In the next part of the session you will be encouraging the explorer to move and change a little. The key words are breathe out, let go, give in. You will be placing your hands on the explorer as he or she breathes. It is not necessary to pursue the sequence to the end regardless of what happens. If at any point the explorer moves into an emotional expression, let it happen, without making any special effort at this stage to intensify it. Simply encourage the explorer to let go into it. Obviously, if the explorer surrenders to an emotional discharge, there is no point in returning to the sequence as if nothing has happened. If the explorer wants to return to the sequence, however, this is fine. The point is not to overload the session with too many events. Even in in-depth therapy, if it is well handled, there is a certain economy of concentration: a good rule of thumb is "one theme per session."

It is also possible that at some point the explorer will move spontaneously into a motor discharge such as banging the hands, feet, or trunk, or wriggling around vigorously. Again, let this happen. Such a discharge of tension through motor movement is not necessarily emotional and may not carry much sensation with it.

With both emotional discharge and motor discharge which occur spontaneously, note the transition point at which simple breathing changes into discharge. Is it when you are touching a certain place? When the breathing moves down in the body? Has an area of body musculature become tense or rigid just before the discharge? (This knowledge may be useful in future sessions, so that you can identify where anxiety tends to be repeated or excitement generated).

One caution before the next stage: if the explorer begins to pant fast, tell them to slow down. If they continue to pant, breathing fast and high in the chest, or to breathe mechanically without responding to your request to slow down, they are probably beginning to hyperventilate. This means that there is a build up of carbon dioxide in the blood which is not harmful but sometimes can lead to a black-out. People usually hyperventilate when they panic, when they are blocking the expression of an emotion (particularly fear or longing), or when they find it easier to breathe in than out because excited breathing is blocked by a tight "muscle armor." As hyperventilation continues, fast or mechanical breathing is accompanied by a phenomenon called "tetany," in which the fingers begin to bunch together rigidly and the mouth becomes tight. If an explorer will not respond to the injunction to slow down, ask them to stop breathing for twenty seconds or so. You can also press with the heel of your hand against the upper abdomen, several inches above the navel, to prevent them from breathing in more than slightly and to keep the breathing slow.

None of this is likely to happen if you simply do not permit the explorer to pant fast at any stage. Sometimes this is an expression of panic, best dealt with in professional therapy. More often, the person will be able to learn to breathe slowly. Hyperventilation, if you find you can stop it readily the first time it occurs, is not a counterindication to this work. In fact, it tends not to recur after the first sessions, as the explorer becomes used to an increased level of sensation.

The opposite of hyperventilation occurs when an explorer's breathing is low and will not permit any feeling of excitement. An incapacity to breathe faster as excitement mounts is a sign of needing to keep control. These explorations will automatically tend to unblock most slow or cautious breathing. But you may at first have to remind some people fairly continuously to keep breathing.

If the explorer has already read this book he or she may remember what the procedure of the next stage will be. But remind them anyway, with a preamble such as: "Now I'm going to ask you to put some emphasis on breathing out, as I touch different parts of your body. Just let go whatever happens. But no need to force anything."

In fact, though the key words are breathe out, let go, give in, you may have to remind the explorer occasionally not to squeeze, not to push, not to force. The idea is not to make anything happen, but to let things happen, and to explore to what extent they can happen without being forced.

2:1 Ask the explorer to close the eyes, and breathe out with a sigh, and keep doing this. To encourage the sigh, ask the explorer to breathe out with a sound, such as aaaah or ooooh. This does not have to be loud.

Be sure the explorer breathes in through the mouth.

Many breathe in through the nose, and of course it is possible to breathe under normal circumstances through the nose without having the mouth gape open. But whenever the breathing becomes excited, or emotional, it is natural for it to be both in and out through the mouth. Breathing through the nose is then a way of maintaining control—no doubt one reason why parents emphasize it to their children.

But emphasize breathing out each time. If you notice the explorer stops and holds the breath for a moment each time they have breathed in, ask them to turn the breath around immediately they have breathed in. If they pause at the end of the out-breath, do not interfere: feelings are most intense at the end of the out-breath, least intense at the end of the in-breath. Encourage a pattern of breathing in which the explorer breathes in then immediately breathes out to the end and pauses before breathing in.

Do not let the explorer puff or pant or force the breathing in and out. Do not let them gasp in so far that the chest puffs up. (If this occurs, have them breathe half way in, all the way out). Do not even let them "deep breathe" as if doing an exercise, although encourage them to breathe fully. It is enough to keep breathing out and sighing out easily.

2:2 Now, put one hand on the explorer's forehead, and the other hand under the explorer's neck. Ask the explorer to tilt the head back. This opens the breathing somewhat. But if the head is already jammed back into the mattress with a tight contraction in the back of the neck, massage the back of the neck and pull the head out a little so that it is tilted but not jammed back and pulled down into the shoulders. As you touch the explorer they may stop breathing. As soon as you notice this ask them to resume and breathe out.

2:3 Keeping one hand under the neck, move the other from the forehead to the jaw. The explorer may be smiling. Take the cheeks beside the mouth between thumb and forefinger, squeeze gently in such a way as to break the smile and form the mouth into a big O shape. Tell the explorer not to smile and to keep the mouth open while sighing out. Now rest one finger on the chin and press down slightly to urge the mouth fully open. As soon as you are satisfied that the mouth will stay open if you take away your hand, move on to the next step. But keep coming back to the jaw with a light touch and a word of encouragement to relax it any time you notice it beginning to clamp again.

2:4 Now remove your hand from under the neck and with one hand press gently down on the explorer's chest each time they breathe out. It is easiest to use the heel of the hand and press down on the breastbone roughly between the nipples on a man, a little higher on a woman. Press gently. The idea is to encourage a full letting down of the chest on each out-breath. A variation is to place yourself behind the explorer's head, reach about with both hands and press the heels of the hands on the upper chest. Let the chest down. Let it collapse inward.

2:5 Pause after half a dozen or so pushes on the chest, remind the explorer to keep breathing and letting the chest down, and observe. Is the chest going down smoothly, or staying stuck in an inflated position? Has the explorer gone back to clamping the mouth shut, or to a fixed smile? If so, draw attention to this. Ask how the explorer feels. Make eye contact and check how they seem to be reacting, whether they are comfortably breathing out, and if the sigh sounds fairly open as it comes through the throat. Ask them to close the eyes again.

2:6 Now slide the left hand under the back just below the waist, opposite the navel. Place the right hand just above the navel. Ask the explorer to relax the back into your hand, so that they can feel your hand firmly and even have a sense of pushing down on it. With each out-breath press lightly down on the upper abdomen with the other hand a few times. Then relax your hand and let it lie there for a few breaths. Ask the explorer to breathe under your hand, to feel it to the maximum, although without pushing or squeezing. Note if you can feel the lower back relaxing down into the hand underneath it each time the explorer breathes out, or whether it stays rigid? Does the explorer now try to wriggle around, or want to stop? Again ask how they feel. This exploration can be continued for about ten breaths.

2:7 Move your right hand down to the lower abdomen and let it lie loosely there between the navel and the pubic bone (over whatever the explorer is wearing). Again ask them to breathe under your hand. Ask them to let the abdomen fill with each breath in, let it empty with each breath out.