Breathwork Practices Gaining Popularity
Wellness trend report notes growing interest in breathing practices.
Yoga professionals are familiar with breathing practices known as prana-yama, but breathing programs and breathwork practices, in general, are now entering the mainstream. The Global Wellness Summit has named breathwork one of the top seven trends to influence wellness in 2021 and beyond. A recent New York Times best-selling book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art (Riverhead Books 2020), by James Nestor, supports the current popular interest in understanding the power of breathing to affect well-being.
Breathwork practices exists at leading global resorts like the Six Senses and the Chablé Hotels. Jasmine Marie created black girls breathing™, a program that offers meditational breathwork in a safe space for Black women “to actively nurture their mental, emotional and spiritual health . . . Deepening our inhales, lessening our stresses.” The impact of COVID-19 on breathing issues and the lungs has drawn more attention to breathwork’s therapeutic and wellness benefits. Apps and wearables support the growing trend.
To learn more, go to globalwell nesssummit.com/press/press-releases/gws-releases-in-depth-2021-trends-reort/.
See also: Breath and Movement for Core Stability
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
