Where to Find Related Content: Meditation, Yoga, Wellness and Biohacking Pages

Why content is split up

Breathing sits next to many other practices, so several parts of the site touch it. To avoid repeating the same advice in five places, each topic has one home page and the others link to it. The NCCIH shows the same overlap: its relaxation fact sheet covers breathing exercises but says practices such as meditation, yoga, tai chi and qigong are not discussed in it. [1] This page tells you where to go.

Safety note. Wherever you land, the same rules apply: stop and return to normal breathing if you feel dizzy, tingly, faint, anxious or short of breath, never practise while driving or near water, and check with a clinician first if you have a lung, heart, seizure or mental health condition. See the safety quick reference.

Breathing practices (this library)

Breathwork & Relaxation is the home for breathing itself.

• Breathwork & Relaxation hub: every collection in one place.
• Breathing and relaxation basics and gentle breathing and relaxation practices.
• Pranayama: the cultural overview and specific breathing practices.
• Index of breathing techniques and index of evidence by health concern.
• Frequently asked questions and the two glossaries: breathwork terms and breathing physiology.

Meditation and mindfulness

Meditation and Mindfulness owns the attention-based and body-awareness practices that often accompany breathing.

The NCCIH describes progressive relaxation as tensing different muscles and then releasing the tension, and guided imagery as picturing objects, scenes or events associated with relaxation or calmness. [1]

Yoga and movement

Yoga & Movement owns yoga as a whole and the breathing taught inside yoga classes, while this library owns pranayama itself. The NCCIH notes that yoga as practiced in the United States typically emphasizes physical postures, breathing techniques (pranayama) and meditation. [2]

• What is yoga? and the eight limbs of yoga, where pranayama sits in the tradition.
• Breathing in yoga for beginners and breath practices in yoga: safety.
• Chakras, nadis and the subtle body in yoga, the traditional ideas behind some breath practices.
• Tai chi and qigong, movement practices that include breathing.
• Ayurveda, yoga and pranayama: how the Ayurveda library relates to pranayama.

Wellness goals: stress, sleep and anxiety

Wellness owns goal-level guidance. These pages start from the problem you want to address rather than the technique.

• Breathing exercises for stress and relaxation techniques.
• Relaxation for sleep, how to fall asleep faster and sleep apnea.
• Mindfulness and meditation for stress and movement, yoga and tai chi for stress.
• Anxiety disorders and stress.

Biohacking: HRV, devices and vagus-nerve claims

Biohacking owns heart-rate-variability scores, consumer devices and vagus-nerve gadget claims. This library explains how breathing research uses these ideas.

• HRV biofeedback, breathing and muscle-tension biofeedback and HRV trends for recovery.
• Wearables and health trackers and pulse oximeters and SpO2 estimates.
• Vagus nerve hacks claims.

MedlinePlus describes biofeedback as a technique that measures bodily functions and gives you information about them to help train you to control them. [3]

Cold exposure, water and altered states

These are owned elsewhere because they have their own risks.

• Cold-water immersion and contrast-water practices and hydrotherapy safety. Cold exposure is separate from breathing; see cold exposure plus breathwork claims for why combining them is not advised here.
• Natural psychedelics: the area covering psychedelic and altered-state topics. Our page on breathwork and altered states only describes claims and cautions.