Interview in 2020 – Alakh Analda by Robert Soulliere,
Official Advanced Wim Hof Method Instructor based in Alexandria, Virginia, United States.
Robert has been a certified instructor since 2017.
Bob: How did you become involved in breathwork-type breathing?
Alakh Well, for me, how did I become involved with Breathwork?
I was born into a metaphysically oriented family who had the concepts that the mind is stronger than the body and thoughts are stronger than the mind – and I studied metaphysics in my teenage years and did some practitioner training at age 19. I always had this orientation but in varying degrees as the years went by.
In 1975 I started yoga, which was brand new in Australia – super new – there were no gurus or ashrams, and the words were not even in our vocabulary. My master, Swami Satyananda, was very metaphysically oriented – in fact, he said the words above about thoughts being stronger than the mind, and I immediately took them as words to describe metaphysics – which means in Latin, beyond the mind.
At that time I needed to go to India to learn about the subconscious mind in the way I needed to. In 1977 I went there to live in the ashram and got initiation into Kriya Yoga and monkhood and a yoga lifestyle until we needed to leave in 1986 because of Indian government visa policy.
Back in Australia, I had some “breathwork sessions” with a housemate, and then I was invited to a 30-day live-in to teach yoga in the morning with 30 or so participants living in a big church hall in the bush, doing “rebirthing” and encounter work all day! I saw a connection to Kriya yoga in the sessions I had there or witnessed – in terms of evolving our self-awareness and revealing our subconscious blocks and I took training after that.
I graduated in 1987 and became a part-time, then full-time, professional Breathworker Trainer in 1993, and I have done that full-time each week and paid for all my living expenses from the exchange since then to date.
Bob: What made you want to become a practitioner?
Alakh – I saw the practicality of breathwork – have a session when you need it – no need to change your profession, your living situation, and be any age, gender or religion or be in any state of wellness or illness and still do breathwork. Also, no dangerous side effects can happen from breathing ??? consciously …..
Bob: In your practice – how often do you give workshops – trainings and to how many average participants – and for how long now?
Alakh – I set up a part-time breathwork practice in 1987 and then full-time in 1993, and since 87 I’ve offered sessions and workshops, then trainings in Breathworker as well from 1993. I have always worked in small groups, as that is my niche- in-depth work with those who have already realised that the subconscious mind governs our reality – especially at a survival level – it’s needed. But to really live and be at another level of aliveness in life? I call it a path of self-mastery, and I work, teach, learn, and give and get support in that area. We need to live more consciously and be more aware = mindful?? This is possible overnight – but not probable! For my clients and me, it’s step by step.
Bob – Is the breathing training you do your sole source of income?
Alakh – Yes – at least 98% of my living expenses are paid by my income from Breathwork. I also claim that because of the increased awareness and intuition I have generated from Breathwork for myself, over time, I have generated inheritances that have provided my assets – material property as well as spiritual/intellectual property.
Bob – I love your distinction about getting into the cold calmly.
Alakh – I have not done a lot of wimhoff – very little, actually, but for me calm means balance and being in the moment – it’s just cold (don’t add anything), and I have had cold dips and swims for a long time now – and in Russia the under-the-ice ones that many Russians do as a health regimen. (I facilitated two six-day workshops in Russia in 1993) One alchemy training I participated in – the late 80s – also implied that those who survive fire or any calamity are the ones who stay calm (present)? Indian belief is that you can survive an accident if you are doing meditation or mantra (calm and present ?)
(These conversations were when Bob had invited me to America to give Breathwork Mastery Breathwork Mastery RBM workshops)
Questions from AlakhIn 2019 and early 2020 for Bob Soulier – WIM HOFF workshop leader in Washington, DC, US
Alakh – How did you become involved in WH or BW breathing and in your practice – how often do you give workshops – trainings and to how many average participants – and for how long now.
Bob – Once a month, on average. Each workshop is 4 hrs. Avg attendee # is 15.
Alakh – Is the breathing training you do your sole source of income?
Bob – No. I wish it were. But I have a daughter starting college and a son in private high school; my expenses are too high. So I work as a technical writer for a technology company.
Alakh – What made you decide to contact me?
Bob – I first heard of you on Matthias and Dina Wittfoth’s podcast, where you were a guest. I was immediately taken by your energy, clarity, and positivity. I knew you were a treasure right from the start. And truly, my initial goal was simply to attend one of your workshops. But as my own practice here has grown and expanded, and I’ve moved from just Wim Hof Method to also including Oxygen Advantage and Buteyko with Patrick McKeown, and I’ve told others about the wider world of breathwork, I decided to see if I could find someone to provide a Rebirthing workshop here. Several others (12 at last count, but it’s been a while since I polled them) from my workshops and friendships have expressed great interest in Rebirthing. Personally, I am interested in all things within us that allow us to control our feelings and experiences. I am also pursuing the work of Joe Dispenza and Bruce Lipton, and I want to help myself and others understand and take control of what we have been conditioned to believe is outside our control. That includes autonomic responses, as well as thoughts and feelings.
Alakh – What do you want for your clients?
Bob – I want them to 1) gain awareness of their own physiological and emotional processes and mechanisms, and how they influence their daily experience. 2) that they can control them via mechanisms built into us, in fact, our own native powers, such as breath, intention, and hormetic stress. 3) that they experience and feel the power of their own abilities, and they learn more and more to drive their own responses. I want to help people see themselves as larger, more connected, more integrated, more complete, not small, not dark. I want to help them break out of the bubbles of thoughtless routine, and feel the richness of life. And I want to do all this in ways that are accessible and build community.
Thanks, Robert, from Alakh
