MEGA
Travis Barker has found an unexpected tool for healing — and he wants people to know about it.
The Blink-182 drummer, 50, opened up about his breathwork practice during an appearance at the Tribeca Festival premiere of his upcoming documentary, Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear. “It really helped me get through a lot of trauma I have held onto since I was a child,” Barker said, People reported Thursday, June 18.
According to the publication, Barker’s road to breathwork began with a nudge from someone in his inner circle. After the near-fatal 2008 private plane crash that claimed the lives of four people and left Barker as one of only two survivors, he threw himself into physical training, but a massage therapist eventually pulled him aside.
“One of my massage therapists was like, ‘Trav, I can massage you all you want, but I can feel how much trauma you hold onto, and you need to do something about it. That just eats you inside and it’s going to turn into disease, and you deserve to be relieved of all this trauma. You need to try breathwork,’” Barker recalled, per People.
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He took the advice. What followed was transformative. “I tried it with my friend Lucas. Eight sessions of bawling my eyes out and dealing with a ton of stuff I never dealt with honestly changed my life,” he said, according to the article.
Breathwork is a therapeutic practice that uses intentional breathing exercises to reduce stress, support mental health and help process emotional pain — benefits Barker experienced firsthand.
The healing work also extended to one of his longest-held fears. Barker explained that completing Louder Than Fear, which he worked on for over 10 years, required him to confront his terror of flying — something he once doubted would ever be possible. Therapy and his wife, Kourtney Kardashian, 47, helped make it happen.
“I knew in the back of my head, the end of this documentary is me getting on a plane again and facing my fear, which I didn’t know was ever going to be possible,” he said. “But years later, I fell in love with one of my best friends and amazing things happened. Who would have known?”