"Breathwork" is turning into a buzzword. And when things get popular, sometimes we start to lose the plot.
So, let's back up: What is breathwork training?
Breathwork entails a set of techniques that help you build better breathing habits to self-regulate and improve your health. According to Vogue Arabia, breath training is redefining meditation practices and reshaping how people approach wellness.
What breathwork can help with:
- Anxiety and stress
- Immune support
- Managing discomfort
- Building mental discipline
The question shouldn't be "do breathing exercises work?" — because they do. You should be asking which breathing exercise works for which situation, because breathwork can be executed in a number of different ways.
Dr. Rob Williams has studied breathwork across traditions, creating a sharp and precise approach influenced by ancient practices. He says to "think of breath training as a quiver of arrows — each arrow serves a different purpose."
High-performers looking for practical applications of breathwork can learn from Dr. Rob's approach.
Four Arrows in Your Quiver
Arrow 1: Conscious Mindful Breathing
Conscious breathing is the starting point for any practice, and it's all about becoming more mindful — being aware of your breath without controlling it.
The New York Times emphasizes that the foundation of all breathing practices begins with that sort of awareness.
Breath runs through you all day long; you can harness it and use it for a number of things. The foundational awareness of that truth is crucial.
Arrow 2: Coherence Breathing
Coherence breathing is a pattern of approximately 6-second inhales and 6-second exhales, which comes out to roughly 6 breaths per minute. Coherence breathing is best for stress reduction, anxiety management, pre-performance centering, and any time you need to downregulate.
This breathing pattern is encoded in a number of spiritual traditions: Buddhist mantras, Catholic rosary, Hindu kriyas. "Every Eastern, Western, Indigenous spiritual tradition, religious tradition, has at its core that coherence breath practice," Dr. Rob says.
"This is the perfect breath."
And science agrees. Research from Ohio State University confirms that slow, controlled breathing exercises can effectively calm anxiety by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, and The New York Times' Athletic has reported that elite athletes use these slow breathing patterns for performance optimization too.
Arrow 3: Resilience Breathing
Resilience breathing is a cyclic hyperventilatory approach that creates controlled voluntary stress for morning awakening, immune system support, and energy activation.
Dr. Rob uses resilience breathing after cold plunging (3-4 rounds, increasing breath holds from 1-2 minutes over the course of four rounds).
He says resilience breathing can trigger the same neurochemical cascade as a workout: "It triggers catecholamines, and activates all those happy neurotransmitters."
As The Guardian explains, hormetic stress (like intense breathing or cold exposure) creates a positive adaptation response in the body, making you more resilient to future stressors.
Arrow 4: Performance Breathing / Breath Holds
A breath hold is just what it sounds like: holding your breath for an extended period of time (Dr. Rob gets to 2+ minutes). It's best used when you're building mental discipline, or training to handle discomfort.
Usually, breath holds are combined with resilience breathing.
According to Parade's breathwork overview, breath retention practices build CO2 tolerance and mental resilience, which is key for high-performers managing stress.
How to Choose the Right Type of Breathwork
- Need to downregulate? → Coherence breathing
- Need to energize? → Resilience breathing + breath holds
- Need awareness? → Conscious mindful breathing
- Want to replace a workout? → Hormetic breathing rounds + cold plunge
Put Your Breath to Work
Do breathing techniques actually work? Yes, when you match the right technique to your specific need — and research has been proving what practitioners have known for centuries.
"There is this tendency to lump everything we've talked about into what's called 'breathwork,'" Dr. Rob says. "The word 'work' — it's very Western." That's why he prefers "breath training."
He suggests embracing breath from a more spiritual perspective, linking your mind, body, and spirit.
What that means is that you don't need to become a breathwork devotee — you just need to know which breathing will help you in a given situation. To know which breathwork, well, works.
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