Combined Liuzijue and mindful breathing promote greater sustained relaxation than mindful breathing alone in university students with anxiety symptoms
Frontiers in Psychology July 13, 2026 Wen-Ming Liang, Inga Griškova-bulanova, Jing Xiao et al.
Combining Liuzijue breathing, a traditional Chinese practice of controlled abdominal movements and low-pitched vocalization, with mindful breathing produced more sustained relaxation in anxious male university students than mindful breathing alone. In a randomized crossover trial of 24 male participants aged 21 ± 2 with anxiety symptoms, the combination sequence (5 minutes Liuzijue breathing followed by 10 minutes mindful breathing) led to greater continued reductions in heart rate and greater progressive increases in heart rate variability compared to 15 minutes of mindful breathing alone. Participants also reported significantly higher concentration during mindful breathing after Liuzijue breathing. During Liuzijue breathing, respiration rate was lower and peripheral oxygen saturation was higher, with end-tidal carbon dioxide lower during minutes 2–5. These physiological changes may explain the enhanced relaxation.