Everything You Need To Know About The Magic (And Science) Of Breathwork

Breathwork has been construed as the link between consciousness and the spirit realm. Some maintain that it’s a shortcut to meditation. Whether you practice breathwork in a yoga class or as part of a PTSD healing protocol, engaging in controlled purposeful breathing patterns can actually help control the inner workings of your body, from heart rate variability to calming anxiety.

At last year’s revitalize event, mbg dubbed breathwork the next wellness frontier—and we were on to something! At the time, breathwork was just seeping into the collective wellness consciousness thanks to Kundalini yoga's popularity surge and an increasing awareness of breathwork as a tool for meditation and manifestation. On the panel was Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., who runs his lab out of Stanford University and studies breathwork extensively; Ashley Neese, a breathwork teacher, mediation guide, and spiritual counselor; and Brian Mackenzie, a human performance expert who uses breathwork to train his high-profile athlete clients. With mindbodygreen's CEO and founder Jason Wachob moderating, they discussed the problems with the way our culture breathes, one super-simple tip to breathe better, and the kinds of changes adopting a breathwork practice can have on people and their lives in this video.

It's definitely trending—breathwork has been searched more this year than it ever has, according to Google Trends. Tony Robbins and breathwork pioneer Dan Brule released a handbook on breathwork earlier this year, and Neese is currently working on her own breathwork book.

Dr. Huberman shared that he hoped to study not only how the breath can affect our physiological state but how it can change our thoughts, too. This year at revitalize 2018, Dr. Huberman will dive into the new research behind how we can control our physiological state, including anxiety, with measured breathwork techniques. Additionally, Guru Jagat, arguably the biggest force in Kundalini, whose modern voice brings new meaning to ancient practices (and whose book Invincible Living came out last year), will also teach a Kundalini class that includes several different breathwork techniques you can take with you anywhere.

If you're pregnant or have a respiratory condition, get any breathwork you might try cleared by your health care provider first. Tune in to discover the latest science in breath.

Email any questions you have about breathwork to the editors using editors@mindbodygreen.com, and we’ll do our best to answer them all at revitalize 2018. Be part of the biggest event in wellness!