I guess when The Economist covers breathing (pranayama, one of the eight limbs of Ashtanga yoga) and yoga, I'm obliged to cover it.
The Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture from 1st or 2nd century BC talks about “pranayama”—a yoga practice of controlling the breath—and yoga texts from a few centuries later describe its benefits for steadying the mind. For modern breathwork-enthusiasts who say that guided breathing helps them feel better, it undoubtedly does. But to test whether such exercises can reduce stress in the as-yet-unconverted, you need randomised-controlled trials (RCTs).
Anecdotally, it feels like it does, as most of us can attest to feeling much better and less stressed under meditation, yoga, or breathwork (#863896).
Breathwork isn’t just a yogic practice but one of the eight limbs of (Ashtanga) yoga—yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and, ultimately, samadhi. (Terminology and structure originally from Patanjali, unless I’m mistaken.)
That’s right, the asana (=postures) we so dutifully practice on the mat (#864752) are only a small portion of the full practice (and pretty far off what they were, historically). We usually think of it as synonymous with yoga itself since that is mostly what’s going on in a regular yoga class (in the West).
Asana is the “simplest” portion of yoga, one might say; or at least the most straightforward: move your body like this, sit like that.
I really started appreciating this limb of yoga about two years ago when I first read Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor (like everybody else lol, 30,000 reviews on Amazon!). What’s so fascinating about pranayama is its deep biological and anatomical connection with our nervous system.
That distinction, as far as my very nonsciency mind understands it, is an active/passive divide—and speaks to the portion of our bodily functions that we can’t directly control (heartbeat is the typical example, which we can't affect directly but can influence via breathing).
The Economist article continues:
Researchers have also found that voluntarily slowing breathing can increase heart-rate variability—the fluctuations in the timing between heart beats. This is often low in people with psychiatric disorders like depression, bipolar and ADHD; increasing it, the theory goes, should therefore be a good thing. There is also evidence that slow breathing and stress regulation might share brain circuits, at least in rodents. A study published in Nature Neuroscience in November 2024, found that stimulating a pathway that causes slow breathing in mice also suppressed their anxiety behaviours.
Not conclusive, not medical advice blah-blah, but asymmetrically a good thing nonetheless:
The evidence on breathwork might still be unclear, but the practice appears to have no real downsides. Everything from gut health to infection is now understood to influence mental health. Slow, controlled breathing may soon be added to the list.
non-paywalled here: https://archive.md/0vhyQ