$50 off registration for our August 3-4 Breathwork Retreat Weekend
"I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."
"I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."
Paonia Yoga and Movement Center
217 Grand Ave.
Paonia CO
Saturday June 29 at 3 pm
Saturday July 20 at 3pm
Saturday Aug 17 at 3pm
Requested exchange $35
The Traveling Shaman's Camp
Shamanic Arts Center
261 W Hotchkiss Ave
Hotchkiss CO
Sunday Aug 25 at 2pm
Suggested exchange $30
Hi, I'm Stephen; a life-long spiritual seeker and a sober, gay man with a big heart. I'm a SoCal native and former New Yorker. My husband and I, and our two dogs, currently split our time between Philadelphia and a small family farm in Western Colorado.
After many years of active addiction and a low-level search for spiritual meaning and purpose, I was guided to an esteemed Feng Shui master in NYC, Vincent Smith. I'm so grateful for the meditation practices and breathing exercises that Vincent shared with me. The intentional changes I made to my little Chelsea apartment quickly inspired me to enter rehab and a 12-step program of recovery. The Program saved my life (literally) and taught me the importance of daily prayer and meditation; for my sobriety and for my connection with Spirit.
A few years into recovery I was briefly introduced to breathwork at a sober retreat. I liked it, but it wasn't until early 2017 that I got a full taste of the medicine at a breathwork group in Brooklyn led by one of my favorite teachers, Erin Telford. I had a huge "AHA" moment and felt a sense of "returning home." After breathing and training with Erin, I jumped wholeheartedly into completing breathwork certification with our esteemed teacher David Elliott.
It has been my honor to facilitate breathwork groups and private sessions since 2018. I love breathwork and I am continuing to learn as much as I can from David and other breath pioneers, including Dan Brule, and Dr. Richard P. Brown. I still love to learn and share Feng Shui knowledge as well, the practice that started me on this extraordinary journey!
Breathwork is a term we use to describe "breathing meditation" or "conscious breathing." It is also known as "pranayama" in the Yogic traditions. Humans have been practicing many different forms of breathwork for thousands of years - employing their breath to change their physiological, emotional, and spiritual states.
The breathwork I facilitate is a powerful, body-focused form of conscious breathing followed by deep meditation. The breathwork is done lying down with your eyes closed, so that you can completely relax, let go and go inward. During the active part of the breathwork, your job is to breathe deeper and fuller than normal; inhaling twice, first inhale into the belly and the second inhale into the upper chest. This is all done through the mouth. On the exhale, you just relax and let the breath go. By breathing deep, full diaphragmatic breaths, you will move a lot more air than normal and build energy in your body. When you start to feel tingling, that's when you're starting to raise your vibrational level, opening up, and allowing stuck emotional energy to move. The goal of breathwork is to relax your mind so that you can experience being fully present in your physical body and feel "your own energy" in a new, extraordinary way. When you are in that magical place, Spirit always shows up.
Feng Shui is all about energy, intuition, and intention! It is an ancient Chinese practice of living consciously and being aware of the energies in your environment and how they affect you. Unlike popular belief, Feng Shui doesn’t have to be about blindly following centuries-old "rules" that don’t make any sense to you. It is much more helpful to understand the intention behind the rules and apply those universal principles to your life today. The ultimate goal of this beautiful practice is to improve your personal, life-force energy (chi or prana) by creating living and working spaces that are optimal for their intended use and, most importantly, are in maximum harmony and balance with Nature.
More Feng Shui info and offerings coming soon!