateful, but studying breathwork has really opened my eyes (and lungs), and I have found it fascinating to explore breath in greater depth in the course of my studies.

Do we dismiss the power of breath because our bodies breathe automatically? I’ve been reading about some cultures where the breath is revered and highly valued – where illness is rare, health and vitality are the norm, and utilising the power of breath is trained into people from an early age. Of course Yogis have practiced breathing techniques for centuries and there are numerous yoga breaths which support our health on different levels.

Reading ‘Breath’ by James Nestor, I was fascinated to read about a 19^th century artist named George Caitlin, who spent time with the Plains Indians of America, documenting the lives of 50 Native American tribes at the height of their culture. Although the tribes differed in many ways, they all shared healthy bodies and what he described as superhuman physical human characteristics – tall, broad shouldered, barrel chested with perfect teeth. He noted that they valued breathing through the nose, believing that disciplined breathing was the secret to health. Mothers of infants were observed to encourage nasal breathing, gently closing babies mouths after feeding, and whilst watching over them sleeping. Caitlin adopted the practice of nose breathing, and attributed his long life (he lived to be 76 years old, which was double the normal life expectancy of his peers) to the practice of nose breathing. I highly recommend Nestor’s book for anyone interested in discovering the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices.

It is not so obvious to our Western culture that breath holds a key to many health issues. Perhaps our reliance on alopathic medicine and drugs has distracted us from what is literally right under our noses? The power of breath is not just some flakey new age idea, it is ancient and revered, and contemporary scientific study supports how breath holds a key to vital health.

It may not be mainstream in our western culture, but nose breathing is advocated today for many reasons, and the practice of taping the mouth closed at night to retrain breath patterns is widely documented. I have consciously shifted my breathing to nose breathing at night, and feel that I get a better quality of sleep as a result. I’ve not resorted to taping my mouth closed as yet … but if I catch myself mouth breathing at night I may try it!

As part of my Breathwork Facilitator training, I have adopted a daily practice of breathwork since January 2020 … simple and achievable … and I have found this really helpful in sustaining my body. I’ve also undertaken a Conscious Connected Breath on a weekly basis since January, which I feel has also benefited me in many ways. I’ve found that during times of stress and emotional challenge the breath has been invaluable in helping me to cope with strong emotions and to support my own emotional and mental health and well-being in what’s been a very challenging year. I recently undertook a 28 day Breathwork challenge, exploring the power of breathing with a hearth centered intention and opening to deep spiritual connection. So now, without question, whenever I feel any sense of anxiety or overwhelm, the first tool I turn to is my breath.

I’m such a convert to the power of breath I have committed to further study with Breathing Space, and signed up to their Mentor programme to continue to learn and also to support others in learning about the power of breath and breathwork. I am on a mission and will no longer take the breath for granted.

Exploring breath in the heart of the labyrinth

Labyrinths have fascinated humans for millenia, evidenced by spiral symbols traced by ancestral hands in many ancient cultures. Some of the oldest labyrinths are over 4,000 years old. Labyrinth forms have been used as symbols, as tools for walking meditation, for rituals and ceremonies. Thay have become synonymous with mystery, pilgrimage, mindfulness and even heroic quest. They are tools for psychological and spiritual development and transformation, stimulating right-brain activity. Not to be confused with the maze where one might get lost with confusing twists and turns, and blind alleys, you won’t get lost in the labyrinth, as the path always leads inwards to a central point, and retracing your steps it leads safely out again.

Over centuries the forms of labyrinths have become ever more complex, leading to the Chatres shape and it’s descendants, where paths meandre in complex forms. Even in these complex patterns the path leads inwards to a central point, and then back out again.

Even in it’s most simple form – the spiral, it calls us to make a journey to the centre. The centre of a vortex, spiralling inwards. As we observe a spiral form our eyes are drawn to the centre. It calls us to make a journey inwards to our own centre. So this is a powerful tool to take us on a journey deep into our inner world, our personal centre, towards the core of our beings. It gives our mind a focus, a distraction for the monkey mind as we follow a path, enhances our right-brain activity as we explore.

I have been fascinated by the spiral form since childhood. Fascinated by the perfection of the geometry, especially when found in nature in so many forms – from the curled leaves of ferns, the chambered spirals of shells, fossilised Ammonites and the vortex passage of water down a plughole, to forms on a grander scale like the spiralling galaxies of stars.

A few years ago, I worked with artist Linda King, who creates wonderful temporary labyrinths in nature, and in our Amatesh workshop offerings we combined voice and energy work with the labyrinth form. What that work resulted in was what I can only call ‘magic’, such a healing and transformational experience for all involved. It confirmed for me the profound power of working with the labyrinth form, especially the spiral.

When I walk a labyrinth I like to journey inward, and with focused intent often experience a life review … as I tread mindfully back in time. That was a key ingredient of the Amatesh work, revealing and clearing burdens of past trauma, with some dipping into past life experiences – clearing within the labyrinth and leaving unhelpful burdens behind. We also called in benevolent ancestors and guides for support and for me it felt that we walked with the ancestors in this ancient pattern, as many of them will have walked the labyrinth path before us.

I am now drawn to offer conscious breathwork in the labyrinth – to support a really deep inner journey experience. A breathwork facilitator’s role is to create and hold a space, and trust that whatever comes up in the breath is exactly what is needed in the moment. I am excited to explore creating and holding the labyrinth space, and facinitating breathing at the heart centre of this sacred space.

Initially this is an online offering, with guided visualisation, but I’m exploring the possibility of breathing in a physical labyrinth space when we are allowed to resume being in physical proximity with people in due course. I hope the labyrinth is calling to you too, and that you will join me in that sacred space to breathe in the heart of the labyrinth.

We all know to ground right? Yet, like the power of breath, the potency of grounding is one of those things undervalued in our society. Is it because, like breath, it’s simple, free and easily accessible? Occasionally I have periods of neglect, when I forget the massive gifts that the practice of grounding brings, but then I return and rekindle the grounding practice and all is well.

Grounding is a skill I learned as a child. I had the privilege of growing up in Cumbria, roaming the countryside at one with and connecting to nature. However, in the adult world of a modern city life, distracted by all the trappings of modern adult life, sometimes grounding is neglected … and that’s when we start to disconnect, and eventually to lose our way. If we continue on that path we will get ill.

I recently joined in with a Breathwork led by Hannah and Hannah of Grounded.Life. It was lovely to integrate the familiar practice of sending roots into the earth, with a Conscious Breathwork session. I went into a trance like state, a deep meditative state and felt deeply peaceful afterwards: Cleansed of all worries and residues of everyday stress. I’m certain that the thorough grounding preparation was the key to a really powerful breathe.

Of course I know it is important to ground in many practices: Breathwork, singing, healing, yoga, energy work, meditation, spiritual practice etc., but a regular daily routine of grounding has been such a blessing over the last 12 months. The Covid pandemic has brought this into sharp focus for me. I’ve realised that it is not just important to ground, it is utterly vitally important and totally top priority. I feel like it’s one reason I am getting so much out of drinking the wonderful plant medicine, cacao, which feels so close to nature and very grounding in itself, perhaps it is one of her gifts also, to awaken the knowledge – that connection to the earth.

The experience of ‘lockdowns’ and pandemic restrictions has shown me how vital it is to get out in nature and return to those simple acts of being at one with nature that I did when I was a kid. Having something denied to you makes you realise how important it is. ‘Locked down’ in the City, I have felt a desperate need to find nature in my environment. I turned inward, determined to find a way to satisfy that need. Even locked indoors in the City, we can still extend awareness down into the Earth beneath us, and commune. Going fully into that practice is something I have done with groups for many years – breathing up the energy of the Earth through roots extending from base chakra and feet, sinking awareness deep into the heart of the planet. It is a way of tapping into that Earth intelligence, an intelligence much greater than humans can fathom. The pandemic has brought into focus for me how vitally important it is to make and sustain this connection.

Why do we undervalue this simple and instinctual practice so much?

In exploring the persecution of witches recently, I was told that to deflect blame for the mini ice age, crop failures, hunger and disease in the 15th century, the church blamed nature. Consequently, those that lived with nature and observed her cycles, who knew about herb lore and healing, were demonised and persecuted as witches. We are still suffering from the effects of those judgments and persecutions – perhaps that was the start of the path that has led European cultures to distance themselves from nature. I am certain that this disconnect from nature is at the root of much modern dis-ease. We have lost our respect for nature, as a race we have decimated our planet and its resources and mass extinctions are on the horizon. Gaia’s systems are under stress. I hope that the experiences of this pandemic, is a time to take stock and work out what we really value in life that will sound a wake up call. Maybe it’s not too late to turn the tide and come to appreciate the planet and the simple things in life: The earth beneath our feet and the air we breathe.

We have much to learn from the first nations – those who retain a respect for the land, and live close to nature. Their cultures retain wisdom that European cultures have been taught to distrust. In December I joined in meditation with a ceremony for planetary healing, held by tribal elders at Uluru in Australia. It was a very powerful experience for me – and all the more powerful because I stood barefoot in my garden in England and felt our strong connection through the Earth. It was daft, right? It was December in Yorkshire, raining and cold … my feet were numb within a couple of minutes … but it felt fantastic!

We have made life so complex. I have a grounding mouse mat beside my computer and an earthing mat on the mattress of my bed – earthed through the earth of my electricity supply. However, there are simple ways to connect, aside from devices. We can meditate sending roots down to the earth and drink up vitality with our breath, and of course the most simple practice is to walk barefoot on the ground.

So … a personal blessing for me … in all that’s been going on over the last 12 months is a renewed conviction of the importance of grounding, desire to re-connect deeply with nature and earth’s cycles, and an awakening to the power of breath. It’s all free, often down-played and under-utilised … untapped potential. I’m extending my tap root and drinking deep, to tap into the simple power of grounding and breath.

… and the air we breathe.

What a year 2020 was for us all.

Pandemic, restrictions, lockdowns, separation, isolation, heartbreak, relationship breakup, depression and anxiety, loneliness, loss and pain. Like all of us… a year of challenge and change. All this was thrown at me in 2020, and more, but throughout a thread of love, consciousness, community and connection sustained me. Not to be defeated, I like to look for positives, and took time in the pandemic to step back, reflecting, spending time in communion with my heart and soul, honing discernment and just enjoying an opportunity to be. We are human beings, not human doings after all!

For the past 11 months I’ve been focusing on my life’s purpose and to put out positive vibes in the world. At the same time working on nurturing myself, my well-being and conscious development.

I had an awakening many years ago, as a lightworker and retain a deep connection to energy work and personal exploration of high frequencies we associate with angelic realms. I’m aware that things like work commitments and single motherhood have taken priority over the more cosmic stuff in recent years. With little chance of nurturing self love, as a consequence, I have suffered from exhaustion, challenges of maintaining my energy and managing fibromyalgia. I’ve scraped along pretty well, but at a cost.

The silver lining to the Covid pandemic is that I have had space to focus on me: to meditate, heal, do yoga, revive old routines, explore new practices and reflect on my own wellbeing. At the very start I asked for guidance from the highest sources about what I should do in service to the planet and humanity, to help with the pandemic. The answer I received was to simply be. I was reminded that years ago my teacher had told me my mission was to be a transmitter: Transmitting love and transmuting fear. So that’s been my main focus.

My heart and soul have led me to different practices and connections to explore. My intuition has come to the fore as I’ve opened up to chanelling once more. This personal growth work has underpinned my singing practice, with both my Saturday Group and the Freedom Chorus, providing opportunities for participants to stay connected in community, let go of fear, and embrace hope for a bright future.

For the past 6 months I’ve incorporated cacao ceremony into my daily practice which has been amazing. It’s such wonderful heart medicine and supporting this I have connected with a wonderful women’s circle online. My experience has been so fantastic and deeply nurturing for me, that I’m going to be training to facilitate my own cacao ceremonies very soon!

One of cacao’s gifts is creativity and I have been led and supported to step up and dive deep into exploration of those gifts and my artist practice. Without creativity I would have been crushed by depression in the last year, and I know that sharing those gifts has helped others too.

The other gift of cacao is grounded heart medicine, and I start this year full of hope for us all. As snowdrops emerge from the ground, I am filled with joy and renewed hope as life returns after winter. In the face of pandemic, we have an opportunity to shift into a new way of being, a light has been shined on what’s important to us. May we no longer take community, connection to nature and loving hugs for granted. I hope for global consciousness a shift: To a love centered way of relating, caring and valuing every being, leading from love and respecting our planet. I am embracing that ambitious goal of paradigm shift and sharing heart centered conscious practices in support of a high aim for humanity and the planet.

I hope I can make a difference and remember to just ‘be’.

In 2019 Artist Linda King and I hit on the word Amatesh for workshops we were developing combining our skills as healers and artists. At that time we were certain it had no specific meaning.

A few people asked if it was a religion or a cult. Amatesh really is neither. We deliberately chose a non-sense word that conjured up a feeling for us both … that could summarise something new and exciting that we would create through our collaboration, a collaboration of my sound, music, voice and vibrational work, with Linda’s work as a visual artist, and skills in healing arts, vibrational essence and creating sacred space.

Subequently, I looked up Amatesh … just to double check. And it appears that the name Amitesh … sounds similar doesn’t it … is a Hindu boys name meaning infinite God. The Universe is a wonderful place … and might just have played a joke on us!

It proves that sometimes when you are sensitive to sound and voice, you pick up on subtleties of meaning that are inherent in sounds and vocalisations.

I have been trained in various therapies that would be considered to come under the banner of ‘vibrational medicine’. However, voice work is probably not usually included under that banner. Voice work is nevertheless a very powerful medicine, and utterly vibrational in its nature.

The powerful effect of singing on our health and wellbeing is something which is well understood by humanity going back through history. It is now being documented by researchers who are telling us all that singing is good for you. This is something that many singers have known for a long time of course … anyone in a choir could have told you this. We have now got the weight of medical and psychological research to back up our claims.

Of course, sound is vibration, and therefore you could say that music, and indeed singing is another form of vibrational medicine.

The amazing power of sound to impact on our wellbeing is also well documented. Sound healing is now a rich field with diverse approaches – all acknowledging the deep and lasting impact that sound vibration can have our beings.

For me the power of voice to effect sound healing is amazing. Through singing, or even simply toning and chant, we internalise vibrations, locking them into our bodies. We can stimulate our entire beings through internal sounds made by our own voices. Balancing our chakras, expressing emotion, releasing blocks etc., all can be done with the simple power of our voices coupled with intention.

And if the internal sound of our voices, emitted from our own bodies has an amazing effect … the power of experiencing a being a part of a group of voices, singing in harmony … being surrounded by pure vocal harmonic sound … is exponentially greater. It is amazing the well being that can be generated by experiencing vocal harmony. This is my joy and my passion, and I want to share that joy and passion with everyone.

In my work I often encounter people who tell me that they can’t sing. It pains me to hear this. That people are told they can’t sing when they are at school, or told to stand in the back of choirs and mime, or told by family or friends that they can’t sing, is awful for me to hear. I believe that singing is our birthright, it ‘s as natural as talking … and to deny anyone this is to deny a basic human need. We need to sing. Our bodies respond so deeply to our singing voices – it impacts on our health and wellbeing so deeply that I believe it is a basic human right and fundamental to the human condition. People who are denied that experience, mostly those who are gagged by judgments about the quality of their singing voice, are denied a whole methodology of balancing health and wellness, of expressing and emoting all life’s experience.

So I assert that if you can talk you can sing … and should sing. It is up to people like me to help people to find their voices, and to help to train those voices so that they can be tuneful. And if your voice does not fit the accepted idea of a ‘tuneful’ voice, don’t stop singing for yourself. It’s really important to retain your voice in the world, it’s a gift, distinct to each person, and to be celebrated for each person.

If this is you … being told you can’t sing – you are being disempowered, and to not embrace your voice is denying yourself access to a powerful tool for health, wellbeing and personal expression.

Anyone who has experienced the power of massage knows that we lock experiences and unexpressed emotions into our muscles, that can be released by a good massage.

I believe we do the same with our voices … that we can lock emotions and emotional trauma into the physical apparatus of our voices, as we go through life. Some areas of our voice we stop using as we grow into adulthood. This can seriously limit our personal expression. It can inhibit our expression in the World, and for some people this is emotionally crippling.

Reclaiming every bit of our voices is a powerful experience … a key to unlock stored emotions, and free ourselves from the past. If we can trust the process, and allow ourselves to express freely with all of our voice, it holds the key to deep healing and personal growth. That’s one thread of exploration in the work that I am bringing forward right now.

This all sounds very serious, but it can be playful, fun and exhilarating. Voice work offers a key to return to the personal blueprint of who we really are. That’s part of my aim through the work we are creating in the Amatesh workshops.

HEALTH WARNING … voice work can seriously improve your health. You might find it brings up your sh*t, but in the safely held space we create in Amatesh, you can let go, and find deep and transformative healing. It’s not just about singing a song … it’s playful but deep, beautiful and powerful, moving and emotional, and not to be taken lightly.

Some of our previous participants were surprised at how deeply they were effected by the Amatesh experience. So please be warned. Be prepared to be moved, and if you are open to the process, to experience deep shifts.

So … artist Linda King and I have been working on bringing forward a series of workshops around healing voice, vibration and labyrinth work. We’ve called them ‘Amatesh’ … a word we plucked from the air. It is playful and joyful and the sound of the word seems to connect to what we want to create together.

The inspiration for Amatesh was a simple spiral labyrinth form that we find in Ammonites. Each chamber seems to offer a womb space, where once an ancient creature dwelled, a place to grow and move on. A natural labyrinth.

Of course – Amatesh is as much about exploring the labyrinth space, and the power of that personal journeying, as about voice. The connection between our inner labyrinth in our ears is not lost on me either … a strong connection with the way that we experience sound, and vibration.