Breathing patterns influence cognition. A guided 20-minute breathwork session can shift your mental state—calming anxiety, boosting energy, and helping you reorient when stuck on a problem.^[1] This post shares a personal account of its effects, practical instructions, guided sessions, and key safety notes.

I'm sitting in my room feeling calm, energetic and present. Pleasurable tingles pulse down my arms and into my fingers. My mind is quiet, unhurried and joyful. I just finished 20 minutes of guided breathwork, and I’m amazed by how immediate and profound the effects are.

Breathwork has become one of my go-to tools, both when I'm anxious and when I'm sluggish. It’s rare to find something that both calms and energizes, bringing presence while also inviting action. Breathwork manages this combo. It’s like the energy of coffee without the jitteriness, combined with the relaxation of lying on a warm beach—without the sweat, drowsiness, and sunburn.

Besides these effects, breathwork acts as a reset for my thinking patterns. When I get stuck on a problem, it's often because of invisible assumptions or rigid framings. Taking a break—like sleeping on it—usually helps. But breathwork is quicker! After a session, I often come back able to see the problem from a new angle. I’m curious if others can do the same—using breathwork for quicker iteration on difficult “deep work” challenges.

If you’ve never tried it, I suggest using 20 minutes to try it out. If you like the effects, consider trying it out daily for a week or so—enough time to build some familiarity, reduce friction and make it part of your toolkit.

Disclaimer: While breathwork is generally safe, in rare cases people faint—so don’t practice near/in water^[2] or while driving. Also, breathwork is risky for pregnant people, epileptics, and people with cardiovascular issues or other serious health concerns. Don’t push yourself, and talk to a medical professional if uncertain.

My favorite breathwork style is the Wim Hof method. It involves cycles of deep breathing followed by breath holds.

It’s easiest to do while lying down. Breathing can be done through the nose, mouth, or a combination. You breathe into your belly at first, expanding into your chest without pause. The outbreaths should be effortless, just relaxing and letting the air out.

I’ll leave two guided sessions below for you to try out. See what happens. Let me know how it feels:

• 20 min: 4 Rounds
• 11min: 3 Rounds

1. ^{^}

   I want to make it clear that I haven’t spent much time researching this, and that the post is mainly based on personal experience. Still, here are some relevant studies:

   https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00874/full

   https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-27247-y

   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9873947

2. ^{^}

   Apparently, Wim Hof (and his org) is getting sued after pushing unsafe combos of ice bathing and breathwork. Both are great in isolation, but carry predictable risk when combined.