EP15: Erin Telford on Breathwork, the Role of Emotions, Grief & Redemption

**Trigger Warning**

We cover sexual assault in this episode, and we go into deep grief space as Erin lost her sister in a brutal way.

In this episode, we talk about breathwork as a therapeutic modality that bypasses the mind, the role of emotions, and dealing with grief. We ended up in some deep archetypal shizzle. The story of Erin’s family, her mother and her sister has so many miraculous and redemptive elements for them as souls and family, but for us all. This episode took me to a place I wasn’t planning to go, and I think it is very rich. We laughed and cried a lot.

EP15: Erin Telford on Breathwork, the Role of Emotions, Grief & Redemption

What You’ll Hear:

• Why Erin chooses Breathwork as her main healing modality.
• The archetypal journey of Erin’s sister (and their family) as a belly dancer and Zapatista activist in Mexico, and her mother’s response.
• Erin’s journey of leaving her wordly life in NYC and setting out on the road- first stop Joshua Tree
• Breaking the threads of aloneness
• How working with emotions allows for deep healing and getting to the root of things.

What Erin Shares:

• What is Breathwork? (2:45)
• Emotional health as a corner (9:30)
• First part of Erin’s story about her sister (9:40)
• Dealing with significant loss and grief (11:00)
• Erin’s family story (14:00) including her mom getting pregnant, after the Dalcon shield, with her sister.
• Her sister’s story (16:10)

(Audio problem from 19:10-19:25)

• Her mother’s response to her sister’s murder in Mexico (20:20)
• Her mother’s model of grieving and how it has healed their family (25:45)
• Giving up the supportive structures of life to move into true surrender (27:45)
• Working at Prada (32:30) and getting sick
• Lama Tsultrim Allione (35:30)
• Emotions—are they a liability? Safety in mental practices. When are you really doing the Work? (38:00)
• The role of DIY self-healing (40:30)
• Role and purpose of emotions (42:00)
• Kimberly doubts about doing things alone and confesses she doesn’t like practicing yoga alone 😉 (44:55)
• Dissolving stigma (48:20)
• Life as a single woman with no children at 42 & 43 (49:30)
• Putting lots of energy into work and healing practice, but personal life was not supportive enough, because there was not the right thread of personal community (51:40)
• The giving/receiving balance (52:30)
• Creating the rite of passage and sisterhood for her birthday (55:00)
• STAND on the EARTH (58:38)