I would be happy to respond to your questions if you would clarify what you mean.

1. When you ask whether any journeys are involved, what exactly do you mean by that? What defines whether or not something is a “journey”?

2. I facilitate breathwork as a private practice, I’m not sure what you mean about “drawing” people into my private practice. Can you please clarify the meaning of the question?

There seems to be a major misconception about what the term “Breathwork” in the world of somatic healing refers to. While all forms of intentional breathing can be broadly referred to as breathwork, when you see mention of breathwork sessions, it is usually a very specific kind of breathing. The breathwork sessions are not about learning a breathing technique, they involve an evidence-based physiological exercise involving breathing in a specific way that produces a powerful healing experience. It is very valuable to have the support of a trained practitioner during the exercise. Guiding and supporting people through these exercises is part of my private practice.

Does this mean I am a guru or starting a cult?

With al due respect to whomever decided that that is the case, the notion that a trained professional who is remunerated financially for instructing and supporting a client in an exercise they could technically do on their own is inherently a scammer and a cult leader is asinine.

Exercise is free. Learning is free. Are all personal trainers and teachers gurus and cult leaders because they charge money to guide and support clients through things they could technically do on their own?

For the record, I also do the exact same work with Neshamos.org under the auspices of the Crown Heights Beis Din who have appointed a posek with decades of the experience paskening shaalos specifically in this field to oversee it.

… Yisroel Glick

Will do

Hi,
“Neutral observer” here.
Do you (YG) want to clarify whether indeed any “journeys” are involved — context of past hurts applied — and whether you are drawing people to your private practice; or whether it’s indeed just plain breathing techniques?

Is voicing an opinion rechilus? Is informing people about dangers not allowed?

People should speak up and share Torah based values. That’s how issues get clarified.

1. When you write “his original article”, which one are you refering to?
The original articel by Shea Hecht?
The one that says “Breathwork is not a health practice, but a form of New Age indoctrination rooted in Eastern religions,”?
The one that says :In the 60s and 70s, it was gurus and cults, Transcendental Meditation, Hare Krishnas, the Moonies . . . Breathwork is simply the latest version, dressed up as “wellness”.”?
That one?
Seems to me to be mentioning and attacking breathwork as a practice pretty cearly.

2. I submutted my Op-Ed for publication before his article was published, it was not a defense, it was an independent Op-Ed that was written and submitted with no knowledge of the Op-Ed he submitted around the same time.

3. I submitted my Op-Ed to this website first and they did not want to publish it. To me it is important to push back against statements like ““we need to look to Torah to find our healing”” which are incorrect and dangerous so I wrote an Op-Ed to explain some of why that is wrong in my perspective. When this website chose not to publish it I sent it elsewhere after discussing it with my mashpia. Apparently you would have advised me against it had you been my mashpia, it so happens to be that by השגחה פרטית you are not my mashpia . . .

looks like someone else is also going somewhere that rabonim banned ..

Thank you for sharing your perspective — I really appreciate you raising it.

Just to clarify: my concern isn’t with any individual practitioner, and it’s certainly not about promoting my own work by putting someone else’s down. The issue I’m raising is much broader.

When the Rebbe spoke and wrote about meditation, he wasn’t responding to “competing modalities.” He was warning about specific structures and systems that can pull people into frameworks rooted in foreign spiritual traditions. That concern exists regardless of who teaches them — including people who are sincere and well-intentioned.

My point in the article is simply that when a method is marketed to Jews as “just breathing” or “just relaxation,” yet is built on a larger belief-based system, we need to be honest about that. This isn’t “bashing”; it’s asking for clarity so people can make informed, halachically safe choices.

If someone develops or uses a method that is fully neutral, clinically grounded, and free of those spiritual frameworks, then that’s wonderful. I have no issue with that at all.

My only agenda here is exactly what the Rebbe asked for — giving people kosher tools to reduce stress without inadvertently stepping into something that conflicts with Torah.

I hope that helps clarify where I’m coming from, and I’m always happy to continue the conversation respectfully.

Have you considered he wasn’t referring to your practice at all?

Either way, your reaction speaks volumes: responding defensively to a general critique suggests you recognize it applies to you. Publishing that defense on a platform Rabbonim have prohibited demonstrates your disregard for their authority. You’ve effectively incriminated yourself while simultaneously showing contempt for the very rabbinic oversight you claim to respect.

To use this as an argument against specific practitioners leading breathwork when there has been zero investigation into whether or not these practitioners add layers of meaning, identity, and spiritual structure, is a quintessential strawman argument.

There is all this hoo ha about “it is not inherently problematic, but WHEN it is mixed with other things it becomes very problematic” and this is used as an argument against specific cases where there has been zero investigation into whether they are doing it strictly as a physiological exercise which this author agrees is not problematic and can be helpful. or whether they are including problematic elements as well.

The misdirection is very telling.

Rabbi Hecht called me personally on the phone several months ago and spoke to me for about half an hour about all the issues he has with breathwork. In that phone call he said to me explicitly that he trusts me enough to trust that I would not include anythiung problematic in my practice but that I should not do it anyway because of maaris ayin because other people do it in a problematic way.

I was not concerned about any of the other issues because I know enough to be confident that breathwork is a worthwhile physiological exercise, but I did take his concern about maaris ayin to heart and consulted with a posek before continuing to practice.