About the Biodynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release Institute (BBTRI)

Our BBTRS® Practitioner Certification Program is the most widely recognized professional breathwork facilitator training in the world today. We are global leaders in helping individuals transform the way they work with people.

Nurturing the next generation of Breathworkers

Biodynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release Institute (BBTRI) is the home base for BBTRS® and our diverse offering of company trainings, workshops, and programs that feature the somatic trauma release modalities created by Giten Tonkov.

When Giten first conceptualized Biodynamic Breathwork nearly 20 years ago, it was the first modality in the world to introduce the concept of trauma-informed breathwork in its trainings.

The nonprofit organization Biodynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release Foundation (BBTRF), and its Acute Trauma Online Training, ensure that BBTRS® and other programming are available to people in need around the world. BBTRF was first developed to support those displaced or impacted by the Ukrainian war, and expands as needed and wherever possible to respond to areas of conflict, climate change, or disaster. BBTRF was co-founded by Giten Tonkov and Nisarga Dobosz.

Through Online Breathwork Training and in-person development retreats, BBTRI is here to support your journey in developing your practice working with people.

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Accredited & Trusted Worldwide

Recognised by leading professional bodies in breathwork and trauma-informed care.

Creating worldwide impact

Creating worldwide impact

Mission

We support, train and empower practitioners to deliver somatic trauma release techniques wherever needed in the world, so that people in all stages of healing can find their freedom, connect to their bodies, and move deeper into awareness, growth, and transformation.

Vision

To bring healing to people around the globe through the sharing and experiencing of somatic trauma release.

Meet the team

All BBTRS® faculty are fully certified facilitators who meet rigorous professional and ethical standards in breathwork and somatic practice. Each faculty member is carefully selected not only for their clinical skill and experience, but also for the distinct perspective they bring- integrating their unique strengths, intuitive capacity, and specialized expertise - into their modes of teaching.

Giten Tonkov

Giten Tonkov

Founder & Director, Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Institute, Co-Founder & Director of the Integral Body Institute in Poland

Jennifer McKeever

Jennifer McKeever

Certified Biodynamic Breath & Trauma Release Practitioner and Course Facilitator, Registered Clinical Counsellor, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner

Nisarga Eryk Dobosz

Nisarga Eryk Dobosz

Certified Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Practitioner and Course Facilitator

Neil Niten Ferguson

Neil Niten Ferguson

Certified Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Practitioner & Course Facilitator, Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC), Somatic Experiencing Practitioner

Manuela Reider

Manuela Reider

Certified Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Practitioner and Course Facilitator

Ready to Begin?
Join a Retreat
Giten Tonkov

Giten Tonkov

Founder & Director, Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Institute, Co-Founder & Director of the Integral Body Institute in Poland

Jennifer McKeever

Jennifer McKeever

Certified Biodynamic Breath & Trauma Release Practitioner and Course Facilitator, Registered Clinical Counsellor, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner

Nisarga Eryk Dobosz

Nisarga Eryk Dobosz

Certified Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Practitioner and Course Facilitator

Neil Niten Ferguson

Neil Niten Ferguson

Certified Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Practitioner & Course Facilitator, Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC), Somatic Experiencing Practitioner

Manuela Reider

Manuela Reider

Certified Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release Practitioner and Course Facilitator

Ready to Begin?
Join a Retreat
Founder of BBTRS® and Author of the #1 Bestseller Feel to Heal
Meet Giten Tonkov

Founder of BBTRS® and Author of the #1 Bestseller Feel to Heal

Founder

Giten’s journey began with his own embodied healing. After a childhood accident left trauma locked in his body—unreachable by the mind—he spent years studying somatic psychology, meditation, and movement. From this lived experience, he developed the Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System®, a safe, body-based approach to healing that integrates six elements to restore flow and awareness.

6 Elements of BBTRS®

Biodynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release System’s® BBTRS® 6-Element approach empowers your body’s natural process for healing, restructuring your systems on a cellular level. Experiencing BBTRS® will leave you with the ability to intimately connect with yourself and others, feel the “juice” of a vibrant life, and celebrate life to the fullest.

Find a training workshop
Breath

Breath

BBTRS® uses deep, connected breathing to “charge” the nervous system and provide access to the physical aspects of the trauma-release process. A full series of sessions allows tension to dissipate through movement, thus rebalancing your mind and body from head to toe.

Movement

Movement

BBTRS® stimulates the natural expression of the body to release held energy through movement. The movement is invited through somatic (body-based) and creative/dance exercises. From playful warm-ups, to organic, whole-body tremors, to undulating spinal waves, movement is key to what makes BBTRS® truly transformative.

Touch

Touch

Conscious touch, bodywork, and soft-tissue manipulation allow a practitioner to assist a person in the physical aspects of trauma release. When we apply touch to contracted muscles in the body, we support a flow of energy to areas cut off from their own physical and energetic circulation. In BBTRS®, understanding how and when to use conscious touch is central to all trainings.

Sound

Sound

Trauma causes an orchestra of tiny cellular reactions to occur within contracted tissues. Fortunately, sound can help “loosen things up.” In BBTRS® sessions, vocalization, recorded music, and live instrumental sounds can provide a significant healing experience, either in the entire body or in specific regions.

Emotions

Emotions

Emotion is held along with body tension, and both come to the surface during somatic work. However, BBTRS® is structured to avoid reactivating people, and therefore steers away from overstimulation. Our balanced approach honors what is coming out emotionally, and then connects that experience to the body—allowing people to release and integrate trauma, rather than simply relive it or become overwhelmed.

Meditation

Meditation

Meditation allows us to develop our inner witness—and it is where BBTRS® begins and ends. It is the most effective path to sense and integrate what is happening as a session unfolds. Meditation also supports resonance in the practitioner as support to the client. Different meditations are used within our workshops and trainings, from physical movement, to walking, to sitting silently in some of the earth’s most sacred places.

Trauma touches all of us
Who is this for?

Trauma touches all of us

BBTRS® is one of the world's leading somatic modalities, supporting people with releasing trauma.

—National Center for PTSD, U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs

At some point in their lives, most people experience a traumatic event—and about 6 out of every 100 people (or 6% of the U.S. population) will have PTSD.

—National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, a division of the U.S.’s Center for Disease Control.

Injury and violence affect everyone, regardless of age, race, or economic status. Trauma is the #1 Cause of Death in people ages 1-44.

—World Health Organization

Exposure to any form of trauma, particularly in childhood, can increase the risk of mental illness and suicide; smoking, alcohol and substance abuse; chronic diseases; and social problems such as poverty, crime, and violence

Start your training to deliver BBTRS®

Join an unforgettable in-person retreat training, or begin your journey online from the comfort of your home.