Breathwork is a broad name for practices that use deliberate control of the breath to change how you feel. Practices range from a single slow breath before a meeting to guided sessions lasting an hour or more, with popular styles including belly breathing, box breathing, the 4-7-8 breath, cyclic sighing, Buteyko, Wim Hof and Holotropic Breathwork. Start with our complete guide.
1 guide · 7 videos · 2 podcasts · 2 books · 1 free tool
Breathwork is a broad name for practices that use deliberate control of the breath to change how you feel. Practices range from a single slow breath before a meeting to guided sessions lasting an hour or more, with popular styles including belly breathing, box breathing, the 4-7-8 breath, cyclic sighing, Buteyko, Wim Hof and Holotropic Breathwork.
This hub is the home on Self Help Supermarket for Breathwork. Our complete guide explains the method step by step. Below you will find the videos, podcasts and books we have checked.
New to Breathwork? Our complete guide covers popular techniques such as box breathing, cyclic sighing and the 4-7-8 breath, a step-by-step way to start, and what the research shows.
Breathwork is the practice of consciously changing the way you breathe to influence how you feel. By slowing, deepening or patterning the breath, people use it to relax,…
James Nestor shares five simple ways to breathe better.
The official guided session to follow along with. Only ever do it sitting or lying down, never in or near water.
A short guide to the 4-7-8 breathing exercise from Andrew Weil.
A short clip on the physiological sigh from Andrew Huberman.
A short follow-along breathing exercise from the Breathwrk app, for example before bed.
Breathwrk introduces Tummo breathing, a practice from Tibetan tradition.
Dr Rangan Chatterjee talks to James Nestor about daily breathing techniques.
Dr Rangan Chatterjee and Buteyko teacher Patrick McKeown on the benefits of nasal breathing.
The international bestseller on how we breathe and how to do it better.
The official step-by-step breathing instructions from Wim Hof.
A 2023 meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials found that breathwork was associated with lower stress than control conditions, with similar benefits for anxiety and depressive symptoms (Fincham et al., 2023).
Five minutes a day of breathwork, especially cyclic sighing, improved mood more than mindfulness meditation in a month-long Stanford University study (Balban et al., 2023).
You will find the full research, with sources, in the complete guide.
Read our complete guide first. It explains Breathwork step by step. Then come back here for the videos, podcasts and books we have checked.
Breathwork is any practice in which you consciously change your breathing pattern to influence your physical, mental or emotional state. It ranges from simple slow breathing and box breathing to longer guided sessions.
Belly breathing, box breathing and cyclic sighing are all simple and gentle. A 2023 Stanford study found that five minutes of daily cyclic sighing, a double inhale followed by a long exhale, improved mood more than the same time spent in mindfulness meditation.
Five minutes a day is a good start. In the Stanford study, participants practised for just five minutes daily over a month.
Box breathing uses four equal phases: breathe in, hold, breathe out and hold, each for the same count, often four seconds. It is popular with athletes and busy professionals.
Dr Andrew Weil's technique: breathe in quietly through your nose for four counts, hold for seven, then breathe out through your mouth with a whoosh for eight. He suggests four breaths per round.
They overlap but are different. Meditation usually trains attention and often lets the breath be natural, while breathwork actively changes how you breathe. Many people combine the two.
Do you teach or practise Breathwork? We are building a directory of trusted practitioners, courses and apps for every technique. Get in touch to be listed.
Apply to be listedThis hub is for general information and self-help education. It is not medical or psychological advice. External resources are selected by our editors and checked when listed; we are not responsible for third-party content.
