Respiravida: 'Breathworks' launches in Spain

Breathworks is the FWBO’s newest (and very successful) Right Livelihood business. Started by Vidyamala in Manchester, UK, they have grown to a world-wide community of trainers offering “mindfulness-based pain management and strategies for living well to anyone wishing to live a richer life and feel a greater sense of initiative and confidence”.

Now the Breathworks approach has spread to Spain and the Spanish-speaking world, with the launch of RespiraVida (literally, “breathe life”) and their website www.respiravida.net.

This wasn’t easy, there being substantial barriers of distance and language to overcome. Initially Dharmakirti and Satyabhasana, two Order Members based around the FWBO’s Valencia center, travelled to England to do the two week-long residential training courses. After this, in order to qualify as Breathworks trainers, they had to run a practice course with distance monitoring – not so simple. As Satyabhasana explained to FWBO News, “this, of course, meant that we had to translate both the course manual and the CDs into Spanish, which was a fairly long but also interesting undertaking”.

She goes on to say “Since then we have run a further course at the Valencia Buddhist Centre and are about to branch out into a new venue, a local association which supports people with cancer and other serious illnesses. We are also planning to launch a distance learning course, as the demand seems to be there.

“If you’d like more information (in Spanish) we are at www.respiravida.net or e-mail us (in Spanish or English) at respiravida@gmail.com”.

Back in the UK, Breathworks are eagerly awaiting the November publication of Vidyamala’s book ‘Living Well with Pain and Illness: The mindful way to free yourself from suffering’. Excellent reviews are already available on the Resources page of the Breathworks website and copies may be pre-ordered there with a 5% discount and free UK postage and packing.