Awakening To Joy Through Rebirthing Breathwork – An Interview with Juliana Ericson

What if you could transform your life through the simple act of breathing?

Join us as Juliana Ericson shares her moving story of awakening through mindfulness and spirituality during times of immense personal loss. Her experiences reveal the life-changing power of breathwork, leading her to become a coach and guiding others on their paths to recovery and personal growth. We dive into the nuances of Rebirthing Breathwork to understand its profound impact on emotional healing and subconscious reprogramming, and we also discuss Juliana’s “Awakening to Joy” program where you can experience transformation and ultimately become a breathwork facilitator yourself. (Interview has been edited for readability.)

We would love to hear your own story of awakening. Can you share a bit about that?

Juliana Ericson: I’m glad it happened. I can tell you that. Twenty-seven years ago, when I found this work or this work found me, I was at a whole different place. My husband had just died a couple years before. I was left with a little boy who was just two and a half, and so I was just pretty lost, didn’t know what to do with my life, and kind of just existing, not knowing what to do with my life.

Then I met a man who ended up ended up taking advantage of my weakness. Of course, now I know I was drawing that in, but at the time, I just let it all happen. He knew what to say, what to do. It left me with my dream house was gone. My daughter disowned me. My life was just terrible. I was in a really, really dark place. It was just awful.

This work literally knocked on my door. I had a little guest house in the backyard. A friend knew that I had it, and she said, “There’s a Rebirthing Breathworker that comes from Atlanta looking for a place to use to see her clients once a month. What do you think?” I said, “Sure.” After one time, I knew I wanted more. It just went on from there.

How did this breathwork practice provide healing for you and ultimately motivate you to become a coach yourself?

Juliana Ericson: I was suicidal at one point. It was really bad. My depression was terrible. I’d be in my pajamas all day for weeks at a time. I’d take my son to school and come back. I mean it was bad, bad, bad. I think, with all that I went through, I’m a better listener. I’ve been able to help people better now because I’ve been through most of what they’ve been through. I’ve been through hell and back, and I know the way through.

After I had that session the first time – and I had several sessions with her, each time got better. I was learning tools. I had never had anybody give me guidance. I’d read lots of books and stuff like that, but they were just books. I didn’t really apply them, so she showed me steps to take and ways to reframe my thinking. It was awesome. Then I wanted the training. I wanted to learn to do it, not to do it for other people but to do it for me. I wanted to upgrade my life more and more. So I went to the training. At that time, I had to travel all over the United States to different workshops, which I loved doing because I love learning. I couldn’t get enough. Then people who knew me, saw such a change, and they said, “Wow, what have you been doing? You’re so different.” I had light in my eyes.

I was awake now. I wasn’t a zombie anymore. They said, “What have you been doing?” I told them, and they said, “Well, would you do this for me?” So I would rebirth them. The first year, I didn’t charge anything because I was not doing it as a professional. And then I thought “This is really something! It’s changing people’s lives.” Gradually, I was doing a little at a time, and then I got to the point, where now this is all I do.

It took me a while to heal because my self-esteem and self-confidence were really, really low. I had been that way my whole life. As we become coaches, we also grow if we have our eyes open. We’re learning along with the people we’re helping. I learned a lot about myself as I was growing and continue to grow. I’m a Course in Miracles student, and I consider myself a lifelong student of life. It’s awesome. There’s always something new. There’s always something more to uncover, something more to learn, something more to be amazed with.

Tell us how Rebirthing Breathwork is unique from other breathworks that are out there. 

Juliana Ericson: I’d say the main thing is that we focus on the emotional body. Wim Hof and some of those other breathworks, they’re awesome. I mean, I love breathwork, but most of those are focusing on the physical changes in the body. Of course, as we physically change, we have a lot that also changes in our emotional and mental bodies. But it’s not quite at the depth we work with with Rebirthing Breathwork. We go to the thoughts beneath the thoughts. We go to the core thoughts.

It covers, pretty much, five areas. We cover conception, womb, birth, first few hours after birth, and first two years after birth. Each of those can have some type of a trauma event, and that is where some of these blocks come in. I’ve had therapists come to me because there’s only so much you can do in traditional talk therapy. I mean, you need to find out what’s down there. People will ask “Why have I done all this, and I can’t seem to get past it?” May I tell you just a little bit about those five – maybe a couple of those areas?

We want to hear about all five.

Juliana Ericson: Rebirthing Breathwork focuses on the subconscious programming of the pre and perinatal psychology, which is those five areas I was talking about, and then it uses the breathwork. Both of them work together. You can’t do one without the other. They both work together, so that’s why it’s such a powerful process.

For instance, let’s suppose a person was conceived and born to save the marriage. The marriage was really bad, and the mother says, “I think a baby’s going to help,” and then they still get divorced. I had a client who had that happen. She was overwhelmed with working so hard pleasing everybody. She had lots of friends, but she was always doing, doing, doing. She felt worn out, and she felt unloved herself. She didn’t know what it felt like to be accepted for just being herself.

I have certain things I do questions I ask to help my clients, and use my intuition. When I showed my client what her core belief was, she was able to change her core subconscious negative belief. I showed her how, and then she did the reprogramming.

Oh, my gosh, you wouldn’t even know it’s the same person. She practices healthy boundaries now, which is one of the things I help clients with. She learned, of course, self-confidence and self-esteem. She learned se didn’t have to do anything to be worthy. “Thank God she was born”, and other affirmations. It was just an awesome reprogramming, and she’s happily married now with healthy boundaries with her friends. That’s an example of a woman who was born to fix others and felt her whole purpose in life was to fix.

Then here’s another example. Let’s say a couple were in high school, and they got pregnant. The girl thinks, oh, no, I don’t want to be pregnant. I’m still in high school. I don’t want to be pregnant. That baby, with those neurochemicals that the mother is feeling, is programmed into the fetus with the program “I am not wanted.”

Even though she was wanted later and was loved, her original imprint was that she wasn’t wanted. So that child is born with the thought I’m not wanted. Because we teach people how to treat us based on our beliefs about ourself and about life, we’re constantly teaching people what we believe about ourselves. She’s constantly teaching people I’m not wanted; don’t want me, and so she’s constantly disappointed. She’s telling people not to want her, and then she’s not wanted. It’s self-fulfilling thing, and so it just keeps on going. The kids in the neighborhood pick teams, and they don’t pick her. It’s just on and on and on, so that original program just keeps showing up until it’s changed. With Rebirthing, that’s what we do. That pre and perinatal psychology goes really deep.

This isn’t woo-woo. I mean, this science has been around for about 50, 60 years here, and longer in Europe. There’s a pre and perinatal psychology association in the United States. They know what this deep programming is. Gabor Maté often talks about the prenatal psychology. It’s some powerful stuff. You just have to know what you’re doing, which I do. Actually, I do a training every year about it. It’s so awesome to help people just take the lid off this pressure cooker, and then they’re on their way.

Anyway, I don’t know if I answered you. Then, at birth, they’ve got other types of trauma options. For instance, people born with forceps are usually angry all the time, and they make life harder than it needs to be. Cesarean people have trouble finishing things. Anyway, it’s just like dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. It’s crazy how the different birth types have characteristics, and again, Rebirthing help reprogram them.

I want to go back just briefly to when you were talking about the connection between breathwork and reprogramming the way of thinking about oneself. How does the actual breath help with the reprogramming process?

Juliana Ericson:Good question. I’ve never had that asked before. Yeah, thank you for that. First of all, love is the most powerful force in the universe. I’m clear about that. We use the power of love in Rebirthing Breathwork as the major healing tool. I’m sure other types of processes do too, but I’m just saying that’s for sure what we use. We use the heart chakra, so we breathe into the heart chakra. We don’t breathe into the diaphragm. We don’t hold our breath, all that stuff. It’s a constant flow of breath, constant flow of in and out, so we activate and charge the heart chakra. That’s part of the process.

More of a circular breathing pattern is what you focus on?

Juliana Ericson: Yeah. It’s a certain type of breathing, and it’s for an hour. Not all Rebirthers do this, but I do. I pray over them while they’re breathing, and so I’m clear that my job is to create a safe and sacred space for them and divine presence to heal. That’s what I do, and so I feel like I’m there with them. Actually, I can even sometimes sense what’s going through their experience, and I see colors and visions and stuff. It’s interesting.

What is the actual power behind the breath versus just thinking through everything?

Juliana Ericson: Breathwork is what I would call a somatic process. It aligns the body, mind, and spirit. When people breathe shallow, they are activating the sympathetic/fight or flight nervous system. How we breathe is our nervous system externalized. I can just lookout how someone is breathing and can tell a lot about what we need to work on. When they’re breathing shallow, they’re telling their body to be stressed, and they’re also stuffing their feelings. The feelings are down there.

In a Rebirthing Breathwork session, it’s two hours: one hour of counseling, one hour of breathing. In the first hour, I guide them through these places that I’ve sensed for us to go to, and it’s stirred up the subconscious and stuffed feelings. Then, when they’re breathing, those feelings just float to the top. Up and out! To just think about something isn’t enough. To just breathe isn’t enough, but to think and breathe together, it works, especially with a guide, as I am, to guide them through a certain focus of what the intention is for the session.

People who do breathwork for the first time are always blown away. They often say, “I’m crying and I don’t know why. I’m not sad, but there’s just this stuff coming out.”

Juliana Ericson: Isn’t it beautiful? What you’re talking about is that people are so used to being contracted. They’re used to living in that state all the time. Then, when they breathe with this conscious breathing you’re talking about, their body starts opening up. They don’t realize that life can feel so good, that life can feel so easy, that they can feel so much bliss and joy in an hour. It’s like are you kidding?!! There are no drugs involved. There are no pills. There’s no anything, and you’re doing it yourself. It’s the ultimate tool of empowerment.

You have someone there holding space for you makes a difference – whether they’re praying for you, sending you good intention, just being there as your support, whatever it is. It makes a difference whenever two or more gather together. It makes a difference rather than doing it by yourself.

People say I’ve gotten more out of these two or three sessions than I’ve gotten in years of therapy. Listen, I’m all about therapy. I love it. I’ve had it myself. My best friend, several good friends, are therapists. I love it. I love what it does. It’s essential, but it’s not always what needs to be done forever. For sure, when people have major traumas and those kind of things, yes.

Tell us about Water Breathwork. How does that work, and how does it help people?

Juliana Ericson: Our first experience of intimacy was inside our mother. That was our first relationship, so what was going on in her life affects us and our relationships. I’m not just saying relationship with a partner, intimate relations. I’m saying relationships with everything, relationships with money, with our job, with ourselves, with friends, with neighbors, all of that. It begins there. Everybody knows that what our mother eats and drinks goes through the bloodstream, through the placenta, into the baby, so the baby eats and drinks what the mother does. If the mother smokes or does drugs, the same thing. It goes through her. The baby’s also doing it.

It’s also the same with what she’s thinking and feeling, through the neurochemicals that are released through her thoughts and feelings. Whether it’s anxiety or fear, then that would be adrenaline and cortisol going through to the baby. If it was pleasure and feeling safe, it’s endorphins and serotonin, dopamine, those good ones. Balance: if it’s a normal life, okay, good. Our body is made to gradually balance itself out. But if there’s too much of the anxiety – maybe the dad has an affair while the mother is pregnant , there’s a good chance relationships will reflect that when she grows up. Or the father dies when the mother was seven months pregnant or something. Then there’s a real good chance as it grows up, she’s going to end relationships at seven months or seven years. So we’re programmed with those lengths of time – I know; it’s amazing.

With Water Breathwork, we actually take a snorkel and get in either in the pool or a bathtub and have them put their head underwater so their ears are under, so they just hear their breathing. They’re doing the same conscious breathing under the water for an hour in warm water, so it’s the body temperature. Then sometimes they can actually have memories of womb or birth, although that’s not the object of it. The object is to surrender to whatever comes up, and it it’s also about a support, which is a big one for a lot of people. Anyway, there’s a lot of things that they can experience and learn with Water Rebirthing. Relationships definitely have the opportunity of making big strides forward with Water Rebirthing.

We do the warm water Rebirthing, and we’ve been doing cold – cool to cold – Water Rebirthing for 30 years, so Wim Hof is not new to us. The difference is we do it cold water or cool water but 15 to 20 minutes in the water, breathing in the cold water, and you shake and all that. You have to do that. At some point, you get to the point your body surrenders, and then you can either stay in there at that point or finish dry for the rest of the hour. That is a powerful, powerful process for people to get through fear and anger and being stuck, big changes in people’s lives, so that’s when we use the cold. I do a warm water Rebirthing Breathwork weekend every year in late July here in Nashville.

In the weekend, the first half of the day is all about processes. They’re learning about ways to navigate subconscious programs in relationships– we’re doing buddy things, and so there’s a lot of learning. Then the second half of the day is the Rebirthing Breathwork trade in the pool where they hold each other, and then they switch and then dah, dah, dah. They’re in buddy teams. One holds the other. In a bathtub, which is what I do with private clients, it is very much like a womb because it’s a tight space, and also I can talk through the snorkel, and they can hear me.

You wrote a book called The Other F Word: 7 Days to Forgiving Anyone. One of the questions that you ask right in the first chapter is…why forgive? Why not just forget? Help us understand why forgiving is so important in this process of moving forward and healing as a human being.

Juliana Ericson: We’re energetic beings, and the energy of emotions – emotions are energy. If we think we can just stuff it and put it somewhere where it’s out of the way, – doesn’t work. When we store all of the resentment and anger, it just stays there. The unfortunate thing is, the longer it stays there, it’s like it festers, and it gets worse and worse and worse. I liken it to, – you know those big beach balls that are really light, and you could throw it at somebody? They may not like it, but it certainly won’t hurt. I mean, it doesn’t feel anything. They’re just big, light beach balls.

If you take that same beach ball and hold it under the water, first of all, it takes a lot of effort to hold it under the water. Have you ever done that? It takes effort to do that, and then, if you let that beach ball go, it comes up with a force that can give you a black eye. That same light, little, no-hurt-anybody beach ball, when you hold it under the water and then let it go – and that’s exactly the same as when we hold anger and resentment down. We’re giving it power. We’re making it stronger. Then it comes out in physical, emotional illnesses. Louise Hay says all illnesses most illnesses is either having to do with anger about the past or worry about the future, and none of that is being present.

Carolyn Myss says, most people, when they wake up in the morning, something like 10% of them is present. They’re either in the past or the future. They’re not present. All healing is in the present, so when we’re worried about, or angry about, or resentful we’re not present. It doesn’t even have to be at somebody else. A lot of times, people are angry at themselves, or what really is a big one is, when they’re angry at somebody who died 20 years ago. Who wins with that (nobody)? Who loses with that (the person)? You are holding all of that resentment and all the neurochemicals in the body.

Forgiveness is not about doing it for anyone else at all. In fact, if you look it up in the encyclopedia, it just means to let go. That’s all it means. If somebody refers to the Bible, they’ll notice that that’s the number one subject Jesus talked about. And back then, when He even used the word forgiveness, He meant to loosen or to untie. It says nothing about being right or wrong. It says nothing about being a doormat. It says nothing about any of that, absolutely. We make it harder than it needs to be because we want to be right. We want to blame somebody for how bad we feel. That’s pretty much what it is.

I help people get past that little stumbling block, and there are different ways to do it. There’s different levels of doing it. There’s the quick and easy, if you want to just brush things aside in the moment. There’s middle ground, and then, of course, there’s the seven-day one, if you really want to move something, use that one.

Can you give us some tips on how to help us release those thoughts and feelings?

Juliana Ericson: You could start by not going right to the hardest one. Don’t start there. Just like cleaning a house, do the little things first, and then gradually it gets easier. Then it’s not so bad, and then stop and wait. I’d say is give yourself some grace. A lot of times people are angry at themselves for not forgiving, but they won’t do it. Then they’re angry at themselves for not doing it, but they won’t do it. They stay in that little loop thing. That’s not serving anyone either.

There’s a little something I say to myself when I get stuck, and I’m not saying it works every time because I’m not perfect either. I get it. Do I want to be right, or do I want to be happy? When I ask myself that, it’s like, okay, you know what? It really doesn’t matter. Okay, it really doesn’t matter. Of sometimes I’ll be angry for a few days. If it’s worthy of my time, then I’ll go ahead and do the seven days, and if it’s not, then I’ll do one of the shorter processes. Speaking it out, journaling about it, getting it out of your body, it’s big. It’s really important. The Hawaiian Ho’oponopono, – that’s another one. There’s just some small things you can do, but you have to mean it. You have to mean it.

That mustard seed can move mountains. It’s the truth. The mustard seed has to be a real mustard seed, not a wannabe. This is a real mustard seed. It’s only this big, but it’s real. What does that mean? That means God does the rest. Honestly, that is the truth. You need just this much willingness, and absolutely, the rest is done for you.

I want to hear more about your Rebirthing Breathwork Training Program. Who is this for, and what would they experience if they signed up for this?

Juliana Ericson: It’s for anybody. Like I said, I started with the intention of just making my life better, and anybody can do that. It also is really good for people who already have another type of practice, like counselors, massage therapists, Reiki masters, people that already understand natural health options. I’ve had several chiropractors who’ve gone through the training, and nurses, had a couple of doctors. In other words, they’re already in the healing mindset or business, and this adds another level. Sometimes they can only go so far with what tools they have, and so Rebirthing Breathwork is a really good thing to add to that.

The first part is the Awakening to Joy, and it’s a one weekend a month for four months. That’s the one anybody can do if they just want to have a better life, learn tools, all the kind of things I’ve been talking about, all of them and more, and a group of wonderful people. It’s about 15, and it’s live here in Nashville and also via Zoom. It’s just a great to see that these people are still friends from years ago. I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years now. It’s just awesome to see how close people get with this program. That’s Awakening to Joy, and then the second part of the Rebirther Training is the Water Breathwork weekend, and that you have to be in person because you have to be here in the pool. That’s Part 2. Then the Part 3 is the technical training, and that’s where I actually teach them hands-on how to do what I do.

Then after those trainings I mentor the people who want to become Rebirthers. I have a one day just on teaching about how to deal with codependency with their clients, another one on anger management, another one on social media marketing – so those specific things that we can’t go into enough depth during the training program and they need the time, so I give that extra time to them.

Do you also offer this type of coaching in person and online one-on-one? Is that something that you’re open to as well?

Juliana Ericson: When I’m not doing a workshop, I’m seeing clients. I have a one-on-one six-month program, and is every two weeks for six months. We have steps to go through. If they have one main thing they want to work on, then we can stay on that one subject, but to give a nice overview, we cover different subjects each time. Then I give them homework. That’s just amazing. I mean, wow, wow, wow, wow, people love that. I offer a free 30 minute Stop the Struggle call to learn more and get started.

Why do people generally come to you for help and support?

Juliana Ericson: I’ve had a few people who were done with their marriage, like done, and I don’t know, maybe 50 years old, 55. All relationships are both – two, and as we heal, we heal those around us. What’s really cool is, when these women change themselves, their relationship changes. I had one woman who had been married a long time, and he just was no help around the house, just nothing, nice and everything. She did this six month program, and one of the things I help people is give them tools on how to raise their energy vibration. One of the things she chose of this list was to sing, and so she was singing around the house more than she had done in a long time. Anyway, and then she did the forgiveness process on her husband. When she did it, she had to call me with this. She said, “Juliana, if I didn’t know you, I would never believe this was possible.”

They had been married 30-something years. It was a long time. He had never been anything other what she’s been used to. He got up that morning and took the dog out. She’s always the one that has to wake up and take the dog out, but he took the dog out. He emptied the dishwasher, and he took her out to dinner that night. Now, please understand, none of these had ever happened – maybe when they were dating he did that kind of stuff. I mean, this stuff is crazy. Again, when we heal, the relationship is different. So when she changes, then all of a sudden the relationship’s different. It’s just different.

Expect miracles is my point. Expect miracles when you change, and nothing is impossible. I have a woman who was in Stage 4 cancer. I’m not saying that she lived 10 years after. She did live longer, and her life was joyous up until the end. Everything was changed. Who knows what’ll happen? Who knows? Be open to miracles.

If someone’s listening today, feeling stuck, and unsure where to begin, what encouragement would you give them on how to get started?

Juliana Ericson: Other than a session with me, you mean?

There you go. That could be a great first step.

Juliana Ericson: When they have this breathwork session, it’s like, all of a sudden, they’re going to come up with ideas they never thought of because they were too contracted. Once you uncontract yourself, things come up that you had never even thought of. Be open to miracles, a Course in Miracles lesson that I love is I’m willing to see this differently. Just to be willing to see something differently is huge. It’s just huge. I’d say start with willingness to be open to something different. When we keep doing things the same, we get same results, so try something you’ve never tried. Certainly, people have heard about how awesome breathwork is. Rebirthing Breathwork is like breathwork on steroids I like to say.

If somebody is interested in having a one-on-one session or being trained on how to be a Rebirthing Breathwork facilitator, what would be the best way for them to connect with you?

Juliana Ericson: You can find our more at www.thejoyfullifeproject.com, and I’m on Facebook and Instagram as well. I would encourage you to download my free e-book entitled Activate Your God-Given Gifts by Discovering Your Top Five Traits.