Why Breathwork?

If you’ve heard about this breathwork thing lately but you haven’t tried it yet, you may be wondering what the big deal is. I can honestly say breathwork is not the sort of thing I ever would have thought I’d become super-passionate about. I gave it a try pretty randomly during a period when I was sampling lots of different healing modalities – yoga, reiki, kirtan, sound baths, breathwork. Most of them actually stuck. Breathwork stuck the most.

If I could sum it up in one sentence, I guess I would say this: It’s truly amazing that we possess something this powerful inside our own bodies, and most of us have no idea. It’s a miracle. Using this very simple tool, we can regulate ourselves and we can heal ourselves in way that is as fundamental to each and every one of us as…. well, breathing. Literally! This thing you do all day, every day – automatically and subconsciously – has the power to change your life when you do consciously.

Think of it like an active meditation… one where you might go on a psychedelic journey or have an enormous emotional release.

Best of all, science will back me up on all of this! I’ve included links to some studies and articles from highly reputable sources below.

Nervous system regulation and mental wellness

Breathwork is one of the primary modalities of the polyvagal theory, which posits that we move in and out of different fight-or-flight states subconsiously and automatically as a result of triggers within our daily lives. Regular breathwork can help increase your overall sense of contentment and joy, and it can help increase mindfulness. If you put some time and energy into learning which breaths to use during which situations, it can also give you a fairly impressive arsenal of tools for daily use in  emotional reguiation.

• Focused breathing decreases the intensity and negativity of emotional responses.
• Structured breathing enhances mood and decreases physiological arousal.
• Diaphragmatic breathing improves attention and reduces the stress hormone, cortisol.
• Mindful breathing reduces addictive behaviors, particularly smoking.
• Slow, deep breathing signals safety to the nervous system..
• Holotropic Breathwork is being studied at Johns Hopkins as a therapy for PTSD.
• Slow breathing increases relaxation, pleasantness and vigor, and reduces anxiety, depression, anger, and confusion.
• The combination of yoga and pranayama have been shown to improve executive function.
• Slow breathing is a promising technique to improve immediate executive function issues.

• Ego dissolution – a temporary and profound alteration of the sense of self – occurs for about 1/3 of people in Holotropic Breathwork.

Physical Wellness and Medical Issues

Conscious breathing has been used during childbirth since the 1950s through the Lamaze Method. Breath can be an important part of your personal treatment plan for any number of health conditions. (Note: Please talk to your doctor about incorporating breathwork into any treatment plan. Breathwork is not a substitute for proper medical treatment!)

• Breathwork may boost your immune system.
• Breath training is as effective as medication at reducing high blood pressure.
• Breathing exercises can be an effective recovery method after COVID-19.
• Breathing exercises contribute to improvement in cognitive function after stroke.
• Yogic breathing reduces inflammatory markers.
• Breathing exercises have a positive physiological effect on chronic heart failure.
• Breathwork is being explored as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
• Breathwork helps with pain and functional capacity in fibromyalgia patients.
• “Profound evidence” breathing improves cancer-related pain and stress.
• Slow, deep breathing is highly effective in treating insomnia.
• Deep breathing exercises help improve lymphedema.
• Diaphragmatic breathing helps reduce abdominal pain, urgency, bloating and constipation in GI patients
• You can say with absolute certainty that you’re “detoxifying” — breathwork by its very nature removes carbon dioxide from the body.