In the last few years, breathwork has moved from obscure wellness corners to center stage. You’ve likely seen influencers guide sessions on TikTok or wellness retreats boasting it as a transformative experience. The pitch is simple: by controlling your breath, you can control your mind, body, and even trauma. Some say it’s ancient wisdom rediscovered. Others say it’s science-backed and modern. The reality is: breathwork can be powerful—but it’s not the miracle solution many make it out to be.
Breathing as a Tool, Not a Cure
There’s no denying the physiological power of the breath. Slow, diaphragmatic breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels. That’s real science. Breathing can calm panic attacks, aid sleep, and reduce the impact of daily stressors. But that’s where the grounded benefits end. Breathwork is not trauma therapy. It’s not a detox. It won’t rewrite your subconscious, heal childhood wounds, or unearth your deepest truths—at least not in the way some practitioners promise.
When Simplicity Becomes Hype
The problem isn’t breathwork itself—it’s how it’s being packaged. Simple techniques like box breathing or 4-7-8 breathing are easy, free, and accessible. But they’re now being marketed with glossy overlays and spiritual exaggeration. “Heal your nervous system in one session.” “Clear your trauma with your breath.” “Activate your higher self through oxygen.” These claims not only overpromise—they also risk misleading people away from the support they may actually need. If you’re struggling with chronic anxiety, depression, or PTSD, breathwork alone isn’t enough.
A Flood of Emotion Isn’t Always Healing
Some popular breathwork methods intentionally induce intense emotional states. People scream, sob, shake. It can look—and feel—like a breakthrough. And sometimes it is. But not always. Breath-induced catharsis can flood the nervous system and mimic emotional release, but it doesn’t guarantee integration or understanding. Without proper guidance or psychological context, people can leave breathwork sessions feeling raw, confused, or even retraumatized. What you feel during the breath isn’t always healing—it may just be stimulation.
The Wellness Trap of Self-Fixing
Part of breathwork’s popularity comes from a larger wellness obsession: fixing yourself. The idea that if you just find the right practice, you’ll unlock peace, purpose, and clarity. Breathwork becomes another checkbox—like journaling, ice baths, or silent retreats. But you can’t breathe your way out of structural burnout. You can’t out-exhale your job stress, your financial anxiety, or a broken healthcare system. That’s not a failure of breathwork—it’s a failure of how we misuse it.
Accessibility or Avoidance?
There’s a reason breathwork appeals to people who are skeptical of therapy or medication. It feels empowering, immediate, and free of stigma. That’s a good thing. But for many, breathwork becomes a detour. It’s easier to try a breathing app than to unpack years of emotional suppression with a professional. It’s tempting to chase the high of a dramatic session rather than the slow, often uncomfortable process of actual healing. Breathwork, when used as avoidance, delays deeper growth.
So What Can It Do?
Breathwork can teach you to slow down. It can help you become more aware of your body. It can offer a sense of agency in anxious moments. Used regularly, it can gently regulate your nervous system and create more calm. For many, it’s the entry point to meditation or mindfulness. When paired with intention, rest, and support, it becomes a helpful tool in the larger toolkit of well-being. It’s real—but it’s not everything.
Where Breathwork Fits
There’s value in returning to something as simple and innate as the breath. In a world of overstimulation, breathwork offers stillness. But it works best when we stop trying to make it into something mystical or messianic. Breathwork doesn’t need to be branded, monetized, or turned into a personality trait. It’s a gentle nudge toward presence—not a shortcut to enlightenment. The moment we stop trying to squeeze too much from it is the moment it actually starts to help.