The appeal of breathwork as a restorative tool for mental distress is quickly broadening. Breathwork practices that increase ventilatory rate or depth, accompanied by music, can cause transformed states of awareness (ASCs) comparable to those stimulated by psychedelic compounds.

High ventilation breathwork (HVB) may use a non-pharmacological option, with less legal and ethical constraints to massive adoption in scientific treatment.

The neurobiological systems and subjective experience underlying ASCs caused by HVB have actually not been studied thoroughly.

To fill this understanding space, Dr. Amy Amla Kartar from Brighton and Sussex Medical School at the University of Sussex and her associates defined ASCs caused by HVB in knowledgeable professionals by examining self-reported information from 15 people who took part online, 8 people who took part in the laboratory, and 19 people who went through magnetic resonance imaging.

Their job included a 20- to 30-minute session of cyclic breathing without stopping briefly while listening to music, followed by a series of surveys within 30 minutes of ending up the breathwork session.

The outcomes revealed that the strength of ASCs stimulated by HVB was proportional to cardiovascular considerate activation, as suggested by a reduction in heart rate irregularity, suggesting a possible tension action.

In addition, HVB-evoked ASCs were related to an extensive reduction in blood circulation to the left operculum and posterior insula– brain areas linked in representing the internal state of the body, consisting of breathing.

Regardless of HVB triggering big and worldwide decreases in blood circulation to the brain, there was a progressive boost in blood circulation throughout the session to the ideal amygdala and anterior hippocampus, which are brain areas included in the processing of psychological memories.

These blood circulation modifications associated with psychedelic experiences, showing that these modifications might underlie the favorable impacts of this breathwork.

Throughout all speculative sessions, individuals reported a decrease in worry and unfavorable feelings, without any unfavorable responses.

Throughout individuals and speculative settings, HVB dependably boosted ASCs controlled by Oceanic Boundlessness (OBN), which is a term created by Freud in 1920 that explains a set of associated sensations consisting of spiritual experience, insightfulness, joyous state, favorably knowledgeable depersonalization, and the experience of unity.

OBN is thought about as a specifying element of ASCs stimulated by psychedelic compounds, such as psilocybin.

According to the authors, their research study was unique and exploratory and needs duplication by future research study consisting of bigger sample sizes and a control group to separate the results of music on the brain.

Regardless of these restrictions, the findings offer a much better understanding of HVB and direct research study to examine its restorative applications.

“Our research study is the very first to utilize neuroimaging to map the neurophysiological modifications that happen throughout breathwork,” the scientists stated.

“Our essential findings consist of that breathwork can dependably stimulate extensive psychedelic states.”

“We think that these states are connected to modifications in the function of particular brain areas associated with self-awareness, and worry and psychological memory processing.”

“We discovered that more extensive modifications in blood circulation in particular brain locations were connected to much deeper experiences of unity, happiness, and psychological release, jointly called ‘oceanic boundlessness’.”

The findings were released online August 27, 2025 in the journal PLoS ONE

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A.A. Kartar et al2025. Neurobiological substrates of modified states of awareness caused by high ventilation breathwork accompanied by music. PLoS One 20 (8 ): e0329411; doi: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0329411