Does breathwork work better than meditating? What new research shows
I hear it almost every week: “Meditation just isn’t for me. I can’t sit still.”
Does that sound familiar? You sit down, close your eyes, “just let your breath be” like the instruction says, and within a few minutes you’re mostly wondering whether you’re doing it right. Your mind keeps churning, your shoulders stay up, and the calm other people seem to find never quite arrives. I had to practise it myself in the beginning too, but by now it comes fairly easily to me, I usually settle in within a few minutes. Still, I see this struggle constantly in the people around me, and I understand it completely.
What stands out to me: that stuck feeling isn’t a personal failure, it’s often a sign that your system needs something other than quiet observation. Breathwork, where you actively work with your breath instead of just watching it, opens a different door for a lot of people than meditation does.
What often feels like a personal shortcoming is now the subject of serious scientific research. And the outcome is surprisingly honest about what both practices do, and don’t do.
What’s the difference between breathwork and meditation?
Short answer: meditation invites you to observe what’s already there, breathwork actively changes what’s there. In a body scan or breath observation, your attention rests on what you notice in your body, without changing anything. In intensive, continuous breathing, called conscious connected breathing in research, you deliberately change the rhythm and depth of your breath, often in one unbroken pattern with no pause between inhale and exhale.
That active intervention on your breath turns out to give a different experience than quiet observation, and that difference has now been measured directly for the first time.
The first randomised study to directly compare breathwork with meditation shows that a single session of intensive, continuous breathing produces significantly stronger emotional and consciousness shifts than a session of meditation, with effect sizes in the same range seen in psychedelics research.
What exactly does the research show?
What the research is
The Airways to Alteration study, published in June 2026 in Frontiers in Psychology by researchers from Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The first randomised study to put breathwork directly alongside meditation.
Who it looked at
24 experienced practitioners, split into two groups. Twelve did a ninety-minute session of intensive, continuous breathing with music. Twelve did forty minutes of body scan meditation.
What it found
14 vs 8.5
336 vs 57.5
~34 vs < 6
54.8 → 39.2 vs barely changed
Stress, anxiety and low mood improved by roughly the same amount in both groups. That’s worth stating clearly: meditation did its job here too.
Does this stand on its own?
No, and that’s reassuring.
What: an international online study, July 2026, the same journal, by researchers from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Who: 324 people from 23 countries.
What it found: people who had a more intense, more blissful conscious experience during their breath session felt better afterwards, regardless of how much resistance they’d felt during the session itself. So it’s not really about removing resistance, but about the intensity of the experience itself.
Before you read on, take a moment.
Breathe all the way out once, longer than usual.
Let your shoulders drop.
That’s already it.
Back to the body
What these studies say in plain language is something the InnerPower Method has taken as a starting point for years. You don’t have to sit still to come to rest. Sometimes something needs to move first before there’s room.
Curious to go deeper into breathwork and Yin Yoga with real guidance? Take a look at the InnerPower Yin Yoga teacher training to see what’s possible.
LAND
Feel the ground beneath you, before anything is asked of you.
BREATHE
Your breath isn’t only a window to calm, it’s also an instrument. You can use it to move what’s stuck.
FEEL
Whatever comes loose doesn’t need to be understood or resolved right away. Feeling is allowed to come first.
When does breathwork not feel relaxing?
It’s important to be honest here. Intensive, continuous breathing is an activating technique. For a nervous system that overstimulates easily, or a body with a history of trauma, this kind of activated breathing can bring on unease, dizziness or overwhelm rather than calm.
The participants in the study were also all already experienced practitioners who had worked with this form of breathwork before without problems. People with cardiovascular issues, respiratory conditions, epilepsy, panic disorder or pregnancy were excluded beforehand. That says something important: this isn’t an exercise to experiment with intensively on your own, without guidance. If in doubt, go smaller, slower, and find guidance that respects your pace.
What this research doesn’t say
This study is exciting, but small. Twenty-four participants is enough to see a first signal, not to prove anything definitively. The researchers themselves explicitly call it “exploratory”. All participants were already experienced with breathwork, so we don’t yet know whether someone breathing this way for the first time would have the same experience.
The breathwork group also knew in advance that intense, possibly psychedelic-feeling experiences could arise, while the meditation group wasn’t given that expectation. The researchers themselves acknowledge that this expectation may partly explain why the effects were so large. And the sleep improvement was measured with a questionnaire about the week before and after, not with objective sleep measurements, so other things happening in participants’ lives may have contributed too.
What does hold up: breathwork and meditation do something different, not something better or worse than each other. Both lowered stress, anxiety and low mood by about the same amount. Only on emotional movement, shifts in consciousness and sleep did breathwork appear to go further.
One small step for today
You don’t need ninety minutes of intensive breathing to notice what changes when you actively work with your breath instead of just watching it.
Five gentle breaths, nothing more:
- Sit or lie down somewhere you won’t be disturbed.
- Breathe in through your nose, a little fuller than usual, without forcing it.
- Let your exhale go, without control, as if you’re allowing a sigh.
- Repeat this five times, at your own pace.
- Notice what changes, even if it’s almost nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Does breathwork work better than meditating?
The first randomised study to directly compare breathwork with meditation shows that a single session of intensive, continuous breathing produces significantly stronger emotional and consciousness shifts than a session of body scan meditation. Stress, anxiety and low mood improved by roughly the same amount in both, so neither is better by definition, they do something different.
What’s the difference between breathwork and meditation?
Meditation invites you to observe what’s already there, without changing it. Breathwork, such as intensive continuous breathing, actively changes the rhythm and depth of your breath and appears to give a different experience as a result, with more emotional movement.
Is intensive breathwork safe for everyone?
No. Only experienced practitioners took part in the study, and people with cardiovascular issues, respiratory conditions, epilepsy, panic disorder or pregnancy were excluded beforehand. For a nervous system that overstimulates easily, or a body with a trauma history, intensive breathing can bring on unease rather than calm. Build up slowly and find guidance.
Why do I get emotional or start crying during breathwork?
Intensive, continuous breathing can bring stuck emotion to the surface, which is exactly what the study calls an “emotional breakthrough”. Crying, shaking or a wave of feeling are a normal part of that process, not a sign that something’s going wrong. If it feels like too much, ease off and find guidance that respects your pace.
What if I get dizzy during breathing exercises?
Mild dizziness can happen with intensive, continuous breathing and is usually harmless if you’re practising seated or lying down, somewhere safe. Never do it while driving, swimming or in the bath. If you get dizzy, simply return to calm, normal breathing, it settles on its own. If it persists or feels frightening, stop and seek guidance.
Can you combine breathwork and meditation?
Yes, and it’s often more enjoyable than choosing one. Many people find a meditative state easier to reach after a short breath session, the body has already settled a little. Breathwork and meditation do something different, but they don’t rule each other out.
This blog shares scientific insight and practical experience and is not medical or therapeutic advice. If symptoms persist, it’s a good idea to have someone qualified look at your situation personally.
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Ilse-Marie Sobering is oprichter van House of InnerPower en ontwikkelaar van de InnerPower Methode: LAND • ADEM • VOEL, een cyclische practice om keer op keer terug te keren naar jezelf. Zij verdiept zich ruim 25 jaar in yogafilosofie en oosterse filosofie, en is sinds 2015 professioneel actief als E-RYT 500 yoga- en Yoga Nidra-docent, mindfulness- en ademcoach, Ayurveda-practitioner en EFT-practitioner. In Spanje, waar zij zeven jaar woonde, gaf zij opleidingen, trainingen en retreats op verschillende locaties in de regio Málaga, onder meer bij Periana, Nerja en Frigiliana. Vanuit Nederland verzorgt zij nu opleidingen, trainingen en lezingen in Nederland, in Spanje en online. Binnen de methode werkt zij met Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, ademwerk, meditatie, Qigong en somatisch werk, aangevuld met elementen uit haar opleiding in hypnotherapie. Zij geeft docentenopleidingen, bijscholing en bedrijfstrainingen, voor mensen die leven met langdurige stress en voor professionals die hun begeleiding willen verdiepen.
