Written by Monica Krake , breathwork teacher & founder of Head + Heart. Follow her on Instagram .
Breathwork is one of the most powerful tools for supporting both physical and emotional wellbeing. While stress and anxiety can feel like an unavoidable part of modern life, your breath gives you a direct way to influence your nervous system, process emotions, and reconnect with yourself. Read on to explore the benefits of breathwork and why this practice has become one of the fastest-growing wellness modalities today.
What is breathwork?
Breathwork is a powerful and direct path to a full-system reset. There are many styles of breathwork, each with a slightly different intention and rhythm. Active or connected breathwork is commonly used to help people process stored emotions, regulate the nervous system, access heightened states of consciousness, and reconnect with their innate clarity and purpose.
How you breathe is often a reflection of how you move through life. As you begin to open your breathing pattern, you create space to bring awareness to places where you’ve been holding tension, old stories, stress, and emotional weight. As your breath expands, many people experience a greater sense of presence, freedom, clarity, and connection.
What does a breathwork session look like?
A breathwork session typically invites you to lie down, breathe through an open mouth, and connect an expansive inhale with a relaxed, surrendered exhale. Rather than pausing between breaths, the breath flows continuously, helping you drop more fully into your body and creating space for emotions, sensations, and insights to emerge.
Sessions are often supported with carefully curated music, movement, toning, instruments, guided prompts, and, depending on the facilitator, energetic or hands-on bodywork.
The quality of the experience depends greatly on the facilitator and the safety of the container they create, so it’s worth understanding their training before booking a session. Read about four top breathwork facilitator training programs here.
The origins of breathwork
Shamans and yogis have worked with the breath as medicine for thousands of years, using breathing practices to support physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Modern active breathwork became more widely known in the 1960s and 70s through pioneers including Leonard Orr and Sondra Ray (Rebirthing), Jim Leonard (Vivation), Judith Kravitz (Transformational Breath), and Stanislav Grof (Holotropic Breathwork). Since then, many contemporary approaches have continued to evolve.
How breathwork supports healing
Because the breath is your body’s most immediate source of nourishment, it’s one of the fastest ways to influence your nervous system. Connected or circular breathwork encourages a more open breathing pattern that helps bring awareness to emotions, tension, and protective patterns that may have been held in the body for years.
As sensations and emotions surface, many people experience a sense of release and integration. While everyone’s experience is different, breathwork can create conditions that support emotional processing, resilience, and a greater sense of connection to yourself.
Beyond the emotional experience, breathwork is also linked to measurable physical benefits. Research suggests breathing practices can influence heart rate variability, vagal tone, stress hormones, and inflammatory processes, helping explain why many people report feeling calmer, clearer, and more regulated afterward.
The benefits of breathwork
Some of the most profound benefits of breathwork include releasing stored tension and emotions, regulating the nervous system, increasing energy, enhancing self-awareness, and creating a deeper connection to yourself.
Open-mouth breathwork, in particular, helps move energy more freely throughout the body. Because there is a fascial connection between the jaw and the hips, this style of breathing can help release tension held in the face, jaw, hips, and pelvic area. As these areas begin to soften, emotions, stress, and patterns that have been held in the body can become easier to process.
By increasing the volume of breath, open-mouth breathing also brings more oxygen into underutilized areas of the body, enhancing sensation, presence, and vitality. It activates the nervous system in a way that can support emotional processing, somatic release, and expanded states of awareness, allowing many people to access deeper insights, creativity, and intuition.
What does the breathwork research say?
The strongest body of research has been on slow, diaphragmatic, paced, and coherent breathing (typically around 4–10 breaths per minute), which consistently shows benefits across physical and mental health.
Research-backed benefits include:
Improved heart rate variability (HRV), a key marker of nervous system resilience
Increased vagal activity, supporting rest, recovery, and emotional regulation
Lower blood pressure
Reduced perceived stress
Improved sleep quality
Better digestion through parasympathetic activation
More recently, studies published in 2025 and 2026 have begun examining Conscious Connected Breathwork and Holotropic Breathwork specifically. Early findings suggest these more active, circular breathing styles may influence:
End-tidal CO₂ levels
Heart rate variability
Altered states of consciousness
Inflammatory markers
Brain activity
Anxiety outcomes
While this research is still emerging, it’s helping explain why many people report profound emotional release, greater clarity, and a deeper sense of connection after connected breathwork sessions.
Start a breathwork practice
Connected breathwork is incredibly powerful, and choosing a skilled facilitator can make all the difference. Understanding the contraindications, knowing what to expect, and learning how to begin safely will help you get the most from the practice. If you’re curious about taking your first session, here’s our guide on how to start a breathwork practice .
Frequently asked questions about breathwork
Is breathwork scientifically proven?
Yes, although the strongest evidence is for slow, diaphragmatic, paced, and coherent breathing. These breathing practices have consistently been shown to support heart rate variability, vagal activity, stress reduction, sleep, and blood pressure. Research on Conscious Connected Breathwork and Holotropic Breathwork is newer, with early studies suggesting benefits for emotional processing, altered states of consciousness, and anxiety outcomes.
What’s the difference between connected breathwork and diaphragmatic breathing?
Diaphragmatic breathing is typically slower and focuses on engaging the diaphragm to calm the nervous system. Connected breathwork is a more active practice that links the inhale and exhale without pausing, often through an open mouth. The intention is not only relaxation but also helping people access deeper emotional release, increased awareness, and expanded states of consciousness.
Can breathwork help with anxiety?
Many people use breathwork as a tool for managing stress and anxiety because breathing patterns have a direct relationship with the nervous system. Research shows that breathing practices can reduce perceived stress, increase vagal tone, and improve emotional regulation. Connected breathwork can also help some people process emotions that contribute to feeling overwhelmed, though experiences vary from person to person.
How often should you practice breathwork?
That depends on the style of breathwork you’re practicing. Gentle diaphragmatic breathing can be practiced daily, while more active connected breathwork is often done weekly, biweekly, or monthly with a trained facilitator. If you’re new to the practice, it’s helpful to start slowly and learn the basics before diving into longer sessions. Our guide on how to start a breathwork practice walks through what to expect and how to begin safely.
Is breathwork safe for everyone?
Breathwork is generally safe for many people, but active connected breathwork isn’t appropriate for everyone. Certain medical conditions, including some cardiovascular conditions, epilepsy, pregnancy, glaucoma, and some mental health conditions, may require modifications or medical guidance before participating. A qualified facilitator should always screen for contraindications before leading a connected breathwork session.
Take a peek at our curated list of recommended breathwork facilitators we’ve personally tried and love. And if you’re considering becoming a facilitator yourself, explore our guide to the top breathwork teacher training programs .
