Motivation and Assessment for Breathwork

Integral to therapeutic breathwork are enhancing motivation and conducting thorough assessment. When clients come to breathwork, something has motivated them to seek change. This chapter provides guidance on how to help clients maintain, even increase, motivation for growth and transformation. Initial steps in the collaborative motivational process explore benefits of breathing healthfully and identifying intentional goals. Motivation is further strengthened by developing insight about how breath and related physical and psychological factors manifest and can change. This part of the process relies on systematic assessment that helps clients understand how breath functions currently and what changes, enhancements, and optimizations may be possible. Offered assessment procedures address all aspects of breath (biomechanics, biochemistry, psychology, and polyvagal states) to clarify etiology and realistic goals, creating pathways toward resilient and coherent breathing. Comprehensive assessment leads to individually tailored plans for healing and thriving, guiding therapeutic breathwork toward appropriate strategies that address the unique biomechanical, biochemical, psychological, and nervous system-related functioning of each client. The chapter includes many sample assessment procedures, questions, and surveys to guide the assessment process for clinicians and their clients.