A Journey Through Science, Spirit, and Self

Breathwork never ceases to amaze me. Every single session, whether I’m facilitating or participating, is completely different. It’s as if the breath knows exactly what each person needs.

The Physical Power of Breath

Let’s start with the basics: the physical benefits of breathwork are real, measurable, and well documented. If you haven’t read James Nestor’s Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, I highly recommend it. Nestor compiles decades of research showing how mouth breathing can lead to:

• Brain fog
• Fatigue
• Sleep apnea
• High blood pressure
• Poor immune function

And how nose breathing, on the other hand, can dramatically improve:

• Energy and vitality
• Mental clarity and focus
• Restful sleep
• Digestion and gut health
• Heart rate variability and blood pressure
• Immune resilience

This isn’t just theory. For example, a 2018 study in Frontiers in Psychology showed that participants who practiced slow diaphragmatic breathing for eight weeks had significantly reduced cortisol levels (the stress hormone) and improved attention.

Emotional Rewiring Through the Breath

But this is what really drew me in… the magic of breathwork goes far beyond the physical. When we engage in deep breathing exercises,especially diaphragmatic breath work, we shift from the sympathetic “fight-or-flight” state into the parasympathetic “rest-and-digest” state. In other words, our nervous system recalibrates. We come back to center.

This isn’t just a temporary calm. Over time, breath work literally trains your body how to stay neutral in chaos, how to self-regulate, and how to respond to life instead of react. Instead of being pushed around by our circumstances, we start to lead life from a more grounded place.  Coming back to neutral faster.  

Besides future benefits, deep breathing techniques, especially breathwork techniques like Holotropic breathwork, Rebirthing, Transformational breathwork, literally bring so much breath into the body, that energetically whatever the mind allows to let go, does come up and gets processed.  It’s like a big sweep through the energetic body.  

As I always say: how you breathe is how you live.
And during a session, I watch closely.

• Chest breathers? Almost always anxious. Their breath never drops deep into the body, and neither do their emotions.
• Heart-avoiders? Often people who’ve experienced heartbreak. When the breath finally opens into the heart, they feel not only grief but also profound love, connection, and self-compassion.
• Solar plexus breathers only? Typically overthinkers, overdoers, people who carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. They often have a hard time letting go and trusting life. Their breath pattern reflects their inner belief that “if I don’t control everything, it’ll fall apart.”

But here’s what’s so incredible: when someone starts breathing in a new way, they start showing up in life in a new way. Without having to analyze or affirm their way into change, they embody it. The breath does the rewiring.

The Science-Backed Healing of Breathwork

A pair of psychiatrists, Dr. Patricia Gerbarg and Dr. Richard Brown, published a groundbreaking book called The Healing Power of the Breath. In their clinical work on the East Coast, they have used deep breathing methods for anxiety and as a complementary treatment for anxiety, depression, and PTSD. In multiple cases, their patients were able to taper off anti-anxiety medications under medical supervision after just a few months of consistent breath work exercies.

This isn’t fringe anymore. Major medical centers like the Cleveland Clinic and Harvard’s Benson-Henry Institute are now researching breath-based therapies as part of integrative care models. The breath is natural medicine.

The Spiritual Mystery That Moves You

And then there’s the part that science still struggles to measure:
The spiritual. The unexplainable. The mystical.

While we can now explain so much of what happens physically and emotionally during a breath session from nervous system regulation to oxygenation to trauma release; there’s another layer of energetic healing that defies explanation. Unexpected moments unfold. What I call mini miracles.

I’ve witnessed them more times than I can count.

…People walk in weighed down by depression, and walk out with light in their eyes.
…Control-driven minds soften into surrender and trust.
…Hearts reopen. Grief transforms. Often seeing their relationships whether partners, family members, or themselves through a new spiritual lenz.
…Some reconnect with the spirit of a loved one who has passed. Others find forgiveness, purpose, or profound inner clarity.

Anything and everything can happen; if you’re willing to allow it.
Your psyche knows what it’s ready for. I trust that deeply. And whether your shift is subtle or huge, it’s always the right next step.

One of my own most profound sessions took me back to a moment I had completely buried:
I was 11 years old, outside a hospital room where my grandmother was dying. I was having a severe nosebleed in the hallway, and my mother was torn between worry for me and grief for her own mother. I had locked that memory away. But during one session, it came flooding back, vivid, real, visceral. And then my body started shaking, a clear sign of nervous system discharge and regulation. Something deep had integrated. After that session, I still felt grief about my grandmother, but not the uncontrollable overwhelm. It had shifted. I had reclaimed a part of myself.

After just a few intentional breathwork sessions focused on relationships, I experienced a profound shift. I found myself reaching a deep acceptance of my ex-husband, our divorce, and the repeating patterns that had shown up in my past relationships. Through the breath, I was able to forgive, not just him, but myself. I felt deep genuine gratitude for the lessons, and new found energy to move forward in life. This wasn’t just mental, it was felt. I could feel more awareness, more self-respect, and a new standard for how I wanted to love and be loved without any resentment toward the past.

Breath Is Energy, and Energy Is Everything

We are made of energy – literally. Over 99.99% of our body is empty space, filled with vibrating energy. When we engage in dynamic, activating breathwork exercises, we’re moving energy through the body.

In physics, there’s a term called entrainment; it’s when a higher frequency pulls a lower frequency up to match it. That’s what breathwork does. The elevated energy of conscious deep breathing entrains the stagnant, stuck energy inside of us. And in doing so, it helps us shift our emotional state, our mental clarity, and even our spiritual outlook.

You don’t have to believe in any of it for it to work. But I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it. And it continues to blow me away every time.

Want to Experience It for Yourself?

For the month of September, I’m offering 10% off private breath sessions and my coaching packages. Whether you’re curious, overwhelmed, stuck, or just ready to shift something in your life, come see what your own breath can unlock.

Text or email to schedule your session.  

323-333-3033 or linda@breathbodyconnection.com

Your breath is your teacher.
Your body is your guide.
All you need is already inside you, waiting to be set free.

Much Love,

Linda