What Is Breathwork?
Science, Benefits, and How to Get Started
You take roughly 20,000 breaths a day without even thinking about it. And though this automatic function provides your body with the oxygen it needs, something remarkable happens when you bring your full attention to your breath. You can settle your mind, relax your body, and be more present in the moment.
If you’ve been curious about how conscious breathing can improve your life, this guide will walk you through the physiological effects of breathwork and the best ways to begin a new practice.
What Is Breathwork, Exactly?
Breathwork refers to the intentional practice of conscious breathing. Breathwork invites you to take the wheel by deliberately changing the pace, depth, rhythm, or pattern of your breath for a specific purpose.
Breathwork has ancient roots in many traditions, including centuries-old yoga practices in India and the healing ceremonies of generations of indigenous cultures worldwide. In the 20th century, practitioners like Stanislav Grof and Leonard Orr developed their own breathwork modalities that blended somatic healing with expanded states of consciousness.
Today, breathwork encompasses a wide range of approaches, from simple techniques you can practice at your kitchen table to deeper, facilitated sessions. Each technique respects breath as both a physiological function and a gateway to transformation and clarity.
How Breathwork Works in the Body
Understanding what’s happening beneath the surface is key to grasping the power of breathwork.
Your autonomic nervous system has two primary branches:
the sympathetic nervous system, which activates your stress response (often called fight-or-flight)
the parasympathetic nervous system, which governs rest, digestion, and recovery
In modern life, many of us spend a lot of time in a sympathetic state with an elevated heart rate, tense muscles, and shallow breath, even when there's no actual threat in front of us. The good news is that your breath is one of the only autonomic functions you can consciously control. While you can't slow your digestion or lower your blood pressure on demand, you can change the rhythm of your breath and directly influence how your nervous system responds.
Breathwork Patterns
Different breathwork techniques engage the body and nervous system in very different ways. Slower, rhythmic practices tend to activate the parasympathetic response, which is the part of the nervous system responsible for rest, digestion, and a sense of grounded safety. These relaxing breath patterns help regulate the system, soften tension, and create the internal conditions needed for healing.
More stimulating breath patterns, such as circular connected breathing, activate the sympathetic response. These techniques can move stagnant energy, surface stored emotions, and support deep release. They are powerful tools, but they are not always the right starting point for every nervous system.
For individuals carrying significant trauma, understanding the difference between relaxing and activating breathwork is essential. A highly activated system often needs gentleness, not intensity. While activating breathwork can move trauma out of the body, it may also leave someone feeling depleted or overwhelmed if their system is not ready for that level of release.
Relaxing Breathwork
Relaxing breathwork includes slow, steady, and rhythmic patterns that downshift the nervous system. These practices help create safety, regulate overwhelm, and build capacity. They are especially supportive of anyone with a history of trauma, chronic stress, or emotional sensitivity.
Activating Breathwork
Activating breathwork uses more dynamic, continuous, or intensified patterns to mobilize energy and facilitate emotional release. When used intentionally and with proper support, these techniques can be transformative. However, they are best approached once the nervous system has a stable foundation of safety and regulation.
The Benefits of a Regular Breathwork Practice
When you incorporate breathwork into your regular mental health and mindfulness routines, the effects ripple outward. Here are a few ways breathwork can impact your life and wellbeing:
Stress relief and emotional regulation
Intentional breathing gives you a reliable, portable tool for working with stress in the moment. When anxiety rises or emotions feel overwhelming, your breath is always accessible. Over time, a regular practice helps your nervous system become more resilient.
Improved mental clarity
When you slow your breathing and increase the oxygen flow to your brain, many people report a noticeable shift in mental focus. Quieting the mental chatter paves the way for clearer decisions and creative expression.
Deeper sleep
Breathwork practices done in the evening signal the body and mind to shift into a parasympathetic state, making it easier to fall and stay asleep. If you often experience racing thoughts at bedtime, a few minutes of intentional breathing can be a gentle and effective part of your wind-down ritual.
Emotional release and healing
Breathwork has a unique capacity to help you access and move through emotional material that may be held in the body. Grief, anger, fear, and old patterns can soften and release through the breath in ways that talk therapy sometimes can't reach on its own.
A sense of presence and connection. Perhaps most profoundly, breathwork brings you home to yourself. In a world that constantly pulls your attention outward, the breath is an anchor to the present moment. You might also consider creating a dedicated sacred space at home to support your practice.
How to Get Started with Breathwork
Breathwork is extremely accessible; you don’t need special equipment, a certain level of fitness, or prior experience to get started. All you need is a few minutes to pay attention to what’s happening in your body.
Start with awareness
Before you try to change anything, simply notice how you breathe. Is your breath shallow or deep? Does it live mostly in your chest, or does it drop into your belly? Are you holding tension around your breathing without realizing it? Observation is the first act of transformation.
Try box breathing
Box breathing is an accessible place to start: inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4. Repeat for a few rounds. Or try extending your exhale so it's longer than your inhale. Even a 4-count inhale with a 6-count exhale can begin to shift your nervous system into a more settled state.
Aim for consistency
As little as 3 to 5 minutes of intentional breathing each day will add up to noticeable change over time. To ingrain it in your routine, try tying your breathing practice to one of your current rituals, like morning coffee or a journaling session.
Trust your own pace
Your body knows how to breathe, so there’s no need to worry about reaching a destination or achieving an outcome. This practice simply invites you to become more in-tune with your body and let go of unnecessary stress.
Consider working with a guide
While self-directed breathwork is valuable, there's something uniquely supportive about practicing in community or with a trained facilitator. As a Certified Pause Breathwork Facilitator, Valarie Budayr brings both professional training and a deeply heart-centered presence to her sessions. Guided breathwork offers a safe, intentional space where you can go further than you might on your own.
Expand Your Mindfulness Practice with Mongata
Breathwork is a powerful entry point into a meaningful mindfulness practice. At Mongata, tapping into the rhythm of your breath is just one part of a holistic approach to self-discovery, alongside offerings like Human Design readings that help you understand your unique inner blueprint. Together, these practices create a rich foundation for living with greater awareness, ease, and authenticity.
Frequently Asked Questions About Breathwork
What is breathwork good for?
Breathwork supports stress and anxiety relief, emotional processing, improved sleep, and greater mental clarity. By directly influencing the autonomic nervous system, breathwork can result in physiological change and a genuine shift in how your body and mind respond to life’s demands.
What is breathwork meditation?
Breathwork meditation combines intentional breathing with meditative awareness. Rather than simply observing the breath, you follow specific patterns or rhythms to guide your inner state. Many people find breathwork an accessible entry point into meditation, especially when quieting the mind feels difficult.
What are the different types of breathwork?
Breathwork includes a wide range of techniques. The most commonly practiced modalities include Controlled Breathing, Diaphragmatic Breathing, Circular Breathing, Holotropic Breathwork, Pranayama Breathing, and Pause Breathwork. These approaches vary in how activating or relaxing they are, which is why it is important to understand what your system needs before choosing a practice.
Some breathwork styles are designed to calm and regulate the nervous system. Others are intentionally activating and can move energy, surface emotion, or support deeper release. There are also blended modalities, such as Pause Breathwork, which offer both relaxing and activating patterns depending on the session structure.
For anyone with a history of trauma, activating breathwork can be powerful, but it may also feel overwhelming or draining if the nervous system is already in a heightened state. Relaxing breathwork helps build safety, capacity, and regulation, which is often the most supportive starting point. At Mongata, we primarily use Pause Breathwork and Soma Breathwork, which is a pranayama-based style.
