The Global Inspiration Conference (GIC) is a special annual event organized by the International Breathwork Foundation (IBF). You can think of it as a conference, a retreat and a networking event all in one, taking place every year in a different place on earth. In 2022 the GIC was in Germany, I was there, read my experiences here.

GIC 2022 in Landshut, Germany.
The IBF is a global networking organization entirely focused on breathwork. The foundation focuses on breathwork coaches and facilitators, as well as practitioners and those interested in the healing power of conscious breathing. In other words, to everyone who has something to do with breathwork.
IBF has many members worldwide. Every year a group of members from a specific country stands up to organize the GIC, so every year this event takes place in a different country. Australia, Venezuela, Italy, Russia and India: they have all been there. In 2022, it was a German club of enthusiastic IBF members who decided to take on the honorable task of organizing this breathing congress. I wanted to experience it, so I stayed in a congress hotel in Landshut, not too far from Munich, from August 6 to 13, 2022.
“Breath unites people and hearts, science and spirit”, was the slogan of GIC 2022 Germany GIC Breathwork Conference IBF – Germany 2022.
What should you imagine a breathwork conference to be?
The idea of a conference is that several people come together to think and talk with each other about a certain topic. And that is certainly also the goal of the GIC: bringing breathworkers from all over the world together to see how to support each other, learn from each other and inspire even more people worldwide with breathwork. But it went far beyond just thinking and speaking; it was genuinely an experience. Logical too, it is still breathwork and that is what you want to experience above all. What does something like that look like in practice?

The GIC conference is a rich and special event, both in terms of knowledge sharing and experience. For seven days there are keynote speeches from various breathwork professionals, extensive workshops of the most diverse flavors and types (more on that later), yoga sessions to start the day, dance and music nights before bed, and plenty of time in between for rest and integration.

Everything in the program is interesting, and also everything is optional. Attending the GIC is very free, so it feels more like a personal retreat, where you can choose what you need in the moment. Because the choice is vast during the GIC. Especially regarding the daily workshops, which could be given by everyone present. Did you feel the need to host a workshop? Then you were more than free to do so, and anyone who wanted could join.

What were my experiences like during the GIC?
I experienced many special things at the GIC. And I might not have expected that right away. But there is something magical about spending seven days in the company of people who are all engaged in breathwork, personal growth and development. It touches you in many ways.

At first, it hit me mostly in my resistance: What exactly am I doing here? Do I even belong here? GIC asked me to push the boundaries of my comfort zone, in an environment I initially thought I didn’t belong. It was precisely this resistance that I was allowed to explore within myself, and there was plenty of room for it. After a week I didn’t want to leave, as it happens….

I especially enjoyed the daily workshops. Every afternoon between 15:00 and 18:00 there were workshops organized by various IBF members that you were free to join, but most of the daily keynote speakers also became part of the workshop program.

So I did a wonderful shamanic drumming & breathwork journey with Austrian breath coach, shaman and Wim Hof instructor Krista Gilda Kerner, outside in the grass. I breathed away relational blockages during a “Cosmic Dating Service” rebirthing breathwork session by Flemish rebirther Geert De Vleminck and and his colleague from Spain, Silke Modersohn. I did a magical Joe Dispenza-style breathwork and meditation led by Austrian Andrea Strübl. I breathed myself into deep relaxation during a hypno breathing session by German psychologist and coach Fabian Ries. I experienced trauma work with German psychotherapist Franz Ruppert. And much more. It was a candy store. All equally enriching, all equally loving and connecting.
So fortunately there was also enough space around the program to take the necessary rest, integrate experiences and walk your own path. So every day after the workshops I could be found in the small lake in Landshut. Swimming in natural water, reading books, soaking up vitamin D. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

After a week of GIC, I was amazed at how many beautiful sessions I got to experience and how many nice, inspiring people I met there in Germany – right through all the resistance. Thank you GIC, until the next one.

Also going to the GIC in 2024?
This year was very comfortable in Germany, but next year you will have to go a little further. After all, Kenya will be the hosting country then. Is Kenya a continent too far for you? Then just wait a year, in 2024 GIC will come to the Netherlands!