From Supervised Program to Personal Practice: Design Rationale for an AI-Assisted Pranayama Application for Adolescents
Bindu Madhavi Chintha*
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPUTER APPLICATION September 20, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.22859048 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Breathwork |
| Key points | Proposes that Sushumna, an AI-assisted mobile app using a just-in-time adaptive intervention framework, can carry structured pranayama practice beyond supervised school settings and serve as an instrument to test whether matching breathing technique to a user's current state confers benefit. The authors state the app is not an evidence-based intervention and that its state classifier is currently trained on synthetic data. |
Abstract
ABSTRACT Structured pranayama programs delivered in schools depend on a supervising instructor, a fixed schedule and an institution’s continued cooperation, and each of these ends when the program does. What remains available to a young person afterwards is rarely considered at the design stage. Existing digital tools offer limited help: few breathing and mindfulness applications have been tested in controlled trials, a generic paced-breathing application tested with adolescents did not outperform quiet rest on stress measures and whether matching breathing technique to a user’s current state confers any benefit remains an open question. This paper sets out the design rationale for Sushumna, a prototype artificial-intelligence-assisted mobile application intended to carry structured breath practice beyond the supervised setting. The design is framed within the just-in-time adaptive intervention framework and organized around four goals: brevity, low friction, explainability and resilience. Its architecture comprises a multi-output classifier that estimates the user’s current stress, mood and clarity, a deterministic protocol engine that selects among classical pranayama techniques under fixed safety rules, a constrained generative-AI layer that explains each recommendation in plain language and an on-device fallback that operates without connectivity. The paper sets out the reasoning behind each decision, the trade-offs accepted and the principal limitation of the system, which is that its state classifier is currently trained on synthetic data. Sushumna is offered not as an evidence-based intervention but as an instrument through which the open question of state-matched breath practice can be tested. Keywords: pranayama; mobile health; just-in-time adaptive intervention; explainable artificial intelligence; adolescents; breath practice; system design
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on breathwork, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breathwork as a Therapeutic Modality: An Overview for Counselors | 2010 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Breathwork in body psychotherapy: Clinical applications | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Enhancement of inter-hemispheric brain waves synchronisation after Pranayama practice | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Relationship and Mechanism Underlying the Effect of Conscious Breathing on the Autonomic Nervous System and Brain Waves | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Holotropic Breathwork, Second Edition | 2023 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |