Holotropic breathwork is a group practice in which people breathe faster and more deeply than usual for an extended time, lying down to evocative music, with a partner and trained facilitators nearby. It is for seekers interested in self-exploration and emotional experience who are in good health and willing to be screened first. This guide explains how holotropic breathwork works, where it comes from, what research shows and who should not take part without medical advice.
What holotropic breathwork is and how it works
A typical session takes place in a group. Participants pair up: one person, the breather, lies on a mat with eyes closed, while the other, the sitter, stays beside them to offer attention and practical help. The roles usually swap in a later session. The breather is invited to breathe more quickly and deeply than normal, without pauses, while loud, evocative music plays. Facilitators move around the room and may offer focused bodywork if a breather asks for it.
The breathing is the active part. Breathing faster and deeper than the body needs is called hyperventilation, and it lowers the level of carbon dioxide in the blood. A 2025 study in Communications Psychology tracked people through holotropic breathwork and a similar method, conscious connected breathwork, and found that falls in exhaled carbon dioxide were linked to the onset of altered states of consciousness. People describe these states as vivid and emotional, sometimes with images, memories or strong bodily sensations.
Afterward, participants often draw, typically a circular mandala, and share in a group to make sense of what came up. Practitioners describe the aim as reaching non-ordinary states of consciousness. That explanation comes from the practice's own framework; the physiology of fast breathing is better understood than any deeper mechanism.
Where holotropic breathwork comes from
Holotropic breathwork was developed in the 1970s by the psychiatrist Stanislav Grof and his wife, Christina Grof, in California. The name joins the Greek words holos, meaning whole, and trepein, meaning to move toward, so holotropic roughly means moving toward wholeness. Stanislav Grof had earlier researched psychedelic substances, and the breathwork grew out of an interest in reaching similar states without drugs.
The method belongs to transpersonal psychology, a school that regards spiritual and mystical experiences as part of human psychology. Holotropic Breathwork is a registered trademark, and a formal facilitator training grew up around it. Fast or forceful breathing also appears in older traditions, including some yoga breathing practices, but the holotropic format of pairs, music, bodywork and drawing is modern.
What people use holotropic breathwork for
People come to holotropic breathwork for different reasons. Many are drawn by self-exploration: a wish to understand themselves, revisit memories or feelings, or have an experience that feels meaningful or spiritual. Some are curious about altered states of consciousness and want to explore them without drugs, in a structured and supervised setting. Others value the group itself, and the experience of being cared for by a sitter and caring for someone in return.
Some people explore breathwork because of stress or emotional strain, or as something to bring alongside psychotherapy. Researchers have proposed that the method might one day have a role as an addition to therapy, but proposals are not results, and the research described below is too limited to support claims for any condition.
These are reasons people explore the practice, not promises of any outcome. You can browse the conditions and symptoms hubs to see how breathwork sits alongside other approaches for the same concerns.
What the research says
Research on holotropic breathwork is early and small, and none of the studies of the method reviewed here was a randomized controlled trial. A 2007 paper in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine described it as prolonged, voluntary hyperventilation and proposed it might help alongside psychotherapy, noting that better research was needed to test it.
A 2015 study in the same journal followed 20 people in Denmark through four sessions, with no control group. It reported small drops in scores for persistence, hostility and interpersonal problems, and a rise in a paranoid ideation score that stayed in the normal range. The 2025 study above found that the depth of altered states predicted later improvements in well-being and lower depressive symptoms, though its main comparison was between two breathwork methods.
Broader reviews pool many techniques. A 2023 meta-analysis in Scientific Reports of 12 randomized trials with 785 adults found breathwork was linked to small to medium reductions in self-reported stress, though most trials had moderate risk of bias; its authors urged caution about hype. A 2023 review of high ventilation breathwork in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews concluded that reported benefits call for rigorous clinical testing.
Safety and who should check first
Sustained fast breathing is a real physical stress. It lowers carbon dioxide in the blood and commonly brings on dizziness, tingling, and cramping in the hands or face, and sessions can stir up strong emotions or difficult memories. Talk to a clinician first, and expect that you may be advised not to take part, if any of these apply to you:
- •heart or blood vessel disease, or high blood pressure
- •a history of seizures or epilepsy, since fast breathing is used in medical tests to bring out seizure activity
- •glaucoma, or recent surgery or injury
- •pregnancy
- •a history of psychosis or another serious mental health condition
Take part only with trained facilitators who screen everyone in advance, and tell them about medicines you take.
Fitting it alongside everyday and conventional care
Holotropic breathwork is best understood as a self-exploration practice, not a health intervention. Nothing in the research described here supports using it in place of medical care, psychotherapy or prescribed medicine, and you should not stop or change any of these because of a breathwork experience.
If you see a doctor, therapist or psychiatrist, tell them you are considering breathwork and ask whether it suits you. If a session brings up material that stays with you, a therapist can help you work through it. Integration, the work of making sense of an experience afterward, is part of the method, and outside support can be part of that.
Finding a holotropic breathwork practitioner
Look for a practitioner, often called a facilitator, who completed formal holotropic training, screens every participant, and explains what happens if someone needs help. You can browse practitioners in the Gyfts directory, read the holotropic breathwork modality page, or explore related approaches. Cost varies, so ask about fees up front.
