In the latest MysticMag interview, we sit down with Robin Lawley, a renowned breathwork practitioner and spiritual healer. Robin shares his transformative journey from encountering rebirthing and breathwork in the 1980s to becoming a pioneer in the field, blending ancient practices with modern techniques to guide individuals towards healing and self-discovery. Enjoy!
Who is Robin Lawley? What is your personal story and how did you get into this line of work?
In the 1980s, rebirthing and breathwork were at their beginning in Europe, and I was fortunate enough to encounter people from the States who came over to teach about them. That’s how I began learning breathwork and rebirthing, as it was called in those days in London where I was residing. Prior to this, I had already been exploring practices like Zen meditation so I had a preexisting interest in these areas. I found myself going through a personal crisis at the time, and breathwork truly helped me navigate through it, emerging stronger and experiencing the profound benefits of conscious breathing firsthand.
Following this transformative period, Leonard Orr, the founder of the rebirthing movement, invited me to teach in Poland. I spent two years there before moving to Italy, where I currently reside, and helped initiate the breathwork movement in those countries.
On top of that, I’ve engaged in various other pursuits over the years. Particularly, I realized that after delving into breathwork, I felt somewhat disconnected from my body. To address this, I pursued qualifications in shiatsu massage and attended seminars on bodywork. Later on, I also studied Watsu, taking advantage of the wonderful hot springs in Naples, Italy.
Furthermore, I did a course in Advanced Energy Healing, which had a strong spiritual component. This involved reading auras, working to contact other dimensions of ourselves, etc. What usually happens in breathwork sessions is that your perspective of your consciousness changes. Oftentimes people are concerned with what they’re doing to do tomorrow or what they’ve done yesterday, without being present in themselves.
Through practices like meditation and breathwork, I discovered that we can access multiple dimensions of ourselves, including our pasts and higher levels of consciousness. This experience was a pivotal one for me.
Subsequently, I became involved with the International Breathwork Foundation, a network dedicated to promoting breathwork practices worldwide. Over the past 30 years, I’ve been actively engaged with them, encouraging others to explore the transformative potential of breathwork. Currently, I lead a team called the Breathing Arts team, where I blend my passions for music and songwriting with breathwork. Through the Breathing Arts, we inspire individuals to explore creative expression as part of their healing journey. A lot of people think that breathwork is just for people who are depressed or anxious, but that’s not the case. It’s a lot more than that.
Your website is called “Merkaba Seminars”. Where did the name come from and what can you tell me about that part of your work?
I named my website Merkaba Seminars because, over time and through my study at the School of Energy Mastery, I became involved with Sacred Geometry. The Merkaba was developed by Drunvalo Melchizedek in the States. For a period, I taught the Merkaba breathing meditation, which is specifically designed to facilitate the transition into our light body. In other words, it involves breathing in a certain way to access higher frequencies of existence. While I still conduct seminars on this topic, I’ve expanded the scope of my website to encompass all the various activities I’m currently engaged in.
For example, at the moment, I’m promoting a series of workshops titled “Find Your Voice,” along with highlighting the Breathing Arts. However, I remained involved with Merkaba meditation as it incorporates breath, visualization, mantras, and focused attention, integrating various techniques from the multidimensional realm.
What breathwork modalities and techniques do you use?
As I mentioned, I began with rebirthing, which involves breathing in hot and cold water. While breathing in hot water using conscious connected breathing, many people reexperienced their birth, hence the term “rebirthing.” However, with so many individuals having undergone this practice, the collective experience has evolved, leading to varied individual experiences. Nowadays, there are numerous forms of conscious breathing and breathwork available. Personally, I’ve continued to focus on conscious connected breathing, which emphasizes diaphragmatic breathing, meaning breathing from the belly.
In my sessions, there are essentially three stages. Firstly, you need to bring more energy into your body. Then you need to integrate it. This involves processing any emotions, physical sensations, or thoughts that arise during the session. Finally, the session concludes with the person entering into an energized relaxed state. That is the goal of the session.
What can you tell me about the work you do in the space of Multidimensional Reality?
What I base my multidimensional reality work is the idea of Stanislav Grof, the founder of Holotropic Breathwork™, which is the idea of spiritual emergencies. He found that when people are breathing very deeply, they can enter a stage where they don’t know who they are or what they are doing. Those people would often get scared about this, but it’s essentially another level of consciousness that can be reached through breathwork. That’s how I got interested in the quantum aspects of breathwork, how we work with internal energies, chakras, DNA, etc. All of this is related to the various dimensions that exist within us.
Recently, I became a grandfather for the first time and it’s like my grandchild is not present here, but is rather present within himself. As little babies, we all have reactions like, “Oh, here I am. This is my body. What do I do with this body?” As babies are still very connected to the soul level, they must learn to utilize their bodies and manage their emotions and thoughts. They’re essentially learning to navigate their existence. If they succeed in this, then we have to go back to the soul, which entails addressing all the things they’ve learned. However, many things we learn as babies are no longer useful once we become adults. They were very useful when we were babies, but they no longer serve their purpose when we grow up. When we leave these aspects of our being that we learned as infants, we create a space to move into another dimension.
I’ve written a couple of books exploring these ideas. For instance, if we consider physics, particularly quantum physics, it introduces dimensions vastly different from our physical reality. These dimensions can be seen as unfamiliar territories. For example, why do I feel a connection with someone without having exchanged a word? Conversely, why do I feel repelled by someone I’ve never spoken to? It suggests that we are connected on a different level, perhaps through shared experiences in past lives or from a different fabric of existence. These connections impact us deeply and need to be acknowledged as we move towards a more spiritual understanding.
Part of the healing process involves realizing that we are not alone but interconnected with everything around us. As we reach these other levels, we begin to discover our connection to nature, to other beings, and to our lineage – who we were before we came here and what is going to happen moving forward.
What other services do you offer?
Since the pandemic and the lockdown, I’ve devoted myself to songwriting. I work with voice and music as music is one of the things that can bring people together. Music is a universal language, just like breath is, and so is singing. Even if I don’t understand a word of what people are singing, I can still feel a connection. This is a part of our tradition as human beings.
I like to imagine a world where people start their day breathing together, singing together, dancing together, and only then going about their business. It’s paradise to me. Music has been a part of our tradition long before modern society where we need to do specific things and be at specific places. It was a part of a far more spontaneous culture that brought communities together. That’s why I like working with groups so that we can create a community together. In that light, I do regular online sessions with the purpose of giving people a space where they can get support, share, breathe, sing, and dance together. Having a chance to do this sort of thing often has a really positive effect on people, even if it’s done online.
What is in store for you going forward?
I will continue my online group work and I’m also going to Dubai next month as we’re planning to set up an academy there. I’ve also been invited to go to Barcelona in the autumn to participate in a shamanic program. So, those are some of my upcoming projects. I’m really always happy to hear from people. Apart from breathing, I’m also interested in sharing songs and songwriting.
To learn more about Robin and his work, you can visit www.merkabaseminars.com
