The Power of the Pause: The Benefits of Elemental Rhythm Breathwork
- Fawn
- Jul 18
- 6 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Most of us breathe all day without giving it much thought. Yet our breathing often reflects exactly what is happening within us.
When we feel rushed, overwhelmed, anxious, or under pressure, the breath can become shallow and restricted. The body tightens. The mind keeps moving. Even after the stressful moment has passed, our system may continue acting as though it needs to stay alert.
Over time, this state can begin to feel normal.
Elemental Rhythm Breathwork creates an intentional pause in that pattern. It gives us an opportunity to step away from constant problem solving, reconnect with the body, and experience a different internal state.
At TRIBE, the practice is guided by Danette Bass, founder of The Sacred Pause and a certified Elemental Rhythm Breathwork facilitator.
For Danette, breathwork is not about forcing a breakthrough or creating a dramatic emotional experience.
It is about giving the mind and body enough space to slow down, listen, and respond differently.
“So many of us are functioning from survival mode without even realizing it, Breathwork creates a pause for the mind. It allows us to observe what is happening instead of moving through life on autopilot. Over time, that can help us respond to life rather than automatically reacting to it.”
-Danette Bass
What Is Elemental Rhythm Breathwork and its Benefits?
Elemental Rhythm is a guided style of breathwork that brings together intentional breathing, music, movement, meditation, and rest.
A session may include both yin and yang breathing patterns.
Yin breathing is slower, gentler, and more restorative. It can help participants settle into the body and become more aware of what they are feeling.
Yang breathing is more active and energizing. It may create stronger physical sensations and help shift the participant out of ordinary thinking patterns before returning to rest and integration.
The experience is guided, but it is not rigid. Participants are encouraged to listen to their bodies, adjust the pace, return to normal breathing, or rest whenever needed.
This element of choice is an important part of Danette’s trauma informed approach. There is no pressure to push through discomfort or have a certain kind of experience.
Creating Space Outside of Survival Mode
Stress is a normal and necessary part of life. It helps us respond, make decisions, and take
action.
The challenge is that many people do not receive enough opportunities to come back down after stressful experiences. We move from one responsibility to the next while the body remains tense and the mind continues anticipating what might happen next.
Breathwork creates a specific time to interrupt that cycle.
By intentionally changing the rhythm of the breath, participants may become more aware of the difference between feeling activated and feeling settled. This can help them recognize their own patterns more clearly.
The goal is not to eliminate stress. It is to build a greater ability to move through stress without remaining stuck there.
Research into breathwork is still developing, but studies of intentional breathing practices suggest that they may support reduced stress and anxiety for some people. These studies examine breathwork broadly and are not specific to the Elemental Rhythm method.
Responding Instead of Reacting
One of the most practical benefits of breathwork is learning to notice what is happening before a reaction takes over.
Stress often shows up in the body before we consciously understand it. The jaw tightens. The heart begins beating faster. The shoulders rise. The breath becomes shallow. We may become impatient, defensive, overwhelmed, or withdrawn.
When we learn to notice these signals, we have more opportunity to choose what happens next.
That does not mean we will always respond perfectly. It means there can be a little more space between the experience and our reaction.
Over time, conscious breathing may help strengthen the ability to pause during difficult conversations, stressful workdays, family tension, or moments when old patterns begin to surface.
Sometimes the pause is only one breath, but one breath can be enough to remind the body that another response is possible.
Quieting Mental Overload
Many of us spend most of the day thinking, planning, solving, remembering, and anticipating.
The mind rarely receives permission to stop working.
During a guided breathwork session, attention is brought back to something simple and immediate: the breath. Music, movement, physical sensation, and guided meditation help bring awareness away from constant analysis and into the present experience.
Thoughts may still arise. The goal is not to empty the mind or force those thoughts away.
Instead, breathwork can help create enough distance to observe thoughts without being completely pulled into them. Participants may leave feeling clearer, calmer, or less consumed by whatever was occupying their mental space.
Reconnecting With the Body and Emotions
Emotions do not always arrive as clear thoughts or stories.
They may appear as heaviness, tightness, restlessness, numbness, pressure, or fatigue. Sometimes we know something is affecting us, but we cannot put it into words.
Breathwork brings awareness back into the body.
During a session, participants may notice physical sensations or emotions that are harder to access during everyday life. Some people may cry, laugh, feel anger, experience relief, or simply become aware of what they have been carrying.
Not every session will create a strong emotional response, and one should never be forced.
Danette’s role is not to decide what a participant needs to release. Her role is to create a supportive
environment where people can notice their own experience while remaining in choice.
Breathwork may support emotional awareness, but it is not a replacement for medical care, psychotherapy, or professional trauma treatment.
A Practice That Extends Beyond the Class
The benefits of breathwork are not limited to the 90 minutes spent in the studio.
A guided session gives people an opportunity to experience how different breathing patterns affect them in a safe and supported setting. That awareness can begin to carry into everyday life.
You may notice that you are holding your breath during a stressful conversation. You may recognize tension earlier. You may remember to take a slower breath before responding to an email or making a decision.
The practice is not about remaining calm all the time. It is about becoming more aware of your internal state and remembering that you have tools available to support yourself.
The breath is always with you.
The Origins of Elemental Rhythm
Elemental Rhythm Breathwork was founded by Giovanni Bartolomeo, also known as Gio.
Gio is an entrepreneur, coach, breathwork facilitator, and longtime explorer of personal development and consciousness based practices. After experiencing a powerful emotional release through breathwork, he began studying different methods and exploring how breath, movement, music, and meditation could be brought together into one guided experience.
He began offering the practice at the Elemental Wellness Studio in Toronto in 2019. When the pandemic closed the studio in 2020, he began training the first group of Elemental Rhythm facilitators.
The practice continued to grow through facilitator training and is now offered in communities around the world.
Although Elemental Rhythm is a modern method, conscious breathing practices have been used within yoga, meditation, and contemplative traditions for thousands of years.
Elemental Rhythm offers a contemporary and accessible way to explore the relationship between breath, body, emotion, and awareness.
Meet Danette Bass
Danette Bass is the founder of The Sacred Pause Breathwork
and facilitates Elemental Rhythm Breathwork at TRIBE Community and Wellness Studio.
Her interest in nervous system regulation grew from her own experience of recognizing how stress and dysregulation were affecting her life and family.
Through studying breathwork, somatic awareness, trauma informed practices, and health coaching, Danette began learning how greater regulation within one person can influence the relationships and environments around them.
Her work is centered on helping people slow down, feel safer within their own bodies, and reconnect with their ability to make conscious choices.
Her classes are supportive, grounded, and accessible to people who may be completely new to breathwork.
You do not need to be experienced in meditation. You do not need to be flexible or spiritual. You do not need to arrive feeling calm.
You simply begin with the breath you already have.
What to Expect at TRIBE
Elemental Rhythm Breathwork at TRIBE is a 90 minute guided experience that may include grounding, intention setting, gentle yin breathing, active yang breathing, movement, music, guided meditation, and
time for rest and integration.
The class is offered Thursdays at 10 am and 5:30 pm at TRIBE in Steamboat Springs.
Because some forms of active breathwork may not be appropriate for everyone, participants should review the class health considerations before attending. Anyone who is pregnant or has cardiovascular disease,
uncontrolled high blood pressure, glaucoma, retinal detachment, seizure disorders, a history of aneurysm, significant respiratory conditions, recent surgery, or other serious health concerns should speak with a qualified healthcare professional before participating.
Elemental Rhythm Breathwork is an invitation to step out of automatic patterns, reconnect with the body, and create a little more space within the mind.
Not every session will feel the same.
Sometimes the benefit is clarity. Sometimes it is emotional awareness. Sometimes it is simply experiencing a quiet moment in a life that rarely slows down.
That pause matters.
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