10 Remarkable Benefits of Breathwork Therapy for Energy Healing

The popularity of breathwork therapy is rising, with more and more people exploring it. Are you also thinking of trying out this healing modality but are not sure of its benefits? We have made it easier for you by bringing under one heading the multiple benefits of breathing exercises.

The term breathwork or integral breath therapy is used to denote any breathing exercise that is believed to help improve your physical, emotional, or spiritual health. While performing a breathwork exercise, you consciously control your breath, inhaling and exhaling according to a given pattern.

Although breathwork therapy is a somatic approach, i.e., it is carried out through the body, its benefits transcend the physical. According to Diyanat Ali, a certified breathwork clinician, breathwork can elevate you to an enhanced state of consciousness and help release from the body past negative emotions and energies. It is due to this quality that breathing exercises are sometimes termed somatic release breathwork.

Having gained a basic idea about breathwork therapy, let’s proceed to the main part—its benefits.

can help you in multiple ways, which we will now explore.

If you suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure), breathwork therapy can be a low-cost and effective complementary treatment option for you.

A review of scientific studies on the effect of slow breathing exercises on the heart rate and blood pressure of patients with cardiovascular diseases concluded their effectiveness. Short-term slow-breathing exercises were found to lower the heart rate and blood pressure, reducing the risk of heart-related problems and hospitalization.

You can explore the different breathing exercises, such as the 4-7-8 technique, the sama vritti (equal breathing) method, the 30-second breathwork, or diaphragmatic breathing, and practice the one that you like the best.

Breathwork therapy can be useful for providing relief from stress and anxiety, which are so inextricably intertwined with our daily lives.

Breathing exercises may have the potential to be used as a complementary therapy to standard medicines for treating stress, anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders. Breathwork therapy, being based on a holistic approach, positively affects the whole body, while conventional medicine specifically targets only the concerned organs or systems.

The breathing treatment for anxiety can include the following exercises:

• Nadi shodhana (alternate nostril breathing)
• Diaphragmatic or abdominal breathing
• Box breathing
• The 4-7-8 breathing technique
• Simhasana (lion’s breath)
• Mindful breathing

Chronic pain is a health challenge that affects a substantial portion of the US population. According to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study, about 52.4 new cases of chronic pain are reported every year out of a sample of 1000 people. This is higher than the yearly incidence of cases of other chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and depression.

Breathwork energy healing provides a natural alternative for pain relief that is free from any negative side effects. Breathing exercises can help reduce chronic, non-specific low-back pain and improve the quality of life of people dealing with it.

The common breathwork therapy exercises that may help you with pain are abdominal breathing, roll breathing, and the 4-7-8 breathing technique.

Proponents of breathwork therapy claim that poor posture and high exposure to blue light from electronic screens can negatively impact the immune system of your body.

The breathing technique known as sudarshan kriya, which alternates between taking deep breaths and taking medium and shallow breaths, can boost immunity, maintain healthy levels of hormones and antioxidants, and improve brain function. These traits make it a potential complementary therapy that may be used in conjunction with the standard treatment.

Some other breathwork energy healing practices for improving immunity include the kapalbhati technique, the Wim Hof breathing method, the 4-10-8-4 breathing process, and the vagus nerve breathing method.

Poor sleep can wreak havoc on your physical and mental health and make you less attentive, increasing the risk of workplace and road accidents. There are several changes that you can make to your daily routine to improve your sleep quality and duration. Practicing breathing exercises can also be effective at making you sleep better and longer.

Slow and controlled breathing may help improve sleep quality in people suffering from insomnia, according to a 2014 study conducted in Taiwan. Here, a reduction in the time to fall asleep and incidents of waking up from sleep were reported after practicing slow, rhythmic breathing 20 minutes before going to bed.

The common breathing techniques that we stated earlier, like abdominal breathing, the 4-7-8 breathing technique, box breathing, etc., can be used against sleep problems. Additionally, employ other sleep hygiene practices like avoiding caffeine and exposure to blue light for some time before going to sleep.

As per the Addiction Center, about 21 million US citizens deal with at least one form of addiction, and only 10% of them receive professional help against it. If you are also struggling with substance abuse or any other form of addiction, breathwork therapy may benefit you.

Pranayama or yogic breathing exercises can help reduce cigarette cravings in the case of smokers abstaining from cigarettes, indicating the potential of breathwork therapy for de-addiction process.

Lungs weakened due to Chronic Pulmonary Obstructive Disease (COPD) or asthma lose some of their capacity to expand and contract. This causes stale air to remain for a longer time inside them, reducing your blood oxygen level and capacity for physical exercise.

A study on elderly smokers concluded that breathing exercises can have a positive impact on lung capacity by increasing the respiratory muscles’ strength.

You can practice pursed lip or diaphragmatic breathing to strengthen your lungs and improve your respiratory health.

Some people believe that trauma and other past negative experiences not only affect your mind but also get stored in your body. Somatic release breathwork can help you get rid of these negative recopost-traumatic experiences by utilizing the interconnection between the body and the mind.

Mindfulness-based stretching and deep-breathing exercises can be effective against mild symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to a clinical trial conducted at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. Mindful breathwork, body-scanning, and trauma-releasing exercises may help protect social workers and healthcare professionals from secondary trauma and developing signs of PTSD.

Breathwork can help you attain the flow state, which is defined as the condition of being completely engrossed in your work, unaffected by fears, distractions, doubts, or other self-limiting thoughts. As complete involvement is a prerequisite for being creative and achieving anything remarkable in life, breathwork therapy can add fuel to your creative drives.

Hatha yoga, which combines breathing exercises with body postures, has been linked to an improvement in divergent thinking capabilities that promote innovative and independent thoughts.

Diaphragmatic or abdominal breathing can have a gentle, massaging effect on the digestive organs—the stomach and the intestines, and be effective against gastrointestinal issues like diarrhea, bloating, constipation, and bowel urgency.

Abdominal breathing exercises can help improve the symptoms of Gastrointestinal Acid Reflux Disease (GERD), according to a study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Before you start typing “breathwork therapy near me” in your Google search bar, there are a few things to keep in mind. Though breathwork or integral breath therapy has many pros, as we have just seen, it can sometimes lead to negative consequences as well, such as hyperventilation. It refers to the condition when there is an insufficient quantity of carbon dioxide in your blood, often due to breathing very quickly or deeply, and can lead to symptoms like dizziness, shortness of breath, and confusion.

If you have an underlying medical condition, consult your doctor before starting with breathwork therapy. It may also help to do it under the guidance of an experienced teacher when you are a newbie.

By following these simple tips, you will be able to safely avail yourself of the best benefits of breathwork therapy and watch your physical and emotional health change for the better.