Breathwork, the app and more:
Frequently Asked Questions
About breathwork
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Breathwork is involves consciously changing your breathing patterns and bringing awareness to your breath; through breath meditations, longer psychedelic journeys or extensive programs.
Humanity has done breathwork across time and cultures to improve mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. Today, it is practiced to help manage stress, help fall asleep, enhance relaxation, and even boost creativity. It can help you feel balanced, and more grounded in yourself but also gain spiritual insights through breathing yourself into an ecstatic or blissful state.
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The nervous system is like the control center of our whole body and is responsible for all our autonomic processes, like your heart beat, movement, breathing and your digestion.
In a geeky way, it is receiving and integrating of sensory information (touch, pressure, temperature, pain, smell, vision, sound, etc.) and creates a response.
Nervous system regulation involves techniques, that help this system stay in harmony. This means not being too stressed (fight or flight) or too relaxed (rest and digest), but in a state that is just right for whatever situation you're in. Practicing breathwork can help you regulate your nervous system.
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We are using the inhales and exhales as focus points to become more attentive and less mentally distracted. With this anchor, it is easier to reach profound mental states.
Choosing the breath as a mindfulness technique helps to shift our cognitive state, where we may feel more blissful, contempt, calm, or grounded. It can also be described as a more mindful breathing exercise.
Buddhism, Hinduism, yoga, Taoism, Sufism, as well as more new age traditions have unlocked the power of the breath.
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Kim holds certificates in PSYCHEDELIC BREATH as well as pranayama (issued by YogaBody). The techniques she is sharing range from short mindful breath sequences, like box breathing, to more dynamic and somatic breathwork, such as PSYCHEDELIC BREATH. With her licenses in breathwork, she is able to safely host other techniques, such as Conscious Connected Breath, Wim Hof, and two-folded breath.
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PSYCHEDELIC BREATH® is a breathwork method developed and trademarked by Eva Kaczor. This dynamic breathwork experience explores a sober psychedelic state and is supported by electronic music. The non-ordinary state of consciousness is further described on our page.
Psychedelic breathing on the other hand is often used more broadly to describe various breathwork practices that aim to mimic the effects of psychedelic substances. It's not a specific method but rather a category of techniques.
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Not as of now. The experiences shared by Kim last a maximum of 90 minutes.
Holotropic breathwork lasts between 2 and 3 hours goes much deeper into trauma resolution and transcends consciousness even more than dynamic breathing.
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Well, dynamic breathwork, like any intense physical or psychological practice, has contraindications because of the profound effects it can have on both the mind and body. We have written a whole blog post about it here.
About Tayo rituals
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Tayo rituals is our breathwork app developed by Kim Gerlach and the sun&rise team. It is your companion to get to know the power of the breath; from shorter pranayama / breath meditations to longer breath rituals. On Tayo rituals you even have breathwork classes online and group programs to deepen your knowledge and practice.
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Subscriptions are managed by the App Store and Google Play Store. You can cancel directly through the stores, based on whether you’re on iOS or Android. Canceling means your subscription will not renew on the next billing cycle, but you can continue using the app with unlocked features until then.
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We are offering free breath rituals and live sessions on the app. If you want to dive deeper and unlock all features, we have a 1 month and a 6 month subscription. We know it’s hard to plan an entire year ahead and don’t want you to pay for 1 year just because you got excited about breathwork today. We recommend committing mindfully for 6 months at a time.
In addition to unlocking the full library, we also have a subscription that gives you access to a live 90-min breathwork session every month (on Zoom).
We would love to offer a sliding scale price system, but sadly the app stores don’t yet allow us to do so.
If you cannot afford a subscription right now but believe that breathing will support your growth, please write us a message and we’ll give you free access for a year.
Sessions, bookings and workshops
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Yess, we do! Please check out our booking page for the latest classes, happening both online and offline.
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I would love to breathe with you and your team. Please reach out directly to Kim via yellow@sunandrise.com. You can mention preferred date, format suggestions (if you already have some), if this is a one-off or regular experience and how many participants we can expect approximately.
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A sliding scale system allows me to support myself and my business while making sessions available to more individuals who (currently) do not have the financial freedom to purchase a regular ticket. By allowing members with more cash flow to pay a bit more, they sort of subsidize the participation for a lower price.
(Read the whole blog post here)
Here is how a sliding scale for a workshop can be clustered:
Reduced ticket: For students, trainees, and people with lower income or financial constraints.
Regular: For all who can/want to pay for a regular ticket.
Solidarity ticket: For all who can and want to give more. This allows me to offer reduced tickets and helps balance the cost.
This system relies on honest estimates of people purchasing a ticket and I build on this genuine trust in those who attend my sessions. I believe you make the right choice and purchased in solidarity with others around you.
Why sliding scales are an act of solidarity is really well-explained in this article . Especially marginalized communities who struggle to be seen and validated through the systems we’re working in, don’t have the same financial means as others. Many wellness and healing communities have an inclusivity issue.