18/02/2026
POP-UP CLASS!
Conscious Connected Breathwork
w/ David Stevenson
SATURDAY, February 21
6:00 - 7:30 pm (90 min)
Price: $15
Conscious Connected / High Ventilation Breathwork — An Overview
High ventilation breathwork (HVB)—often called Conscious Connected Breathing (CCB), circular breathing, holotropic-style breathwork, or rebirthing—is one of the fastest-growing mind–body modalities in the world. Once mostly found in spiritual and personal growth settings, it’s now increasingly used by therapists, trauma specialists, coaches, and clinicians because of its direct impact on the nervous system, emotional regulation, and embodied awareness.
Rather than working only through insight or analysis, this style of breathwork engages the body and subconscious directly, which is why it’s especially relevant in trauma-informed and somatic work—where much of what needs to be processed lives in the nervous system rather than in conscious narrative.
What It Is...
High ventilation breathwork uses sustained, rhythmic, connected breathing (no pauses between inhale and exhale), usually lying down with music and facilitation. The continuous breathing pattern gently shifts carbon dioxide levels and nervous system activity, creating a temporary physiological and psychological state that supports emotional access, insight, release, and integration.
While different lineages use different language, they share a common foundation:
Connected breathing + music + skilled facilitation to support deep somatic and psychological exploration in a safe, contained setting.
What Happens in the Body and Brain (in plain language)
This style of breathing:
• Shifts autonomic nervous system activity (stress/relaxation balance)
• Changes how blood flow and oxygen are distributed in the brain
• Temporarily softens top-down cognitive control and strengthens bottom-up emotional and sensory awareness
Research on high ventilation and holotropic-style breathwork shows:
• Measurable reductions in stress and improvements in mood
• Changes in brain networks involved in self-perception, emotion, and awareness
• Increased access to emotional memory, imagery, and bodily awareness
In practice, this helps explain why people often experience emotional release, insight, imagery, memory, or a sense of completion around unresolved material—especially when the work is held in a trauma-informed, well-supported environment.
Why People Do It...
Both clinical research and long-term practitioner experience suggest benefits such as:
• Emotional and nervous system regulation
• Access to subconscious or emotionally held material that’s hard to reach through talk alone
• Increased self-awareness and integration
• Stress reduction and resilience
• A stronger sense of embodiment and connection to the body
A Note on “Hormetic Stress”
High ventilation breathwork creates a brief, controlled physiological stress followed by a recovery and integration phase. This mirrors what’s known in biology as hormesis: short, well-dosed stress followed by adaptation and regulation (similar to exercise or cold exposure). When facilitated skillfully, this pattern can support greater nervous system flexibility and emotional resilience rather than overwhelm.
Safety and Suitability
This work should always be guided by a trained, certified facilitator and includes screening and clear boundaries. It’s not appropriate for everyone, including people who are pregnant or who have certain cardiovascular, neurological, or psychiatric conditions without medical clearance.
Key Safety Principles:
• Trauma-informed pacing and consent
No mixing with alcohol or recreational drugs
• Clear integration time after the session
• Skilled facilitation to support strong emotional or somatic responses
Facilitar: David Stevenson
David Stevenson is a breathwork facilitator, teacher, and trainer who has worked with Conscious Connected Breathwork and Breath of Life–style ceremonial breathwork since 1995. His work is grounded in somatic, trauma-informed, transpersonal, and depth-oriented approaches, and shaped by traditional apprenticeship with Indigenous elders, where learning to carry and facilitate ceremony was central to his training. Of French, Irish, and Mohawk ancestry, David weaves breathwork into rites of passage work for men and boys and into programs focused on inner leadership in times of change.
Alongside his work in the healing and ceremonial space, David has served as a senior executive both in Government and most recently CEO of the Moose Hide Campaign, which he helped grow from a little-known anti-violence initiative into one of Canada’s most engaged reconciliation movements, mobilizing men and boys to end violence against women and children. In 2024, he stepped down from that role to travel and offer the transformational teachings and experiences he has been blessed to receive. Amongst his many trainings and certifications, David is also an Executive Coach, trained with Martha Beck as a Wayfinder Life Coach, and is currently completing a Master’s in Clinical Counseling with a somatic and depth-psych orientation.
He is also in the process of building a year-long professional breathwork and inner leadership training designed to serve both therapeutic and organizational contexts. David’s work is known for being grounded, trauma-informed, and ethically held, with a strong emphasis on integration, safety, and respect for both the power of breathwork and the lineages it comes from.
At heart, his work is about inner leadership in times of change—helping people meet transition with courage, humility, and embodiment, and supporting the return to wholeness through breath, ceremony, and conscious relationship.
