Breathwork-induced psychedelic experiences modulate neural dynamics.
Evan Lewis-Healey, Enzo Tagliazucchi, Andrés Canales-Johnson, Tristan A Bekinschtein
Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) August 1, 2024 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae347 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 14 |
| Population | Novice participants |
| Intervention | Breathwork |
| Duration | 28 days, with sessions of 20, 40, or 60 minutes |
| Topics | Altered states of consciousness Breathwork |
| Keywords | Neural complexity Neurophenomenology Psychedelics |
| Citations | 27 |
| Key findings | Psychedelic-like subjective experiences during breathwork were associated with increased neural Lempel-Ziv complexity and changes in the aperiodic exponent of the power spectral density. |
Abstract
Breathwork is an understudied school of practices involving intentional respiratory modulation to induce an altered state of consciousness (ASC). We simultaneously investigate the phenomenological and neural dynamics of breathwork by combining Temporal Experience Tracing, a quantitative methodology that preserves the temporal dynamics of subjective experience, with low-density portable EEG devices. Fourteen novice participants completed a course of up to 28 breathwork sessions-of 20, 40, or 60 min-in 28 days, yielding a neurophenomenological dataset of 301 breathwork sessions. Using hypothesis-driven and data-driven approaches, we found that "psychedelic-like" subjective experiences were associated with increased neural Lempel-Ziv complexity during breathwork. Exploratory analyses showed that the aperiodic exponent of the power spectral density-but not oscillatory alpha power-yielded similar neurophenomenological associations. Non-linear neural features, like complexity and the aperiodic exponent, neurally map both a multidimensional data-driven composite of positive experiences, and hypothesis-driven aspects of psychedelic-like experience states such as high bliss.