Breathwork: The New Yoga
Breathwork is a form of active meditation. Breathing techniques are tools for major transformation and healing. There are numerous styles of breathwork, each bringing enormous benefits for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.
Breathwork is a form of active meditation. Breathing techniques are tools for major transformation and healing. The term breathwork can refer to styles of yogic breathing, meditation breathing techniques, or various forms of pranayama techniques. During breathwork, you intentionally become aware of your in-breath and out-breath, following the rhythm of breathing. Therefore, breathwork can also be called “coherence breathing”.
How does breathwork help us?
Controlled, conscious breathing, often in the form of slow, deep breaths, leads to greater awareness of our emotions and thoughts, improves our flow of energy, and can improve both physical and mental health.
When we breathe consciously, the mind slows down and hones into the present moment. That causes a sense of relief, allowing us to go back to our day-to-day activities feeling clear and focused.
Science behind breathwork
Our breath is our channel into the inner workings of our body and is the only way we can directly influence our autonomic nervous system responsible for things like heart rate, blood pressure, and the fight-or-flight reaction.
The primary purpose of breathwork is to activate the body’s relaxation response. Breathwork triggers behavior in the brain and throughout the body, to turn off the fight-or-flight response, which is our physical and emotional reaction to any type of stress or problem.
Research on this technique has shown how breathing at a rate of 5 breaths per minute can help you balance your nervous system in just a matter of minutes. As the diaphragm and intercostal muscles (those between the ribs) expand and contract rhythmically and completely with each slow, deep breath, tissues are stretched and electrical signals are sent to the brain and throughout the body, inducing relaxation and a sense of overall well-being.
Benefits of practicing breathwork
Through breathwork, you may experience:
Ability to manifest greater abundance
Deep healing of wounds, grief, and traumas
Access to expanded states of consciousness
Transcendence of the mind and emotions
Release of toxins from the cells of the body
Massive stress relief and deep relaxation
Greater self-love and more loving relationships
Emotional balance
Relief from physical pain
Increased connection to source
Overwhelming feelings of joy
Deep inner peace
Feelings of oneness
Breathwork can help with a variety of conditions, such as:
Stress
Anxiety
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Depression
Anger
Agitation
Grief
General mood management
Performance
Mental clarity, focus, concentration
Chronic pain
Types of breathwork
Breathwork includes different types of breathing techniques that reduce stress, calm your mind, energize your body, bring clarity and inspiration, and allow you to go deeper into yourself. It is used to improve your physical and mental health performance and emotional well-being.
Types of breathwork are:
1. Independent breathing techniques
Anapanasati
Stillness breathing technique
Abdominal breathing
Equal breathing
Square breathing or box breathing
4-7-8 breathing
Diaphragmatic breathing or Belly Breathing
2. Pranayama breathing techniques
Dirga pranayama 'three-part breath'
Nadi sadhana 'alternate nostril breathing'
Shitali pranayama 'cooling breath'
Ujjayi pranayama 'ocean breath'
Bhramari pranayama 'humming bee breath'
Kapalabhati pranayama 'skull shining breath' & 'breath of fire'
Bhastrika pranayama 'bellows breath'
Viloma pranayama 'against the wave'
3. Rebirthing breathwork
4. Shamanic breathwork (Transcendental Breathwork)
5. Vivation
6. Holotropic breathwork
7. Biodynamic breathwork
8. Wim Hof's breathwork
9. Integrative breathwork
Benefits of practicing specific breathwork techniques
Independent breathing techniques: Deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve which reduces the ‘fight-or-flight’ response. Regular breathing exercises can improve mindfulness, awareness, focus, and concentration.
Pranayama breathing techniques: Daily pranayama trains the lungs and improves the capacity of the respiratory system immensely. Pranayama directly works on the nervous system. Daily Pranayama positively affects the autonomic nervous system which controls and governs essential functions of the body like the heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure
Rebirthing breathwork: Rebirthing breathwork is grounded in the idea that you carry residual stress from your traumatic experience of birth. Through this type of breathwork, you can release any emotional baggage and trauma that occurred during your birth and childhood.
Shamanic breathwork: Shamanic breathwork is done to get in touch with our inner healers. The process often includes smudging, chanting, and intention setting. transcends you to an altered state of consciousness and makes your experience mystical.
Vivation: Vivation is a physically pleasurable skill you can learn to permanently resolve any kind of negative emotion, stress, or trauma.
Holotropic breathwork: Holotropic breathwork induces an altered state from which it is believed that a deeper understanding of oneself can be derived. Some describe this experience as a more intense form of meditation to achieve a deep meditative state and a spiritual closeness.
Biodynamic breathwork: This breathwork is done with the intent of releasing trauma stored in the brain and body. This type of breathwork incorporates conscious touch, meditation, and deep breathing techniques blended with movement.
Wim Hof breathwork: The Wim Hof method features three central pillars: exposure to cold, meditation, and controlled breathing. This method is done with the goal of increased mental and physical well-being.
Integrative breathwork: Integrated Breath therapy clears out physical, mental, and emotional blocks or stresses. This trance state allows unconscious and previously repressed thoughts and emotions to rise to the surface for release and integration.
Structure of breathwork sessions
The first step is to observe the breathing from the tip of the nose to the abdomen and to relax completely.
Then breathwork starts with an intention-setting before getting into the breathing.
The breathwork-guided session lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours.
Breathwork includes a diverse set of techniques, each centered on inhaling and exhaling, generally deep, focused, and for an extended period.
Based on the type of breathwork, the session may include an exploration of suppressed memories, intense music or sound therapy, immersing in water to experience being in the womb, etc.
Differences in various techniques and styles
Different spiritual frameworks include various breathwork styles
Some breathing techniques are slower, some are faster
The type and composition of music played differ
The length of the breathing practice varies
Some breathwork approaches involve breathing exclusively through the mouth, others through the nose, and a few use a combination of both.
The settings of intentions and goals may differ across breathwork systems.
Sources:
Black, j. (2021, February). Beat stress one breath at a time. Duke today. Retrieved from https://today.Duke.Edu/2021/02/beat-stress-one-breath-time
https://www.Healthline.Com/health/holotropic-breathwork#safety
Breathwork therapy: what is it? (N.D.). In CRC health group. Retrieved from http://www.Crchealth.Com/types-of-therapy/what-is-breathwork
Geddes, h. (1995). Introduction to breathwork. In international primal association. Retrieved from http://www.Primals.Org/articles/geddes3.Html
Hb faqs. (N.D.). In holotropic breathwork. Retrieved from http://www.Grof-holotropic-breathwork.Net/page/hb-faqs