Vivian Rosenthal

"I deeply care for every person that I've had a chance to do breathwork with, and have witnessed so much incredible transformation in people and miracles with health."

What is your offering?
As a breathwork facilitator, I'm helping people learn how to use their breath as a healing tool and then ultimately giving them the road map to have agency and and sovereignty over their own healing. That's what I love about breathwork - it is ultimately giving people the tools they need to balance their body, mind, and spirit.

What are the benefits of breathwork?
I see breathwork as a way to come back into balance - to literally hold ourselves through the pain that we're going through, until we can find that deeper place of self love and forgiveness. Being human is incredibly overwhelming! We're not taught how to navigate all the complexities of life, all of our emotions and what we see in the world. At some point in our life we tend to all hit a point of crisis when we realize that we need some level of support. 

How can breathwork provide that support?
The breath is a direct path to our own healing and to understanding our body as an electromagnetic field that emanates out from the heart that shares the same electromagnetic field as the earth. As we learn to consciously breathe and work with our energy, we have the opportunity to rewire our brain and to balance the body to move from our head to our heart and to create the space for healing to occur. Breathwork has an innate intelligence because it's endogenous - something we all have inside of us - rather than something like a pill which is exogenous. Also, I love that breathwork is safe, legal and accessible. 

What happens during breathwork?
Breathwork stimulates the vagus nerve and by doing that we're moving out of the hyperactive anxious state of fight or flight and into the parasympathetic state of rest and digest. Your nervous system can actually start to soften, so you feel less overwhelmed and anxious. Bringing consciousness to our breath is really about creating a space of awareness. And in that space of awareness, we can be aware of our emotions rather than having emotions absolutely control us.

How can people work with you?
I teach in person twice a week in New York City and I also have a private practice where I work with people in person or on Zoom. I travel for retreats and host private retreats in Connecticut at the Diamond Rose Sanctuary. All of this information can be found on my website www.vivianrosenthal.com

What style of breathwork are you teaching?
Breathwork, like yoga, encompasses so many different styles and techniques. The practice I started, which is called Frequency Breathwork, is based on circular energy breathing, which originated in rebirthing, holotropic breathwork and David Elliot’s teachings. I ended up focusing my practice and my teachings on this circular or cyclical breathwork because I found it was the most accessible and the most potent for people. 

Where did the name Frequency come from?
Frequency’s name is based on the book by Penney Pierce, which is called Frequency: The Power of Personal Vibration. Our frequency is our energy, our emotional state. So when we're anxious or stressed, we're on a specific frequency, and when we move into a frequency of gratitude or love that feels better because it is a higher frequency. The breath is basically the fastest way to shift our energy or frequency - it's all one and the same.

Who can benefit from breathwork?
It's such an incredible mix. You have people who are interested in the spiritual awakening that breathwork provides because it connects you more deeply to your higher self and to spirit or the divine. It also can help people who might be struggling physically or mentally. And then there are those who have realized how incredible breathwork can make them feel, and how it can give them an edge or open up their creativity. Breathwork is also a powerful integration tool for people before or after doing psychedelic or plant medicine work. 

What led you down this path?
I was a completely different version of myself before breathwork. I'm an architect by training and I spent a number of years at a design studio that I co-founded. Then I ran an incubator for Google and started my own tech company. I had a spiritual crisis which was brought on by a health crisis. I was very sick with Lyme Disease and an autoimmune disease and realized I needed to radically change my life. I went to a breathwork workshop that was so deeply therapeutic so I immediately decided to study it. My teacher told me it was my dharma to really teach, and there was a part of me that knew they were right. I’ve spent the last few years focused on learning to hold space, listen from the heart and create moments for connection and healing. I deeply care for every person that I've had a chance to do breathwork with and I have witnessed so much incredible transformation in people and miracles with health. 

How is personal work a part of collective change?
I think what we don't heal within ourselves, we repeat and play out with others, whether it is with friends or family, or on a bigger world stage. The ripples of every concentric circle continue to affect other people positively or negatively. So while it could seem selfish to work on yourself, I actually think it's the path forward for collective healing.

What are your daily rituals?
I do a lot to keep myself physically healthy, which positively impacts my mental health but I don’t even see them as separate anymore. The incredible triumvirate of healing for me is breath, cold plunge, and sauna. Community and connection are also really key. Bringing together like minded and like hearted people is very nourishing.

What are some of your other must-practices?
Red light therapy, a small sunlamp, taking salt baths, using castor oil packs at night. I also recommend an earthing sheet, especially if you are someone who struggles with insomnia or lives in a city with a lot of Wifi and 5G. 

What books do you recommend? 
The Gene Keys by Richard Rudd. That is numero uno, it’s a map of your shadows and your gifts. It is literally the keys to the hero's journey that is your life. I listen to Becoming Nobody by Ram Dass on repeat. And The Fellowship of the River by Joseph Tafur

What words of wisdom do you always find yourself sharing?
Choose kindness whenever possible. And don’t give up on yourself. Keep searching and stay open to miracles.