Breath in Motion - Exploring Emotion Through Breath & Body

In this experiential workshop, Dr Ela Manga and Dr Sara Matchett bring together the science of conscious breathing and the ancient wisdom of Nawarasa - the nine emotional archetypes that map the full spectrum of human feeling.

While modern culture often pathologises emotion, the Nawarasa tradition understands emotion as intelligent energy - each emotional state carrying its own physiology, rhythm, and expressive pathway.

We will explore the interplay between breath intelligence, body intelligence, and emotional intelligence, revealing how breath moulds our physicality and, in turn, shapes our feeling states and emotional experiences.

Grounded in the Sanskrit system of Nawarasa, which identifies nine core emotional states, this immersive session guides participants through exploring the triadic relationship between breath, posture, and facial expression to embody and express emotion.

Through guided breath practices, somatic exploration, and accessible neuroscience, participants will learn to:

·         Recognise how emotions shape breathing patterns

·         Decode breath patterns associated with the nine rasas, identifying how different emotional states shape our breathing rhythms.

·         Explore how breath sculpts the body into expressive postures, encoding emotions into physiology.

·         Develop emotional agility and nervous system resilience

·         Activate the feeling states of emotions and engage directly with embodied experience.

·         Understand the physiological and neurological links between breath and emotion

·         Cultivate breath intelligence as a pathway to enhanced emotional intelligence, learning to regulate and refine emotional expression with awareness.

Blending ancient wisdom, somatic awareness, breath science, and neuroscience, this workshop offers a powerful resource for breathwork practitioners, therapists, performers, and anyone seeking deeper emotional fluency.

Join us in decoding the breath's language - where each inhale and exhale shapes emotion into form, awakening the full spectrum of feeling and expression.

A space to expand emotional range.

A space to rediscover feeling as intelligence.

A space where breath transforms anxiety into vitality.

No prior experience required - only curiosity and a willingness to feel.

Bookings: Online Checkout or email dimakatso@breathworkafrica.co.za

About Dr Sara Matchett:

Dr Sara Matchett is an Associate Professor at UCT’s Centre for Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies. Her interests are in embodied practices that focus on presencing, co-sensing, collaborating, and co-generating as a way of transforming ‘ego-systems’ to ‘ecosystems’. Her practice is premised on the understanding that all living beings, both human and other-than-human, are connected by breath.

The engagement of conscious breathing enables clients to experience the inter and intra-connectedness of all things and enhances a profound understanding of breath and how it can support emotional regulation and self-knowledge.

About Dr Ela Manga:

Ela is committed to sharing breathwork on the African continent and further afield. Her integrated and conscious approach to wellness, alongside her unique focus on breathwork has been a catalyst for healing and change across many communities and sectors from business to education.

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She is an integrated medical doctor committed to bringing heart back into the art of medicine. Her background in western medicine, study of wisdom traditions and deep curiosity has informed her unique approach to health and wellbeing.