Breathwork (New Age)

A breathwork exercise

Breathwork is a term for various breathing practices in which the conscious control of breathing is said to influence a person's mental, emotional, or physical state, with a therapeutic effect.

Background and rationale

Edzard Ernst writes that breathwork (or 'rebirthing') is a form of alternative medicine first devised by Leonard Orr in the 1970s.

Breathwork is the use of breathing techniques in order to achieve altered states of consciousness and to have a variety of effects on physical and mental well-being. Breathwork has been seen as derived from multiple spiritual and pre-scientific traditions from around the world. According to Jack Raso, breathwork is described by proponents as a multiform "healing modality" characterized by stylized breathing. Its purported design is to effect physical, emotional, and spiritual change. Such a process can allegedly "dissolve limiting programs" that are "stored" in the mind and body, and increases one's ability to handle more "energy". Breathwork practitioners believe that an individual's particular pattern of passive breathing can lead to insights about their unconscious mind.

Practice

During a breathwork session, individuals will typically lie down and be instructed to breathe using particular methods, depending on the sub-type of breathwork. Most breathwork sessions last around an hour. Alternatively breathwork is advocated to be done by individuals alone, for shorter periods.

Sub-types

Holotropic Breathwork

A practice that uses rapid breathing and other elements such as music to put individuals in altered states of consciousness. It was developed by Stanislav Grof as a successor to his LSD-based psychedelic therapy, following the suppression of legal LSD use in the late 1960s. Side effects of the hyperventilation aspect of holotropic breathwork can include cramping in the hands and around the mouth. As the expressed goal of holotropic breathwork is to attain an altered state, it should not be attempted alone. Following a 1993 report commissioned by the Scottish Charities Office, concerns about the risk that the hyperventilation technique could cause seizure or lead to psychosis in vulnerable people caused the Findhorn Foundation to suspend its breathwork programme.

Rebirthing

A process described as releasing suppressed traumatic childhood memories, especially those related to one's own birth. Orr proposed that correct breathing can cure disease and relieve pain. Orr devised rebirthing therapy in the 1970s after he supposedly re-lived his own birth while in the bath. He believed that breathing techniques could be used to purge traumatic childhood memories that had been repressed. There is no evidence that individuals can remember their births. Memories of one's birth that appear to resurface during a rebirthing-breathwork practice are believed to be the result of false memories. Rebirthing-breathwork is one of the practices critiqued by anti-cult experts Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich in the book Crazy Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work? Singer and Lalich write that proponents of such "bizarre" practices are proud of their non-scientific approach, and that this finds favor with an irrational clientele. In 2006, a panel that consisted of over one hundred experts participated in a survey of psychological treatments; they considered rebirthing therapy to be discredited.

Sitters

In addition to a practitioner, breathwork sessions will often have "sitters" present. Sitters are individuals who provide emotional or physical support to those practicing breathwork.

Side effects

Some common side effects include "sleepiness; tingling in the hands, feet, or face; and a sense of altered consciousness that can be distressing to some." Breathwork is generally considered safe if done with a skilled practitioner, but there are contraindications such as cardiovascular disease, glaucoma, high blood pressure, mental illness, severe asthma, or seizure disorders, among others.

Efficacy

Limited research data

A 2018 review found that research to date had been limited, and that studies showed "limited evidence of a relationship between physiological parameters and psychological/behavioral outcomes in healthy subjects undergoing slow breathing techniques." A 2023 review said that results showed that breathwork may be effective for improving stress and mental health, but urged caution until more research has been done.

Possible areas of efficacy

Breathwork may be helpful for relaxation and stress in a similar way to meditation. Anxiety may be helped by breathwork.

See also

• Anapanasati – Mindfulness of breathing, a form of Buddhist meditation
• Buteyko method – Alternative physical therapy for asthma
• Conscious breathing – Breathing exercises
• Hypoventilation – Insufficient breathing
• Pranayama – Practice of breath control in Yoga
  • In particular, Kapalabhati and Bhastrika
• Primal therapy – Psychotherapy of Arthur Janov
• Qigong – Chinese system of coordinated posture and movement, breathing, and meditation
• Reverse breathing – Breathing technique

Further reading

• Albery, N. (1985). How to feel reborn: varieties of rebirthing experience, an exploration of rebirthing and associated primal therapies, the benefits and dangers, the facts and the fictions. London: Regeneration Press. ISBN 978-0-948139-00-0.
• Bray, P. (2018). "CHAPTER 10: Holotropic Breathwork as a Therapeutic Intervention for Survivors of Trauma: An Autoethnographic Case Study". At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries. Vol. 113. Brill / Rodopi. pp. 187–218. doi:10.1163/9789004385931_011.
• Brewerton, T. D.; Eyerman, J. E.; Cappetta, P. (2012). "Long-Term Abstinence Following Holotropic Breathwork as Adjunctive Treatment of Substance Use Disorders and Related Psychiatric Comorbidity". International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. 10 (3): 453–459. doi:10.1007/s11469-011-9352-3. S2CID 32003053.
• Farhi, D. (1996). The Breathing Book: Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0805042979.
• Johnson, W. (2019). Breathing as Spiritual Practice: Experiencing the Presence of God. Inner Traditions/Bear. ISBN 978-1-62055-687-0.
• Minett, G. (1994). Breath & Spirit: Rebirthing as a Healing Technique. Thorsons. ISBN 978-1-85538-353-1.
• Nestor, J. (2020). Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-7352-1363-0.
• Rock, A. J.; et al. (2015). "Exploring Holotropic Breathwork: An Empirical Evaluation of Altered States of Awareness and Patterns of Phenomenological Subsystems with Reference to Transliminality". Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 47 (1): 3–24.
• Smart, A. (2020). Breathwork: How to Use Your Breath to Change Your Life. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-1-4521-8162-2.
• Willis, D. (2021). Rebirthing: A Personal Empowerment Revolution. Australia: Green Hill Publishing. ISBN 978-1-922527-73-8.
• Zaccaro, Andrea; et al. (2018). "How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 12: 353. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353. PMC 6137615. PMID 30245619.