Breathwork

Breathwork is a practice that has evolved over thousands of years. Pranayamic breathing, or intentional breath control, has been a part of yoga since its origins over 2000 years ago,1 and it has long existed outside of formal yoga practice. People still study and practice it today, and formal types of breathwork programs continue to be developed as people seek to harness its healing potential in specific ways.

A primary purpose of breathwork is to activate the body’s relaxation response. Breathwork triggers behaviour in the brain and throughout the body to turn off the fight-or-flight response, which is our physical and emotional reaction to any type of stress or problem.2 Our breath is our channel into the inner workings of our body and is the only way we can directly influence our autonomic nervous system responsible for things like heart rate, blood pressure, and the fight-or-flight reaction.3

The underlying philosophy of breathwork is that intentionally changing the way you breathe can directly affect your autonomic nervous system: deactivating the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) responsible for the fight-or-flight reaction and activating the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) associated with the rest-and-digest, calm response.4 Controlled, conscious breathing, often in the form of slow, deep breaths, leads to greater awareness of our emotions and thoughts, improves our flow of energy, and can improve both physical and mental health.