Science meets Spirituality
Breath work is a powerful practice for its potential to transform mental, emotional, and physiological states. This breathwork practice is designed to facilitate expanded states of consciousness which involve emotional release and processing. While participants have long noted its benefits, a larger body of evidence continues to shed light on what is happening within the body and brain during these profound experiences. We will explore what we know, what we think we know, and what remains unknown about these ancient practices.
Neurochemical, Physiological changes
Active breath work increases oxygen, lowering blood carbon dioxide and briefly raising alkalinity, which boosts serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins for better mood and emotional balance.
Deep, rhythmic breathing affects the autonomic nervous system, with initial stimulation of the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and a rebound to parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) state, resulting in reduced cortisol levels, leading to lower stress and anxiety and deep sense of relaxation.
Engaging in breathwork can stimulate the vagus nerve, promoting a sense of calm, reducing inflammation, and improving heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of overall health and resilience
The Default Mode Network & Neural Rewiring
The default mode network in the brain is associated with self-referential thinking this is the observing, witnessing and narrating in relation to others and the self, and has been shown to decrease in activity during breathwork, similar to effects observed in meditation and plant medicine experiences.
Reduced default mode network activity is associated with a diminished sense of ego, allowing for new neural connections to form and different parts of the brain to communicate more effectively. This neural rewiring may facilitate breakthroughs in thought patterns, emotional healing, and even spiritual insights.
Research suggests that breathwork induces a state of heightened neuroplasticity, enabling different regions of the brain to synchronise in ways they do not typically do. This may explain why some participants report profound realisations, enhanced creativity, and a deepened sense of personal transformation.
Science meets spirituality
Breathwork has the incredible ability to shift our state of mind and alter our state of consciousness. While many theories exist there is no agreed upon understanding of consciousness.
Some researchers argue that these experiences are purely the result of brain chemistry, while others believe they might reveal something much bigger.
For many of us that practice there is an acceptance that many mysteries remain in life, we don’t know it all, maybe we’re not meant to. Answers don't always lead to certainty. The invitation is to trust what we feel rather than what we can logically explain - resonance becomes the evidence.
These practices resonate deep in our bodies, awakening energies, shifting the patterns of our minds and whispering to the soul, with a remembrance of something vast and ineffable.
It’s in how these ancient wisdom traditions resonate in our daily lives, our relationship with ourselves, relationships with those around us and the earth. As our breath expands, so too does our awareness—of the air we inhale, the ground beneath our feet, the rhythm of the natural world that pulses in time with our own. Breathwork has a way of dissolving the illusion of separation, reminding us that we are not apart from nature, but an extension of it.
Neurodynamic breathwork sits at the crossroads of what we do know and what still remains a mystery. For now, it remains an incredibly powerful tool—one that invites us to explore both the scientific and the spiritual, offering deep transformation for those willing to dive in.