Breath reflects every aspect of our life, on all levels of being - physical, emotional and spiritual. More than this, if the intent is to participate consciously in the breath experience without control, we can access resources within. Breath lets us know what is needed to come into balance and maintain health. The Experience of Breath, the Middendorf Breath Work, is a unique education toward healing through breath.

For more than 60 years, Prof. Ilse Middendorf of Berlin, Germany has been developing The Experience of Breath, a somatic work, based on the autonomic mode of breathing. This approach promotes a conscious experience of breath, free from control of the human will,

Breath not only reaches our inner world and moves us, it also connects us to the world outside. Breath that comes and goes on its own creates movements both inward and outward, in an ever-continuing act of filling and emptying, receiving and giving, the masculine and the feminine in a dialogue, searching for balance and growth.

Breath Movement becomes meaningful. Through simple exercises we become aware of breath laws and principles, and use them as a tool to experience and understand breath movements as the source of our creative forces as well as an outlet for their expression. The Self becomes embodied through the movements and gestures that are initiated by breath. We enter a self-analytical process of growth and development. Body, soul, and spirit can be experienced as one.

Every single breath cycle actualizes past, present and perspective of our being. By learning to listen to our breath we connect with a source that can help to direct and lead us through an appropriate process of integration. Breath becomes our teacher and healer.
 

BACKGROUND

Since its inception, this artistic form of breathing education, developed by Professor Ilse Middendorf, has achieved international attention for its effectiveness as a somatic healing and growth process. Professor Middendorf began practicing her work in 1935. In 1965 in Berlin, she founded the Institute for the Perceptible Breath (now called The Experience of Breath), which certifies practitioners in the Middendorf Breathwork.

This work has seen a pattern of steady growth, so there are now several Middendorf schools in Europe. Each year these schools graduate between seventy and ninety new practitioners who work in a variety of areas of private practice music and acting schools, clinics for rehabilitation, and psychology, counseling offices, etc..

In 1986, Advanced Seminars of Berkeley, California, a center for Feldenkrais education and other somatic explorations, together with the Berlin Middendorf Breath Institute, sponsored the introduction of Professor Middendorf's work to the United States. Since then, Ilse Middendorf and her close associate, Juerg Roffler, returned each year to conduct workshops and training seminars. In 1989, to support the growing interest in the Middendorf Breathwork, Juerg Roffler, initiated the first training program leading to the certification of Middendorf practitioners in the United States. In 1991 Juerg founded the Middendorf Breath Institute and the first group of certified practitioners graduated in April, 1992. The newly formatted 3 block Professional Training Program is offered in the Bay Area and New York City. The Berlin and Berkeley Institutes use the same curriculum for the certification and training program.

In 1995, The Breath Center of San Francisco (BCSF) was founded as a non-profit organization for the advancement of the Middendorf Breathwork. The Middendorf Breath Institute and BCSF are closely related.

The Professional Training and Certification Program is approved by the California Council for Private Post-secondary and Vocational Education. The Application for Continuing Education is in process.
 

PARTICIPATION

The Middendorf Training Program is designed for professionals working in the somatic, psychological, artistic, or educational fields, or for persons who want to further their own personal growth. Experience working with groups is desirable.
 

PREREQUISITES

Participants must be in good physical and mental health, and able to take responsibility for any influence the program may have in those areas.

Participants must provide proof of completion of basic knowledge of anatomy. If the anatomy requirement is not fulfilled before entering the third block of the training (full certification), students take a course in anatomy from Faith Hornbacher, staff member of the U.S. Middendorf Breath Institute, Berkeley.
 

TEACHERS

JUERG ROFFLER, Director of the Middendorf Institute for Breathexperience, is a certified Middendorf practitioner and former instructor at the Berlin Institute for the Perceptible Breath (The Experience of Breath). He has more than twenty five years of training and experience in breath therapy, body work, and psychotherapy based in humanistic psychology. Juerg conducts workshops throughout the United States and Europe. Since founding the Middendorf Breath Institute as an independent educational institute, he also maintains an active relationship with the Berlin Institute. Juerg teaches most of the segments in the 3 block training programs.

ASSISTANT TEACHERS

MARGOT BIESTMAN is a certified practitioner of Middendorf Breathwork with a private practice in Sausalito and The Sea Ranch. She is also an author and artist, and teaches classes in Creative Living. She has more than 30 years of experience in education with people from ages 3-93. Margot is a member of the teaching staff of the Middendorf Institute for Breathexperience.

FAITH HORNBACHER is a certified practitioner of Middendorf Breathwork, with a private practice in Palo Alto. She is also a certified practitioner of Aston-Patterning and has been in practice for 25 years. She is an artist and has illustrated books in the field of health education. Faith is a member of the teaching staff of the Middendorf Institute for Breathexperience, and teaches a course in anatomy.

NELL SMYTH is a certified practitioner of Middendorf Breath work and a member of the teaching staff of the Middendorf Institute in Berkeley. She works both in Europe and the States and has particular expertise in working with children and teachers in a variety of settings. Her book The Breathing Circle is being published by Hawthorn Press and will be available in early 2006. She is currently writing her next book on breath and theater arts as integrative in school curricula.
 

GUEST TEACHERS

ILSE MIDDENDORF, is a professor, who originated and developed the Middendorf Breathwork. In 1965 she founded the Institute for the Perceptible Breath (now called The Experience of Breath), in Berlin, where she currently lives and works. In Europe, her work is recognized as one of the major practices in somatic education.

Over the course of each training program, other certified Middendorf teachers from Europe and the United States, will visit and assist in the training.

TRAINERS IN AN INDEPENDENT TRAINING PROGRAM

To become a trainer of a Middendorf Training Program independent of the Middendorf Institute for Breathexperience, the requirements are to: 1) actively practice Middendorf Breathwork for seven years after certification; 2) participate in at least three post-graduate training courses in a period of five years; 3) become an assistant teacher in a training program for at least three years; 4) demonstrate depth of understanding; and 5) attain authorization from Ilse Middendorf and Juerg Roffler.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM:
NEW FORMAT AND CURRICULUM

The format and curriculum of the Professional Training has been updated. The 3+ year training is now divided into three blocks. According to their needs and commitment, students can now customize their training in the Middendorf Breath Work, The Experience of Breath:
 

Block I	Personal Growth	4 segments
Block II	Teaching Authorization	4 segments
Block III	Full Certification	6 segments

•	Experiencing the connection between breath and movement, and learning to let the breath come and go on its own.
•	Sensing and experiencing the five breathing spaces and the direction of the central breath forces.
•	Training in sensory awareness as a base from which to sense breath movement.
•	Experiencing the meaning of the "automonic breath", and how it influences, stimulates, and creates inner and outer posture.
•	Connecting to, and using, the power of breath.
•	Experiencing and understanding the breath cycle and rhythms as a tool to help direct and lead through a process of integration.
•	Vocalizing breath movement. Exploring vowels and consonants in their relationship to breath.
•	Connecting the autonomic breath and the body centers to orient oneself between inside and outside.
•	Exploring and understanding the relation of pressure points to breathing.
•	Exploring and understanding the natural laws of breathing.
•	Experiencing the masculine and feminine principles within the breath.
•	Experiencing breath as an indicator of direction for transformation and personal growth.
•	Exploring the connection between breath and the creative potential of Self.
•	Sensing breath as a medium to experience the substantial nature of the core Self.
•	Understanding and sensing the importance of the presence of Self in all breath movement processes.
•	Using breath as a way to connect with the essence of our being.
•	Understanding breath as a process-oriented experience, allowing conflict resolution and the balanced integration of the emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of our being.
•	Receiving and integrating conflicts and emotional issues through The Experience of Breath.
•	Building and restoring relationship through breathexperience.
•	Learning to understand and connect with the non-physical, like Psyche and Soul through the Experience of Breath.
•	Learning to breath movement rather than to resistance structure that does not move.
•	Experiencing breath as a source for taking responsibility for ones own process.
•	Learning how to create an environment that encourages students and clients to trust their experience of breath.
•	Integrating the training experience into a professional practice and into daily life.

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