The Science Behind Breathwork + 5 Benefits Of The Practice 

Take one big inhale that expands in your belly. Hold it. Now exhale deeply.

According to Google Trends, searches for "breathwork" have increased 6-fold over the last five years. Anecdotally, yoga and breathwork teacher Emily Ridout has noticed an uptick in breathwork requests from clients over the last two years. She suspects the practice continues to gain traction because of its versatility and efficacy: "Simple practices can create huge, noticeable results quickly. Whatever the motivation for practicing, from well-being to mindfulness to increased vitality, there are breath practices that help."

"Breathwork is a trend right now because yoga has come into maturity in the U.S., and anytime a practice comes into maturity in a culture, then the individual parts of that practice start to get recognized and emphasized in their own right," adds Suzanne Hill, a licensed acupuncturist and owner of the OHM Center, a meditation and wellness studio that offers breathwork classes in New York City.

Conscious breathing could be one of the fastest ways to combat the stress of everyday life. A 2017 study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology1 found that participants who completed 20 breathwork training sessions over eight weeks had significantly lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol compared with those who did not receive the training. Cortisol is responsible for our body's stress response and high levels of it can cause chronic inflammation.

In 2017, researchers took a look at the effects of Iyengar yoga and coherent breathing on depression. The results? People who engaged in the practices for 12 weeks had a measurable decline in depressive symptoms and showed clinical improvements. The findings echoed the results of a 2016 report from the University of Pennsylvania4, which found evidence that breathing-based meditation could ease severe depression in people who did not respond well to antidepressants.

With the serious problems stemming from the opioid epidemic, doctors and patients are increasingly looking for safer alternatives to prescribing pharmaceuticals for pain management. Breathwork has the potential to be the answer for some. Multiple studies have found that slow, deep breathing could reduce the perception of chronic pain or help patients better cope with physical discomfort. The pain pathway is mediated by norepinephrine, therefore if we can balance cortisol and decrease inflammation, the perception of pain can also decrease.

Breathwork can also help alleviate back pain in particular, said Vranich: "Your diaphragm attaches right to the part of your spine where people have back pain," she explains. "If you're not using your diaphragm to breathe, you won't get as much blood flow and movement in that space." Trigger points along our spine can also be activated by those cortisol spikes mentioned earlier, exacerbating pain. A 2017 literature review7 backs this idea up (no pun intended): "Athletic trainers and physical therapists caring for patients with chronic, nonspecific low back pain should consider the inclusion of breathing exercises for the treatment of back pain," it reads.

There are a number of techniques that can help you get started with breathwork. Vranich recommends trying diaphragmatic breathing, which involves expanding and contracting your belly as you inhale and exhale. Other approaches to breathwork include box breathing, 4-7-8 breath, 2-1-4-1 breath, and alternate-nostril breathing. Experiment with different options to see which works for you.