By outgoing President Cindy Aulby, Breathwork Trainer, Hobart
It’s been another big year for our little Association!
The Association has continued to work on the priority areas determined at the 2019 Inspiration meeting. We will hear more details of these tasks in the reports coming up from our wonderful subcommittees. But here is a brief outline of the priority areas we agreed to focus on, and what we’ve been up to:
Working to raise awareness and credibility of Breathwork, particularly through research and data collection.
We have begun with a focus on gathering experiential information from practitioners and clients, collaborating both with the International Breathwork Foundation research team, and with Australian Michelle Crawford, who has developed a model and a series of questions to determine whether desired outcomes are achieved.
Running the organisation – clarifying organisational processes, continuing to build the website.
The processes for new and renewing membership are now online – forms can be filled in, documents uploaded, and even Paypal is finally working online!!
Mailchimp newsletters are regularly flowing to approximately 300 members and friends, our policy and procedure documents are complete and filed very accessibly online, and we have completed training standards and endorsement processes and used them to endorse practitioner and group facilitator trainings, including one international training.
Community and collaboration – promoting our members, providing the Breathe Australia Conference, marketing and connecting.
Many member videos and articles are being showcased on the ABA Facebook page and YouTube channel. One area of focus has been reaching out to the very large yoga community and differentiating conscious connected breathwork from pranayama; this meeting agenda suggests we include a new membership category for students to attract ABA membership right from the beginning of practitioner training; we’ve worked on finding sustainable ways to provide the annual Breathe Australia Conference, and we have created a new public event called the ABA Big Breathe.
The ABA worked with Robyn Fernance who kindly committed her time to bring the Breathwork Family Tree up to date. Robyn is mapping the lineage from all current and past members back to the original trainers by sifting through past records. Part of this is recognising and honouring all of the Breathwork Schools, colleges and individual trainers regardless of whether they are currently connected to the ABA. Tracking the Breathwork Lineage is an important part of the ABA vision as the keeper of the ABA records in Australia. As an association it is important to be respectful of the past and all the members, committee members, trainers, elders and supporters and their contribution to building the foundations of what we have today
Education for members and for the public
The new member mentoring sessions are in place and being very well received, our website and social media platforms are regularly offering articles and information about Breathwork; our Facebook page has over 900 likes and followers.
Being the Peak Body for Breathwork in Australia
The ABA has taken massive leaps over the last few years to increase the professional standing of Breathwork and of our professional members. In the changing Australian Qualifications Framework arena, it has become far less possible for Breathwork Trainings to be government accredited, so the ABA has stepped into the role of being the peak body for Breathwork in Australia. We have developed minimum training standards for practitioners and group facilitators in consultation with the ABA’s Trainer members and aligned with the Global Professional Breathwork Alliance. We’ve used those standards to endorse the training programs which meet those standards.
Personally I’ve been working with the Training Standards subcommittee, the Training Endorsement Subcommittee and The Green Book Subcommittee, diligently encouraging and supporting our trainers to have their trainings endorsed, and gathering, clarifying, writing and formatting the association’s policies and procedures – and overseeing the work of the Committee and Subcommittees.
As most of you know, I’m stepping down from the committee at this meeting, so I’ve committed to leaving the foundations strong and making it as simple as possible for others to step into the helm. We now have a highly functioning organisational structure, with clear policies and procedures – it’s a strong container, a bright light and a firm presence standing in the essence of Breathwork.
My three years as President have been very rich and fulfilling, and at times a great laugh – the committee welcomed me with the grand title of Madam Poobah, which changed quickly to Madam Boombah, and have recently grown in esteem with the official title of Right-Pain-In-The-Bum (I think my attention to detail can be a bit annoying!!) I’ve loved the role, and I’ve particularly appreciated the strength and support of the executive committee.
My sincere thanks go to the ABA committee, to the subcommittees, to our members and to all who have been involved. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with you all.
I send my heartful blessings for a healthy thriving ABA ♥