Is the facilitator a healer?

The core principle of Holotropic Breathwork is that healing comes from within the person. In the holotropic model, this trust is raised to a level rarely seen before, and it empowers the participant. Facilitators do not see themselves as healers or as therapists. They are more like midwives, supporting a process that has its own wisdom. Leading a Holotropic Breathwork workshop is an intensive exercise in "not knowing." I remember Grof saying that facilitator training takes at least two years because it takes at least that long to realize how little you know, and that the human mind is infinite.

Grof believes that the psyche has an inner "radar" which, given the chance, can select the experience we most need for our development at that particular moment. No one can know in advance what that experience will be. Take, for example, a client caught in a pattern of anger toward her mother: what would be best to prescribe? A bioenergetic therapist might encourage her to express her rage. A Buddhist teacher might encourage her to practice compassion. A Jungian might encourage her to enter into a dialogue with an image of her anger. Kundalini yoga might encourage her to channel the anger into a higher form. A Holotropic Breathwork facilitator would simply say: "Keep breathing and discover what opens up for you." The answer is specific to the client and to that moment.

It is always tempting to think that we "know best." This is especially true for anyone working in the helping professions. A Holotropic Breathwork facilitator, however, is trained in not knowing. Of course, many people have great gifts in their chosen methods, whether craniosacral therapy, Reiki, bioenergetics, psychodynamic psychotherapy or aura cleansing, but these would never be used in a client's process at a holotropic workshop. "Healing someone" is a lovely thing, but within the framework of a Holotropic Breathwork workshop it would count as an abuse of power. Every participant should leave the workshop with a sense of personal power: with the discovery that they carry the answers within themselves, rather than that so-and-so is a "great healer." A Holotropic Breathwork facilitator is not expected to heal, and should not encourage the idea that they are a healer. The facilitator of a Holotropic Breathwork session is there to help, support and encourage clients to find their own way.

Many participants come to a Holotropic Breathwork workshop wanting to be "healed," or with an unconscious need to find a guru. This can be a trap for both client and facilitator. A good facilitator will resist this projection and gently encourage the client to look for the answer within. Of course, some facilitators have a strong healing presence, or perhaps a gift of "seeing" or understanding. But all good Holotropic Breathwork facilitators should hold this firmly: the facilitator's role lies in not knowing and in creating a space in which individuals find the answers themselves.