Researchers shed light on how breathwork can induce altered states of consciousness

A new scientific investigation finds that altered states of consciousness induced by fast-paced breathing are linked to specific changes in brain blood flow and the body’s autonomic nervous system. The research, published in the journal PLOS One, offers a biological explanation for the profound subjective experiences reported by practitioners of this technique.

Breathwork is a general term for practices that involve consciously controlling one’s breathing. Some forms, known as high ventilation breathwork, involve increasing the rate or depth of breathing, often guided by evocative music. These practices can produce powerful shifts in perception and emotion, creating experiences that practitioners describe as being similar to those from psychedelic substances, including feelings of bliss, unity, and emotional release.

Despite growing popularity as a therapeutic tool, the biological processes behind these effects have remained largely unexamined. A team of researchers, led by first author Amy Amla Kartar, sought to fill this gap by exploring what happens in the brain and body during these intense breathing sessions.

The investigation involved a total of 31 unique, experienced breathwork practitioners who participated across three interconnected experiments, with some individuals taking part in more than one session. The first study was conducted remotely over a video conferencing platform with 15 participants (average age 43, 5 female) to see if the subjective effects could be reliably produced in a home setting. A second study used a special type of magnetic resonance imaging that measures blood flow in the brain with 19 participants (average age 44, 7 female). The third experiment took place in a psychophysiology lab with 8 participants (average age 41, 2 female) where researchers measured changes in the autonomic nervous system.

For the laboratory and imaging sessions, participants listened to pre-recorded audio instructions paired with evocative ambient music. The session would begin with a period of normal breathing, after which the music’s tempo would progressively increase to encourage the fast-paced breathing. The audio track provided specific guidance, such as: “Mouth wide open, pulling on the inhale, that’s it. No pauses at the top of the inhale, or the bottom of the exhale. Full body breaths. Breathing in to your whole body.”

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The instructions also encouraged participants to surrender to the experience: “The music is going to keep on rising, so fall into the rhythm and let your breath guide you. Your job is just to keep breathing… Whatever sensations you’re feeling, let them come, let them rise, enjoy them. Stay focused.” In all settings, participants completed questionnaires before and after the breathwork to document their emotional state, any panic-like symptoms, and the nature of their altered state of consciousness.

Across all three settings, the researchers found that high ventilation breathwork was safe for experienced practitioners and consistently produced altered states of consciousness. Participants did not report significant increases in fear or any panic attacks, although there was a slight increase in reported physical discomfort. Negative feelings and emotions tended to decrease after the sessions. The most commonly and intensely reported experience was a state the researchers call “Oceanic Boundlessness,” which includes feelings of bliss, spiritual connection, and a sense of unity with one’s surroundings. This particular experience was chosen as the key subjective measure to compare against the biological data.

The brain imaging results from 13 of the 19 participants revealed significant changes in cerebral blood flow. Overall, the fast-paced breathing caused a widespread reduction in blood flow to the brain, which is an expected physiological response to lowered carbon dioxide levels in the blood. The scientists discovered a specific relationship between this change and the participants’ subjective experiences. They found that a greater reduction in blood flow in a brain region known as the left posterior insula was associated with more intense feelings of Oceanic Boundlessness. This part of the brain is thought to be central to interoception, which is the perception of the body’s internal state, including signals from the heart and lungs.

Further analysis of this brain region showed that the blood flow reduction was specifically linked to the components of Oceanic Boundlessness described as “experience of unity” and “blissful state.” This suggests that changes in how the brain processes internal bodily signals may contribute to these profound feelings.

The researchers also identified another key finding when they compared blood flow from the beginning of the breathwork session to the later, more sustained phase. In a region that includes the right amygdala and hippocampus, areas linked to emotion and memory processing, blood flow actually increased for those who reported the most intense experiences. This localized increase, happening against a backdrop of overall reduced blood flow, may indicate heightened neural activity related to processing emotional memories.

In the laboratory experiment focusing on physiology, the researchers observed that high ventilation breathwork activated the body’s sympathetic nervous system, the system responsible for the “fight or flight” response. This was measured by a decrease in heart rate variability, a marker that indicates the heart is beating in a more regular, less variable pattern typical of an aroused state. The specific pattern of change in heart rate variability over the course of the session was directly related to the intensity of the participant’s reported Oceanic Boundlessness. This finding connects the profound psychological state to a distinct signature of bodily arousal.

The study has some limitations. The number of participants in each experiment was small, and they were all experienced practitioners, so the results may not apply to individuals new to the practice. The research did not include a control condition, such as listening to the music without performing the breathwork, which makes it difficult to isolate the effects of breathing alone. The authors noted that they chose to study the practice as a whole, including the musical component, because that is how it is typically used. Future research could explore these effects in a larger and more diverse population, including novices and individuals with specific mental health conditions, to better understand its therapeutic potential.

“Conducting this research was a fantastic experience,” Kartar said. “It was thrilling to explore such a novel area – while many people anecdotally recognize the health benefits of breathwork, this style of fast-paced breathing has received very little scientific attention. We are very grateful to our participants for making this work possible.”

Alessandro Colasanti, a principal investigator on the project, also commented on the findings. “Breathwork is a powerful yet natural tool for neuromodulation, working through the regulation of metabolism across the body and brain. It holds tremendous promise as a transformative therapeutic intervention for conditions that are often both distressing and disabling.”

The study, “Neurobiological substrates of altered states of consciousness induced by high ventilation breathwork accompanied by music,” was authored by Amy Amla Kartar, Toru Horinouchi, Balázs Örzsik, Brittany Anderson, Lottie Hall, Duncan Bailey, Sarah Samuel, Nati Beltran, Samira Bouyagoub, Chris Racey, Yoko Nagai, Iris Asllani, Hugo Critchley, and Alessandro Colasanti.