What the experts say.
Regulating responses
• A recent study that was published by UC Berkeley’s GGSC in the Journal of Neurophysiology suggests that focusing on the timing and pace of our breath can have positive effects on our mind. This is due to several brain regions being activated when we pay attention to our breath that are linked to emotion, attention, and body awareness. It is further mentioned that paced breathing has been linked to the focus of attention and the regulation of the nervous system in prior studies. There seems to be a link between types of breathing (rapid, intentional, and attentional) and activation in brain structures involved in thinking, feeling, and behaviour. By tapping into these neural networks by using the breath, access to a powerful tool for regulating our responses to stress can be gained. (Cf. www.greatergood.berkeley.edu accessed on 01/11/2019.)
Re-awakening
The breath has been used diagnostically to access physical, emotional, cognitive, psychological, and spiritual disorders as discussed in:
Hanna, T. (1988). Somatische: Reawakwening the mind’s control of movement, flexibility, and health. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Somatic Integration
• In their review Lloyd Lalande and Matthew Bambling identify empirical evidence that suggests that a standardized breathwork approach based on three core components (conscious breathing pattern, mindfulness, and relaxation) promotes somatic integration which supports the assumption of breathwork and its possible utility in the treatment of anxiety and depression.
Lalande, L. & Bambling, M. Breathwork: An additional treatment option for depression and anxiety? Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, June 2012.
Sensory awareness
Breathwork practices have been linked to promoting sensory awareness and in helping to access altered states of consciousness for healing purposes. See the following sources for reference:
Fogel, A. (2009). The psychophysiology of self-awareness: Rediscovering the lost art of body sense. New York: W.W. Norton.
Grow, S. (1985). Beyond the brain. Birth, death, and transcendence in psychotherapy. New York: SUNY Press.
A sense of embodiment
• Benz & Weiss and Braddock investigate the assumption that breathwork can resolve psychological pain, create a sense of embodiment, and release tension:
Benz, H. & Weiss, H. (1989). To the core of your experience. Charlottesville, VA: Luminas Press.
Braddock, C. (1995). Body voices: Using the power of breath, sound and movement to heal and create new boundaries. Berkeley, CA: Page Mill Press.
Transformation
• J. Scott Young, Craig S. Cashews and Amanda L. Giordano discuss the breath as a vehicle for accessing psychological material with the purpose of transformation.
Young, J. Scott, Cashwell S. Craig, Giordano L. Amanda. (2011). Breathwork as a therapeutic modality: An overview for Counselors. Accessed via Wiley Online Library on 31/10/2019.