#19 Conscious Breathing (That time I became a pulsating ball of energy)

Brace yourself for what is possibly the most far-out, 'woo-woo' episode yet as Kelly experiences transformational, conscious breathwork, opening up whole new dimensions in her life and work.

As always, we end with a turn-around. An opportunity for you to reflect on how it all relates to your own life. 

Open your mind, open your heart and stay curious.

Download this free PDF of journal prompts to help you explore how aware you are of your own energetic vibrations and what raises and lowers them.

With deep gratitude to Rebecca Dennis of The Breathing Tree https://breathingtree.co.uk

The High Vibe Journey is coming again soon!

Come and join Project WE, Kelly's online membership club for women with a growth mindset who want to work on their lives in a positive we-space.

Get the free Project Me Life Wheel® to help you stay out of auto-pilot living.

Contact Kelly: hello@myprojectme.com

Read the Transcript for this Episode below:

Episode 19 of the Project Me podcast.

Hi, I'm Kelly Pietrangeli, the creator of  myprojectme. com. This podcast is designed to be an entertaining, lighthearted, inspirational, personal growth journey.  Each episode goes in a mostly chronological order as I piece together the books, modalities, people, and experiences that have fallen onto my life path exactly when I needed them.

And how often I resisted the very things I needed the most, or didn't see the gifts contained in the challenges until later.  By sharing my stories, I hope to inspire you to reflect on your life path. What are the seeming coincidences that have led you to where you are today?  What are the hidden gifts within your challenges?

And what magic is out there waiting for you as you let go of resistance and follow your own breadcrumb trail?  At the end of each short episode, there's an opportunity. For you to reflect on how my story relates to your own life. You'll also find a PDF of journal prompts in the show notes. Hi,  and welcome back to the show.

I'm coming at you from a new location, not Spain yet, as the travel restriction has still not been lifted, but we have moved out of the loft conversion in Fitzrovia over to a different Airbnb, this time in London's Camden Town. We've got a small terrace overlooking the lock and canal, and this apartment is brand new, it's bright, it's light, it's helping us to feel very high vibe as we continue to wait it out.

Normally Camden is teeming with so many tourists that you can't even move, but during London lockdown, it's just perfect. Where we were before, over in Fitzrovia, felt kind of like an eerie ghost town. There was nobody around. But over here, there's just enough locals around to give it a fun buzz, but without the crazy crowds.

I'm noticing the architecture and the details that normally get lost when you're focused on the people in the shops. It's also beautiful and quaint. I love street art and there's a lot of cool street art here in Camden. I've been posting pictures of that over on Instagram and Facebook. The Camden Food Market stalls are all open, so we've got so much choice for eating.

And we're doing lovely canal side walks up to Primrose Hill in one direction, and all the way to East London and Hackney in the other direction. And I have finally explored Hampstead Heath, which is gorgeous and huge, and has lots of potential for me to find my new favourite tree. Again, this unplanned waiting time has continued to be such a gift.

I want to say thanks for all the positive feedback on my very first interview episode with the wonderful Brad Yates. I know a lot of you joined in on his tapping for success challenge last week, and we all tapped on our old stories and brought in more powerful new beliefs. I loved hearing from so many of you who are now finally getting tapping after resisting it or not really understanding what it was before.

If you listened to episode 18, but you weren't in a position to do the tapping part, I really encourage you to go back and do that. It's powerful stuff.  I'm also thrilled with how many of you enjoyed episode 17 about tarot cards. I'm now doing several Zoom Tarot sessions a week, and every one of them has been so profound.

I don't even have anywhere on my website to sign up for these yet, so just keep emailing me hello at myprojectme. com and I'll send you information and tell you how to book a session. Well, this week I have a very special story to share with you. It's one I've been alluding to in other episodes but waiting until I reach this point in this unfolding journey.

One thing leads to another and I would not have been ready for this if not for what had come before it.  This is actually what happened when I had my very first conscious breath work session. And again, how I stumbled into this without even knowing what it was.  This one comes with a heavy woo woo warning.

But if you've been listening to my ongoing stories in chronological order, you'll see how life is always springing these different modalities on me just when I needed them the most. Here we go. Episode 19.

It was January 2017. I was in my annual New Year meetup with my power pals Anna and Susie.  Each January, we have our big New Year goal setting and dreaming meetup that we've done every year since 2008.  I was still very much processing the death of one of my very dearest friends in the world who committed suicide a year earlier.

I said to Anna and Susie, I know this sounds strange, but I feel like he's still here. It's like he's gone in physical form, but his energy is still here.  It was the very first time I'd admitted that when people die. Maybe a part of them lives on. I have never bought into the idea of heaven and hell, so in my mind, you either believed in that, or you believed that when you die, you're dead.

I didn't know there was anything in between.  Susie said, Have you ever read Synchrodestiny by Deepak Chopra? And I said, yeah, yeah, I think so, a long time ago. She said, it's about energy, and it could be good for you to read again.  The very next morning, I woke up, And pulled out this big drawer under my bed where I keep my more esoteric books.

And lo and behold, there it was. Synchrodestiny. I'd had so many massive book holes over the years, and somehow, this one was still with me.  I saw that there was a bookmark in the middle of it. It was a yoga leaflet. One I'd designed back in 2005 for a project I was doing in Ibiza.  Well, that answered the question about which year I tried to read this book, and how I'd only made it about halfway through.

I turned the leaflet over, and on the back side was this child stick figure drawing.  I smiled as I realized it was a drawing my son Max had done, and in 2005, he would have been five years old. It said in his five year old writing, I love you, Mommy, with stick figures of us.  At the exact moment I was smiling at this drawing, Max, who is now 17, came into my bedroom for us to do our morning tapping together.

I showed this sweet drawing to him and I told him about Susie telling me to read this book and discovering I still had it 12 years later.  We opened the book and read the intro together. It was all about how nothing in life is ever merely a coincidence. So maybe it wasn't a coincidence that Susie had mentioned the book.

I'd rediscovered it under my bed, and it had a bookmark drawing by Max all of those years ago, and he'd walked in at that moment. I said, maybe I'm meant to share this book with you, Max. He was super busy studying for his tough A level exams, and this was not a time for him to take on any extra reading, but I made a mental note to gift it to him one day, when he's ready.

So, I got up and dressed because that very same day, I had an appointment in central London with Rebecca Dennis, a conscious breeding coach. I'd booked in for a one on one breathwork session with her after, coincidentally, picking up her book at the airport a couple of months earlier.  I've been on my way to Ibiza alone to work on finishing the writing of my own book.

I was in such a hurry at the airport that I remember just running into W. H. Smith and grabbing this book. It was a book by Rebecca Dennis, and I didn't even know what it was beyond the title. It was called, And Breathe, The Complete Guide to Conscious Breathing, The Key to Health, Wellbeing, and Happiness.

Once I was sitting on the plane, I turned the book over and saw with amazement that we shared the same publisher. And I turned to her thank yous, and she credited her commissioning publisher and editor who were the same as mine. What an incredible coincidence. I loved the book and learning about the incredible power of our breath, and I ended up adding in a section about breathing to the health chapter in my own book, and I included Rebecca in my treasure trove of resources at the back.

But to be honest, My main motivation for booking in this one on one with Rebecca Dennis was to pick her author brain.  I wasn't feeling supported by my publisher, and I was feeling super confused about the editing process and really doubting myself as an author.  Maybe Rebecca would have some fellow author advice, and I'd love to hear what she thought of these same women at the publishers I was working with too.

I was keen to gain any insights that would restore my confidence. So I arrived at the lovely Indaba Yoga Center near Marlebone in London and I was led upstairs to a remote room at the very top floor. I later realized why these breathwork sessions happen far away from the yoga rooms.  All that was in the room was a kind of large futon mattress on the floor.

Rebecca was warm and lovely and invited me to sit cross legged on the futon opposite her.  I shared the coincidence of buying her book on my way to work on my book and how we shared the same publisher, and we did chat about that for a while and she had some comforting advice, assuring me that all authors are afraid their book will suck.

Then she said, Right. What can I help you with in our breathwork session today?  I realized I'd gone in there so focused on my book and all the questions I wanted to ask her about that, that I hadn't even thought about what I wanted to get out of this actual breathwork session with her.  I knew from her book that conscious breathing is a self healing technique that helps people to access the full potential of their breathing system for better physical, emotional, and mental well being.

Most of us use only 33 percent of our respiratory capacity and Rebecca is all about helping us to become more conscious of our breathing. And in a one on one session, she can help release physical pain, emotional trauma, reduce anxiety and stress. I didn't have anything in particular I wanted to work on.

So the very first thing that came out of my mouth was,  I want to understand myself as a vibrational being.  I didn't even know what I meant by that. I mean, I knew conceptually what it meant, kind of, sort of, because I'd just been hearing that everything is energy. And the day before was that conversation about my friend dying, but still feeling his energy.

And then the synchro destiny book about energy. What did all this mean? Was that something I could have a breathwork session about?  Well, clearly it was.  What happened over the next hour went on to change my life.  To begin, Rebecca put on incredible tribal music.  I lay back on the futon as she called in my guides and asked them to assist me in deepening my understanding of myself as a vibrational being.

She expertly guided me through a breathing process that felt really challenging, mouth open wide the entire time, two sharp breaths in, one soft exhale as she moved her fingers across my abdomen to encourage deep abdominal breathing.  I was way too in my head. Trying for ages to get it right, feeling really frustrated at myself.

She had me stop the breath work every so often and beat my hands and feet on the floor and scream and shout. This was clearly why we were put into a room far, far away from anyone else.  And then, I must have let go of the trying, and it clicked.  My breath took me into another dimension.  It's quite indescribable, and yet, I'm going to try to describe what happened.

I left my body and I don't mean that in that way that you hear sometimes where people leave their body and they're kind of levitating above their body and they can see themselves looking down. It wasn't like that. I, I was no longer in physical form. I became pure light and energy, a vibrating, pulsating ball of energy.

I became love, joy, ecstasy, peace. It was absolutely incredible. Like no drugs could ever make you feel so good.  I remember again, just feeling like I wasn't in physical form. I was just vibrating light energy. And at one point I had this kind of flashback of being birth, like whooshing through the birth canal of my mother and a voice saying, you are welcome here.

You are welcome.  With so much love. And in that moment, it was like, I remembered that voice and the moment that I came into the world and I burst into tears,  this recognition came through to me that I have always been loved and encouraged by some divine source and all at once, I recognized this voice as the voice that has always been with me through every tough and hard time in my life  and the voice said,  you already are all that you seek to become.

You are the same as, and then a bunch of names I can only remember, like Obama, Oprah, Mother Teresa. All at once I had this understanding that we are all one and there is no separation. Nobody's better than anyone else. I am made of the same, of all of whom I admire. I am as special as everyone else. You already are all you seek to become.

That message came through loud and clear,  and then, eventually, the experience softly came to an end, and I was becoming more aware of being in my physical body again. I remember not wanting it to end, just wanting to stay in this state of pure, light energy and not come back into my body.  Rebecca gently said she'd be back in a couple minutes, and she left the room quietly.

And I just lay there and my body was buzzing with currents and I remember my hands continued to feel like pure energy. I just didn't have hands anymore, it was just energy. It was the coolest sensation. My feet and my legs were tingling and buzzing.  When Rebecca came back, I wrapped myself with a blanket around my shoulders and we sat opposite to process it all.

I knew something profound had just shifted in me. I said, man. I've been thinking of sending my husband to see you about this knee issue he's been having, but this would have completely freaked him out. She said, oh, if he'd come in for his knee issue, he wouldn't have had your experience. You came in with the intention of understanding yourself as energy.

So that's the experience you had.  And I was like, Oh, wow. So this doesn't happen to everybody who comes in here. I am so glad I didn't waste the opportunity on something like a sore shoulder.  I have since learned that many people experience an expanded state of consciousness as they improve their breathing, your life can open up and become more fulfilled through conscious breathing.

I could have spent decades reading dozens of books trying to intellectually understand myself as energy. But in one hour, I got to experience myself as pure light and energy and get it on a cellular level.  I now know that when we die, we leave our physical body and transmute back into our energetic essence.

This is what religion has always meant when it says your soul never dies, it simply leaves your body.  And this is how reincarnation happens and your energy goes back into another physical body. And it's what is meant by, we are all one. We are all a part of the same source energy. In our purest form, we are all light and love.

It was like in one fell swoop, all of what had never quite made logical sense to me before simply clicked into place.  Why spend a lifetime reading heavy tombs of metaphysics when in one hour you can experience yourself as pure light, love, and energy, and understand life after death? Wow!  The experience opened me up to expanding my understanding of higher levels of conscious living, beyond the endless stuff we busy ourselves with every day.

We are so preoccupied with whatever's in front of our face that we miss out on all that we cannot physically see.  I feel like there's this old me who was ruled by my head and then the new me who is so much more intuitive and conscious and connected.  Ever since then, when something feels really right, I get tingles in my feet and my lower legs.

It's like something has switched on in me, and I have a new awareness of the ways my body gives me intuitive signals. My feet have been vibrating as I've been sharing this story.  So where does this leave you?  You didn't have this experience, and you can only go by what you feel inside of you.  What are your personal vibrations telling you as you hear me share this story?

Is it feeling expansive and like a yes that absolutely resonates?  Is it an openness, a curiosity?  Or is there a sense of resistance? Is it feeling constrictive and like a nope, not buying into that, not going there?  We are all here to walk our own path and experience the different facets of life that we are meant to experience in this particular lifetime.

When something resonates, it's a sign to lean in and learn more.  Anything that has the potential to expand our awareness and give us greater inner vision will naturally spark our curiosity.  When we can let go of fear and judgments and open our minds and hearts to the unknown, there is so much magic out there waiting for us to discover.

Up until this point in the  podcast, you've heard me share kind of random stories and experiences that have gently opened me up to all this a little bit at a time.  These experiences felt random to me until I've been able to piece them together like a jigsaw puzzle.  They have all been breadcrumbs along my trail of growth and understanding the bigger picture of my life and my place in the universe.

After this transformational breathwork session, I became more intentional about understanding myself as energy and how to take personal responsibility for my energy, not blaming others for how I feel, not allowing outside influences to affect me.  Finding ways to consistently put my best energy out into the world.

I didn't even know what I meant when I was asking to understand myself as a vibrational being, but now that I do, it has unlocked my gifts for helping others to live in a higher vibration. It is now such a big part of the work I do.  Living a high vibe. Life may sound trendy and fatty, but it's real.

Everything is vibrational energy, including your thoughts and emotions.  There is a collective energy and when the entire planet is caught up in low vibe emotions like fear, worry, anger, you will get swept up in that current if you aren't intentionally choosing not to be.  You need to counter those collective vibes with your own higher ones.

The more of us who are intentional about raising our own personal energetic vibrations, the more the collective energy is raised.  The world needs our light, love, and energy right now. More than ever before.

Dear listener,  relax your forehead.  Take a long, deep breath in,  and let it out with a sigh.  I'm going to ask you some questions, and you don't need to write these down, because I've created a PDF of these questions and more for you to journal on, or as a conversation starter if you want to talk to a friend about this stuff.

How are you feeling right now, in this present moment?

Without judging yourself, how Do you think your current emotional state is of a higher or lower vibrational frequency?

Reflecting back over the past 24 hours, recall something that lowered your vibes.  Can you remember feeling angry, upset,  worried, or frustrated?

Reflecting back over the past 24 hours, what's raised your vibes? What's made you smile, laugh, or brought you peace or joy?

Do you surround yourself with high vibe people, both in person and online?  Are you mindful of unfollowing those who lower your vibes online  and creating energetic boundaries between yourself and those who affect your energy?

Do you easily absorb collective negative energies around you, from people, the news, social media, Or do you have tried and tested ways to protect your precious energy?

Do you have consistent daily practices or tools to draw on that help lift your vibes?

Do you believe in a collective global energy?

What kind of energy are you putting out into the world?

What can you do right after this podcast finishes to raise your vibes just a little bit higher.

Thank you for listening to the project me podcast.  This is only part one of my several conscious breath work experiences, and I'll be sharing more in future episodes as each one was profoundly different. You can find rebeccaDennis@breathingtree.co.uk and her Instagram is Breathing Tree and her book and podcast are called And Breathe  This morning, coincidentally, just before I was about to record this podcast, Rebecca did an Instagram live from the river behind her house.

It was magical, and she plans to do these breathing sessions every Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM UK time. Go to her breathing tree Instagram page and tune in for these if you're able to. They're pure magic.  I also really want to invite Rebecca to be a guest on the podcast so she can help explain more about conscious breathing because I realized I shared my experience, but I didn't really go into much about what conscious breathing actually is.

I'd love her to share how and why it works and why we all need to be breathing better in our daily lives. I hope this podcast is a vibe lifter for you. If it is, please subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you've missed any of the previous ones, I invite you to go back and listen, even if the title isn't one you're naturally drawn to.

I also invite you to join my newsletter list where I share my best tools, strategies, and inspiration for living a well balanced high vibe life. Go to myprojectme. com and you'll find my free gift to all new subscribers.  Registration for the next round of my most popular and well program is opening soon.

The high vibe journey teaches you about your own personal energy and how to discover what raises your vibes for you.  This isn't about following a formula where everyone's doing the same thing. It's a four week journey into your inner world with me as your guide and a small group of like minded women to share the experience with.

This program will positively change your life.  I'm told I have a gift for taking high level information and making it understandable and doable in your everyday life. Far more fulfilling than reading a ton of books on the subject and then not implementing what you read. For more information and to get onto my High Vibe Journey interested list, drop me an email, hello at myprojectme.

com or private message me on Instagram, kellyprojectme, or on Facebook, I'm kelly p project me. The High Vibe Journey sells out every time, and I don't want you to miss it when registration opens next month. So if you're feeling curious to know more, do reach out to me quickly. In the next episode, I'll be sharing the story of how I found my voice when I lost it.

You may think that because I have a podcast, I find speaking easy, far from the truth.  Finding my voice has been a big part of my personal growth journey, and I'm finally ready to talk about that with you.  Until next time, open your mind, open your heart, and stay curious. We all need some space in our lives for the magical and unknown.