What is Vivation

Vivation is a physically pleasurable skill you can learn to permanently resolve any kind of negative emotion, stress, or trauma. 

The word “Vivation” takes its name from the Latin root vivé (to fully embrace life) and “-tion”, process of. Vivation – the process of fully embracing the total human experience of life. 

Created by Jim Leonard in 1979, Vivation is based on the premise that any feeling, whether physical sensations or emotions, can be fully healed and resolved entirely at the physically felt feeling level. This breakthrough in emotional healing was perfected years before methods like Wim Hof and Holotropic breathwork came on to the scene. Hundreds of thousands of people have experienced the benefits of Vivation, which include radically reduced stress, improved relationships, increased self-awareness, and a greater sense of well-being. Vivation is a safe and gentle way to heal emotional wounds and traumas, and it can be used by anyone who is seeking to improve their mental health and wellbeing.

Drawing on pranayama–an ancient science focused on harnessing the power of breath, Vivation consists of Five Elements: Circular Breathing, Complete Relaxation, Awareness in Detail, Integration Into Ecstasy, and Do Whatever You Do, Willingness is Enough. Whether you're dealing with anxiety and stress, low self-esteem or limiting beliefs about yourself, Vivation is a powerful tool that can help you unleash your full potential. So if you're looking to make lasting change in your life, give Vivation a try. You may be surprised at just how transformative the power of breath can be.

Imagine resolving anger, sadness, fear, or any other difficult emotion in just minutes – without years of therapy or medication. Imagine feeling emotionally free – able to experience happiness and wellbeing regardless of your external circumstances. That's the power of Vivation breathwork.

It's all about autonomy.

Vivation places strong emphasis on facilitating the emotional freedom and self-realization of its practitioners. Vivation’s primary ethic is your body is your guru. Vivation gives you the ability to heal yourself from the inside out anytime and anywhere you need it.

The Five Elements of Vivation

Vivation consists of five elements or foundational skills needed to achieve physical integration of suppressed negative emotions. These elements are:

1. Circular Breathing
2. Complete Relaxation
3. Awareness in Detail
4. Integration Into Ecstasy
5. Do Whatever You Do, Willingness is Enough.

Each of these skills has its own knowledge base, however all of them are brought together in a Vivation session to facilitate efficient integration of negative emotions in the most pleasurable and enjoyable way possible.

The First Element is circular breathing, which has three basic aspects. The first is that inhales and exhales are connected together, with no pauses between them. The second is the exhale is completely relaxed. By relaxed, this means the exhale comes out all on its own and is not forced or controlled in any way. This differs from many other forms of pranayama which have a forced exhale component. Also, because the exhale is completely relaxed, there is no hyperventilation in Vivation. If hyperventilation does occur, it is because the exhale is being forced out or inhibited in some way. Hyperventilation disappears when the exhale is again relaxed.

In Vivation, breathing rhythms occur along a continuum through three quadrants: Slow and Full, Fast and Full, and Fast and Shallow. Slow and shallow breathing results in unconsciousness, so it is not used in Vivation. Circular breathing is spontaneously adjusted from moment to moment to resonate with your feelings in the most gentle, loving and enjoyable way possible. In this way it is the experience of the feelings in the body that instructs and leads each session. If it feels good, keep doing it! If it doesn’t, try something else. In this way, Vivation is very playful and liberating.

The Second Element is complete relaxation - to relax the mind and body as much as you can. One doesn’t do Vivation, so much as relaxes into the experience for what is already there. In Vivation, feelings integrate when one relaxes into accepting those feeling for what they already are. In Vivation, integration is a relaxation of effort.

The Third Element is awareness in detail of the strongest feeling in the body. Feelings are not analyzed or sought after, only experienced for what they are already in that moment. Since each moment is unique, this is the only element that practitioners remain conscious of, as all other elements become automatic and natural supports of Third Element awareness in time.

The Fourth Element is “integration into ecstasy". The basic idea is being open and receptive to whatever positive feelings are already present. Feelings are only experienced negatively because of mental judgments made about them. By relaxing the mind and body in the presence of the feeling, the positive aspects of the feeling become more obvious and easier to accept. One doesn’t intentionally integrate a feeling, one enjoys the feeling as much as possible until it integrates.

The Fifth Element is “do whatever you do, willingness is enough”. In Vivation, willingness refers to the willingness to be as honest and receptive to the inherent positivity of the feeling as you can. There is no prerequisite for having a positive experience, only a willingness to be open to the possibility of experiencing the feeling in a positive way. In Vivation, integration is a function of willingness, and therefore is the most important of the five elements.