Strange Magick Healing
"I truly believe that Lauren was born to be a practitioner of breathwork." ~Alexandra Bigler, Puck
Breathwork changed my life.
I grew up in New York City. I spent much of my childhood feeling very different than the people around me. I didn't understand most kids my age, and I was sure they didn't get me at all. I spent a lot of time daydreaming and creating things--art, stories, plays, costumes--anything that took me out of reality and into my inner fantasy world.
I was extremely lucky to have parents who saw my creative talents and encouraged them. Still, I couldn't seem to stay present in their world for too long. It was frustrating for everyone, especially me.
I was diagnosed with ADD and medication was suggested. To my mother's credit, she refused it, opting to spend more time helping me focus on schoolwork. It was never that I couldn't understand the work, but that the work didn't interest me as much as my inner world did.
I felt my own feelings, deeply, but also felt everyone else's. At the time, I had no idea what that was, so I internalized it as, "There's something very wrong with me."
By the time I was in junior high I was self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. I was trying to quiet the voices and feelings that I couldn't understand. Thankfully, the self-abuse only lasted a few years. It couldn't have lasted much longer, honestly, and at a very young age I got sober and set out to heal the trauma I sustained through my years of addiction. I also started channeling my talents and creativity into an acting and singing career.
In 2001, my sister and I decided to try our hand at opening a tea house together, and Alice's Tea Cup was born. From the outside looking in, it all seemed wonderful. However, on the inside I wasn't happy and I definitely wasn't present in my body.
I had no boundaries with other people and my tendency to feel for everyone was suffocating me. I was absorbing everyone else's energy. I had no understanding of my own power. All I felt was drained and exhausted. That's when a friend of mine told me about breathwork and invited me to a group workshop. It blew my mind. That very night I found my inner power and tapped into my own energy. I felt like I was deep inside the control room of my body, where I could move my energy around, directing it where it was needed. I also found my happiness from within, realizing it was never outside of myself. I left that room forever changed.
After doing breathwork regularly for a year, it occurred to me that I wanted to facilitate the healing I had received for others. Under the training and guidance of David Elliott, I earned my certification as a Breathwork practitioner. I received my Reiki I, II and Masters attunements under the teachings of Erika Spring at Maha Rose Center for Healing in Brooklyn, NY.
I am now starting to integrate my singing into my healing work, realizing the two are not mutually exclusive. I have also realized how much Breathwork has changed me as a singer, giving my voice more support and my body more grounding. I now work with performers on addressing any of their blocks or resistance, both, physically, vocally, and creatively.
Becoming a healing practitioner is the greatest decision I ever made. I love this work, not only because I know it works, but because HEALING PEOPLE HEALS ME and makes me feel present in my life in a way nothing else has. Breathwork is the most powerful heart-healer I know. I have watched it change people's lives, opening them up to heal old wounds, overcome fears and trauma, shed sadness and grief, and find their joy. It is an honor every time I am trusted to hold space for someone to FIND THAT HEALING WITHIN THEMSELVES. I can't wait to share its MAGICK with you.
In love & gratitude,
Lauren
