Unblock Your Purpose: Breathwork, Intution, and Flowe State
Francesca Sipma
New World Library (November 2024)

“You have two hands; one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” Audrey Hepburn

As I began to read this book, I was again reminded of the research conducted by Anders Ericcson and his associates at Florida State University. Their explorations reveal that the key to peak performance is what he characterizes as “deep practice.” That is, redundant practice under expert and strict discipline, being highly focused on a series of fundamentals (“chunking bite-sized pieces”) of an extended improvement process. During thousands of hours, the aspirant begins to “feel it”: becomes at one with, for example, playing a violin, moving chess pieces, or hitting a golf ball. Peak performers in basketball such as Michael Jordan and Stephon Curry describe being in a “zone” when making every shot. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods had rounds of golf when they felt like they could make every putt.  The best in any field spend far more time on improving execution than they do on performing. Their objective is to reach and then remain in (for as long as possible) what many of them characterize as a “zone,” being in a “flow.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “muh-hay-lee chick-sent-mee-high-ee”) defines flow as “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer joy of doing it.” He has identified eight characteristics of flow:

1. Complete concentration on the task;
2. Clarity of goals and reward in mind and immediate feedback;
3. Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down);
4. The experience is intrinsically rewarding;
5. Effortlessness and ease;
6. There is a balance between challenge and skills;
7. Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination; and
8. There is a feeling of almost total control over the task.

In Unblock Your Purpose, Francesca Sipma introduces HypnoBreathwork®, “a process that combines the power of breathwork to clear suppressed emotions and energetic patterns, with hypnosis for visualization and subconscious reprogramming. This optimized process heals unprocessed emotions while rewiring limiting beliefs and automated habits to create sustainable behavior change. The unique formula accelerates trance-induced states where our brain waves are more suggestible. It allows us to align our conscious goals and subconscious motivations to shift our energy and create the life we want.”

Much of the material in the book focuses on how to “expand your mind and consciousness, to find a new outlook to play with, and move forward with a clear direction in your life.” HOW? The key is hypnobreathwork, a concept and practice that is thoroughly explained in Chapter One (Pages 18-24). “Breathwork forces us into a space we are hardly ever in. — where our egos and logical minds aren’t in the driver’s seat. That’s why we start simpler. But even in simplicity, especially in simplicity, you’ll be surprised what you’ll discover.” I certainly was.

I realize that no brief commentary such as mine could possibly do full justice to the value of the material in Unblock Your Purpose. However, I hope I have at least encouraged you to learn more about hypnobreathwork.

These are among Francesca Sipma’s concluding thoughts about Hypnobreathwork, “a process of dancing with healing and flower, to unblock and come back to a place e of service. I hope the stories and metamorphoses you’ve seen here have piqued your curiosity and the strategies and tools I’ve provided have equipped and inspired you to make this part of your daily routine. If you surrender to this practice es, it will always bring you back to your center — and toward your purpose.

“So what are you waiting for? The universe rewards the bold.”

* * *

Here are two suggestions while you are reading Unblock Your Purpose: First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a notebook kept near-at-hand (e.g. Apica Premium C.D. Notebook A5), record your comments, questions, responses to “Journal” suggestions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to “Hynobreathwork” entries in each chapter.

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.