In a blog post from a couple of years ago, I described my first experience with high ventilation breathwork – a form known as Psychedelic Breath, based on the principles of Holotropic Breathwork, developed by the Czech psychiatrist and LSD researcher Stan Grof. In that post, I also detailed some of the research on high ventilation breathwork, and its advantages and risks when compared to psychedelics for altering consciousness.
I have since had a couple of more experiences with high ventilation breathwork, and new research has emerged on its capacity to induce spiritual experiences, which is worth unpacking, as breathwork continues to prove to be a legitimate alternative to psychedelics for safely inducing altered states of consciousness, which consequently has potential psychological benefits.
The Highs of Hyperventilation
High ventilation breathwork is an umbrella term for breathing practices that increase the rate and depth of respiration far beyond the body’s normal resting needs. By intentionally breathing faster and deeper, you lower carbon dioxide levels in the blood while increasing oxygen levels. It is a controlled form of hyperventilation. It differs from typical hyperventilation in terms of intent, control, and response. It often helps people lower their levels of stress and anxiety by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (stimulating relaxation), whereas normal hyperventilation is a response to a perceived threat and involves activation of the sympathetic nervous system (associated with the ‘fight-or-flight’ response).
Because high ventilation breathwork is voluntary and not in response to stress, it is not a symptom of sympathetic nervous system activation. Without a sense of external threat, as well as an understanding that the effects of hyperventilation are normal rather than threatening (e.g. “I can’t breathe”, “I’m having a heart attack”), fight-or-flight is not activated. (It should be clarified that this reaction is not typically activated; some people may, of course, find that high ventilation breathwork triggers anxiety or discomfort with effects like dizziness and tingling.) Moreover, despite being rapid, high ventilation breathwork involves deeper, more diaphragmatic breathing, whereas normal hyperventilation tends to involve fast, shallower breathing: the former activates the vagus nerve, which is a crucial component of the parasympathetic nervous system.
The other two high ventilation breathwork sessions I had were a form called conscious connected breathwork, a highly popular variety. It is effectively the same as Psychedelic Breath: it involves rapid, deep, diaphragmatic breathing – breathing into the belly, filling up the belly with air. What’s more, you inhale and exhale only through the mouth and in a ‘circular’ way; as in, there is no break between inhalation and exhalation. It is a continuous rhythmic cycle with no pauses (for 45 minutes in the sessions I went to). The speed of breathing changes depending on the music: the music at the beginning is ambient and slow, and it progresses into a high-tempo peak for emotional and somatic release, and then ends with more relaxing music.
The other two sessions I went to were similar to the Psychedelic Breath one: I eventually experienced intense emotional and physical reactions, both of which felt positive. In the last session, I experienced waves of trembling and shaking, sometimes in one part of the body – the feet, lower legs, upper legs, hands – or these sensations would travel from the feet through the rest of the body, or I’d feel pleasurable twitching. Emotionally, I would describe the experience as euphoric, joyful, and peaceful – and particularly peaceful as it drew to a close, with my mind feeling clear, after the strong emotional and somatic release. Tension and overthinking temporarily melted away, and my mood was still heightened after I left.
What I do remember feeling different about the subsequent sessions was the experience of tetany, or involuntary muscle cramps (most notably in the hands). This is a common effect of high ventilation breathwork, where deep, rapid breathing expels too much carbon dioxide, causing the blood’s pH to become alkaline. This change restricts blood flow and forces ionised calcium in the bloodstream to temporarily bind to proteins, reducing the amount of free-floating calcium available to the nervous system. Calcium normally helps to stabilise nerve cells; with less available, the nerves become highly excitable, causing spontaneous firing and involuntary muscle cramps. The phenomenon most commonly involves tingling, numbness, and cramping in the hands, resulting in what is known as ‘lobster claws’ or ‘T-Rex hands’, because of the way the hands contort into a claw-like shape.
Tetany is not a cause for concern. It is not a sign of anything going wrong. It’s a frequent occurrence during high ventilation breathwork. However, if it does feel unsettling, you can always slow your breathing, which will cause the tetany to pass. Otherwise, it’s just an idiosyncratic physical effect of the practice.
I’m curious about high ventilation breathwork as an alternative to psychedelics, not because it exactly mimics psychedelic effects. It can certainly induce many aspects of altered states as psychedelics can, but it would be unrealistic – as far as my understanding and experience goes – to expect a full-fledged psychedelic experience from controlled hyperventilation. It is just a physiologically distinct experience.
This brings me to the question of research on high ventilation breathwork, including its ability to induce intense altered states and facilitate psychological healing, and how it compares to psychedelics.
Healing Through High Ventilation Breathwork
A recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology compared the effects of high ventilation breathwork with a body scan meditation, using scales to measure altered states of consciousness, including mystical experience and emotional breakthrough. The results found, unsurprisingly to me, that breathwork was associated with “larger acute psychedelic-like effects than meditation, alongside greater emotional breakthrough, insight, and self-reported behavioral change.” Breathwork was associated with larger effects on:
- Oceanic boundlessness and its component parts: insightfulness, spiritual experience, experience of unity, blissful state, disembodiment
- Visionary restructuralisation
- Total mystical experience
- Oneness
- Positive mood
- Ineffability
- Emotional breakthrough
While high ventilation breathwork was tied to substantially greater psychological insight and behavioural change compared to body scan meditation, both groups showed significant improvements in stress, anxiety, and depression over time, with no significant differences between the groups in this respect.
It may be surprising that breathwork could induce mystical experiences, which are typically considered profoundly intense and which, in the case of psychedelics, require high doses to achieve. However, not all mystical experiences are alike. Psychedelic mystical states can be particularly intense. Those achieved through breathwork are generally less intense and less reliably induced. A practice like Holotropic Breathwork is much less likely to trigger a ‘complete’ mystical experience than a high enough dose of a psychedelic with a prepared mindset and setting; although, interestingly, one study found that Holotropic Breathwork induced complete mystical experiences as reliably as an ayahuasca ceremony.
The reasons for these differences are neurobiological, due to the differences in the way breathwork and psychedelics affect the brain, as well as the fact that breathwork is more effortful than psychedelic use; it requires more sustained physical effort to induce an altered state of consciousness. Some people may struggle to breathe rapidly enough to trigger more intense altered states like mystical experiences, especially if they’re bothered by physical effects that show up, such as tetany, tremors, or dry mouth as a result of mouth-only breathing.
In the recent 2026 study, the researchers found that breathwork was associated with higher levels of oceanic boundlessness than seen in other studies on the technique. They note:
The reason for the potentially more powerful and prominent impact of the present breathwork could be due to the more ecologically valid setting compared to Bahi et al. (2024) (delivered in individual session formats only thereby potentially removing key elements pertaining to set and setting) without repeated interruptions throughout to measure intensity of the experience as in Havenith et al. (2025).
They add that sleeping better could be one benefit of breathwork-induced altered states:
[B]reathwork could be connected to meaningful psychological breakthroughs, accompanied by translation of these insights into tangible behavioral modifications…breathwork participants reported greater improvements in sleep-related impairment than meditation participants, with median scores decreasing markedly in the breathwork group whilst remaining stable in the meditation group. These changes were significantly correlated with total mystical experience, oneness, and oceanic boundlessness, suggesting that the depth of ASCs [altered states of consciousness] may have been related to sleep benefits.
The breathwork seemed low risk as well, although there are some important caveats:
No participants reported adverse events, however this is unsurprising as they were recruited on the basis of having practise CCB [conscious connected breathwork] before without experiencing such phenomena. We deemed it more ethically sound to conduct a first attempt at an experimental study of this nature on CCB and ASCs in individuals with some experience due to physical safety and the possibility of adverse effects from HVB [high ventilation breathwork].
Participants in the breathwork group reported transformative experiences – using terms such as “profound”, “incredible”, “psychedelic” – with a particularly salient theme being that of significant emotional releases, with many describing the experience as cathartic. In terms of ‘psychedelic-like’ effects, some experienced visual hallucinations. Participants also reported insights into emotional patterns and improved stress management capabilities. In a similar vein to psychedelics, the principle of ‘set and setting’ appears to play a crucial role in the quality of the experience:
The group setting also emerged as a crucial factor, with participants highlighting the importance of feeling safe and supported during the session. This underscores the significance of appropriate set and setting in breathwork interventions, with priming and integration potentially being just as, if not more, imperative than the respiratory component which may be simply acting as a catalytic stimulus for change.
Other research has similarly found that high ventilation breathwork can induce profound altered states and highlights potential benefits for those suffering from trauma-related, affective, and somatic disorders.
Studies on psychedelics indicate that the intensity of the experience predicts therapeutic outcomes, and the same may apply to high ventilation breathwork. For example, Havenith et al. (2025) found a significant correlation between intensity of altered states induced by breathwork and improvements in well-being (though, curiously, not with depressive symptoms). However, further controlled studies – involving participants not familiar with breathwork, as well as clinical populations – are needed to assess the efficacy and true potential of this mind-altering technique.
We need to understand the benefit-risk profile of high ventilation breathwork to see how its efficacy and safety compare to psychedelics, and whether it may be a suitable alternative to people who feel that supervised psychedelic experiences are too daunting, time-consuming, expensive, or personally risky. Furthermore, breathwork is often paired with psychedelics – not necessarily at the same time, which may result in unnecessarily intense experiences, but as a way to prepare for, navigate, and integrate psychedelic states. There is much more to be learned about the role that altered states play in mental health, including the extent to which temporarily altering the mind can create lasting benefits.