The Confusion in the Breathwork Scene

Introduction

Over the last decade, I have witnessed an assortment of techniques from what might loosely be termed “alternative therapy” slowly achieve varying degrees of mainstream acceptance.

I think it began with Mindfulness, which has now been medically established as being useful in the treatment of anxiety, chronic pain and other conditions.

The door to mainstream recognition having been opened, so to speak, a whole heap of other alternative therapies started jostling to be next in line, itching to make it onto the world stage.

Some are pushed by alternative types, now swapping their robes for pressed shirts to create a good impression. Some are grabbed by mainstream scientific luminaries, using their PhDs to keep the alternatives at bay. All claim to be doing it for the good of humanity. And, of course, this is the right and proper way that alternative therapies should emerge in our late-stage capitalist world.

Over the last 12 months, in the wake of the “anxiety epidemic” following the Covid pandemic, I have seen two front-runners making progress in the above-described race.

The first are the psychoactive substance candidates. Drugs like psilocybin, ibogaine or ketamine are all gaining medical acceptance, especially in the States.

The second are the breathwork techniques, which I want to look at in this piece.

The potential of breath techniques to both access altered states of consciousness and to ameliorate psychological conditions has been recognised in the West for about a hundred years. But it has never entered mainstream psychology. If you were to study Clinical Psychology, as of August 2023, you will not find a module on Breathwork. 

In the West, it was Wilhelm Reich, a student of Sigmund Freud back in the 1920s, who first spotted the potential of altering the breath to create psychological change. Certain breath techniques became integral components of his “Orgone Theory” of the human body. He would combine deepening the breath with stretching certain muscle groups to stimulate a release of the impacts of childhood trauma from his clients.

However, Reich’s work fell into disrepute, partly because of his refusal to “stay in the psychological lane.” He tried to challenge mainstream scientific theories and then fell foul of the FDA. He sadly ended his days in a US prison. 

The baton of breathwork was picked up by various alternative types from the sixties onwards, including Stanislav Grof, Frank Natale, Konstantin Buteyko and Leonard Orr.

Meanwhile, medical scientists studying conditions like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), also began to notice that performing certain breathing exercises seemed to help patients to recover.

Fighting

What is not widely recognised in all this is that there are actually two fundamental types of breathwork that have emerged onto the world stage. Each has, ultimately, the same aim - relaxation. But each uses a quite different route to get there.

This confusion has resulted in a situation where proponents of one fundamental style frequently berate practitioners of another, not realising that their styles are just quite different routes to achieve the same aim. 

Here’s an example of this, from one well-known therapist in a recent thread on X (Twitter). Note that I have obfuscated their name as it is just an example:

To me, this kind of scenario is inevitable when we don’t recognise that there are two fundamentally different styles of breathwork now around.

The two broad categories of breathwork are these:

• those that try to relax the nervous system and calm us down

• those that try to energise the body and wake us up

It might seem obvious that there are two different styles here. But confusion results because both can successfully be used to treat stress and anxiety. Both can be used to ultimately create relaxation.

Direct Relaxation Techniques

The former style, that of direct relaxation, include:

• Buteyko Technique

• those styles of abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing used by clinicians to treat lung conditions.

They work by getting the client to mimic how most mammals breathe when their nervous system is relaxed. If you’ve ever watched a dog, for example, breathe when it is lying down, half-asleep, you will notice that only its abdominals appear to be moving. Its throat and chest muscles appear to be totally relaxed.

If the client can learn this type of abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing then they can learn to relax on demand.

There is, however, an issue.

If someone is suffering a significant level of anxiety, or one is addicted to tobacco, likely their breathing style is heavily focused on using the muscles around the throat and upper chest. This behaviour will have become structured into those muscular areas over time. This means that, to all intents and purposes, it will simply not be possible for them to easily learn how to breathe with only their abdominals, or even just their abdominals, diaphragm and intercostals.

Thus, these kinds of direct techniques, whilst in theory absolutely correct, are just not applicable for many of those who most need them. Those guys may need to do other psycho-physiological work before they can get into them and de-stress on demand.

Ventilating Relaxation Techniques

This category of breath techniques includes:

• Rebirthing (Orr)

• Holotropic Breathwork (Grof)

• Shamanic Breathwork and Trance Dance (Natale)

• Wim Hof Breathing (Hof)

All of these styles function by bringing more oxygen into the body, through faster, deeper or faster and deeper breathing. By energising the system in this way, energetic blocks and repressed emotions are mobilised and may be worked out of the psyche. This can happen by the therapist applying pressure to the body. Or, in the case of Natale’s work, by the participant simply dancing them out.

For many people, doing these techniques on a regular basis provides sufficient a release for them to maintain a healthy body and good social life. However, there are certain issues, which it can be really useful to know about:

• these techniques require a degree of “self-facing” that not everyone’s nervous system is ready for. Some traumas may have been “walled off” by the psyche and trying to approach them in this manner, however well-intentioned, may simply produce more anxiety. Unfortunately, people suffering high or clinical levels of anxiety are quite likely to be in this group.

• for some of these techniques, one aspect of their functioning is to bring the participant’s awareness out of the body into imaginal or spiritual realms, where they may receive guidance or processing. But not everyone can properly “come back” to reinhabit their body after this experience, leaving them somewhat disembodied and potentially suffering more anxiety and strife.

Because all of these styles of breathwork have existed only within the alternative scene, where regulation is limited, many people may be unaware that a certain style may be not so suitable for them. There certainly are categories of person, in my experience, who easily dissociate from the sense of the body and they would be the guys who need to take care that they are truly “back” after the session.

Many of those who lead sessions may also be unaware of these potential issues. Their role is to bring these techniques out into the world and they don’t necessarily conduct a lot of follow-ups.

Conclusions

In this piece, I have tried to shine some light onto what I’ve seen happening as breathwork emerges from the alternative into the wider therapy scene. Hopefully, you find it insightful.

One truth that I see slowly emerging is that what works for a relatively healthy 30-year old new-ager may be absolutely not useful for someone actually suffering high anxiety. I think this is important to grasp.

I could write a heap more, especially about those breathwork styles which utilise the movement of certain muscle groups in tune with the breathing cycle. Whilst more intense, these styles can easily bring you to a state of awareness about how suitable you are for them. The purely energising techniques have a habit of spacing you out before you realise you’ve gone.

Find out more about these types of breathwork in my piece on The Primal Knot and my book on Reichian Breathwork.

Thank you for reading.