The Workshop
The sacred space found within the breath. A practice of presence, interruption, and intentional response.
Finding The Workshop
Within the breath there lies a space we call The Workshop. As we learn to find ourselves in The Workshop through the Straw Breath, instead of reacting, we calculate and feel — and learn from the trauma that reveals itself beneath and within the background feeling place one is flowing from.
This is not a destination but a practice. Each time we return to The Workshop, we build the capacity to meet life from presence rather than from pattern.
The Straw Breath
The Straw Breath is the core technique — breathing as if through a straw to create pause and presence. It is the doorway into The Workshop.
When a strong sensation or emotion arises, we breathe slowly and deliberately as though drawing air through a thin straw. This slows the nervous system, creates a gap between stimulus and response, and opens the space where choice lives.
How to Practice
- 1Notice the feeling — a tightness, a surge, an urge to react.
- 2Purse your lips as if breathing through a straw. Inhale slowly for 4 counts.
- 3Exhale slowly through the “straw” for 6-8 counts. Let the exhale be longer than the inhale.
- 4Repeat 3-5 times. Notice: you are now in The Workshop.
Ready to begin?
Get the Straw Breath Starter Kit with guided audio, breathing tools, and a quick-start journal.
The Energetic Body — Our Early Warning System
In the long run we learn to meet and reacquaint ourselves with the energetic body — the emotional body — which has always been our early warning system. That which seems to know before it is even considered. Much akin to reflex, but in the sense of one’s spirit flow or energetic trajectory.
As we practice, we become more attuned to these subtle signals — the tightening in the chest, the shift in breathing, the quiet knowing that something has changed. These are not problems to fix but messages to receive.
Pattern Interruption
At first some may forget to take a Straw Breath when they have a strong sensation or emotion — a feeling. And by the time they realize it, they see that indeed they are already in the hypnotic rhythm of the pattern they’ve taken so many times before.
Interrupt it anyway.
See about getting things to go better. Maybe even go for a run, some pushups, or breathwork of a more substantial amount — like a TT5.
The key is to allow the feelings and be curious about what — and perhaps where or why — they are manifesting themselves within you.
From Reaction to Measured Response
We try to be aware of our early warning system, and instead of moving in reaction, we Straw Breath our way from the story and the reactions possible — into the intentionality of measured response (if any) — thereby preserving our own dignity and sovereignty, while also keeping the dignity of all others involved intact as well.
All of this is being chosen within the moments when we choose to take mindful intentionality as the captain of our moment — wherein the measured response of the present individual is offered calmly and fully, with confidence and humility.
Reaching always to what is deeply known as our highest good.