{"id":43755,"date":"2026-02-04T23:40:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=43755"},"modified":"2026-02-04T23:40:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:40:46","slug":"breathwork-has-its-uses-but-when-it-comes-to-unlocking-your-fullest-human-potential-beware-the-puffery-donna-lu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=43755","title":{"rendered":"Breathwork has its uses \u2013 but when it comes to \u2018unlocking your fullest human potential\u2019, beware the puffery | Donna Lu"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In the 2012 film adaptation of the Dr Seuss book The Lorax, a fable about capitalist greed, air is a commodity.<\/p>\n

The mayor of Thneedville deprives the city\u2019s residents of trees so a company he heads can sells bottles of air. He has, as one advertising lackey puts it, \u201cgotten rich selling people air that\u2019s \u2018fresher\u2019 than the stinky stuff outside\u201d.<\/p>\n

If a recent proliferation of real-life courses, books and online search interest is anything to go by, the act of getting that air into one\u2019s lungs is also now commodified.<\/p>\n

Online and in-person breathwork sessions now abound, some charging hundreds of dollars to teach participants a skill most have already acquired as a prerequisite for life: how to breathe.<\/p>\n

The claimed advantages vary from benefits for which there is solid evidence, such as stress relief, to more dubious ones: advertising copy for various courses includes promises participants will \u201caccess states of healing most people never touch\u201d, \u201cunlock your fullest human potential\u201d, and \u201cfoster \u2026 deep personal growth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Is there truly a better way to breathe? Is there any evidence for breathwork\u2019s purported benefits \u2013 or are the claims just full of hot air?<\/p>\n

What is breathwork?<\/h2>\n

Breathwork as a wellness trend is difficult to precisely define, because there are \u201call sorts of different breathwork techniques and protocols that get popularised\u201d, says Dr Vince Polito, a senior lecturer in the school of psychological sciences at Macquarie University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere genuinely are some physiological effects of changing your breathing,\u201d Polito says, describing it as a means to influence the autonomic nervous system, which regulates unconscious measures like heart rate and blood pressure. \u201cIt certainly can change your mood and affect as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome breathwork is about slowing down your breathing and having more of a relaxing effect,\u201d he says, whereas other techniques \u201cinvolve quite rapid breathing to the point where you really changing the levels of oxygen that are available to \u2026 your brain and body\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some techniques have well established effects on the body. For example, diaphragmatic breathing \u2013 also called abdominal breathing or belly breathing \u2013 encourages deeper lungfuls of air and has been found to reduce physiological markers of stress such as cortisol levels.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s resistance breathwork, in which the diaphragm is strengthened \u201cto be able to breathe in \u2026 and breathe out under resistance\u201d, Prof Mark Hutchinson, dean of health research at Adelaide University, says. \u201cThat\u2019s \u2026 literally a muscle growing and strengthening exercise to be able to increase your lung capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

One meta-analysis \u2013 which synthesises results from multiple studies \u2013 found that \u201cbreathwork may be effective for improving stress and mental health\u201d, but cautioned about a need to \u201cavoid a miscalibration between hype and evidence\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important that hype around breathwork is grounded in evidence for efficacy \u2013 and effects are not overstated to the public,\u201d its authors wrote.<\/p>\n

What are the risks and benefits?<\/h2>\n

What fascinates Hutchinson about the process is that our body\u2019s instinct to breathe \u2013 known as respiratory drive \u2013 is \u201cnot actually \u2026 because we want oxygen. It\u2019s because we need to get rid of carbon dioxide\u201d.<\/p>\n

That drive is central to the Wim Hof breathing method, which involves rapid breathing and breath holds. \u201cYou breathe off carbon dioxide by hyperventilating, which creates a hypoxic [low oxygen] state for your body \u2026 your breath systems do not kick in, and so you can hold your breath for minutes,\u201d Hutchinson says.<\/p>\n

Research suggests that Hof\u2019s techniques \u2013 which combine breathing exercises, cold exposure training and meditation \u2013 may reduce levels of inflammation in the body, and that cold immersion training and breathing exercises may also increase people\u2019s pain thresholds.<\/p>\n

Hutchinson is now conducting a clinical trial on whether the Wim Hof method could help control pain in women with endometriosis.<\/p>\n

Experts have pointed out that techniques such as the Wim Hof method are not without risk. \u201cAll of these things should be \u2026 [done] under constant supervision and guidance by medical practitioners,\u201d Hutchinson says, especially those in at-risk groups, such as people with respiratory conditions. He points to the need for further research to be able to create evidence-based guidelines for certain breathwork techniques.<\/p>\n

\u2018Breathing is free\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cParticular breathing exercises that often get very popular can also \u2026 lead to some sort of alteration in consciousness,\u201d Polito says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I think you see all sorts of remarkable claims about breathworking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe complication of having altered states involved is that \u2026 sometimes people in those settings genuinely have transformative experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s so uncontrolled a lot of the time,\u201d he says, and others \u201ccan have destabilising experiences\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also a business motive sometimes as well,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can end up with these promotions of breathwork that are claiming more about what it\u2019s able to do than what has been rigorously empirically demonstrated at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Hutchinson says, \u201cbreathing is free\u201d. And while \u201cthere is an opportunity here to harness other parts of our physiology\u201d through specific techniques if people are interested, \u201cthat is not a complex, hundreds-of-dollars activity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I \u2026 see people charging large amounts of money for very expensive things that are not actually grounded in any evidence, my alarm bells go off,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

As an advertisement for the fictional bottled air company in The Lorax advises: \u201cPlease breathe responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n