Urgent Announcement Regarding Safety in the Breathwork Community
CW: sexual misconduct, sexual abuse, boundary violations, and abuse of power.
So, I’ve been sitting with some devastating (but unsurprising) news in the breathwork community that I feel is important to talk about. I know, know. I wish I could stop being the bearer of bad news.
We know this was almost a year ago, but we’ve been waiting for an update since then.
On April 24th 2022, Dan Brule made a public statement* that he was stepping back from all teaching and consulting to do some soul searching and deep inner work.
If you don’t know who Dan Brule is, he is probably the most recognizable name in breathwork today besides Wim Hof.
For those of us who have been doing this kind of work for a while, we knew the post he made was either going to be victims coming forward alleging sexual abuse or him being called to task for white supremacy.
It turned out to be the former, and on December 21st 2022, (this is how long it takes for these kinds of gross abuses of power take to be revealed because of the systems and people who protect the abusers) The International Center for Breathwork released a statement about allegations of sexual misconduct, sexual abuse, boundary violations, and abuse of power by Mr. Brule during one of his retreats in Mexico, where conveniently there could be no accountability.
Mr. Brule responded to this statement with his own*, which was a half-assed apology stating that he had “blind spots” when it came to consent and boundaries.
Dan was a respected practitioner in this field, in part, because he has been doing this for nearly 50 years, training thousands of individuals to lead breathwork, in the process.
We would expect someone with 50 years of experience to be a leader when it comes to consent, boundaries, and ethics in this field, but unfortunately of his own admission he has “blind spots.”
This doesn’t sit well with us, and his own post was taken down off of Facebook because many more individuals made allegations of similar abuse. It was then put back up, but with a whole new set of individuals supporting his statements.
This is the evidence as we’ve seen it thus far. We are currently waiting on the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance to make their formal statement about the situation. For now, they’ve revoked his Breath Mastery endorsement, but let’s bear in mind that breathwork is not a regulated field and nothing will stop this man from continuing to teach and abuse. Not to mention, the “code of ethics” that the GPBA has, is insufficient on all levels.
Dan’s statement also was more of an advertisement that he would be returning to teaching, and more specifically, teaching about the very issues which were alleged against him.
This is ludicrous. The last thing we need in this community is more teachers who have not been held accountable for their abuse, continuing to teach.
The Breathwork space has big issues. This has been an ongoing problem from the beginning.
It is extremely important to say that our main priority is providing as safe an experience as possible for people who want and need breathwork. Everything that we have explained thus far, is simply the facts anyone can find if they do a little bit of digging online. However, it is some work and rather than forcing people to do it, we’re taking it upon ourselves. Nothing is more important when it comes to demolishing white, imperialist, predatory behavior than speaking frankly about these topics. Because as we know, when they are ignored, they give these predators the power to potentially exploit their clients.
This is why teaching consent, boundaries, and ethics is more important than ever.
Even if it’s not through Breathwork for Recovery, there needs to be an ethical standard that practitioners are taught and must follow. If there’s to be any credibility in the field, this must happen immediately.
The American Breathwork Association was founded for this reason, and they are diligently working on their Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. We will continue to update you as the journey continues.
Please vet your breathwork practitioners through the American Breathwork Association. By doing this, we can help prevent predators from having easy access to clients.
We are still waiting for a response from the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance about their findings and will update you accordingly.
We unequivocally stand with the victims alleging this abuse, and will continue to stand with victims and survivors of abuse of any kind, but especially in the breathwork field.
If you or anyone you know has been harmed by a breathwork practitioner, please reach out to us, or to The American Breathwork Association. Both organizations will provide support, free of charge.
*Please note that since this post was made, Dan has deleted his Instagram posts. They are currently up on his Facebook page here.
