Holotropic Breathwork: What It Is, And What Happens During An Experience
Last reviewed and updated: June 20, 2026.
Key Takeaways
| What it is | Intensive breathing practice using sustained hyperventilation + music to access non-ordinary states; developed by Stanislav Grof as a post-LSD-ban alternative |
| Mechanism | Lowered CO2 → blood alkalosis → altered cerebral blood flow → altered consciousness; produces tingling, tetany, vivid imagery, emotional release |
| Research (2015–2018) | Peer-reviewed studies found improvements in psychological symptoms and mystical-type experiences comparable to psychedelic research reports |
| Role in psychedelic landscape | Used as preparation/integration tool alongside pharmacological psychedelic therapy; standalone option for those contraindicated for psychedelics |
| Key contraindications | Cardiovascular disease, aneurysm, epilepsy, active psychosis, pregnancy, recent surgery — always screen before participating |
Breathing techniques have become extremely popular in recent years due to their relaxing and de-stressing properties. Often linked to meditation and yoga, focusing on your breathing helps bring people to the present moment. It calms down nerves, which, in turn, promotes good overall health and wellbeing — and a popular method is holotropic breathwork.
While there are many different types of breathwork training, holotropic breathwork is an advanced and intense breathing practice. In fact, it is officially trademarked, and can only be led by certified instructors. The 600-hour certification course is held by the Grof Foundation, named after Stanislav and Christina Grof. The two are the creators of this specific breathing technique.
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Holotropic Breathwork
Described as a “powerful approach to self-exploration and personal empowerment,” holotropic breathwork is a breathing technique that involves accelerated breathing combined with a special kind of music in a special kind of setting. Since it can only be taught by certified teachers, it follows the same music and ethical principles no matter where an experience takes place.
Devoted practitioners follow holotropic breathwork for many reasons. From its relaxing and calming properties, to the spiritual aspect, they believe it helps them reach new levels of consciousness and personal empowerment. Each person has their own experience and journey. And while some may need help with stress, anxiety, and trauma, others use it for personal growth or self-discovery.
The Backstory of Holotropic Breathing
In the 1970s, Freudian-taught psychiatrists Stanislav and Christina Grof, were big proponents of LSD therapy. They used it with their patients to help heal from trauma, relieve stress and depression, and create a better relationship with themselves.
However, LSD eventually became a banned substance. So the two needed to find a different avenue or substance to achieve the same (or similar) kind of experience.
As supporters of psychedelic therapy, they moved from Chezchoslovakia to the U.S., where Stanislav held high positions at the famous psychedelic centers, Johns Hopkins University and Maryland Psychiatric Research Centre.
Through research, they developed holotropic breathwork. This was a natural way of inducing a psychedelic state, rather than using LSD or other drugs.
Ever since their work became famous, they’ve traveled the world far and wide to help people find their purpose and enlightenment, heal their traumas, and reach the self-awareness that everyone has at their very core. Science chimed in as well, with studies showing great results in treating PTSD in veterans, and enhancing various treatments in hospitals.
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How To Perform Holotropic Breathing
The technique of holotropic breathwork is very simple. It begins with lying on the mat, with eyes closed, listening to music, and starting to tune into your own breath. You slowly begin to speed up your breath as the music intensifies. Breathing evenly (but rapidly) is thought to bring you to altered levels of consciousness. This creates a deeper form of meditation, and induces a sort of psychedelic experience — without the use of any hallucinogens.
If it’s your first time performing holotropic breathwork, it’s important that you do it with a guide and have someone observe you. The rapid breathing could easily transition into hyperventilation. This could potentially increase anxiety and stress, creating panic, and making you feel like you’re losing your breath. For this reason, holotropic breathwork often takes place in a group setting.
At the beginning of a session, before laying down, two people pair up, with each having a specific role. While one person goes through the process, also called a “breather,” the other sits next to them and observes, also called a “sitter.” The sitter has a very important role in supporting the breather going through the experience and being there in case panic occurs.
The lead guide of the session directs your breathing patterns and instructs you to pay attention to even out your breaths while increasing their speed. Making sure you stay even with your breaths will prevent hyperventilation, but if you’re new to this type of breathwork, it can be really hard to do so without any help.
Sessions may last up to three hours, and practitioners report how each experience is different. There is no end result or a certain goal you’re looking to achieve, no expectations, and no judgment. Every person gets to experience holotropic breathwork in their own way. After each session, practitioners talk about their experiences, draw mandalas, and share their thoughts, feelings, and potential epiphanies.
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Who Should Abstain From Holotropic Breathwork?
Although it has an array of health benefits, holotropic breathwork is intense, making it harmful for certain individuals. These include people with the following conditions:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Glaucomas
- A history of panic attacks or psychosis
- Seizures
- Aneurysms
- Pregnant women
- Those on specific medication
The Takeaway
Holotropic breathwork is a powerful breathing technique that mimics a psychedelic experience. The purpose is to take you deeper into the present moment, while helping become more self-aware.
Since holotropic breathwork is an intense process, always be sure to do it under the guidance and supervision of a certified instructor. This ensures safety, and will help you reap the benefits of this life-changing practice.
Holotropic Breathwork and the Psychedelic Renaissance: Where It Fits in 2025
Holotropic breathwork was developed by Stanislav Grof as a non-pharmacological way to access non-ordinary states of consciousness — states that he had studied for decades through LSD psychotherapy before it became illegal. As the psychedelic research renaissance has accelerated, holotropic breathwork has gained renewed relevance both as a standalone practice and as a complement to psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Research on holotropic breathwork has grown. A 2015 study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (Brewerton et al.) found significant improvements in psychological symptoms and self-esteem in participants who completed holotropic breathwork workshops. A 2018 study in the International Journal of Transpersonal Psychology found that holotropic breathwork sessions produced mystical-type experiences comparable in some dimensions to those reported in psychedelic research — supporting Grof’s original contention that the technique could access similar states through breath alone. These are not Phase 3 clinical trials, but they provide the first peer-reviewed data points for what practitioners have reported anecdotally for decades.
Integration with psychedelic therapy programs. As psilocybin therapy, ketamine-assisted therapy, and MDMA-assisted therapy become more accessible through legal channels, holotropic breathwork has found a natural role as a preparatory and integration tool. Several licensed psychedelic therapy training programs — including MAPS’s therapist training and various CIIS graduate programs — include breathwork as part of their curriculum. The underlying rationale is that breathwork can help people practice accessing non-ordinary states, working with difficult material, and integrating experiences before or after pharmacological sessions. For people who are not good candidates for psychedelic medicines (contraindicated medications, cardiac concerns that preclude certain compounds), holotropic breathwork offers a pharmacologically-free alternative that can produce meaningful transpersonal experiences.
Safety considerations the article hasn’t covered. Holotropic breathwork involves sustained hyperventilation, which produces real physiological changes: lowered CO2 levels cause alkalosis, which can produce tetany (muscle cramping), tingling, and altered consciousness. These effects are the mechanism of the practice, but they also carry contraindications. People with cardiovascular disease, history of aneurysm, seizures, severe psychiatric conditions, active psychosis, or pregnancy should not participate without specific medical clearance. This is not a casual wellness activity — the intensity is real, which is why the Grof Foundation requires the 600-hour certification process for facilitators and why group sessions are conducted with trained support sitters.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is holotropic breathwork and how does it work?
Holotropic breathwork is an intensive breathing practice developed by psychiatrist Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof as a way to access non-ordinary states of consciousness without psychedelics. Participants breathe faster and more deeply than normal for an extended period (typically 2–3 hours), while listening to carefully curated evocative music and lying on a mat with a trained sitter present. The sustained hyperventilation lowers CO2 levels, alters blood pH, and changes cerebral blood flow — producing altered consciousness that Grof documented as comparable in some ways to the transpersonal states he had studied through LSD-assisted psychotherapy. Sessions often conclude with mandala drawing and sharing. The practice is officially trademarked and can only be led by certified facilitators who have completed the Grof Foundation’s 600-hour training.
What does a holotropic breathwork session feel like?
Experiences vary enormously between individuals and even between sessions for the same person. Common physical effects include tingling in extremities, muscle cramping or tetany (from lowered CO2), warmth, and emotional release. Common psychological effects include vivid imagery (sometimes compared to a mild psychedelic experience), strong emotions (grief, joy, anger, fear), memories or somatic sensations, and occasionally profound transpersonal experiences including feelings of ego dissolution, connection to something larger than oneself, or spiritual encounters. Not everyone has dramatic experiences — some people have relatively quiet sessions. The music and the breath are both working, and responses are highly individual.
Who should not do holotropic breathwork?
Holotropic breathwork has real contraindications that should be taken seriously. People with cardiovascular disease, history of aneurysm, glaucoma, epilepsy or seizure history, recent surgery, osteoporosis (tetany can cause injury), active severe psychiatric conditions or psychosis, active bipolar disorder in a manic phase, severe PTSD without therapeutic support, and pregnancy should not participate without explicit medical clearance. The emotional intensity can also be destabilizing for people in acute mental health crises. Reputable facilitators conduct intake screening before sessions — if a facilitator does not screen participants, that’s a red flag about their training and safety standards.
How is holotropic breathwork related to psychedelic therapy?
Stanislav Grof developed holotropic breathwork explicitly as a non-pharmacological way to access the same non-ordinary states he had studied through LSD-assisted psychotherapy — after LSD became illegal in the late 1960s. The underlying theory is that altered states of consciousness have therapeutic and transpersonal potential regardless of how they’re accessed. In contemporary practice, holotropic breathwork is used both as a standalone practice and as preparation or integration support for pharmacological psychedelic experiences. Several psychedelic therapy training programs include breathwork in their curriculum. For people who are medically contraindicated for psychedelics, it offers a legal alternative to working with non-ordinary states.
